Issue Viewing Paused Program While it is Recording - Contour Record 6 DVR

Becky,

Thank you for your reply.  Unfortunately what you address is not my problem at all.  My problem has nothing to do with back-to-back recordings or watching any recorded program. It is an issue that occurs when I am recording a program and watching it at the same.   It is an issue, quirkiness, with pausing live TV.  It is not operator error, but rather a flaw or defect with the DVR or Contour service.  Let me try to explain again.

If I pause live TV for a program that is also recording on the DVR, when I resume watching the paused live program (NOT the recorded program) it will jump to the live channel at the conclusion of the live recording.  So, say I am watching the NBC national news live and also recording it.  This program airs from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM. If I pause the live program say at 6:35 PM for 15 minutes and then resume watching it (on a 15 minutes time shift delay), as soon as it is 7:00 PM the DVR jumps to the live channel and the program that begins after the news ends at 7:00.  This causes me to miss the end of the time shifted news program I was watching.  I then have to go into the DVR recorded program list and select the just-recorded program and fast forward to the point I was interrupted.  It appears to be a synchronization issue between the tuner that is recording a channel and the tuner that is showing the same channel live or time-shifted..

My prior 2-tuner SA DVR never did this.  Pausing live TV should simply be a 1 hour buffer independent of anything that is recording and independent of one program ending and another beginning on the same channel.

Other quirky behavior of the DVR when pausing live TV includes:

1.  If  I pause a program at the beginning, say within the first minute, and then try to rewind a few seconds, it jumps to the beginning of the program rather than rewinding.

2.  Sometimes when resuming paused live TV, even if nothing is recording, the time-shifted program I resume watching reaches its end and the DVR jumps to the live channel rather than continuing (carrying over) into the next program with the remaining time shift delay.

In summary, the "pause live TV" feature of the DVR seems quirky.  Hopefully the next firmware update will resolve these issues.

Sorry if my problem descriptions are not clear.

Thank you.

Stephanie,

Thank you for your prompt reply.  Yes, this does sound more  like the problem I am experiencing.  I am glad to learn that it is a known issue and that a fix is in work.  It is very frustrating, as pausing live TV is a basic, simple function of any DVR.  It is very disappointing that this basic DVR function does not work properly on the DVR's that Cox is putting out with Contour.

Before this reply, I did some "tests" with my DVR to verify some of the errors that are occurring with HD channels.   (I have not tested this with non-HD channels, as I only watch HD channels.)  Here is a summary of some of the bugs:

1.  With no program being recording, when I pause a live HD channel program, the buffering ends when the next program starts and I am forced to the live channel broadcast, losing what I had buffered.  For example, with a program paused at 5:55 PM, at 6:00 PM the DVR starts showing the new "live" program on that channel that begins at 6:00 PM.  I lose the 5 minutes I buffered.

2.  If I pause a new program at 6:03 PM and then try to rewind, the DVR immediately jumps back to the 6:00:32 point.  There is no way to rewind the first few minutes of a program.

3.  Even worse, if I am in the middle of a 30 minute program and try to rewind, the DVR sometimes (not always) jumps to the beginning of the program, or even worse, it sometimes goes "live" when a rewind is attempted.  In short, it is very risky to ever try to rewind a paused program, because of the risk of the DVR losing its place or going live.  Fast forwarding a paused program is the only function that seems to work reliably. (But only up until the hour or half-hour time hack!)

4.  The time "ruler" scale that appears at the bottom of the screen when a program is paused is rarely correct.  If I pause a program say at 6:20 PM and then try to rewind, the time marker jumps back to 6:00:32, even though the time in the program I am actually watching may be 6:10 PM. Then, as I continue to watch the buffered program, sometimes the program time marker never moves even though the program is playing - it sometimes stays stuck at 6:00:32 making it impossible to rewind, because the time marker thinks it is already at the beginning of the program.

5.  The window of opportunity to watch any program that is paused is within the program duration, because as soon as the next scheduled program begins, the paused/buffered program is lost and the DVR reverts to the live channel broadcast.  So one can not pause a 30 minute program for more than 30 minutes because as soon as the half-hour or hour time hack occurs, you are forced out of the buffered program and into the live program.  If I pause a 30 minute program at 6:15 PM and resume watching it at 6:25 PM, I can only watch 5 minutes of it because at 6:30 I am kicked out of the buffered program and into the live channel broadcast. There is no way to rewind back before the 6:30 time.  The last 10 minutes I had buffered is lost forever.

6.  It is impossible to rewind a paused program beyond the beginning of that paused program and into the previous program I just watched live.  If I am watching a program from 5:30 - 6:00 and then stay tuned to the same channel as the 6:00 program starts and later pause the 6:00 program, I can not rewind back into the 5:30 - 6:00 program.  I can only rewind to the 6:00 point in time.

In summary the pausing/buffering of live TV is very buggy and fraught with errors.

I hope this is fixed very soon.

Thank you.

THScott,  DITTO! DITTO!  Thank you for posting this.  We are having the same issues. I was going to try to say the exact things you did.  Glad to see we are not alone.  Waiting for the firmware updates as well.

This sort of relates to the time code issues. We were watching a recorded show then just about 10 min ago the Contour system rebooted, for no reason.  When it came back on the time recording length of our show changed from 120 min to 1192:41!  I don't think I will be able to watch the end on the show tonight.......

Cox:  Any updates on the fix for this issue as far as when the next software or firmware update will be pushed out?  I think this is such a fundamental flaw with the new DVR and/or Contour, that a fix would be expedited - meaning in a few days, not weeks or months.  I can't imagine anyone signing up for Contour if they knew their new DVR could not pause and rewind a program.

Again, the issue is the inability to reliably pause live TV and rewind on high definition channels. 

Last night I paused a program for a few minutes to answer the phone, when I returned I tried to rewind to watch what I had missed and was forced to the live program - once again losing the buffered program and everything after I paused.

Very frustrating.

Thank you very much.

thscott said:

Cox:  Any updates on the fix for this issue as far as when the next software or firmware update will be pushed out?  I think this is such a fundamental flaw with the new DVR and/or Contour, that a fix would be expedited - meaning in a few days, not weeks or months.  I can't imagine anyone signing up for Contour if they knew their new DVR could not pause and rewind a program.

Again, the issue is the inability to reliably pause live TV and rewind on high definition channels. 

Last night I paused a program for a few minutes to answer the phone, when I returned I tried to rewind to watch what I had missed and was forced to the live program - once again losing the buffered program and everything after I paused.

Very frustrating.

Thank you very much.

Hi thscott,

I haven't seen any announcements about the update to fix this but the article still says it is coming. I apologize for the delay. 

Ditto to thscott's feedback and frustration.  Previous DVR boxes could pause indefinitely and could rewind for at least an hour regardless of live program changes.  A fix for this issue is long overdue.

I am having this same issue. 

The buffering stops immediately when the next show starts. So if I am watching a show from 11:30-12. I pause it at 11:45, and resume it at 11:55. At 12:00 it jumps to the show starting at that time, and I lose the last 10 minutes of the previous show that should be buffered.

It happens to me every day and it is extremely frustrating. There is no point in pausing live tv, if you will miss the end of the show.

thscott's original post was over a month ago. Why is it taking so long to fix this? This is a standard function on every dvr in the world.