Dear Comcast: Your DVR Sucks
While watching the season premiere of 24 last night, my Comcast cable box (a Motorola DCT6412) froze up on me. This is not new behavior, and it is not behavior that Comcast’s support staff knows how to fix without simply advising a reboot. I let the episode record to completion and watched the rest of it today. I then wrote the following letter to Comcast regarding their lousy cable box.
To Whom It May Concern:
I have been a subscriber to Comcast Digital Cable (account number XXXXX) for about four months now. I originally signed up for Comcast service in early 2003 at my apartment. After moving to my current home in May 2005 I decided to try Dish Network, but quickly grew dissatisfied with the quality of Dish’s service and switched back to Comcast in September. Because I have a high-definition television, I signed up for Digital Cable and obtained a Motorola DCT6412 dual-tuner cable box with Digital Video Recorder (DVR).
Although I have generally been satisfied with Comcast’s video quality, my Motorola DVR has been problematic. Comcast’s customer service agents have been unable to offer any advice beyond resetting the DVR; this usually alleviates problems in the short term but causes a recording in progress to be cut off. Frequent problems include:
- I see programs in the “My DVR” screen which have no title or description; which appear to be zero minutes in length; which show a recording time of December 31, 1989; and which cannot be deleted. Attempting to delete such programs results in the DVR locking up until I reset it.
- Immediately after turning the DVR on, changing the channel, starting a recording, or after a recording has finished, I see a message box which reads, “We have detected a service problem. Please call (an 800 number) and refer to code HW.” I can close the message box or wait a few seconds for it to close on its own; the message appears to have no impact on my ability to record programming or watch live programming, but its mere appearance worries me.
- While recording a program, particularly when the hard drive is nearly full, the video display freezes. I can still navigate through the menus, but trying to play any other program or view any live broadcast results in a screen that is black except for a bar that would normally display the playback position of a recorded program. Fast forwarding, rewinding, or pausing either displays no message or a “no” (Ø) icon. After I turn the DVR off and then on, a message reading “Unable to process request. Cannot delete while file is in use. Close file and try again. Code CIU” is displayed. After dismissing the message I see the same behavior as before the power-cycle. At this point I must unplug the box and plug it back in to force a reboot.
- While watching live television, especially when the hard drive is nearly full, trying to pause the broadcast shows the “no” (Ø) icon where the “pause” icon (||) would normally be displayed. The time bar, instead of showing the correct time, displays the current program as “To Be Announced” and the program’s end time as 4:30 AM. Power-cycling sometimes fixes this problem; at other times I must reboot entirely by pulling the plug.
- I am unable to raise the recording priority of several of my series recordings. In the Series Priority List screen, some of my series recordings have the same priorities although they are still displayed in the correct order: 10, 11, 12, 12, 14, etc. When I try to move a series lower than 14th higher in the priorities list, the highlighted series suddenly changes when I reach the duplicate 12s. Deleting a series causes the remaining series to be reprioritized, but there are still duplicate priority numbers.
- While recording one program, a message appears that a recording is soon scheduled to begin on another channel. My choices are “Change channel, record as planned” and “Do not change channel, cancel recording.” Because the Motorola DCT6412 has two tuners, I am able to record two programs simultaneously. I expect to see an option “Do not change channel, record as planned” so that the other show records in the background.
I have been satisfied with the breadth of Comcast’s offerings and I appreciate the convenience that comes with having a DVR. In most cases my programs record as I have planned, to Comcast’s credit; my Dish Network DVR was far less reliable in that regard. However, I am not alone in noting these problems. On the BroadbandReports Comcast forum (http://www.dslreports.com/forum/tvcomcast) I have read problem reports from many cable TV subscribers around the country regarding the Motorola DCT6412 and DCT6408. Comcast’s phone support is usually unable to suggest any resolution other than rebooting the DVR, which is not a viable long-term solution and does not resolve all the bugs listed above. In the interest of providing a quality viewing experience, I strongly suggest that Comcast resolve the above-mentioned software problems or find an alternate DVR vendor.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Jason Weill
February 1st, 2006 at 1:21 am
Nice job on the list of symptoms/problems.
Anyone else who reads this and has had similar experiences are urged to follow suit if not already done so.
Comcast relly needs to address this issue. The DVR is sweet, but there is no excuse for the poor operation. TiVo and others have had it down for years.
Thanks
Jason
February 11th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Hi Jason,
I’m seeing these same issues that you have described above.
While recording a program, particularly when the hard drive is nearly full, the video display freezes. The rest of your description exactly matches what I’m seeing. The only solution for me to un-plug (recommend by Comcast, but a real pain since I have re-download menus/guides)
While recording one program, a message appears that a recording is soon scheduled to begin on another channel. I see this and I also see another varient of this when trying to record Grey’s Anatomy and Crossing Jordan. It only lets me record one or the other. I eventually have to cancel one of the scheduled recordings and then record the other interactively when it starts (just using the REC button).
I see a message box which reads, “We have detected a service problem. Please call (an 800 number) and refer to code HW.” I used to see this more often, but I don’t see it much anymore. I was never able to narrow down a cause till I saw your post.
I see programs in the “My DVR” screen which have no title or description; which appear to be zero minutes in length. I’ve seen these as well. Again, it didn’t occur to me until I saw your post as to when they went away (which of course was during the re-boot for the other issues). It looks like these 0 minute programs were consuming space as well.
I’m moving to a new house in a few weeks and trying to decide whether to stay with Comcase, move back to Dish, or goto DirectTV. On the surface, I’m happiest with Comcast because when the DVR works, it’s great! It’s just all of those times when it doesn’t work that bothers me.
– Kevin
I finally replaced my equipment (and lost all of my recorded shows).
The new equipment started showing the same issues with a few weeks.
March 11th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
Hello, I have the Motorola DCT-6412 and also experience the same issues that you have all described. After contacting comcast about the problems numerous times they only offer me 2 soutions, resetting the unit and swapping it out. I have swapped it out with no resolution. When I complain anymore about the service problems, the only solution they offer is to come out to the property. They offer nothing but all day service appointments or once in awhile you can catch the “4 hour windows” which usually end the technician coming in your house with their filthy shoes on dirtyin up the place and replacing a few wires. I had Adelphia DVD/On demand previously and had box issues over there, but all-in-all the service was 10 fold better on Adelphias network, I don’t believe it’s the box at all.
March 17th, 2006 at 10:59 am
I have been encountering the same problems for about a month now (except the first issue). Mine is not an HDTV DVR, but a normal DVR. It should be noted that the “almost full” problems started when mine got near 60 minutes.
In addition to the problems mentioned, I have also seen it say that a 2 hour program was 180 minutes long. I have left it alone to see how long it would stay locked up, only to find the NEXT DAY that it had not resolved itself. The problems seem to happen with live tv, time shifted tv and recorded shows.
I have noticed sometimes that powering it off will fix it -sometimes you can’t power it off and have to unplug it. I have noticed that sometimes changing the channel will fix it, but not always.
I thought perhaps it was a heat problem, so I moved it to the top of the stack. That hasn’t seemed to help any. I am tempted to try putting a fan near it to see if it makes any difference (the installer told me they overheat since they have no fans). I wish it had a ‘defrag’ option.
The issues with this DVR have me seriously debating building my own (that I would have the source code to) – just so much work. I wish Comcast would take responsibility for their service being so unreliable.
August 19th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
I’m glad to see mine is not the only DVR box in the world that seems to think IT gets to decide which of my series is most important instead of letting ME decide. Currently I have 12 series in my series priority list. They are numbered 2, 3, 3, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 12, 19, and 28. None of them can be moved. If I delete a series and reinsert it, it shows up as another number 9. I’m constantly unplugging to force boot and/or calling for the “Big Signal” in which they send the strongest possible reboot signal and it takes all day to re-download info.
By the way, ABC is to blame for some of the “won’t record two programs at the same time” problems. If I have two programs set to record from ten to eleven pm, but one of the ABC programs from nine to ten pm doesn’t actually end until 10:03, it means that the DVR box sees those 3 minutes as an overlap and won’t record because it is already recording two programs (for three whole minutes, thank you).
Did you ever get a response to this letter? The comcast “reboot solution” is notorious, I’ve had six different DVR boxes, and the comcast technicians have been here so often I’m thinking of building on a room for them. I just wondered if you received an appropriate response to your very well-written letter?
August 19th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
Okay, I found this Motorola DVR bugs guide. It addresses some of the issues above, but, of course, carries a “proceed at your own risk” disclaimer. Here’s the link:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Bugs
August 28th, 2006 at 8:29 am
I have had the same problem with the “CIU” and “Can not delete flie while it is in use” errors. I had one PVR swapped out, second one had the same problem, am going to get a third one today from the cable company… 3rd time lucky? Or definition of insanity?
November 26th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
I do have some of the problems listed above. Actually I consider my self lucky that I don’t have more. I figured something out the other day I thought I should mention. I think the problem with the #s on the priority list is the cause of some shows not recording at the same time. It took me a while to move them around, since you can only move a show up so far on the list before it gets stuck. So I ereased many of the doubles that were on at the same time and added them agian. But if it gave me the option I chose to put them at the top of the list. Eventually doing this got it so none of my shows that are on at the same time are the same number. Now they will both record. I spoke with someone from comcast the other day and after a few times on hold, to be told to try basic operations “are you sure you pressed record” I realized she was just reading the manual. When I told her I had already done that, she finally told me she couldn’t help. I think we are on our own.
January 15th, 2007 at 11:24 am
i have a feeling that comcast DVRs run on windows ME