Forum Discussion

Sweiss21's avatar
Sweiss21
New Contributor
7 months ago

Contour Cloud vs DVR

I have had nothing but problems with the cox DVR. Recordings were missed due to “the dvr being full”. I was only using about 10%.  I was in the hospital for a while and looked forward to coming home and watching my taped shows. There were about 15 that didn’t record. I called Cox and insisted I don’t pay for the time my programs weren’t recording. They pro-rated my bill. I have had to do this on numerous occasions.  Be prepared to spend an hour on this.
For the most recent issue they sent a tech who switched me to the Contour box with the cloud. I HATE it!  Here are the things that need to be fixed: 1-  I used to be able to pause live tv for up to an hour and now it’s only about 10 minutes. 2- while watching different channels I was able to go between the channels and rewind to the spot where I left off. This was great for going between two shows. New contour doesn’t do this. I basically have to record EVERYTHING in order to be able to watch shows I would normally just rewind. Small but annoying. -3 recording space fills up quickly. I know it’s “in the cloud” but that’s an annoyance too.  4- it’s a very small thing but I hate the ads/channel info, etc that show up in the guide. I don’t want them and I already have most of the channels they are pushing. Seems minuscule but I liked being able to see all the main channels (5-10) on one page of the guide. I know that’s not a big deal but it’s still an annoyance. Just not user friendly. 5- the new remote is horrible. When rewinding or fast forwarding it kind a freezes a bit so you don’t really see where you want to stop. It ff too far so then I have to rewind to get it back to the right spot. Then it rewinds quickly very far back. Going between channels used to be one step but now it’s two. The remote is heavier and the buttons aren’t great so with ALL of this extra use and the remote itself my hand really hurts now.  Also good luck finding the tiny “delete” button. 6- the volume button rarely works. Sometimes you can get the button just in the right spot and it will work but most of the time it doesn’t. I have to use my TV remote for volume. 
Tech told me all of the standard DVR’s are refurbished and after time the hard drive stops working. When they refurbish they may see that the hard drive is ok, not knowing it’s about to stop working. Of course every time this happens I lose all of me recorded shows and also have to set up my recordings. I have to take pics of the screen to be sure I set up everything I want. Yes I know I wouldn’t lose this on the new machine (also refurbished - seems like they have NO machines that are not refurbished)since it’s in the cloud, but other than that this “new” machine is horrible. It’s not user friendly and oddly enough it does LESS than the old dvr.          
- I would like for cox to make changes to at least make this contour as user friendly and good as the old dvr. A newer machine should definitely be better and it definitely is NOT. As I type this, I had a show on (which I had to record to just watch it) and it diverted to the screen with all different screens telling you stuff while whatever show is on tv is in the background. Hit play and it will just open whatever is on tv - not to the recording I was pausing. 
I will be looking for other alternatives that give me the same smooth use as the old one (except for the box issues). Too bad cable companies are a monopoly and don’t offer any other cable company choices. You can only get what is in your area and unfortunately I am in an area that only gets cox. That’s a whole other thing to get into which I won’t now. Something has to be done so that we have choices for our providers no matter what area you’re in.  This would make all of the companies step up to the plate having actual competition. As another poster said, we pay a LOT for cox and it is substandard. If cox sees these forums I hope they take some action to improve.  Also I’m trying to add a tag and it’s not possible. 
COX - get your act together!!!!!!!!

  • Hello, I am terribly sorry to hear you are experiencing these issues. I'd like to help. When you have a moment, can you please email cox.help@cox.com with name, address, and link to forum thread. If you need help with billing or other account specific issues, please reach us on Twitter at @CoxHelp, visit us on Facebook, or at cox.help@cox.com