What is the Point of the Screen Saver?

Our setting is the same; 5 hours and the TV is off. The screen saver will kick in after 5:00 hours no matter if the TV is on or off. If the DVR is set beyond the 5 hour limit, it will record the screen saver and not the intended program. 

I'm glad to hear you don't have the problem. My point is a screen saver should not engage when the device it is meant to protect is not even on. Nor should a customer be forced to use a feature they do not need or want. By all means use it if you like or need it, but provide a means to disable it for those of us who don't. This is not an unreasonable request, unless the whole point of not providing a disable feature for the screen saver is to force customers to buy X1 DVR service. Xfinity, care to comment at all? 

I don't undersatnd??? With my service, the screen saver will only appear when I pause what I'm watching. I have mine set to engage the screensaver at 5 minutes when paused. 

When is your screensaver engaging?

Furthemore, our Xfinity legacy system did not have an auto screen saver and we got on well without it for 15 years using both CRT and LCD screens, which makes its addition to X1 an unwelcome and an inconvenient surprise.

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@ChrisM60 wrote:

I'm glad to hear you don't have the problem. 

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No, but then again, I'm not holding onto legacy equipment after my upgrade to X1 nearly 5 years ago. To be more specific, I used to have a SiliconDust HomeRun Prime device that I can use a CableCard with and wacth/record on a PC or XBox, but I stopped using it since the X1 Cloud DVR function is so much more convenient, especially when we travel. 

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@ChrisM60 wrote:

My point is a screen saver should not engage when the device it is meant to protect is not even on. Nor should a customer be forced to use a feature they do not need or want. By all means use it if you like or need it, but provide a means to disable it for those of us who don't. 

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If the device is not on, what difference does it make if the screen saver engages or not?

I don't have an issue with being able to disable the screen saver, but calling it a "pointless" feature is blatantly false, given that OLEDs are quite susceptible to burn in. Not everyone's TV habits - or equipment - are going to be like yours. 

The previous poster also raised a valid point - how exactly are you using your Xfinity device to record anything, especially if you seem to require more than 5 hours without the screen saver engaging? 

@darkangelic  

"If the device is not on, what difference does it make if the screen saver engages or not?"

The difference is our external DVR will record the screen saver and not the intended program if we are not home to disable the screen saver beyond its 5 hour maximum setting. We do not use Xfinity's DVR service because we would rather not be forced to buy the service and scrap a perfectly good DVR.

"I don't have an issue with being able to disable the screen saver, but calling it a "pointless" feature is blatantly false..." I of course do not speak for others, I can only speak to my own experience. So from my perspective, the screen saver is pointless. As I mentioned previously, we had a CRT TV, which are also prone to burn in, while using Xfinity and never had a screen saver automatically  engage and it was never a problem  for us.

"Not everyone's TV habits - or equipment - are going to be like yours." I am very much aware of this. I speak only from my own perspective.

"The previous poster also raised a valid point - how exactly are you using your Xfinity device to record anything, especially if you seem to require more than 5 hours without the screen saver engaging?" That's the point. We are not using Xfintiy's DVR service and feel we should not be forced to pay for it because Xfinity added a screen saver that cannot be disabled, which essentially renders our external DVR useless if we wish to record a program beyond the 5 hour maximum.  So, we only wish to to disable it. It really is that simple.  Would it really be so hard for Xfinity to allow the user to disable the screen saver if the don't need or want it? 

It seems this issue has been on going for some time. And yet Xfinity has done nothing to address it. https://forums.xfinity.com/t5/X1/When-will-Comcast-allow-Screensaver-to-be-completely/td-p/3141293

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@ChrisM60 wrote:

@darkangelic  

"If the device is not on, what difference does it make if the screen saver engages or not?"

The difference is our external DVR will record the screen saver and not the intended program if we are not home to disable the screen saver beyond its 5 hour maximum setting. We do not use Xfinity's DVR service because we would rather not be forced to buy the service and scrap a perfectly good DVR.

 

"I don't have an issue with being able to disable the screen saver, but calling it a "pointless" feature is blatantly false..." I of course do not speak for others, I can only speak to my own experience. So from my perspective, the screen saver is pointless. As I mentioned previously, we had a CRT TV, which are also prone to burn in, while using Xfinity and never had a screen saver automatically  engage and it was never a problem  for us.

 

"Not everyone's TV habits - or equipment - are going to be like yours." I am very much aware of this. I speak only from my own perspective.

 

"The previous poster also raised a valid point - how exactly are you using your Xfinity device to record anything, especially if you seem to require more than 5 hours without the screen saver engaging?" That's the point. We are not using Xfintiy's DVR service and feel we should not be forced to pay for it because Xfinity added a screen saver that cannot be disabled, which essentially renders our external DVR useless if we wish to record a program beyond the 5 hour maximum.  So, we only wish to to disable it. It really is that simple.  Would it really be so hard for Xfinity to allow the user to disable the screen saver if the don't need or want it? 

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do  you have a roku to use for recording to see if that would work? 

I have sent 2 support requests to Comcast on this issue and have not received a reply. There are also multiple threads complaning about the inability to disable the screen saver going back a few years now and Comcast does not appear interested in fixing this issue for their customers as they have done nothing to resolve it. To say they cannot fix is clearly false. It would be a simple software update. They don't want to fix. It seems to me their aim is to drive customers to their native DVR service which costs ~$10/month. 

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@ChrisM60 wrote:

I have sent 2 support requests to Comcast on this issue and have not received a reply. There are also multiple threads complaning about the inability to disable the screen saver going back a few years now and Comcast does not appear interested in fixing this issue for their customers as they have done nothing to resolve it. To say they cannot fix is clearly false. It would be a simple software update. They don't want to fix. It seems to me their aim is to drive customers to their native DVR service which costs ~$10/month. 

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is isn't a bug they have that as a feature. it is probably required by the bean-counters (insurance/loss/risk department) to prevent claims of burnded in devices where an image is left too long on some old technology and OLED screens.

I just discovered this screen saver limit. Xfinity lets me run my apps but screen saver kicks in while the app (Spotify, for example) is actively displaying on the screen.  Yes, I set it out to 5 hours now, but that makes no sense. It should not go into screen saver mode while the program (app, stream, or tv service) is active.

"Off" would be the obvious solution, but it's not an option.

They need to stop this non sence it should be the customers choice