Why can't I rewind when I first turn on my TV?

Not so long ago I could wake up, turn on my TV, and rewind the channel I'd left it on overnight. Up to one hour. For example, I might purposely leave my TV set to my local NBC station so I could watch the Today Show the next morning. The show comes on at 7:00 AM.; I get up at 7:45, let's say. I'd turn on the TV, press Rewind on my Xfinity remote, and take the show back to the 7:00 AM start. (This would work ONLY with whatever station the TV was set to at start-up.) A couple of months ago, my Xfinity box started pixelating the picture at any random time, for no apparent reason. I'd have to reset the box to fix the problem. After a few weeks of this behavior, I asked for a service call. A nice young man from Xfinity came to our house, confirmed the problem, and swapped out the box. The new box solved the pixelation, but I could no longer rewind a morning show as I described above. The new box was also much smaller and lacked a digital clock.

I surmised that the new box lacked a hard drive that would allow me to rewind my morning show. So I visited my local Xfinity office and swapped that box for another one that looked just like the one I'd started with—clock and all. The following morning, I was able to rewind that morning show after start-up. Now I'm happy ... but that was the last time that Box #3 let me rewind the morning show. I figured that maybe I'd maxed out my recording time, so yesterday I deleted about 36 shows. I'm not sure how many hours that amounted to, but I see my drive is now just 56% full. That should do the trick, I thought, but this morning I still could not back up that morning show.

I could rewind my morning show back when; a replacement box let me do it just once. What's going on?

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XfinityMartyR

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2.6K Messages

7 days ago

Tater3 Thanks for reaching out, and giving us some great detail on your concern! Quick question, are you setting a recording for the Today Show each day?

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Tater3

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35 Messages

No. I know I can do that, but until recently I've never found it necessary. If I rolled out of bed at, say, 7:45, I could turn on my TV and—if I'd left it tuned to my local NBC station—I'd see the Today Show already in progress. I could then press Rewind on my Xfinity remote and roll the show back to where it started at 7:00. If I didn't turn on the TV till 8:10, I could roll it back just one hour—to 7:10. This process entailed no setting to record the show.

Yes, I could set my box to record every episode of the Today Show or any other show. Got that. (I'd need to be diligent about clearing out my recordings!) I'm just wondering why I've lost that one-hour rollback feature. It's especially puzzling that my new cable box let me do that the first morning after I installed it, but never since. It's weird, y'know? I hope you can offer some explanation. Thanks!

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6 days ago

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XfinityRichard

Official Employee

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2.4K Messages

Hi there, @Tater3 Several factors could explain why your new Xfinity cable box no longer has a 1-hour rewind feature, including a switch from a box with local storage to a cloud-only DVR. Unlike older boxes with an internal hard drive, new X1 and Cloud DVR boxes rely on cloud-based technology, which has different buffering limits.-Richard

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6 days ago

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Tater3

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35 Messages

Your explanation makes perfect sense, except for the fact that THIS BOX did let me enjoy the 1-hour rewind thing the morning after I installed it, but never again. (Side note: When I installed the new box, I could hear what sounded like a hard drive spinning. The sound may have been from a fan—I dunno.)

FWIW, I'll share details from the "About" sheet in the device settings—

Device ID: 3107543761812241667

Release version: 192.1.0

Release timestamp: 08/28/2025 7:56 PM

STB Timestamp: 06/16/2025 2:01 PM

eCM MAC: [[Edited: "Personal Information"]

STB Version: AX013AN_5.6p49s1_PROD_sey

XRE Protocol Version: 2.8.0

Receiver: Native version 5.6.0

Environment: a8c-hm

Please advise if you need any other information. Thanks for your time and your expert help.

(edited)

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6 days ago

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XfinityRichard

Official Employee

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2.4K Messages

Thank you, @Tater3 The Arris AX013AN Xfinity X1 DVR box uses a hybrid system that includes both local storage and cloud-based storage. Recordings are stored on the box's internal hard drive as well as mirrored to the cloud, giving you flexibility in how you access your shows. Are you getting any type of error message when you do try to go back 1 hour?-Richard

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6 days ago

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Tater3

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35 Messages

No error message. It simply rewinds the few seconds that have elapsed since the start and goes from there.

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5 days ago

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X1

Tater3

Why can't I rewind when I first turn on my TV?

XfinityMartyR

Tater3

XfinityRichard

Tater3

XfinityRichard

Tater3

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