Comcast's Motorola DVR Problems

I am using a Motorola DCT 3416 from Comcast and have been having a few
problems with it...

First off I wonder why there isn't a "skip forward" button like Direct TV
has. Was this purposefully omitted to make it more difficult to skip
commercials?

I'd also like to know if anyone else has problems with the DVR when
fast-forwarding. If I pause a station and then come back to it later, often
times if I fast-forward and 2x then the DVR ends up pausing- although the
LEDs on the unit indicate it is still fast-forwarding, it is paused on a
single frame and I must play and the restart fast-forwarding to get it going
again! Another problem I run into is the fast-forwarding skipping ahead 2
or 3 minutes. I've had this happen while skipping commercials; sometimes it
is so bad the unit skips to the next series of commercials!

Probably the most annoying problem I run into is the unit responding slowly.
I've had it take upwards of a minute for the unit to respond to a command I
issue with the remote. For instance, I might be watching a show and press
the rewind button; then I press it again since nothing happened, then I
press something else, and so on to see if the unit will respond. A minute
later all the commands are processed at once and I end up having to start
all over again. I've had this happen while the unit was fast forwarding,
once it kept on going right through about 30 minutes of a TV show before
stopping, then the same thing happened while rewinding and... well, if
you've experienced the problem you'll know how frustrating it is.

Anyone else dealt with all of this?

"David" wrote in message
. ..
I am using a Motorola DCT 3416 from Comcast and have been having a
few problems with it...


Try using the forums on Comcast web site. This is an Internet service
newsgroup. You should be able to get much faster and better answers
from the Comcast forums.

On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 19:54:05 -0400, "David" wrote:

I am using a Motorola DCT 3416 from Comcast and have been having a few
problems with it...

First off I wonder why there isn't a "skip forward" button like Direct TV
has. Was this purposefully omitted to make it more difficult to skip
commercials?

I'd also like to know if anyone else has problems with the DVR when
fast-forwarding. If I pause a station and then come back to it later, often
times if I fast-forward and 2x then the DVR ends up pausing- although the
LEDs on the unit indicate it is still fast-forwarding, it is paused on a
single frame and I must play and the restart fast-forwarding to get it going
again! Another problem I run into is the fast-forwarding skipping ahead 2
or 3 minutes. I've had this happen while skipping commercials; sometimes it
is so bad the unit skips to the next series of commercials!

Probably the most annoying problem I run into is the unit responding slowly.
I've had it take upwards of a minute for the unit to respond to a command I
issue with the remote. For instance, I might be watching a show and press
the rewind button; then I press it again since nothing happened, then I
press something else, and so on to see if the unit will respond. A minute
later all the commands are processed at once and I end up having to start
all over again. I've had this happen while the unit was fast forwarding,
once it kept on going right through about 30 minutes of a TV show before
stopping, then the same thing happened while rewinding and... well, if
you've experienced the problem you'll know how frustrating it is.

Anyone else dealt with all of this?

Yup, it's all painfully familiar stuff - even though I don't have the exact
same STB (I have a 6412 HD/dual dvr box), every "symptom" is basically SOP.

I swear every command issued by the remote controller is sent up the wire to
the head-end and the *real* command has to propagate back down to the STB
before anything actually happens. And God forbid you try to use the damned box
right around 8PM - the latency zooms up to close to a freakin' minute before
every damned button-press is turned into action.

Sorry, but you're stuck with what you got...

/daytripper

"daytripper" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 19:54:05 -0400, "David"
wrote:

I am using a Motorola DCT 3416 from Comcast and have been having a few
problems with it...

First off I wonder why there isn't a "skip forward" button like Direct TV
has. Was this purposefully omitted to make it more difficult to skip
commercials?

I'd also like to know if anyone else has problems with the DVR when
fast-forwarding. If I pause a station and then come back to it later,
often
times if I fast-forward and 2x then the DVR ends up pausing- although the
LEDs on the unit indicate it is still fast-forwarding, it is paused on a
single frame and I must play and the restart fast-forwarding to get it
going
again! Another problem I run into is the fast-forwarding skipping ahead 2
or 3 minutes. I've had this happen while skipping commercials; sometimes
it
is so bad the unit skips to the next series of commercials!

Probably the most annoying problem I run into is the unit responding
slowly.
I've had it take upwards of a minute for the unit to respond to a command
I
issue with the remote. For instance, I might be watching a show and press
the rewind button; then I press it again since nothing happened, then I
press something else, and so on to see if the unit will respond. A minute
later all the commands are processed at once and I end up having to start
all over again. I've had this happen while the unit was fast forwarding,
once it kept on going right through about 30 minutes of a TV show before
stopping, then the same thing happened while rewinding and... well, if
you've experienced the problem you'll know how frustrating it is.

Anyone else dealt with all of this?

Yup, it's all painfully familiar stuff - even though I don't have the
exact
same STB (I have a 6412 HD/dual dvr box), every "symptom" is basically
SOP.

I swear every command issued by the remote controller is sent up the wire
to
the head-end and the *real* command has to propagate back down to the STB
before anything actually happens. And God forbid you try to use the damned
box
right around 8PM - the latency zooms up to close to a freakin' minute
before
every damned button-press is turned into action.

Sorry, but you're stuck with what you got...

/daytripper


Glad to hear I'm not the only one ****ed about it. Maybe they'll fix it
some day. I won't hold my breath for a skip-forward button, seems like that
was intentionally left out.

On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 21:53:29 -0400, "David" wrote:


"daytripper" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 19:54:05 -0400, "David"
wrote:

I am using a Motorola DCT 3416 from Comcast and have been having a few
problems with it...

First off I wonder why there isn't a "skip forward" button like Direct TV
has. Was this purposefully omitted to make it more difficult to skip
commercials?

I'd also like to know if anyone else has problems with the DVR when
fast-forwarding. If I pause a station and then come back to it later,
often
times if I fast-forward and 2x then the DVR ends up pausing- although the
LEDs on the unit indicate it is still fast-forwarding, it is paused on a
single frame and I must play and the restart fast-forwarding to get it
going
again! Another problem I run into is the fast-forwarding skipping ahead 2
or 3 minutes. I've had this happen while skipping commercials; sometimes
it is so bad the unit skips to the next series of commercials!

Probably the most annoying problem I run into is the unit responding
slowly.
I've had it take upwards of a minute for the unit to respond to a command
I issue with the remote. For instance, I might be watching a show and press
the rewind button; then I press it again since nothing happened, then I
press something else, and so on to see if the unit will respond. A minute
later all the commands are processed at once and I end up having to start
all over again. I've had this happen while the unit was fast forwarding,
once it kept on going right through about 30 minutes of a TV show before
stopping, then the same thing happened while rewinding and... well, if
you've experienced the problem you'll know how frustrating it is.

Anyone else dealt with all of this?

Yup, it's all painfully familiar stuff - even though I don't have the
exact same STB (I have a 6412 HD/dual dvr box), every "symptom" is basically
SOP.

I swear every command issued by the remote controller is sent up the wire
to the head-end and the *real* command has to propagate back down to the STB
before anything actually happens. And God forbid you try to use the damned
box right around 8PM - the latency zooms up to close to a freakin' minute
before every damned button-press is turned into action.

Sorry, but you're stuck with what you got...

/daytripper


Glad to hear I'm not the only one ****ed about it. Maybe they'll fix it
some day. I won't hold my breath for a skip-forward button, seems like that
was intentionally left out.

Maybe I can give you some good news for a change :-)
I found a way to program a 30 second "skip forward" into one of the buttons on
the silver remote control for the 6412.

http://www.barovelli.com/tv/remotehacks.htm

It works precisely as advertised - a very nice feature you'll use often - if
you have the same remote. If not - start Googling - that's how I stumbled on
that rather obscure site ;-)

/daytripper

daytripper wrote:
Maybe I can give you some good news for a change :-)
I found a way to program a 30 second "skip forward" into one of the buttons on
the silver remote control for the 6412.
http://www.barovelli.com/tv/remotehacks.htm
It works precisely as advertised - a very nice feature you'll use often - if
you have the same remote.

And if you don't live in the state of WA, where this doesn't work.
Although it may start working soon, after the Microcrap software gets
dumped...


--

Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps.

....Emo Phillips

"daytripper" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 21:53:29 -0400, "David"
wrote:


"daytripper" wrote in message
. ..
On Sun, 1 Jul 2007 19:54:05 -0400, "David"
wrote:

I am using a Motorola DCT 3416 from Comcast and have been having a few
problems with it...

First off I wonder why there isn't a "skip forward" button like Direct
TV
has. Was this purposefully omitted to make it more difficult to skip
commercials?

I'd also like to know if anyone else has problems with the DVR when
fast-forwarding. If I pause a station and then come back to it later,
often
times if I fast-forward and 2x then the DVR ends up pausing- although
the
LEDs on the unit indicate it is still fast-forwarding, it is paused on a
single frame and I must play and the restart fast-forwarding to get it
going
again! Another problem I run into is the fast-forwarding skipping ahead
2
or 3 minutes. I've had this happen while skipping commercials;
sometimes
it is so bad the unit skips to the next series of commercials!

Probably the most annoying problem I run into is the unit responding
slowly.
I've had it take upwards of a minute for the unit to respond to a
command
I issue with the remote. For instance, I might be watching a show and
press
the rewind button; then I press it again since nothing happened, then I
press something else, and so on to see if the unit will respond. A
minute
later all the commands are processed at once and I end up having to
start
all over again. I've had this happen while the unit was fast
forwarding,
once it kept on going right through about 30 minutes of a TV show before
stopping, then the same thing happened while rewinding and... well, if
you've experienced the problem you'll know how frustrating it is.

Anyone else dealt with all of this?

Yup, it's all painfully familiar stuff - even though I don't have the
exact same STB (I have a 6412 HD/dual dvr box), every "symptom" is
basically
SOP.

I swear every command issued by the remote controller is sent up the
wire
to the head-end and the *real* command has to propagate back down to the
STB
before anything actually happens. And God forbid you try to use the
damned
box right around 8PM - the latency zooms up to close to a freakin'
minute
before every damned button-press is turned into action.

Sorry, but you're stuck with what you got...

/daytripper


Glad to hear I'm not the only one ****ed about it. Maybe they'll fix it
some day. I won't hold my breath for a skip-forward button, seems like
that
was intentionally left out.

Maybe I can give you some good news for a change :-)
I found a way to program a 30 second "skip forward" into one of the
buttons on
the silver remote control for the 6412.

http://www.barovelli.com/tv/remotehacks.htm

It works precisely as advertised - a very nice feature you'll use often -
if
you have the same remote. If not - start Googling - that's how I stumbled
on
that rather obscure site ;-)

/daytripper


I'll look into that. I use a Logitech Harmony remote but maybe I can teach
it the command. Might be worth keeping both remotes out if it does start
working!

Thanks

On 2007-07-02, daytripper wrote:
http://www.barovelli.com/tv/remotehacks.htm

By far the best site for information on Motorola dvrs is the wikibooks
page: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR

On 2007-07-01 21:51:50 -0700, Steve said:

daytripper wrote:
Maybe I can give you some good news for a change :-)
I found a way to program a 30 second "skip forward" into one of the buttons on
the silver remote control for the 6412.
http://www.barovelli.com/tv/remotehacks.htm
It works precisely as advertised - a very nice feature you'll use often - if
you have the same remote.

And if you don't live in the state of WA, where this doesn't work.
Although it may start working soon, after the Microcrap software gets

^^^^^^^^^

Now _THERE_
is the crux of the problem.

--

thepixelfreak

On 7/1/2007 6:54 PM, David wrote:
I am using a Motorola DCT 3416 from Comcast and have been having a few
problems with it...

First off I wonder why there isn't a "skip forward" button like Direct TV
has. Was this purposefully omitted to make it more difficult to skip
commercials?

I'd also like to know if anyone else has problems with the DVR when
fast-forwarding. If I pause a station and then come back to it later, often
times if I fast-forward and 2x then the DVR ends up pausing- although the
LEDs on the unit indicate it is still fast-forwarding, it is paused on a
single frame and I must play and the restart fast-forwarding to get it going
again! Another problem I run into is the fast-forwarding skipping ahead 2
or 3 minutes. I've had this happen while skipping commercials; sometimes it
is so bad the unit skips to the next series of commercials!

Probably the most annoying problem I run into is the unit responding slowly.
I've had it take upwards of a minute for the unit to respond to a command I
issue with the remote. For instance, I might be watching a show and press
the rewind button; then I press it again since nothing happened, then I
press something else, and so on to see if the unit will respond. A minute
later all the commands are processed at once and I end up having to start
all over again. I've had this happen while the unit was fast forwarding,
once it kept on going right through about 30 minutes of a TV show before
stopping, then the same thing happened while rewinding and... well, if
you've experienced the problem you'll know how frustrating it is.

Anyone else dealt with all of this?



David, in a later post you say that you use a Harmony remote. The
Harmony remote, at least the 880, already knows the 30 second skip
ahead, 10 second skip back commands. They are the buttons just above
the fast forward and fast rewind buttons.

The best place to get help with the 3412/3416,6412/6416 is the AVS
forums. Look for the threads on the 6412.

Bernie