Recording on DVR are skipping

Yesterday (January 28th 2019) I got the phone call from Comcast saying that their "outage" had been corrected.  However I was still getting the blue circle error message when I tried to watch from my DVR - sending me to the CBS on demand version with the commercials. 

The technician said something is wrong with my device and a technician will be out tomorrow morning.  I'll let everyone know what he or she says.  Maybe the "outage" has fried the boxes.  My old recordings prior to Thursday the 24th of January are working fine.  The only affected recordings are those from Thursday the 24th to yesterday.  I just checked a recording from last night and it is working normally - no blue circle.  So my guess is that the technician is coming out for nothing.

---

@lacquer wrote:

Yesterday (January 28th 2019) I got the phone call from Comcast saying that their "outage" had been corrected.  However I was still getting the blue circle error message when I tried to watch from my DVR - sending me to the CBS on demand version with the commercials. 

 

The technician said something is wrong with my device and a technician will be out tomorrow morning.  I'll let everyone know what he or she says.  Maybe the "outage" has fried the boxes.  My old recordings prior to Thursday the 24th of January are working fine.  The only affected recordings are those from Thursday the 24th to yesterday.  I just checked a recording from last night and it is working normally - no blue circle.  So my guess is that the technician is coming out for nothing.

---

We all seem to have different days affected. Last Wednesday the 23rd was our bad day.

---

@TerriB wrote:

---

@lacquer wrote:

Yesterday (January 28th 2019) I got the phone call from Comcast saying that their "outage" had been corrected.  However I was still getting the blue circle error message when I tried to watch from my DVR - sending me to the CBS on demand version with the commercials. 

 

The technician said something is wrong with my device and a technician will be out tomorrow morning.  I'll let everyone know what he or she says.  Maybe the "outage" has fried the boxes.  My old recordings prior to Thursday the 24th of January are working fine.  The only affected recordings are those from Thursday the 24th to yesterday.  I just checked a recording from last night and it is working normally - no blue circle.  So my guess is that the technician is coming out for nothing.

---

We all seem to have different days affected. Last Wednesday the 23rd was our bad day.

---

Interesting...

We are also having widespread issues with choppy DVR playback in Northern Virginia.  It definitely seems to be a problem related to the push to save new recordings to the Cloud.  It's gotten to the point where it's almost pointless to DVR a TV show because it's usually so choppy that Comcast just sends us to the On Demand.  I hate to be cynical, but is this just to force us all to watch commercials?  Our DVR is only about 2 yrs old and we never had issues until the new year.  By the looks of this thread, this a major problem being experienced by alot of Comcast customers...

How odd that your programs would be choppy.  Have you checked your speed at speedtest.xfinity.com?  I'm betting 166 mb download speed on my tablet.  You might need a technician to come out.  Have you called customer service?  In the Seattle area new programs are not going to CBS, but are being downloaded from the cloud.  Our problems are resolved.

---

@ejl362 wrote:

We are also having widespread issues with choppy DVR playback in Northern Virginia.  It definitely seems to be a problem related to the push to save new recordings to the Cloud.  It's gotten to the point where it's almost pointless to DVR a TV show because it's usually so choppy that Comcast just sends us to the On Demand.  I hate to be cynical, but is this just to force us all to watch commercials?  Our DVR is only about 2 yrs old and we never had issues until the new year.  By the looks of this thread, this a major problem being experienced by alot of Comcast customers...

---

I am also in N. Va and there was no choppy playback on DVR recordings at our house. The issue was that there was some kind of nationwide problem and there  was no playback at all from the DVR hard drive  recordings and instead the playback went to On Demand automatically  but ours seems to be fixed now.....fingers crossed.  FYI...the choppy/stutter was and still is on Netflix and there is another thread on here about that.

---

@lacquer wrote:

How odd that your programs would be choppy.  Have you checked your speed at speedtest.xfinity.com?  I'm betting 166 mb download speed on my tablet.  You might need a technician to come out.  Have you called customer service?  In the Seattle area new programs are not going to CBS, but are being downloaded from the cloud.  Our problems are resolved.

---

HUH? The DVR  playback issues are on the TV   and have nothing to do with the internet speed.  The problem they were having was causing DVR recordings to only be available On Demand so not really sure what you are referring to.

The programs you watch via your DVR are not actually on your DVR.  The DVR is just the conduit for choosing them and connecting you to the cloud where they are stored.  If they are choppy it could be a failure of your devices, wiring outside your house, or hardware.  If you don't pay Comcast for internet service then it wouldn't help to run the speedtest, but I know that when my Roku device got old I got choppy programs and errors.  

---

@lacquer wrote:

The programs you watch via your DVR are not actually on your DVR.  The DVR is just the conduit for choosing them and connecting you to the cloud where they are stored.  If they are choppy it could be a failure of your devices, wiring outside your house, or hardware.  If you don't pay Comcast for internet service then it wouldn't help to run the speedtest, but I know that when my Roku device got old I got choppy programs and errors.  

---

You are incorrect about where programs are stored. The cloud storage is a separate issue so that recordings can be accessed from devices other than the TV.  We don't access anything on the cloud from a device as we always view recordings on the TV  so any cloud issue is moot for my family. My recordings are stored on the hard drive in my DVR/ set top box and that is not my opinion...its a fact. I can't comment on the new boxes but I am 100% positve where mine are and if I swap out my box or it dies....poof.

I have internet/phone/tv/Mobile with Comcast but there is nothing to  'speed test ' on a TV.  I do not have Roku or anything like that.  The inabilitly to  playback DVR recordings that 'forced'  users to watch some recordings On Demand was a nationwide documented Comcast issue and there was a recording for a while when calling them.

Does anyone know when they are coming out with a new software version to fix these issues?

---

@lacquer wrote:

I had the comcast technician here yesterday and was on the phone with at least three techs over the outage time period (when the "recordings" were not playing, but reverting to non-fastforwardable content from CBS, ABC or wherever).  They all said that all the programs now come from the "cloud" - which means a server somewhere.  It is how you can access them from your phone, your tablet, or whatever else you may want to view them on.  There may be a hard drive, but it is not in use any longer.  During the outage of last week that connection to the server (cloud) where they were stored is what was broken.  People with choppy recordings are getting them perhaps due to faulty wiring/equipment something on the pole - as I used to with my non-HD Roku box.  I don't think that those of us with comcast internet would even need the legacy "DVR" box.  I can go to my comcast account and schedule recordings.  I think it is legacy for their internet users.

---

@CCAndrew..help

Lacquer.....That technician was 'full of it'.  Just like ComcastAndrew confirmed.....recordings are on the box hard drive.  The cloud allows you to access from other than you TV.  What in the world do you mean that if we have Comcast internet we don't need the box? That makes no sense whatsoever. Sooooo......How do you schedule recordings using your account? The  remote (from devices other than the TV DVR box) feature was disabled Nov 2017 due to a court challenge with TIVO and the only way to record/manage recordings is from the TV DVR. Not only do we know that from these forums but its all over the internet.

If you can still manage your recordings using your account and NOT the set top box I think we would all like to know how you do that.

I can go to my xfinity personal account page and schedule recordings.  I don't need to use the remote to schedule them.  I believe the version of "seal team" for instance I watched (and which had to come from CBS) is pulling from the cloud.  Otherwise there would not have been an issue last week.  My DVR was fine then and is fine now after the outage  - it was never affected.  Shows I've recorded are coming from the cloud in spite of the fact that the box is here in my living room.  That was why there was the issue last week.  This is what I was told by Tier 2 (two separate people) support and the technician who was actually at my house.  And now my recordings are coming through fine from the cloud.  I believe the box is redundant (but I have to pay $10 a month for it) since I have Comcast internet.  If you lived in a household without an internet connection you would definitely need the DVR box to choose programs and manage them.   Something like a firestick for Comcast would work to choose the programs on the TV or a Comcast channel on the firestick.  As long as you have an internet connection.  I live in a big city and I know they just upgraded the Comcast equipment on a cell tower very near my house.