Xfinity DVR refusing to record shows

[annv1]

@fastbeemer  - same! - FXHD does not appear under the 'Free to Me' version of the Guide, but it is one of my channels and will not allow recording.

[Spazzo73]

I spent 2 hours on the phone on Saturday and basically was told today is the streaming app is messing up all other aspects even the hard box we use. How us that for stupidty. And its everyone on comcast not by state.

[rkob0618]

I have 2 series recordings set up for Sunday night shows on the Smithsonian Channel and both of them recorded just fine last night.  Scrolled through scheduled recordings for the same shows next Sunday night and both show 3 red dots.  I'm in Dearborn MI, just outside of Detroit.

[Spazzo73]

I spent 2 hours on the phone on Saturday and basically was told today its the streaming app messing up all other aspects even the hard box we use. How is that for stupidty. And its everyone on comcast not by state. Epic failure comcast

[Spazzo73]

Is the Smithsonian channel included in the basic package? I forgot to mention it is the expanded channel packages. So the 100 to 220 options and not the added on channels like HBO and Showtime.

[upupandaway]

I just sent an email to xfinity upper management and am also posting to reddit, which is the other support forum mentioned on the xfinity site.  The tech here in utah is clueless.  Nobody at xfinity moniters the support forums (big mistake).  No nationwide (or global for the ones in India) tech bulletins (big mistake).  No communication with customers (big mistake).  Customers should be flooding xfinity with emails.  No way to run a business.  We should be seeing things on their website like we see when there are outages.  This is a nationwide issue that affects all customers--all locations.  But, XFinity is Silent.  Absolutely Worst thing they can do.

[AndersonBKellog]

Also in Utah. Couldn’t record anything (from cable channels) last night. I figured it was a storage issue, or a recording conflict. I cleared up a bunch of free space on my DVR, and tried to set up a recording without conflicts. I keep getting the “recording cancelled” icon (🚫) whenever I try to record something. I can, however, record local programming.

I’ve been speaking with Comcast support all morning. They’ve had me restart my system 5 times (this morning). Still getting the same problem. It seems like they don’t know what the problem is.

[Deedeen80]

Same thing happening here. I’m in NJ, right across the river from Philadelphia. My parents are having the same issue. My mom spoke with someone yesterday morning and they had her reboot everything and then finally just said there was an outage in the area and they are working on it. Yeah okay! They are clueless and need to fix it ASAP!!!

[upupandaway]

I think everyone can safely assume that rebooting everything is not going to solve the problem.  We can all also conclude that none of the comcast techs have any idea what is going on so it is a complete waste of time to call them.  If anyone gets any solutions from comcast feel free to post.

[Anonymous202]

I have the same problem. I can’t record cable shows but regular broadcast stations do record. Just started yesterday (11/22/20).  I have rebooted a couple of times. My DVR is about 37% full.  So far nothing has helped. I’m hoping that Comcast is working on it. 

[j_mobile]

I also wanted to add that this issue makes Rokus, and other boxes that one might use to stream Xfinity content, almost useless! All content outside of the most basic broadcast channels, is completely blocked and won’t play, as the system is saying that you’re not subscribed to anything, and therefore you can’t stream these channels that you are not subscribed to.

[Shannon77]

Keep your fingers crossed everyone! My husband called the corporate office and they directed him to someone in Arizona. The Comcast employee had not heard or seen these issues. The employee is contacting their engineering dept. and informing them about this nationwide issue.

[Eaton286]

I’m in Utah too and noticed it Saturday night. I talked on a chat with a tech on Sunday afternoon. They said they were aware of some broadcasting issues with certain channels and that is why it was probably happening. I did ask for a discount on my bill since I wasn’t being provided with my full service I was paying for. They did give me a $5 credit. They also said another tech would contact me in 1-3 days with more info. to see if it was resolved yet.

[upupandaway]

I just received this message from xfinity. I live in Utah. However, I am not at home to verify it is working. Anybody else verify it is working?
“ Good news—the outage has been resolved! Thanks for your patience. Your services should be back up and running. Let me know if you're still experiencing any service issues.
1 - Everything is working
2 - I'm still having an issue“

[ds777]

i'm in utah as well.

i just tried to record ESPN and got the dreaded red circle...i'm going to reboot the system and re-test.

epilogue:

i reset the box and tried it again...still didn't work.

[jamie14]

I'm in Utah too.  But just tried it and still not working for me.  They said they would contact me when its fixed but I didn't get that same message.

[Pvgonzales]

I have been on the phone for over 5 hours with multiple agents who continue to tell me it's a device issue.  The technician came out yesterday and spent two hours replacing everything only to find it's a backend entitlement issue.   They can't even give me an ETA when the issue will be resolved.  The streaming app missing channels and the DVR scheduled recordings will not work until until they fix this issue which I have since Friday night.  My friend had the issue on Friday night but it was resolved on Saturday.   Unacceptable!!!

[Pvgonzales]

Tell them there's a master ticket on the issue and it's an entitlement issue on the backend

[upupandaway]

I just got home. False alarm. I have no idea what xfinity meant by their text message. Nothing has changed. Everything is still broken and no answers from comcast

[ND95]

Hi, I posted yesterday and wanted to say that I am in Northern Virginia and having the same issues for 3 days now.

Definitely a nationwide problem. Had my own 1.25-hour experience with comcast tech. It was narrowed down to possibly an X1 programming issue, not a DVR/box issue. So not in our houses, it’s in their house!

Since it seems like the different areas are not communication with each other (shocking since it’s a communications company), I recommend also sending comments/complaints to Tom Karinshak, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer at Comcast, https://support.xfinity.com/svp-contact-form.

Good luck!

[ComcastJessie · Accepted solution]

******UPDATE 11/25/2020********

We have received confirmation that this issue has now been resolved. If you are continuing to experience this issue we ask that you please reset your television box by unplugging it for 1 minute and plugging it back in. 

Thank you again for your patience as we worked to resolve this. 

*****Original Message******

All,

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that you are experiencing. We are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it quickly. 

We will provide any additional information as it becomes available. 

Thank you in advance for your patience as we work to resolve this. 

[brialusc]

Same here! 3 days now.

[Melisasharman]

We’re in Colorado and having the same problem and I am becoming incredibly angry. There doesn’t seem to be any traction. The fact that my favorite shows won’t record, now when I try to watch it on demand, it says I need a subscription that I already have. This is so upsetting that this happens to be going on during the pandemic. There doesn’t seem to be anyone working on it. And, of course since our county is on lockdown and we are having a ZOOM Thanksgiving, the ONLY thing we have to look forward to is to binge watch all of our show (that are not allowing us to access), we are very very frustrated..

[trekkertoo]

Just got off the phone with a service rep. Yes, they are now aware of the problem with series recordings and are working on it. It appears I can now set up individual recordings. I set up two upcoming single episodes for tonight and so far they are showing up in Scheduled Recordings. We'll see what happens at show time.

[ComcastMorgan]

Hi everyone. We appreciate you all bearing with us as patiently as possible as we work through a fix for this known issue. If someone is in need of immediate assistance, you're welcome to send me a PM directly. Otherwise, we will be sure to stick with our word of providing any additional information or updates and posting them here for you. Thank you!

[bnmnboys]

We are in Utah as well. Went to the office in Orem today. They said they are working on it, but no answer as to when it will be fixed. Would be nice to get a credit on our account.

[Shannon77]

We ALL should receive a credit!!! This took how many complaints and days and still not solved and they can’t provide any information/update!

[upupandaway]

I appreciate that ComcastMorgan has finally weighed in after 3 days of silence by the company. I just got off the phone with technical support.  My experience:  20 minutes to talk to someone in Mexico who denied there was a problem.  I then explained the problem and that it was nationwide.  She then agreed that there was a problem and she was aware.  When I asked why she lied to me, their was a pregnant pause and then she mumbled that I had not fully explained the issue to her.  I then asked if she was aware, what could she tell me about it that I did not already know.  She then said she would have to elevate it to "advanced repair".  I was then put on hold for another 45 minutes.  I then got someone in Columbia.  He then explained the problem just started yesterday.  I corrected him that it started three days ago.  He then agreed.    He said it was affecting some customers.  I said it was nationwide and affecting all customers.  He then agreed.  He said an incident report was issued yesterday.  I asked why the report was issued yesterday if the problem happened 3 days ago.  He then said the incident report was acutally issued 2 days ago.  I asked why comcast had not notified anyone.  He said they were preparing to send an email to all customers explaining the issue (a server problem).  I said put a notice on your website.  He said good idea.  (This is the 4th tech I have said the same thing to). I asked when it would be resolved.  He said he had no idea.  I said lack of communication and saying you don't know what is going on when you do is what leads xfinity customers to cut the cord and go elsewhere.  (Comcast employees feel free to weigh in.)  As for me, I have wasted enough time in the forums.  It does no good.  Comcast is unresponsive, in the forums, by phone, or by email.  As I said, leaving customers in the dark when there is a nationwide problem affecting every customer is suicide for a company.

[upupandaway]

Comcast Jessie, As an official Comcast employee, I suggest you post the issue to the website and any updates so all customers can see it.  This is a nationwide issue and all customers are affected.

[Didac]

It would be customer-oriented, appropriate, and very helpful IF:

• Comcast had a recorded message when one calls Tech Support informing customers that this is a known and nationwide issue and that Comcast is working on it.
• Tech support agents knew the nature of the issue or at least provided some educated information and not the usual, "Have you tried restarting your X1 box?" Since Saturday, I have wasted over 4 hours getting nowhere.
• Comcast issue a refund or a credit to thousands of customers for the many hours of lost unrecorded content due to this issue. That would be the right thing to do.

[dcfox]

---

@upupandaway wrote:

Comcast Jessie, As an official Comcast employee, I suggest you post the issue to the website and any updates so all customers can see it.  This is a nationwide issue and all customers are affected.

---

Just to let you know it is not all customers as I have no problems with this problem. I have had other singnal issues for a while though. So I am suprised I do not have this one. 

[LinkyFlyz]

Philly area seems to be back up now. Was able to set single and multi recordings. Future recordings are back in the list as well.

[Spazzo73]

Finally back up. But have to reset up recording. They all cleared out for for hallmark and Bravo.

[chfox]

We are able to record everything but movies.  Hallmark, AMC, Lifetime, TNT, and USA movies will not record.  I can't even record a movie on the Disney channel.  Anything else on the Disney channel (that isn't a movie) is recordable.  Just no movies.  Very odd.  This started for us on Saturday.  We live in Utah.  Like many others, talked to a tech Saturday who refreshed the tv and everything else under the sun but then told me it would need a more advanced tech, who was supposed to have called within 24 hours.  Of course, no one called.   

[upupandaway]

OK.  It would have helped if everyone would have said where they were.  However I am in Utah and everything seems to have magically fixed itself.  Comcast (XFinity) promised an email to all about the issue and something on the website.  They never did that.  Customers will never get any info on the issue -- just 3 days of frustration, missed recordings and viewings, hours and hours of holdings for tech support and hearing "your call is very important to us"  and no communication at all from Xfinity on the issue.  Let the company know.  That is the only way things get fixed.  Even there own employee said a few words in the support group but did nothing to encourage the corporate offices to respond to all the digruntled customers across the US or offer any compensation.  Apparently the customer support forums are dedsigned as a place for customers to vent their frustrations but not as a place to actually get comcast to do anything helpful.  That's not going to work for me.  I want results, not robochats, tech support from clueless employees in other countries  and commiseration from other frustrated customers, although that is nice to understand the extent of the issue.  For that, I do appreciate other customers chiming in.  

[Hoots711]

The issue does appear to be fixed in the philly suburbs.  Roku sticks to watch showtime anytime (for example) also seem to be fixed.

HOWEVER, it appears you will have to go manually find all your recording (since they dont show in scheduled) and rerecord them to remove the forbidden circle.

Not ideal, but at least my wife can watch 90 day fiance now (smh)

[Shannon77]

Yes I am located outside of Philly and mine appears to be working when manually re-recording movies I should have been able to watch three days ago! Will be calling to get my credit!

[Deedeen80]

It seems to be working now here in NJ. Of course I had to go through and schedule everything to record again. Ridiculous that it took this long to be fixed. They better comp all of our bills!!

[upupandaway]

If DCFox is still out there, I would be most curious as to what part of the country you are in.  You seem to be in a very select group that experienced no problem whatsoever over the last three days and waited until the problem was solved to contribute that you had no issue.  Please let us know where you are so others in the same area can see if they also had no issues.  It might also help Comcast to better understand what exactly happened and who was affected, since they still have not said anything to anyone.

Thanks.

[upupandaway]

By the way, I appreciate everybody checking in and bugging comcast about this.  IT really helps to band together on issues like this.  I don't know if it helps but I think they heard us.  I will post if I hear anything from management (or anyone at all)

[j_mobile]

In Seattle again, and the issue has been corrected. I did nothing, it just went from having the issue that we all here have been having, and all of a sudden was working correctly. It has been said already, but I really wish Comcast would communicate to everyone, via a letter, email, whatever, as to what the issue was and what it was caused by.

[upupandaway]

Pretty hilarious that ComcastJessie, a comcast employee and an administrator of this forum (as his title says) has now marked this as being answered, although comcast has provided no answers whatsover to any question that was asked.  ComcastJessie did say he would provide updates but never did.  Comcast Jessie, if you truly want to close this and say the question was answered, then please explain:

1. What happened to cause the nation-wide issue 

2. Why Comcast chose to never say a word about it to anyone, not even their own tech support.  Never even posted a message to their web page.

3. How Comcast plans to compensate customers for their inconvenience and loss of service, and exceptional frustration and hours wasted on hold and then working with clueless tech support.

4. How they plan to improve communication in the future.

[Shannon77]

Shout out to Annv1 for creating the initial issue/forum for all of us to inform Comcast of our issue/problems followed by our frustrations, loss of our precious time spent trying to resolve the issue, etc.

Thank you Annv1!

[saundman]

Having this problem in downstate Illinois. For me it is Fox and CBS local channels that won't record. When I call they act like I am the only one haning this problem! They obviously know that it is a problem to many people but they won't acknowledge that. I actually had this problem several weeks ago. They sent me a new cable box and still had the problem. Then several days later the problem mysteriously went away and now it is back again in exactly the same way.

[jbratko]

Having the same issues. Called customer service and that was no help. They are supposed to call back. I am not convinced this will be resolved as it seems to be a system wide issue.

[ComcastGabe]

Hi! Thanks for reaching out to Comcast for help with the DVR and app concerns! I definitely understand the importance of having all of the features working correctly. We apologize for the delayed response. In order to research this further, please send us a private message with your first/last name and full address so we can help.

[ComcastChe]

Hello @HGuinn, and others who are having recording issues. We appreciate you for using the Xfinity Forum to report your experience. It's been determined this is due to a technical issue on our end. We've identified the troubleshooting steps that should resolve this for you. Has anyone tried performing an Account Refresh to see if this fixes it? I'd be happy to complete troubleshooting on my end if further assistance is needed. 

Please send a private message with your full name and service address as it appears on your billing statement. To send a message, click on my name, "ComcastChe," then click send a message. 

[ComcastChe]

Hello @X10sen! 

Thank you for using the Xfinity Forum to report the problem you have with your recordings and the steps you have taken to resolve this resolved. I've had the chance to fix this for some customers by walking them through an account refresh or restarting the cable box. One customer fixed it by unplugging the box for about 2-3 minutes, and it worked after he plugged it back in. For you and others who have tried this and have been unsuccessful, feel free to send me a private message with your first and last name, and I'd be happy to help! To send a message, click on my name, "ComcastChe," then click send a message. 

[Amberh311]

Hello! The account refresh didn’t work. I don’t see where to send you a private msg. Pls help. I’ve tried a few things and no help. I do have a question are we not allowed to record the free tv week on previews for epic, HBO, etc. if it’s not in our subscription? I wouldn’t think it would matter as it’s free right now. Its not the only issue I’m having but it’s one. Sorry this is the only way I see to get some help is to respond here. Thx

[chuasni]

SF East Bay. I can't record either and have always been able to.