Spectrum Cloud DVR Malfunctioning AGAIN!

azure57

Issues with Spectrum's Cloud DVR reached such a fever pitch last Spring that company officials were finally forced to acknowledge the many bugs in the system. Over a period of months, these problems were largely corrected, and the Cloud DVR had been working fairly well overall — that is, until the last couple of weeks, when once again, serious issues arose.

This time, there is a bug that activates when trying to speed-search through a section of a program, such as when one is attempting to skip through commercials. What happens is that after resuming Play, the video runs for a few seconds, and then the screen goes dark, with the wheel of death spinning indefinitely. Trying to resume the program, whether from where it left off or even from the beginning, produces the same result. Thus, the remainder of the program becomes unwatchable.

This issue needs to be addressed and corrected.

Renee_T

Hello @azure57

I'm sorry for the issues with the Cloud DVR. What type of device are you watching on?

azure57

The problem is occurring on all of my devices: Apple TV, the Spectrum app on my iPad, and even on the "Watch TV" feature on the Spectrum website, for viewing on my desktop computer (a Mac). In the past, the latter method had been immune to bugs that plagued the Spectrum app, but not in this case. The problem doesn't arise with every recording, but happens often enough to make it difficult to complete watching a full program.

William_M

@azure57 Will you please try rebooting your modem and router? The app is reporting errors to us typically caused by an intermittent internet connection, and when you last tested your Mac it was only streaming at a bit rate of 2.38 Mb/s. Connection issues will be exacerbated when skipping forward or back through a recording as that forces a buffering event. After rebooting please test as close to the router as possible, or even better connect with an ethernet cable if possible.

azure57

@William_M
Number 1: All of my connections are via Ethernet; I don't use Wi-Fi.
Number 2: I have already tried rebooting my modem and router twice, and that hasn't fixed the problem.
Number 3: Most disturbingly, the interruptions are no longer occurring only after I speed-search through a recording. They are now also happening right in the middle of watching a recording. The screen will simply and abruptly go dark. When I try to resume the recording, it will play for a few seconds, only to go dark again.
Number 4: This is not an issue isolated to this one router-and-modem set-up, because in our apartment, we have two separate router-modem combinations, and these stoppages are occurring on both of them. This is a bug in the Cloud DVR itself and Spectrum engineers need to investigate it.

William_M

You mentioned using an iPad which would be WiFi only, but thanks for confirming it's happening with ethernet too, and that rebooting hasn't helped. I'm sorry the problem is getting worse now.

I've been testing this myself and have not encountered the same problem, nor do I see others with this complaint here or on any of the other social media platforms that we monitor. The app is reporting errors to us you are getting that are caused by connection issues. We can see the total number of customers getting these errors and there are few total and no increases. At this time there is not enough evidence to conclude a problem with the Cloud DVR itself and we will need to continue troubleshooting it as an individual issue until that evidence changes.

If you run speed tests are you getting your full subscribed speed consistently? Are you able to connect just one device straight to a modem, reboot the modem (needed to get internet again), and test if the same thing happens with that device? I understand the issue is happening with both modem/router setups, but there may be something in common between the routers on both that is causing issues.

azure57

@William_M Once again, I have to correct you: I access the Internet on my iPad via Ethernet ONLY, using an Ethernet-to-USB-C adapter. To repeat: All of my connections are via Ethernet; I don't use Wi-Fi.

I tried connecting my computer (an M1 Mac Studio) directly to the modem, and the result is the same.

Running the speed test for which you provided a link, I’m getting download speeds consistently in the range of 460 Mbps. So I would think that speed (or a deficiency of it) would be unlikely to be the cause of the problem.

Yesterday, I recorded The Chris Wallace Show, a 1-hour program on CNN, and it will not play back at all on any of my devices beyond the first 3 seconds. The promo which precedes the program starts to play, and then within 3 seconds, the screen goes dark. I’ve left it among my saved programs in the Cloud DVR, so if you (or someone in Tech Support from Spectrum) can access what’s saved to my Cloud DVR, you can see it for yourself.

James_M

@azure57

Using our diagnostic tools, we were not able to replicate the issue with the recording. We were able to stream the recording in it's entirety without error.

Please try resetting the devices from the settings menu to clear the history. If the issue continues, please try a different non-Apple device or you may need to contact Apple support directly for further troubleshooting.

William_M

@azure57, We're not certain, we are just troubleshooting. I think it's a connection issue. Different apps handle intermittent connections differently. I see your Mac trying to stream through the browser again yesterday and was down to a 2.31 Mbps bitrate, which is concerningly low for a device connected with an ethernet cable. Are you able to test this with another source of internet such as mobile data?

azure57

@James_M If, as seems to be the contention here by Spectrum, that the issue is related to the connection or to the Apple device, or to everything under the sun EXCEPT Spectrum's Cloud DVR, then why, pray tell, am I not seeing this problem with any other app that I use, whether it be Amazon Prime or Netflix or Hulu or Disney+ or Max or YouTube, etc.?

I have done the reset-and-reboot routine on all of my devices numerous times, and none of it makes any difference. As for trying a non-Apple device, I don't have any. Why don't you send me one, if you're so certain that THAT could be the cause of the problem?

To my way of thinking, it doesn't even begin to make sense that it could have anything to do with using Apple devices, since a Mac desktop computer and an iPad and an Apple TV operate in entirely different ways from one another. The common thread among all three in this context is Spectrum's Cloud DVR.

azure57

@William_M I appreciate your suggestion. So I tried accessing some of my Cloud DVR recordings on the Spectrum app on my iPhone, making sure to use Cellular data only, and the glitches occurred in the exact same spots as they do when playing back via Ethernet on my Apple TV units, my desktop Mac Studio and my iPad. It's especially notable that just as with Ethernet playback on the aforementioned devices, when I tried mobile playback on my iPhone of my recording of last Saturday's The Chris Wallace Show, the recording couldn't even get past the first few seconds of the promo that preceded the start of the program.

And by the way, I once again did a speed test of my Internet connection on my Mac this morning, and it showed a download speed of 491.51 Mbps and an Upload speed of 10.89.

To me, all of the above points to the strong possibility of a defect in the way in which the Cloud DVR is recording programs — especially since these interruptions seem to be occurring in the same spots during playback, regardless of the device on which the programs are played or the type of Internet connection feeding them.

azure57

Yet another bug in the Spectrum Cloud DVR reared its ugly head this morning: I have a number of programs scheduled to be regularly recorded by the Cloud DVR, including Morning Joe on MSNBC. Today, out of the blue and for no explicable reason, the Cloud DVR failed to record it. When I tried to initiate a recording of the program manually, I repeatedly received an on-screen message that read: "We’re sorry we’re unable to schedule your recording. Please try again later. ACD-1000."

And evidently, I'm not the only one experiencing issues with Spectrum's Cloud DVR. Yesterday, I received an email alerting me to another thread (why it was separated from this one is its own mystery) demonstrating that another user is also having problems with it similar to mine: https://community.spectrum.net/discussion/comment/192696#Comment_192696

In addition, simply Googling Spectrum Cloud DVR brings up a wealth of complaints about the service on a variety of forums.

We Spectrum subscribers cannot — should not have to — keep paying full price for a function that is clearly not working as it is supposed to work. SPECTRUM'S CLOUD DVR IS SERIOUSLY BROKEN ONCE AGAIN AND NEEDS TO BE FIXED.

James_M

ACD-1000 is a general connectivity error. Simply put, it means the app is not communicating with the modem. These errors are individual, location based issues. The other post you mentioned was split and moved, because while symptoms are similar, it was an entirely different and separate issue.

We can send some refresh signals to modem. The next step on your end would be to restart the modem, and restart the Apple devices from the settings menu. You should also check all coax connections to ensure they are thumb tight and if there are splitters, they may need to be bypassed. Last would be to delete and reinstall the Spectrum TV app again. Even if these steps were completed previously, they would need to be completed again because you are still seeing the same errors. Since you are connected to the devices by ethernet, then you may want to try connecting the devices using WiFi and test again. Cabling issues, bent cords, damaged connections can also cause connectivity errors. Looking a little deeper, I am also seeing that you made a video subscription change in the last 10 days. This can also cause the app to throw errors, similar to the ones you are seeing, until the app has been reinstalled and devices have been reset from the settings menu.

"Morning Joe" is in your scheduled recordings list and was recorded yesterday. Today's recording appears to have been interrupted by the connectivity issue. However, it can sometimes take up to 24 hours for recordings to show on your cDVR once they have completed. If you continue to see an issue after following the steps outlined, let us know if you would like to continue troubleshooting the potential connectivity issue.

Thanks!