Cloud DVR Playback Issues (recordings are freezing) - UPDATED 4/18/24 with a message from Spectrum
Comments
-
According to Spectrum they are currently experiencing an outage with CloudDVR they are working on. They are having issues with it not recording anything, to playback issues.
Just a heads up as I never saw anything from Spectrum on this issue and my wife and I have been fighting with it since it started happening the beginning of the month.
1 -
Another update, per support they have identified a root cause, and hope to have a fix in place soon, of course no ETA. If you contact support and complain, they have had a ticket in for this issue reported since March 7th and support will credit your account for the time from when it started to when they resolve the issue.
Just giving everyone a heads up, when you contact Support, request help with Cloud services.
2 -
Same issue. I asked the same questions you did and got no response. they even sent a tech to my house that said everything on my end is fine and pretty much said, without outright saying it that the service just does not work as expected. So i guess we keep paying for the aggravation of watching our screens freeze up during our DVR playbacks or move on to another service.
0 -
I had 2 DVR boxes that worked flawlessly. This option was presented to me by spectrum. Switching saved me 180 dollars a month on my bill. I was also told by spectrum representative at a customer service facility that this was the future of the service and they were not going to be issuing boxes soon.
0 -
I constantly receive this error message while watching recorded shows. I use xumo and Roku
1 -
This has gotten worse for me too…last Friday, I could not access 2 recordings. But I was able to re-record on another day and the recordings work. Starting this Friday, recordings not working again and disappeared. Now, no new cloud recordings work. I have no boxes and rely soly on Cloud DVR. Spectrum needs to fix this quickly…but no word and silence from Spectrum.
I also called and they told me like others, known issue and no ETA to fix it.
I speculate that they did not prepare or upgrade their cloud service to handle the capacity created by people switch to Roku or other stream devices and giving up the cable boxes.
2 -
The cable boxes weren't great either, but more reliable than this.
1 -
Habing the same issues
1 -
I having been calling for months reporting problems with the Cloud Dvr. I get the same answer: "We are aware of the issue and are working on it."
Who is working on the problems with the Cloud Dvr and why is it not fixed? It has been months and no results yet.
When will this issue be fixed???
2 -
the issues have been going on for at least a month. Please provide an ETA.
1 -
something has happened in the last week to make this service even worse (if that’s possible). I previously used a 3rd party DVR service (TiVo), but those required a cable card and special tuner to work on spectrums network. Thanks to their recent upgrades the cable cards were no longer supported. Spectrum box DVRs don’t allow you to stream recordings between tvs or other DVRs. Forcing me to using this app. It has been wildly unreliable.
I hate that if you have something recorded (which doesn’t play due to all their system issues) you can select the on demand version of the show unless you delete your recording. Attempting to watch a recorded show (this got much worse the week of Apr 8, 2024 btw). You hit play, it starts to load the recording then hangs on the load screen for about 2 minutes. Then you get the error that the request couldn’t be completed. I have restarted Roku. I’ve deleted and reinstalled spectrum app, I have restarted my router, my cable modem. The issue is not on my end.
when I DO get lucky enough to get a show to run. DO NOT FAST FORWARD! Any interruption in the stream will put you into buffering /black screen limbo. I let it set and it took around 7 minutes for the screen to return after fast forwarding. Only to find I was still in the middle of commercials.Anither fun thing that has been started happening watching a recorded show. The video will go from normal replay speed to a few seconds of 1.5-2x play back speed causing the video to jump. Almost all my shows I have to try to find some place else.
If not sure why we are focused to pat for this horrible service. It needs to be free to all customers and only when they fix all of the bugs can they be able to charge.
Spectrum, please get your cloud DVR servers rebooted at a minimum. Something you did I the last week has caused this service to vpbecome unstable and unusable for your client!
BTW, my services are out of Rochester NY
1 -
wjaynes,
same issue, they forced me off my TiVo and now I am stuck with a complete garbage dvr that never works.2 -
I agree with user who said this is the worst when I’m watching something, delayed, while it is being recorded. However, that is how I often watch TV. It’s annoying enough that I need to record in order to pause live TV. But now, even that isn’t working. This has gotten worse. Rebooting my router doesn’t help. Rebooting my Apple TV doesn’t help. Sometimes, just moving to a different stream seems to clear it - maybe indicating buffering issues? I have 500mbs on that TV, hooked to Ethernet port on Apple TV and Orbi mesh system. This is getting to the point of unwatchable.
2 -
Okay, Spectrum, enough is enough. Customers need better information from you than “we’re working on it”. No ETA for the fix is not acceptable either.
Where is your organization’s leadership? They need to do their jobs and communicate better information to their customers. Are you waiting for customers to escalate this to the broader public via social media and news outlets?Step up and show some courtesy to your customers and communicate good information.
1 -
I am also having the same issues. The DVR is autrocious. I reached out to support. They tried to send me down the usual path of restarting everything then said it was internet connectivity. I have no issues with the internet. I told them the issue I had found on this message board that it was a known problem. They finally said yes this is a known issue. They could have just led with that instead of all the other nonsense. Direct TV is so much better without question. I never had all of these issues. It is 2024 and Spectrum cannot even get their DVR to work…
2 -
Spectrum DVR is AWEFUL!! they say they have had this problem since Dec. How can such a huge company not be able to fix this issue for over 4 months?? the show stops, can't continue, while you are in the middle of a show the beggining starts in the beggining ugh. who has a better DVR solution because spectrum is the worst ever!!
2 -
A lot of folks here have posted that they switched to the cloud DVR to save money. That is not my case since I am in a condo complex and a cable DVR is included in our plan. I switched so I could watch recorded shows on any tv or device. What I didn't expect was how bad and buggy the service would be. I have tried to be patient figuring that these issues will get worked out but after a couple of months of the service getting worse and worse I am about ready to give up and get a TIVO that will allow me to connect mini's to my additional tv's so I can watch my recordings on multiple tv's.
The buffering just keeps getting worse and only happens on DVR recordings. If I watch a show on demand it plays fine. Unfortunately, if I have recorded a show it plays the DVR version even if I try to watch it on demand. I tried deleting the recorded version so I could watch it on demand but when I do that it deletes it from my on demand menu as well.
The buffering and freezing happens on all my TV's and devices. I have rebooted modem and router many times and since this only happens on the DVR recordings it makes sense that that is not the issue. Also, a work around someone posted earlier about fast forwarding and then rewinding back does seem to help a lot so that certainly seems to indicate a data transfer issue on the servers.
I spent 42 years as an IT expert in the telecom industry before I retired and I would have been very embarrassed and possibly fired if I had issues like these affecting customers and had not resolved them well before now.
0 -
Hello @mikemaz
Welcome to our community! At this time our engineers are working on a fix to resolve the issues with the cloud DVR but we have not been advised of any temporary workarounds.
0 -
Several months ago I called Spectrum about a billing issue. The rep talked me into turning in my two cable boxes/DVRs and replacing them with Xumos and Cloud DVR. I immediately experienced the problems listed in this thread and tried all the suggested remedies. This past week the problems have gotten much worse, rendering the DVR unusable.
It is unconscionable that Spectrum would push customers to get Cloud DVR knowing full well of the existing problems. Suggesting that customers waste their time rebooting routers and Xumos and uninstalling and reinstalling the app, knowing it will do absolutely no good, is ridiculous. Saying "We're working on it" doesn't cut it.
1 -
I guess Spectrum will not do anything to fix its cloud DVR. I can watch ballgames fine on live tv but the same game on a cloud dvr recording has constant interruptions and glitches, dozens per game. I have done everything Spectrum advised but no improvement. Maybe instead of giving me worthless advice on fixing it, they need to fix it on their end!
1 -
I have had Roku Cloud DVR for at least a year, with no record/playback problems. I was planning to return my Spectrum DVR, but recently after the various Spectrum system upgrades, playback has been slow loading and freezing on playback. Last night's recording kept blurring out of focus. The YouTube clips online were fine. Not sure what the problem is or when it will be fixed, since I am paying for this extra service.
0 -
I’ve been having this same issue for ever it seems like it. I keep calling spectrum and they really do anything other than sending a signal to my modem. They already replace modem and router. Happens to both my Samsung tvs and Vizio
0 -
I switched to spectrum cloud DVR recently. The xumo app has many problems and I hope spectrum is working on them. I have two TVs one I access with a xumo box and the other with an Apple TV Box. The TV with the Apple shows TV frames when I am fast forwarding or reversing recordings, but the xumo does not. My biggest problem is with the TV using Apple TV box, recordings, freeze, many times will not fast-forward or reverse, sometimes won’t load and other random sketchiness. If I watch the same recordings on the TV using the zoom box, there are still issues, but much better than the TV using the Apple TV box, my question I guess other problems with using Apple TV to access spectrum TV and / spectrum Cloud DVR?
0 -
We have been having the same issues for months. Rebotting, unplugging, trun off/on does NOT help AT ALL. I usedthe DVR service a lot so I do not have to watch commercials. It worked well last year, but this year, it is just very frsturating, AND, Spectrum just raised all our rates because the first year is over and we are tied to a two-year commitment.
If you are thinking of paying for the DVR< DO NOT do it. Worst service ever.
0 -
also, one of my main reasons for switching to Spectrum TV was to get all the LA dodger games. I worked late, so I taped the games and intend to come home and watch them. Because the recordings are all messed up, most times I can’t do that now. Well I’ll be getting some sort of a refund or credit to my account?
0 -
to my last post, I would point out that I asked extensive questions before a Green to switch to live online Spectrum TV. Spectrum assured me that the system works seamlessly. Clearly, that was untrue. When I first started calling spectrum asking about problems, the telephone customer service agents told me there is no record of others having similar problems, which was also a complete falsehood. A simple online search indicates that I am one of many thousands of people experiencing the same problems. Is there any record of filing a class action lawsuit against spectrum for its false and deceptive practice in this regard?
1 -
I have called in to customer service multiple times since switching to the app. Your reps log in to my cloud, I reset everything they tell me, I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled the app. Play back absolutely sucks. It locks up, it hangs up buffering, it jumps around. I’m told over and over that it’s a “known problem and it’s being worked on”. This has been 2 years now. You’re an internet company and you can’t figure out how to fix this??? I think it’s time to drop Spectrum and save the frustration and go to Hulu.
0 -
Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of complaints. A few weeks ago a tech came by and did a lot of work on the incoming cable. It made no difference. I tried all the other generic fixes, which were ineffective. The tech also told me that Spectrum is aware of their cloud DVR issue and were working on it, but pixelation (very low resolution), constant buffering, and occasional freezing are all getting worse over the last month. Since any competent software engineers should have been able to find any algorithmic problems by now, my guess is that the problem rather has to do with limited server capacity, or some other transmission hardware issue. If so, Spectrum should simply say so; otherwise, in addition to our paying for a product that does not work adequately, they are also encouraging us to waste our time trying "solutions" they must know - given discussion threads like this one - do not work.
Just a couple of specifics to add, since I'm curious if others have noticed them: first, the problems seem to occur on certain channels more than others; in my case, ABC, ESPN and Tennis Channel are especially bad. Also, the problem seems worst when the cloud DVR is being accessed by my Samsung smart TV (using the Spectrum app), followed by my computer (using the browser), my iPad, and least bad on my newer iPhone 15 pro. So the processing speed of the receiver might play some role, in addition to whatever server-side limitations are in play.
1
