Dear Time Warner Cable: Why Is My HD DVR So Stupid?

[Jeremy Charette]

Dear Time Warner Cable,<br /><br />A year and a half ago, I upgraded to HDTV, and started renting an HD DVR box from you. Man, what picture clarity! Sure, there's only a few basic HD channels (13, I think), but Discovery HD is incredible, and I love watching all my favorite shows from the big four networks in high definition.<br /><br />I have one huge complaint however. My HD DVR is pretty stupid. If I set it to record all new and repeat episodes of a tv show, it records all of them. Even ones it has recorded already. So if an episode of What Not To Wear comes on three times in the same day, it will record all three episodes. Why would I want three copies of one episode? Why can't my DVR tell that it has already recorded that particular episode, and not record it over again. And again. And again?<br /><br />So please, I'm begging you, fix the software in my HD DVR box. I only get about one week's worth of recordings right now, and over half of the shows on my DVR are multiples of an episode it's already recorded! I could have several weeks of programming on my DVR to watch, but as it is now, most of the shows I've recorded get automatically deleted due to limited space! It's frustrating I tell ya'.<br /><br />Thanks,<br />Jeremy Charette

[cameron]

What box does TWC provide? Comcast provides the Motorola 6412 - which does the exact same thing.

Extremely annoying.

[Vincent Ferrari]

You record What Not to Wear? 8O

Just kidding. It's funny because Time Warner and Cablevision (NYC) use the same equipment but different software and I've heard Time Warner customers ranting like mad about the box I have that I love... You're probably right... It's probably just a software issue...

[Jeremy Charette]

I record What Not to Wear (or WNtW as those in know call it) because it gets my lady friend to come over and watch TV with me. Well, she watches TV, I just watch her. :wink:

I have the Scientific Atlanta 8300HD. With non-OEM software, some special brew that TWC uses.

The worst offender is Holmes on Holmes. I have like a dozen copies of the same episode for no reason whatsoever. Stupid, i tell you.

[jeffd]

Jeremy, unfortunately ALL pvr box's suffer from this flaw. Its linked to the fact that description data more often then not, does not contain episode data (or accurate data) and afaik, no box has an A.I. set up to compare descriptions to see how alike they are and determin reruns. I had their old pvr box and I prolly deleted more reruns then I watched new episodes. ^^

[sundown]

I've not made the step up to HD yet but I have a similar problem with my Dish DVR. Ever since they switched to Transmedia Services for their listing, it records shows that aren't new (even though I specificed new only), records shows I didn't tell it to record, and shows the wrong info for the shows it manages to record. Prior to the switch in data provider it was PERFECT, with none of these problems.

Based on my own experience, I wonder if the problem is with the data and not the hardware.

[Jeremy Charette]

AFAIK TiVo boxes don't have this problem.

[Jason Dunn]

I have a Motorola PVR, and it's completely, utterly, and totally stupid and dysfunctional. I loathe it. :evil:

[aroma]

I record What Not to Wear (or WNtW as those in know call it) because it gets my lady friend to come over and watch TV with me.

Uh huh.... sure.... nice excuse. ;)

I don't have a lot of series setup to record on my MCE box (maybe 4 I think), but luckily I've never seen this issue on that box.

[EscapePod]

I have the Scientific Atlanta 8300HD. With non-OEM software, some special brew that TWC uses.



I have the same box from BrightHouse (formerly TWC). It is amazing how much they have its capabilities hobled. I went to the Scientific Atlanta website and read about all its capabilities -- amazing device. However, they post the disclaimer that the cable provider sets the configuration, and if something you want/need is disabled, you should contact your provider. ..... yeah, they're going to listen to me.

[that_kid]

I hear this complaint all the time from my co workers. Luckily I haven't had this problem with my Sage setup.

[buckyg]

Weird... I have TWC and 2 Scientific Atlanta HD DVRs but don't have this problem. One I don't record much on, other than the times when my wife wants to watch something on one TV and I want to record 2 other programs.

The problem I do have with the main box is that it randomly says it records an entire program. Then when you go to watch the recorded program, it only got 80-90% of it. Yeah, I need to go switch it out at the store. I'll probably get the same random answers everyone else gets.

[Crocuta]

About 6 months ago, there was a thread on here where everyone was saying something along the lines of 'I just don't understand why you'd pay all that money for an HD Tivo.' Some of us tried to explain it, but none of us did as good a job as this entire thread has done. THIS is why you spend the money to have Tivo! If you buy a Yugo, don't expect it to win at Indy. 8)

[Jeremy Charette]

The TiVo series 3 just dropped to $499 too. Damn. If it was $299 I'd jump. Still just a little too spendy.