hd dvr box stuttering only on sd analog channels

philhu

Supporting Founder
Original poster
Supporting Founder
Sep 1, 2004
1,215
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Cold Boston Area
Titele says it.

The box seems to stutter on Standard def/Analog channels only. Whether recording or not.

The stuttering CAN be recorded!.

I live in Boston area. All digital and HD channels work fine.

Can't be a hd failure if it only affects sd/analog!
 
I've seen the same thing in my area. Only affects SD/Analog. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, its really frustrating to watch. Sometimes switching tuners helps. This is on my 3412 box
 
I get the same thing too. I usually pause my DVR for like 5-10 seconds and then let it play. For some reason when you watch the recorded portion it doesnt do the stutter thing.
 
Rob O said:
I get the same thing too. I usually pause my DVR for like 5-10 seconds and then let it play. For some reason when you watch the recorded portion it doesnt do the stutter thing.

I tried this and it does indeed work. So it looks like a box software problem.

Why does everything seem to not be just right

:(
 
It was doing it again last night.

I called Comcast. Of course, they do not have a clue and told me to bring my box down to swap it.

This is my 4th box! 1 the HD died, and 3 now, stutter. So I'm not wasting my time.
 
I live in the Boston area, just switched from Directv, and I have the same stutter issue on analog. I called and they said swap the box. Sounds like I'd be waisting my time and would likely have the same issue. I don't think I'm going to bother until they actually figure out what's going on.
 
I've heard from a very specific higher up at Comcast New England that they are aware of the issue but they cannot do anything to fix it as of yet and they have tried and yes swapping a box out sometimes can fix it but its so hit or miss with no fixes they cannot start saying its a widespread problem when they in turn cannot fix it and again once they say they are aware of it than customers expect them even more to fix it or they will start demanding credits and such. So with all the above said I have been told that part of the issue is how the software communicates with the drive and the new iguide 2 will fix this issue. Also Tivo software from their testing so far doesn't have these issues either. They also plan to at somepoint in time rollout the Panasonic boxes once they get them and when a customer has a Moto box replaced it will be replaced with the Panasonic box and for customers who just want the Panasonic box can just drop their current Moto box off at their local office and request a Panasonic replacement.

Just hang in on this and yes you did read that I now have my first big contact with Comcast but of course he doesn't want to give much information about programming though but he did confirm that NGC HD will be the next HD channel coming and it will be before football season starts (regular season that is) unless something drastic changes. Also the Tivo rollout is a little delayed but it will be early 4th quarter if not earlier and it will also from what I'm told will support all Tivo features except the broadband content at first.

This means it will support multiroom viewing with all Tivo software features along with TivoToGo. He couldn't tell me if stand alone Tivos would work for multiroom viewing along with Comcast Tivo boxes as Tivo must add the ability for a customer to add a Comcast box onto their account.

Also he told me they do plan to offer the broadband content at some point but they want to allow that content to be streamed using the cable modem in the box even if the customer doesn't order internet service at all from any company.

So for the most part he told me Comcast has no intention of taking anything away from the Tivo software like DirecTV has done so that is good news.

Also NFL Network HD will soon be added as a full time channel before the NFL season starts (in time for preseason NFL games) so that will be a good thing too.

Also he told me they are testing the speedboost internet technology for uploads and will soon consider rolling this out.
 
So are they still planning on only doing TiVo on the Moto boxes? The SA boxes REALLY needs the update, as their interface is horrible!

-John
 
jgantert said:
So are they still planning on only doing TiVo on the Moto boxes? The SA boxes REALLY needs the update, as their interface is horrible!

-John

From what I'm told is that both the Moto boxes and the Panasonic boxes will get ported Tivo software. They will be rolling the Panasonic boxes out into markets that use SA boxes and hardware so you will be covered. They play to phase out all their Moto DVR boxes and replace them over time with the Panasonic boxes as they will be faster, more powerfull and have a bigger hard drive.
 
Longhorn - Thanks for the great info. I emailed Comcast about NFL HD, but just got the standard boilerplate response saying they had no information.
 
After about a month of the issue, I couldn't take it anymore, so I called Comcast. I rarely watch the analog channels, so I didn't realilze it was that bad. Happens every minute. They said they've never heard of anything like that, and said it was probably my TV. After nicely explaining it wasn't the tv, I mentioned that I've heard it was a known issue with the new DVR HD boxes, but the CSR said it wasn't, and she'd know if it was. Of course. A tech is coming out this afternoon to check the connections and swap the box if needed. Hopefully he/she will have more info.
 
The technician that came out did tell us this was a common problem, and they believe its due to signal loss, not a faulty box. He said that they'd have someone come back out on Tuesday and "do what they could to squeeze out a better signal for us". I'm not sure why that would impact only the analog, but we'll see what happens Tuesday night.
 
jpa25 said:
The technician that came out did tell us this was a common problem, and they believe its due to signal loss, not a faulty box. He said that they'd have someone come back out on Tuesday and "do what they could to squeeze out a better signal for us". I'm not sure why that would impact only the analog, but we'll see what happens Tuesday night.

I think your analog channels are offered in ADS (advanced digital simulcast) and I also bet they moved some of your other SD channels (channels above 100) to other 6Mhz spaces. I also wouldn't be suprised if your splitter is the problem or you may need an amp. I had to install an amp because about two weeks ago I had massive tiling on NGC, InHD, InHD2, a few Showtime and Starz channels and TBS. Some days it would tile like crazy while others it just wouldn't tune in (aka one mement please message). So I'm just saying it doesn't have to make any sense to you but my guess is that you also need an amp like I did. If you don't have more than four total boxes/modems you can get a free amp if needed from Comcast. So if you have three digital boxes and one cable modem your covered but if you have 4 digital boxes and a cable modem I think they will charge you for the amp which will be about 50 bucks or you can complain about it and if your bill is anything over 100 bucks they might just cave in and provide it to you.

In my case I had three tech visits to fix this problem as I didn't want to bother with it and I got fed up with it all I bought an amp at Circuit City and installed it and scheduled another tech visit. I asked for a supervisor as well so I had to wait almost two weeks for that visit but I had working service so when he came I explained to the supervisor what I've dealt with and showed him myself the signal strength with the amp and I unplugged the amp and he saw for himself just how horrid my problems were. I nicely told him that I asked the previous tech if he could just try an amp just as a last resort and he refused saying it would never fix my problem. I nicely asked the supervisor to provide me with one of their amps as I'm bringing this one back to Circuit City as I'm not paying for a device that should have been provided by Comcast three weeks ago. I also told him if this can't be done and I must spend the 50 bucks I would still rather return to Circuit City and while I'm there I'll also order DirecTV service and I won't lose my HD DVR either as I walked him into my closet and showed him two HD Tivo boxes.

I finished it off saying I know you will do the right thing here as I know Comcast wouldn't be happy having a customer cancel services shortly after a supervisor is in their homes as that wouldn't look very good would it. Much of this was said while the supervisor wasn't fully willing to provide that amp for free so keep that in mind. Hey I had to play hardball and I won and I don't feel bad about it.
 
Hey Longhorn,

I'm glad you got things straightened out. I only have one box, and a cable modem, still it could just be a weak signal coming in. They said a tech would be out (yesterday) working outside on the problem. No problems last night with any of the SD channels. I did have some tiling, only during commericials, while watching NESN HD. I figure that was probably just a station issue.

Hopefully everything is all set, but I won't be sure for a about a week. We've had periods with no stutter in the past.
 
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