Forum Discussion

ekhawaii's avatar
ekhawaii
Contributor
6 years ago

Recording issues when trying to Record programs onto my 2 Contour2 DVR host boxes

I've been having a discussion on another blog, and thought I would be fair to the original blogger to create another post.  forums.cox.com/.../change-start-time-on-scheduled-recording---contour-2

First, I would like to apologize to Ferfer for carrying on a conversation within his blog.

The issue in discussion was associated with a 2 DVR host Contour2 box system.  With the whole house system, I could not control where recordings were being recorded.  The boxes were 2record machines that often had recordings appearing on it that were initiated on the other machine.  Neither DVR could see the other, except that both would see the same Scheduled shows.

Cox in Contour1 had a help option to Isolate each machine from each other, which I do not see in my 2 boxes.  This option would absolute work for me.  I should probably switch to a 6record host and multiple client boxes, but I'm reluctant or too lazy to switch.  I guess I just like the pain of trying different options.

CurtB, Yes, I need to physically go to the other DVR to see its contents.  There is a pulldown of Family & Office of the recordings...appearing on both boxes as I showed in my image.  The disk space is different on both and the listed recordings under each are different.  I see shows appearing on Office DVR that were originated from the Family Rm DVR.  I will eliminate the scheduled recordings on both and start fresh.  When I record on a DVR, I also make sure that the Record On toggle is also indicating the correct box.  Hard to explain unless you have a 2 box system.  There is no way I see to force recordings, under 2, to go onto the DVR that initiates it.

  • CurtB's avatar
    CurtB
    Honored Contributor
    6 years ago

    ekhawaii, it's nice of you to start a new thread in consideration for user Ferfer, but for his issue... it is what it is.  Contour 2 doesn't provide the ability to do what he wants to do. 

    You might ask Cox about the possibility of replacing your two Record2 Contour 2 DVRs with one Record6 Contour 2 DVR and a networked Contour 2 client receiver.  That way, if you ever decide to swap DVRs, you could retain Contour 2 boxes, and still get improved efficiency and cost savings.  Just verify that configuration gives you all the DVR functionality you need from both the host and the client and hopefully provides you the parental control you want too,

    Before you do that though, you should follow up on what ChrisL said in this post.  It sounded to me like you're supposed to be able to playback recorded programming on both DVRs from either DVR, if you're configured for whole home DVR system.  Maybe there's a DVR network setting somewhere you just haven't located yet or maybe one or both DVRs is missing a critical update necessary for the DVRs to network properly.  If you could get it working, you could solve the traveling back and forth between DVRs issue.  There may not be a parental control fix.  Maybe you could ask Cox if they have an expert Contour 2 user on staff somewhere.  As you well know, the answer you get from Cox depends on who provides the answer.  No offense to Cox, but you seem to have a unique (or at least uncommon) configuration. You need to be put in contact with a Contour 2 specialist to verify the platform is capable of networking two DVRs and to determine how to do it.

    • ekhawaii's avatar
      ekhawaii
      Contributor
      6 years ago

      Hey CurtB....A record6 Contour2 host with multiple clients for each TV is what COX would say.  They would probably also say go to their wireless system so that the stored files are saved in the Cloud so that box changes don't affect the any future recordings.  The wireless system has me worried because it depends on the signals in the home....hate to go down this path and experience many of the problems users have written about.  I know what my hard wired boxes do, even if I don't like parts of it.  The cloud storage could be a huge advantage though since COX will upgrade boxes or boxes will need replacement and all the shows stored on that box is toast!

      I'm going to further investigate manually controlling where shows get stored, for single and series shows.  I will take a look at what ChrisL said about being able to retrieve shows, stored on either box, from either box without physically moving to different TV's

      I also want to continue to bug COX about the Isolate feature that the Contour1 has and mine does not.  I cannot believe that other users out there could not want at least this Option.  Scheduled shows appear on both of my DVRs.  If you wanted a certain box to not see what the other box records, I'm not sure if you can Parental control the Schedule part of Contour2.