Dear Comcast, Why Is My DVR So Dumb?
At the risk of sounding like an infomercial…”Has this ever happened to you?” You set your Comcast DVR to record only new episodes of your favorite TV series, but it winds up recording every…single…showing, including all repeats? The problem is especially bad with a show like Project Runway, which Bravo seems to run on a continuous loop, clogging my DVR and requiring constant deleting. So I called Comcast to find out what the problem is. Turns out there are two main reasons, and neither of them are really excusable.
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The first concerns the cable provider’s Interactive Programming Guide (IPG), the TV listing you interact with as a Comcast subscriber. It’s called the i-Guide and it was developed by Comcast and Gemstar-TV Guide.
Networks provide all the data about each show for the i-Guide to Gemstar-TV Guide — things like episode synopses and whether each airing is new or a repeat. But sometimes networks forget to provide this information, which means your DVR can’t differentiate between what’s new and what’s old. “[The networks] are not malicious, not irresponsible, they just haven’t provided this data historically,” Todd Walker, Comcast senior vice president of product management, told me. Walker said that when a network is alerted to the missing data, they are generally quick to fix it. (A Bravo spokesperson assured me that it provides all the correct data to its cable partners.)
For comparison, I talked with Clent Richardson, TiVo’s chief marketing officer, who said his company’s DVR does not experience the same recording repeats problem that Comcast does. TiVo gets its TV show information from Tribune Media Services, which TiVo claims has better data. But since I don’t have TiVo, I can’t independently confirm this (any NewTeeVee readers out there care to pipe in?).
Once Gemstar-TV Guide collects all the network information, it stores it in a database. The company recently switched to a new database system and in the process, according to Walker, the “original air date” field was dropped. With no air date associated with each program, DVRs were recording every showing. But the problem was apparently fixed on Feb. 21, so it’s not supposed to be affecting Comcast customers at this point.
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The key word there is “supposed.” Whether I’m still suffering from a database problem or incorrect data, the screen grabs embedded here show that while I have the proper settings, the DVR keeps recording repeats. So it looks like Comcast has more work to do.
According to Walker, Comcast is rolling out tweaks to its DVR over the coming year. He said that new functionality will include a recording history to keep track of the shows you recorded, advanced search, and remote DVR scheduling. Granted, if having multiple Heidi Klums stored on my cable box is the worst of my problems, life is pretty good. But I’ve had the Comcast DVR for two years now, so I’m getting weary of all the bugs. Speaking of which, Comcast still hasn’t fixed that pesky key queuing issue, either.
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i have TimeWarner here in SoCal and it’s the same story with my DVR. Not only will it record billions of episodes of a show, even though i set it to NEW only… it also has this bizarre freezing problem where the unit no longer responds to remote-control commands. Grrr… I love my DVR, but boy do I dream of going Office Space on it sometimes!
kamRA on February 29th, 2008 at 11:39 am - Permalink
Time Warner = Same story. The Daily Show and Colbert Report are the worst offenders. I get 4 or 5 of each per day. Very frustrating…
Paul McEnany on February 29th, 2008 at 11:46 am - Permalink
And…am I surprised? No…
Paul McEnany on February 29th, 2008 at 11:46 am - Permalink
Thank you for writing this up. It drives me absolutely crazy. It is, in fact, the worst of the Comcast box’s 3,000 bugs.
dean @ t.a.m.s.y. on February 29th, 2008 at 12:02 pm - Permalink
We switched to Tivo. Saved our sanity. You really don’t realize how much the Comcast box and software suck until you’ve experienced how this technology should work.
Spend the cash - get the Tivo
Tom on February 29th, 2008 at 12:03 pm - Permalink
Hey Paul,
Thanks for commenting on the Time-Warner. I don’t have that option here in the Bay Area, and when I contacted them, a spokesperson said he hadn’t heard of this problem with their system.
Chris Albrecht on February 29th, 2008 at 12:14 pm - Permalink
I have the same problem with my Comcast DVR, and did not have that problem with my previous ReplayTV DVRs although I don’t know where they get their program data.
It was particularly bad after Law&Order:CI switched to USA. Since reruns of L&O:CI play approximatly 127 times a week on USA, the inability of the DVR to pick out the single new episode a week was galling. I was forced to do a time period recording.
Bill G on February 29th, 2008 at 1:18 pm - Permalink
I love my Tivo, but its not perfect either. Let’s say that you are taping Jim Cramer’s show “Mad Money”. It runs live at one point in the evening, then the taped repeat airs later in the evening. It’s the same show, but it’s labeled as New each time. Now, it most certainly is a repeat, but since its targeted at the west coast, its “new to them”. Since it’s labeled as New, it gets recorded twice, wasting space.
But here’s the thing: A show like Mad Money rarely reruns, like a pre-taped show might. Instead, the only person or thing looking at the New and Repeat labels for shows like this (live broadcasts) are DVRs. So, the right thing to do is to label the live broadcast as New and the taped repeats as, well, repeats. Because I Tivo a collection of CNBC live shows, I wind up with multiples of each of them due to this mislabeling.
BTW, the simple use of the Show ID/ep # would eliminate this problem. Most every show broadcast has an ID of some kind which can be used to identify the episode, even live shows like news or sports. DVRs are computers; perhaps they should use the “metadata” the way other computers do.
Michael Wexler on February 29th, 2008 at 1:37 pm - Permalink
TiVo suffers the same problem, with different shows. Michael Wexler described what happens — I see this happen with the Daily Show. But with TiVo, you can limit the total number of episodes of a given show it can store, which keeps repeats from filling up your drive.
Dwight Silverman on February 29th, 2008 at 3:18 pm - Permalink
I have Tivo, and suffered the same problem with The Daily Show and Colbert Report (multiple showings per day, all considered “new”).
I finally gave up and created a day-and-time subscription. In this manner, Monday thru Thursday, I record the 10PM hour on Comedy Central (I run into too many conflicts with the 8PM hour).
Reece Shiloh on February 29th, 2008 at 3:49 pm - Permalink
Even a TiVo will get clogged up with assorted duplicate programs when networks like TLC take two 30 min programs and make the program guide display the show as being an hour long.
I still think the TiVo is the quickest, easiest to use DVR around.
rob friedman on February 29th, 2008 at 4:37 pm - Permalink
Also just to add in, TV networks and cable companies have nothing to loose with the disparity of consumer electronics being as bad as it is, eg Cable cards vs a cable company provided DVR.
If the DVR doesn’t function properly eg, skipping commercials and fast forwarding through boring parts of a show, the advertisers and networks based around the industry gain involuntary viewer ship further beating lame slogans into our heads.
rob friedman on February 29th, 2008 at 4:42 pm - Permalink
Comcast is full of it. The issue is that its DVR does not have a way to keep track of what has previously been captured, like TiVo does.
What this means is if your Comcast DVR records a new episode of The Wire, or Project Runway the first time it airs, and then you watch it and delete it from the hard drive, the Comcast DVR does not remember it recorded the episode already, and then records it the next time the episode appears in the program calendar.
I guarantee that for as long as you leave the “new” episode on the DVR, it won’t be recorded again. The second you delete it, you’ll get another copy recorded the next time it comes up on the program calendar.
With Bravo and VH1 and MTV in particular — networks that run the same episode a few times a week for a month after it airs — the DVR gets schizo and frustrates everyone!
It is infuriating!
Andrew S. on February 29th, 2008 at 4:44 pm - Permalink
Actually, the problem with TiVo isn’t as quite acute as some earlier commenters have said, at least with our setup (series 2 180GB dual-tuner). It’s gotten much better at picking out new airings of the Daily Show and Colbert, although it still barfs on some Mondays and whenever the shows go into repeats during regular airings (though not, oddly, during the writer’s strike reruns).
But the gripe about TiVo picking up every episode of the endless marathons on channels like Discovery and Bravo is spot-on. We ended up limiting the number of shows the TiVo would keep on these channels to five, which at least keeps the problem manageable.
David Hamilton on February 29th, 2008 at 4:49 pm - Permalink
I had MOXI back in the day… i’m going to see if TW still carries it… I loved that interface and I don’t recall having any issues recording shows.
kamRA on February 29th, 2008 at 5:35 pm - Permalink
These types of problems generally don’t exsist with Tivo. The only time I have come across this is with shows that are run as new and rerun the same day…possibly a few times…such as the mentioned above with CNBC…or in my case Larry King on CNN.
However, Tivo offers a qiuck fix to all of these kinds of issues. It just requires one to know the features and how to use them. I haven’t found Dish or Directv DVRs near as friendly and they don’t offer the “work arounds” that Tivo does. I have tried most DVRs out there and haven’t found any that compare to Tivo.
Bobby K on February 29th, 2008 at 7:13 pm - Permalink
I was going to write a long comment detailing my problems with my Comcast DVR, but decided this was all I needed to say.
AMEN
Paul on February 29th, 2008 at 8:56 pm - Permalink
The one common thread I think everyone is missing is that all the issues we are all having are the sole province of CABLE networks, not broadcast ones. Since cable networks repeat their shows upwards of 12 krillion times per day to fill the gaping 24-hour maw, the problem is more acute on the Bravos and Comedy Centrals of the world.
Coming from the cable industry, the Comcast explanation, while lame, is actually accurate. I have DirecTV and Tivo and I have to periodically check the “To Do” list to make sure that only the 11pm Eastern Daily Show gets recorded. It’s a flaw, but it will never get fixed because they have more important priorities. Like figuring out how to keep raising your rates for crappy channels.
Matthew Chamberlin on March 1st, 2008 at 10:11 am - Permalink
[...] Chris Albrecht asks, “Dear Comcast, Why Is My DVR So Dumb?” [...]
Comcast’s Mentally Challenged Technology | BY THE BAYOU on March 1st, 2008 at 1:17 pm - Permalink
I have a TiVo series 1 for analog channels and a Comcast DVR for digital. Plus it’s greater storage capacity. But on top of all the problems I have in common with other Comcast and TW posters here is:
When I go to “Scheduled Recordings” on the Comcast unit and tell it NOT to record a scheduled show, it records it anyway and deletes a stored show at the bottom of the storage pile I wanted to keep.
jnik on March 2nd, 2008 at 12:54 am - Permalink
The answer to your question is easy. They don’t care. DVRs are killing the existing model, even for Cable Companies who make a ton of cash selling advertising that they then play OVER THE TOP of time already sold to other advertisers.
Buy a TIVO, and send a REAL paper letter to your cable company, telling them that their business model will fail, eventually.
Micah Douglas on March 2nd, 2008 at 8:46 pm - Permalink
THE reason I switched to Dish Network, their DVR recordings are exactly as programmed. Still have the issue with late running sporting events running into recordable shows…
Jason on March 2nd, 2008 at 8:51 pm - Permalink
I have a Comcast box here in SoCal - even though it is now Time Warner.
I have the same problems as others have - multiple recordings, the box freezing up (mid ff - so annoying)…
I just moved so I am waiting to have my service hooked up…maybe I will get a newer cable box?
Bender on March 2nd, 2008 at 8:53 pm - Permalink
This is so true.
The comcast DVRs are WAY behind my first generation TiVo in pretty much every way.
A few more things for your list:
If you start a recording, then accidentally stop it, you can’t restart it again.
There is no way to skip ahead. You recorded 7 hours of tennis on USA and you want to skip ahead to the last match, it’s going to take you 20 minutes of FFing.
Lag… My parents is way worse than mine, but somehow all ours end up with this lag between clicking the buttons and anything happening. So you click FF… nothing happens… try it again, and again and again… nothing. 30 seconds later your 4 FF presses all hit at the same time and the thing zips forward while you frantically are hitting the play button to no avail.
FF?? Next time you are watching HD, try hitting the FF button and notice that the first spedd FF is actually the exact same speed as normal play, just choppy as if it were FF, but it isn’t.
These things suck.
Chris May on March 2nd, 2008 at 8:57 pm - Permalink
The DISH DVR rocks. Cable sucks anyway. Cnet rated the DISH DVR the best.
Dawson on March 2nd, 2008 at 8:59 pm - Permalink
Same here in MN with Mediacom. I get like 4 Daily Shows a day if I do a series recording of “only new episodes.” I’ve resorted to manually setting up the recordings for every day instead of a series recording.
chris on March 2nd, 2008 at 9:04 pm - Permalink
Hey Morons,
I don’t like comcast any more than you do but if you think ComCast either makes the DVR’s or the firmware they operate with… You should trade your DVRs for a more simple device like a VCR…
BTW they’re made by motorola…
Dustin on March 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 pm - Permalink
I have zero problems with my comcast dvr. no idea what your problem is.
whitney on March 2nd, 2008 at 9:22 pm - Permalink
My sister has Comcast (Sacramento, CA area). Their DVR sucks for this reason, as well as many others. I have Direct TV (San Francisco, CA) and do not experience any of the issues that Comcast users seem to have. Direct TV isn’t perfect, but it beats the heck out of Comcast, IMHO.
T Shane on March 2nd, 2008 at 9:28 pm - Permalink
The exact reason I’m likely going to drop Comcast — that and the ongoing problems with lag. I’m SO tired of spending time deleting episodes and the DVR ruining shows when it plays catch up and fast forwards beyond a critical point in a show (something I don’t want to see).
jason on March 2nd, 2008 at 9:40 pm - Permalink
Perhaps the problem is the fact that you actually watch Project Runway.
Project Sucks on March 2nd, 2008 at 9:43 pm - Permalink
Cable companies are lazy about updating their equipment. I’ve given up hoping for “cool” features or even a dvr that won’t record the same episode twice.
They broke my spirit by continuously playing advertisements about how they are “bringing us the future”. I just can’t take it anymore! Game over man….gamer over…
Kikuchiyosesa on March 2nd, 2008 at 9:44 pm - Permalink
[...] read more | digg story [...]
Universe_JDJ’s Blog » Dear Comcast, Why Is My DVR So Dumb? on March 2nd, 2008 at 10:34 pm - Permalink
I have a Dish DVR. and I love it. But with The Daily Show, it ends up wanting to record every episode shown on Monday, and whenever Jon Stuart takes a week off. I’ve just gotten used to going through the record list while looking for conflicts, and stop it from recording the extra shows.
Leon on March 2nd, 2008 at 10:38 pm - Permalink
IDIOTS!!!!!
The DVR bases its decision on whether or not a show is new or not on the description of each show. Look at the description. If it says “new” then the DVR will only record new but if there is no description at all it will decide to record all the shows instead of none. IMHO this is a good thing, if the network is too lazy to submit a description at least the DVR compensates by getting them all so you don’t miss the important episodes. Go further into the DVR options and you will see an option to only record the show at specific times. This feature is to correct for the “problem” you’re having. RTFM!!!!!!!!
super smart guy on March 2nd, 2008 at 11:04 pm - Permalink
Dish Network has the same problem but mostly with “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report”. Hate it!!!
brie on March 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 am - Permalink
I have a Tivo and 2 comcast boxes. Tivo works perfectly (but mine isn’t HD), comcast sucks donkey. The biggest problem is that once your box fills up with a marathon whatever you didn’t really want, you have to press about 700 buttons to delete it all which takes about 15 minutes. Comcast licensed the Tivo interface, they just don’t have it rolled out but to one place yet.
james on March 3rd, 2008 at 12:48 am - Permalink
All I can say is my brand new Comcast DVR is the biggest piece of crap I’ve ever seen. After a couple of months of usage, I had to call Comcast tech support because it filled up even though all of my recordings use the option for “Save Until Space Needed”! There was another time when I stopped getting basic cable stations like MTV and CNN. In order to “fix” the problems, their only solution was to “send a signal” to my box which pretty much erased all of my recorded shows and my recording options. Worst of all - I cannot tell it to record shows with the word “debate” in them. I’m therefore forced to download the presidential debates over Bit Torrent. Comcast is a great example of what happens when you’re a virtual monopoly … you’re services and products are terrible.
Jon on March 3rd, 2008 at 1:12 am - Permalink
[...] loop, clogging my DVR and requiring constant deleting. So what does Comcast say… wellread more | digg [...]
Jonathon Zone » Blog Archive » Dear Comcast, Why Is My DVR So Dumb? on March 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 am - Permalink
I just moved to a new city where Comcast is the main option available and have been having all the exact same issues with my DVR. I think it definitely has to do with Comcast knowing people have very few other options, so why bother with things like customer service or upgrades?
I was with a much smaller cable company in my last city (I think they are only in parts of Florida and maybe a few other states?) and their DVR was MILES ahead of this new Comcast one and I had that DVR for 4 years! When a 4 year old DVR is better than a NEW Comcast one that’s something right there. I NEVER had issues with it taping reruns. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but I think I’ve noticed more bugs in one month using the Comcast DVR than in 4 years of using my old one.
Emily on March 3rd, 2008 at 2:19 am - Permalink
It’s the same thing with the DirecTV DVR units. They don’t differentiate well, and pretty much any show I “series” record grabs every single episode regardless of airing. Like others I finally gave up and just set a scheduled recording.
Also, related but not so much is the lag these units seem to get. Deleting shows is also horribly painful.
Charlie on March 3rd, 2008 at 4:59 am - Permalink
You can get Tivo from Comcast now
http://www.comcast.com/tivo/
There is an extra $3 pm charge.
Dave on March 3rd, 2008 at 5:12 am - Permalink
The Comcast in the Puget Sound area used to have a different DVR box run on Microsoft software as recently as one year ago. It ended up being pretty buggy (surprise) but one thing that it offered that Comcast’s does not was the ability to say, “Only record shows at this time.”
That’s what I’d really like for shows like “The Daily Show.” They’re on 4 times a day, but I can guarantee that they’re repeats. I really, truly, only want one a day.
It’s interesting to read that a fix went through the last week of February, because I have noticed a new behavior. Now, instead of recording four episodes a day, it records… 1 - 3. The number depends on complex star alignments, and may change suddenly when a recording that wasn’t on my “Upcoming Recordings” list springs to life at the last second.
I desperately want to change to TiVo.
Sam on March 3rd, 2008 at 6:00 am - Permalink
This article is great. It captures all the frustrations I’ve had with the Comcast DVR since I signed up a year ago.
I think it’s just shitty software programming myself. Their developers shoud be ashamed at the quality of their product. I can think of so many ways that I would program the DVR to record that does not include the original airdate or looking for the word “Repeat”…or “New”.
I had Dish Netword DVR before this and it was a such a dream. It was 10 times better than the Comcast DVR. I also have a TiVo and it is better than both Dish and Comcast.
I would think if part of the problem is the company that provides your database info then you would look to either change or improve the service. sigh…I guess that’s just Comcast being Comcast…it’s one of the perks of being a monopoly.
Beantown Comcastomer on March 3rd, 2008 at 6:08 am - Permalink
I work for a independent cable TV company delivering IPTV service. We use Tribune for our EPG data. We have deployed our own variety of DVR’s to our customers and have not run into these issues. So far I am pleased with the reliability of Tribunes data.
Swiftfeet on March 3rd, 2008 at 6:22 am - Permalink
Daily Show and Colbert are huge offenders, on ANY DVR. Jon Stewart has actually apologized a few times on the air about their lack of good guide data. The ONLY way Ive seen to know if Daily Show is new is that the info about the show goes from “A humorous slant….” to “comedy, news, interview”, or something like that. The repeat/not repeat flag is not correct in ANY of the guide data providers.
My DirecTV DVRs are getting almost as good as my Tivo at the first showing thing. Obviously its a lot better than the Comcast one. I think its more a matter of how willing Comcast is to help fix it. I know DirecTV is going to great lengths to work on their DVR, doesnt look like Comcast is joining that sentiment. Same goes for the only cable co. I could use around me (Optimum)….their DVRs need a LOT of improvement. They’ve been out for several years now, but still remain buggy.
ChrisH on March 3rd, 2008 at 6:36 am - Permalink
I have Time Warner in the Greensboro, NC market. My biggest problem is I will set my DVR to record a show and tell it to record every episode of something but only save 5 episodes. And it will save like every single episode. Last week I was skimming through my DVR looking for something to watch and noticed that one show that I set to record every episode but only save 5 had 27 episodes recorded. Good thing it was only a 30 minute show.
Michael Bennett on March 3rd, 2008 at 6:45 am - Permalink
its not comcast but the listing provider TV GUIDE
epic on March 3rd, 2008 at 6:59 am - Permalink
Not to defend Comcast here or anything (I hate them more than most people), but from your screen captures it could be that your DVR still has the old data. If the fix was only rolled out on the 21st, as you said, then your recording on the 27th may be because your device was still working from an old update. Not sure how Comcrap’s DVR operates but my Tivo generally holds about a week’s worth of IPG data until it updates so maybe your unit hasn’t gotten the fix yet. Just sayin.
screwcomcast on March 3rd, 2008 at 7:18 am - Permalink
[...] Anyone who has Comcast DVR knows that its automated recording program sucks, often recording dozens of repeat episodes, instead of only picking up new ones. Comcast addresses the issue - Newteevee [...]
Comcast Exlains why thier DVR Sucks | ZapNat on March 3rd, 2008 at 7:58 am - Permalink
Hate to defend Comcast as well, but honestly: Learn how to use the equipment before you complain about the company that provides it. “New” means “Marked NEW and in the SAME timeslot”. Anything other showing in an alternate timeslot (Daily Show, for example) or by another network is still going to be marked NEW for THAT TIMESLOT… If you want a time-slot recording, don’t pick series recording and then complain that the cable company sucks… that’s ignorant.
Also “lag” is unavoidable when sending real-time commands over the internet. The crappier your lines, the more people using those services in your area at the same time, etc, the more you’ll notice the lag. And this is not Comcast’s fault more often than you’d probably realize, especially in a newer neighborhood (CC sub-contractors do suck).
You all had the same chance I did to look at the available options and see what works best for you. If you chose a Comcast DVR and are unhappy with it, either learn to use it to your liking, or get rid of it. THERE’S NO CONTRACT. Whining just makes you look like a loser.
dut on March 3rd, 2008 at 8:09 am - Permalink
Anyone who defends the Comcast DVR is either a) retarded or b) lacks complete common sense. I had a tivo for many years and never had any of these scheduling issues. Also software updates on tivo are intelligent. That garbage Comcast box would reboot on the spot for new firmware, even if you are recording something. What’s that? Ghost hunters live halloween episode is recording? TOO BAD! NEW FIRMWARE TRAIN, COMING THROUGH! WOOOOWOOOOOO!
Bottom line, it’s garbage. I switch to DirecTV because that box is so f-king awful.
Stunod7 on March 3rd, 2008 at 8:32 am - Permalink
Well maybe it doesn’t want to record crappy reality television. Maybe it is telling you to go outside or read a book?
adam on March 3rd, 2008 at 8:32 am - Permalink
The TiVo upgrade from Comcast fixes these issues. I upgraded as soon as it was available in my area, and it’s a huge improvement over the existing DVR software.
Jay on March 3rd, 2008 at 9:46 am - Permalink
[...] Dear Comcast, Why Is My DVR So Dumb? « NewTeeVee At the risk of sounding like an infomercial…”Has this ever happened to you?” You set your Comcast DVR to record only new episodes of your favorite TV series, but it winds up recording every…single…showing, including all repeats? [...]
Trip Hop Clan » Blog Archive » Why TiVo stands out against all the other DVRs on March 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am - Permalink
I have Time Warner DVR NYC and am not experiencing this problem, which is interesting. Plus I also record Project Runway new episodes only no problem. Didn’t know how grateful I should be for what I got!
Now if only DVR could account for delays for sporting events….
assortedg on March 3rd, 2008 at 12:25 pm - Permalink
The DVR is the lowermost, stupid face on the totem pole of problems with Comcast.
Ian on March 3rd, 2008 at 12:47 pm - Permalink
To Chris “Hey morons”…
Wring.
The DVR hardware and software are commissioned by Comcast. The manufactures make the product to the specifications (and budget) provided by Comcast.
The manufacturers have no interest in the consumer experience. We are not their customer: Comcast is.
The DVR sucks because Comcast to too stupid/incompetent/cheap to request a product that works well.
It's their business model on March 3rd, 2008 at 1:11 pm - Permalink
Dude, get a TiVo. My first DVR was a ReplayTV - which was good for analog cable.
Then I got digital cable. The digital cable box did not like the Replay IR blaster - neither I nor Replay support could get it working. It consistently missed signals no matter what we tried. The digital cable box had a serial port, but Replay would not talk to it.
The TiVo series 2, on the other hand, would talk to the digital cable box via serial. Exit ReplayTV really really quickly.
My TiVo has yet to miss an episode without warning me. Only on occasion - and apparently only with Top Gear on BBC America and Good Eats on Food TV Network - has it recorded an old episode.
Plus, let’s say a movie comes up and I’ve already recorded it and moved it to my home server (I’m on the TiVo American Film Institute’s top 100 list).
I periodically take a few minutes out of my week, go through the TiVo To Do List, and clear out the movies I don’t want to record. The To Do List usually goes out about 12 to 14 days.
I highly recommend getting a TiVo for these reasons and more. It’s not a perfect device, but it’s doing a great job.
Philip Schlesinger on March 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm - Permalink
the reason the dvr is taping repeats is because the guide on that dvr is showing repeats as new in the information of the show.
bob smith on March 3rd, 2008 at 4:42 pm - Permalink
I have never, EVER, had a problem with my TiVo
Kevin Zaker on March 3rd, 2008 at 5:09 pm - Permalink
Ah yes, I have the exact same problem with stupid Comcast’s DVR functionality.
They suck.
Josh on March 3rd, 2008 at 7:58 pm - Permalink
tivo, dude, the first and the best, holla
peter on March 4th, 2008 at 4:09 pm - Permalink
Hi,
I recently talekd with an executive from Comcast on a personal level. I explianed the issues I was having with my Comcast box, which I never have with my Tivo box.
He honestly told me that it was the switch from Tribune Media Services Data to TV Guide Listings data. In the past, TV Guide did not resell their data, but now, they are practically giving it away to gain market share.
Unfortunately their database is geared towards their print guides and not set-top or digital devices.
Everyone here, should complain to TV Guide - not Comcast and tell them to get their data act together…
BDC on March 5th, 2008 at 7:47 pm - Permalink
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report does this way too much. I stopped recording them and just download them from illegally.
Bobby on March 6th, 2008 at 11:34 am - Permalink
I just got a TiVO HD, running it side by side with my Comcast DVR. Both have problems with repeats albeit sometimes with different shows, But the TiVo has a really bad way to deal with successive recordings, record one from 5:00-6:00 and another from 6:00 to 7:00. If you are watching live TV at 6:00 it will change channels on you and you have to switch to the other tuner to watch live TV. This is because they have a “feature” to record an extra minute in case a show runs over. I found this so annoying I am returning the TiVo! I guess I am stuck with this dreadful comcast DVR. Sucks.
baba on March 7th, 2008 at 10:12 am - Permalink
DirecTV works great. Has NFL Sunday Ticket too. :-)
Mad Hatter on March 10th, 2008 at 1:11 pm - Permalink
I have the Comcast DVR and one problem I’ve had is that if if there three shows that are scheduled at the same time (my local news repeats at 1:30am but isn’t listed as a repeat ) the DVR will of course cancel one recording. If I go to cancel the second recording (many times also a repeat that I don’t want), it will start to record the originally canceled third recording. If I cancel that recording it automatically toggles back to the first show I canceled. If I’m trying to watch live TV it wont let me because both tuners are trying to record a show even though I only want to record one show. I’ve actually gone back and forth several times trying keep the second show from recording but it just keeps switching to the previously canceled show. Eventually, it seems the DVR figures out that I only want to record one show but it is one giant P.I.T. A.
Chris Mas on March 13th, 2008 at 9:50 am - Permalink
As someone who was an early adopter of Comcast DVR’s, I too had the same complaint. While the DVR’s are revolutionary in theory, Comcast’s sucked!
I never quite realized how bad they were until I switched from Comcast to Dish Network and got set up with a 722 DVR from them. I was blown away from the differences between the two. It is so much better in every regard.
Darth Tater on March 13th, 2008 at 1:08 pm - Permalink
[...] Guide: Our Data is Good Last month, I lamented that my Comcast DVR was dumb because it repeatedly recorded the same episodes of shows that I liked. Comcast said the problem [...]
Gemstar-TV Guide: Our Data is Good « NewTeeVee on March 14th, 2008 at 7:52 am - Permalink
First to the guy who is calling everyone morons, please do your research next time before opening your big mouth.
You are right that Comcast doesn’t manufacture the physical cable box, but they DO make the guide AND the firmware. They also get their cable boxes through a bidding process and as such know exactly what they are giving you.
Now lets get to the firmware and guide. It was designed by TV Guide in conjunction with Comcast and a few other cable companies. However the Comcast one is slightly different from other cable companies’ I-Guides. Now, the “firmware” and the I-Guide are actually one in the same. You see the Motorola boxes come from the factory with Motorola’s custom software, which is actually quite amazing and I wish comcast used it. However, Comcast overrides this data with their own effectively gimping the cable boxes.
I have a DCH3416 which is pretty much a top of the line cable box with a whole host of amazing features including the ability to be a media server for PCs. All of this works great with Motorola’s stock guide but to get Comcast digital cable on these boxes you need to use their special card. This Cable Card overrides everything on the box and essentially turns it into a 10 year old POS digital cable box. So all the technology is completely wasted.
Dan on April 29th, 2008 at 8:21 pm - Permalink
There may be good news for us Comcast digital cable customers! A few months ago they rolled out the result of their partnership with TiVO in New England. It’s Comcast Cable but it uses a TiVO guide and DVR instead of the crappy i-guide! If it’s successful they may roll it out in more regions nationwide. I live in Philly, Comcast’s headquarters so I am hoping I will be one of the first people in the next roll out.
I don’t hate Comcast the company as so many people seem to do, I have never had a problem with them. However I do hate their I-Guide. It’s HORRIBLE, the DVR part isn’t so bad I really don’t mind it, it’s the rest of it. The horrible lag between button presses, the freezing in fast forward or rewind and having to end up spending 15 minutes to fast forward through one commercial.
The fact that the I-Guide ignores pretty much every single feature on modern cable boxes drives me nuts. I have a top of the line Motorola box that has every feature under the sun, including the ability to attach external HDDs to expand your DVR space. Do ANY of these amazing features work with Comcast? Of course not! I don’t get why they keep buying more modern boxes anyway when they all run the same 10 year old software. The lag issues do NOT come from the hardware they come from the piss poor programing of the I-Guide and the fact that the I-Guide was not designed to run all of the features that were duct taped on to it. It’s an inefficient piece of garbage and if Comcast doesn’t change it soon I may have to think about going to Satellite or ditching my cable box for a TiVO box with a cablecard.
Laz on April 29th, 2008 at 8:29 pm - Permalink
[...] DVR: Still Dumb But Doing Better A few months back I complained that my Comcast DVR was dumb as it didn’t understand the difference between new and repeat episodes for some shows, which [...]
Comcast’s DVR: Still Dumb But Doing Better « NewTeeVee on May 17th, 2008 at 12:40 am - Permalink
[...] cable. It’s all right there at literally the touch of a button. It always works (well, almost always), I have a DVR built-in and on-demand movies to rent. All the channels I want are available, and [...]
Why I Can’t Break Up With Cable « NewTeeVee on May 27th, 2008 at 6:43 am - Permalink
Just don’t ask Comcast Support about this. I ask tonight and they acted like they never heard of this problem and that I was too stupid to program a dumb dvr. The support sucks :P
john on May 30th, 2008 at 9:48 pm - Permalink
[...] The only saving grace? Knowing Comcast, if it does introduce these new devices — they’ll probably suck. [...]
Potent Portables: Comcast Going Beyond Boxes? « NewTeeVee on June 6th, 2008 at 6:08 pm - Permalink