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DVR/remote has slow response when using fast forward, rewind, pause or play
Got home on Friday after being away for five days and my non-cloud Arris/Motorola DVR cable box (DCX3501M DCX-3500 Series) had the message on it that tells me Spectrum has done something that made the DVR drop. It started up fine. Spectrum did some type of upgrade on April 9th. Since then my remote (model 1060BC2/1060BC3) has very slow responses when I fast forward or rewind a recording or live TV. When I push pause or play it also takes about a second or more to pause/play. It was almost instantaneous before this issue. When I push FF four times to get to the fastest FF speed (60) it can take several seconds before it starts to fast forward and seconds to stop when I press pause/play. Very frustrating.
My first thought was that the remote batteries were low. I put in new batteries and the same issue continued. I tested them with my battery tester to confirm they were fresh batteries. I also have one of the “Spectrum Guide” remotes and the problem still occurs when using that one with fresh batteries. I then unplugged the DVR and plugged it back in after a couple of minutes and the problem continues.
Support wants to replace the DVR/cable box. But losing all of my favorite TV stations, DVR settings, recordings, recurring recording, etc, etc, is a real pain to setup with a new DVR box. I asked it they could open up a ticket for second level support to look at this and I was told that this was not an option. It’s just too coincidental that Spectrum did an update last Wednesday and the first time I use the FF and rewind functions afterward there are problems.
Does anyone have any other ideas on how to resolve this issue without getting a new box?
Answers
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Good Evening @sprill
It sounds like you have already done all the troubleshooting with the rebooting, fresh batteries, and everything. My question is, how do you know that Spectrum did an update? Was there something different other than the slower response time? Or did you just assume that because of the slower response time that an update had been done?
1.) The first thing I would do would be power off everything and unplug the cable box for at least five minutes to get everything cleared out. My concern is that if this brings things back up to speed with that remote is that it will only be a temporary fix. If it works.
2.) Next thing I would do would be to order a Clickr Backlite remote from Amazon. They are better than the newer remotes. In fact I have the Spectrum Guide World Box (no clock) and the tech gave us a Clickr Backlite remote and it is better than the Spectrum Guide remote. I even ordered a spare from Amazon, because I want to keep that brand of remote as long as possible. Here's an Amazon link to the remote that people like better than the Spectrum Guide remote:
3.) Call for a signal and drop line test. Let the tech check your cable line and outlets. There might be something that could be old wiring or sometimes a maintenance upgrade may make something slower. Tell the tech you don;t want a different box. Or see if he/she has that same model of box on his/her truck. That's gonna be a long shot though.
4.) The next step if the tech can't do anything is live with the slowdown until the box dies. What is your DVR percentage at? If it is above 75% the boxes can start to slow down. Maybe deleting some series that you don't watch anymore might speed things up with the remote.
5.) Lastly, bite the bullet and get a new box. The Clicr Backlite will work with a new box. The only way to save your recordings on box swaps is change your account to a XUMO streaming box and either Cloud DVR service, (store 50 shows in the cloud for 90 days) or get DVR Plus, (Best value) store 100 DVR shows in the cloud for a year. But there is a learning curve with XUMO's box and guide, Personally, I would not go with the XUMO route.
Hopefully somewhere within steps 1-3 this gets fixed.
Satch
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Satch,
Thanks for the detailed response. You are amazing.
I noticed today that the recorded items on my DVR were sorted A-Z instead of by "Recorded Date". I knew then that the update last week messed with my DVR. I just got off the phone with support again. Fortunately, the rep I spoke with is having the exact same problem with her DVR and has received calls from others about various issues with their DVR since the update. She reported my issue but could not give me any time for a fix or a ticket number so I have no clue if/when this will be fixed or if I will hear from someone. I am glad I didn't go by yesterdays rep and had someone come out and replace my DVR.
Thanks again for your response.
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Well the saga continues. Received a call from Spectrum upper level support yesterday. The rep did some additional testing and said she needs to send a tech out to look at things. I told her about my call with the tech who said she had the same problem and had heard from others with this issue. She said that she does not see any other complaints like mine. I asked her if she could contact the rep I spoke to. She said she can message her but thats it and seemed reluctant to do so. The tech came out today and replaced a cable connector and reset the cable box/DVR to factory. I lost all my favorites but everything else was fine. The problem was still there. He said it can take some time for he reset to get fully completed. Its been several hours and it is not fixed. Looks like I need a new box. I'm like Satch and love my DVR. However, one of my reluctancies of moving to streaming was that it did not have the abliilty to pause live TV, rewind and fast forward live TV, and pause one channel go to another channel and pause it then go back and forth between the two so you never have to watch a commercial. The tech lives near by and says all if this is now avalilalbe with streaming. I have my doubts. Its looking like I need to replace the DVR box.
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The Good News @sprill ,
Pausing live TV is now available with XUMO as well as preview/review Windows. It was added in an update.
You also don't have to take a Xumo box. You can get a Spectrum Guide World Box. Tell the tech you want a standard DVR box if you don't want a XUMO
Here are the pros and cons of Xumo Streaming Boxes:
There are pros and cons to streaming boxes, but this is the new route in technology that all the TV vendors are gradually moving to as they rely more and more on Internet and streaming technology. The XUMO moves the customer from a cable TV box experience to a streaming box experience. There is a learning cure with the guide and remote being different. Let me provide some pros and cons of XUMO boxes.
Pros:
1.) TV services stay exactly the same.
2.) The old cable box channels and streaming apps are all in one place.
3.) Shows are stored online in the cloud with two DVR options from Spectrum:
A.) Cloud DVR- Store 50 shows for 90 days.
B.) Cloud DVR Plus- Store 100 shows for a year. (Best value)
4.) Because shows are stored in the cloud, you don't lose them if you have to trade in your XUMO Streaming box.
5.) The cost is cheaper than a traditional box or DVR.
Cons:
1.) The Guide interface and buttons are very very different, and some say too basic compared to the box concerning guide data descriptions.
2.) The new system takes more steps to do tasks that on a standard DVR box you could do with shorter steps.
3.) Old School cable TV people and elderly people have reported frustrations in using the XUMO box concerning usage and navigation.
4. Standard) DVR's in general can be more reliable that streaming boxes/cloud DVR's because they are hardware-based. Streaming boxes depend solely on the quality of your signals and Internet WIFI.
5.) No previous channel recall button on Xumo remotes.
6.) Subscribers who subscribe to Spectrum Voice (Landline Phone) will lose the Caller ID on TV prompt on a XUMO box.
Satch
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Hi Satch,
Another great detailed post. I don't understand why they would not have a previous channel recall button. I use it daily with my current box.
Thank you - Steve
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Satch - Do you know if I were to try the streaming method if I could return to the old DVR/cable box if I didn't like it?
Thanks again—
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Satch - Do you know if I were to try the streaming method if I could return to the old DVR/cable box if I didn't like it?
Thanks again—
Hi Steve,
I am sure you can do that. A moderator might be able to provide additional suggestions. But the pros and cons above, I complied from researching many sources. I feel badly that two CSR reps gave you completely different contradictory information about your standard DVR.
A question I have. Well two actually, how old is that DVR box? It is definitely a much older model.
The other thing, what is your DVR storage percentage at. If you are above 75% you might get some slowdown problems. Remember on the physical DVR, it is not a permanent storage device. I try to watch everything on it within two weeks to a maximum of a months' time. Your DVR percentage may not go down right away. It may take a couple hours. With the delay in FF/RW/Play there might be a hardware response relay mechanism that is wearing out on the hard drive. I had a box that had to be rebooted to get in back up to speed about every two weeks to three weeks. Eventually it would not boot up anymore and I got the World Box (no clock) 4 tuner DVR. The Arris 210. The old box was about five or six years old.
You will have to sign up for a Cloud DVR service plan if you get an XUMO streaming box, if you want cloud DVR service. (50 show storage for 90 days or for a slightly larger fee 100 shows for a year.) If you stay with a traditional DVR, you will have physical hardware storage and 4-tuners instead of 2 on the older box.
Satch
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Steve,
Here is a YouTube video to try if your remote buttons have lagged response times. Some of the comments say that this works. Can't hurt:
I still think that your issue is cable box related. But i found this video so give it a shot. I only recommend trying this when all other methods have failed.
Satch
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Hi Satch,
Thanks again for responding. My box is only about a year old. However, the service tech that was out yesterday said most of these DVR's are used when they install them and are not even checked when customers return them and mine was probably used when they installed it last year. Unfortumately, we cannot get the 4-tuner DVR's in this area. I have been asking about them for several years.
My DVR only has a couple of recording on it at any time. Right now it is empty of recordings.
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Update on FF, Rewind, and pause performance-lag.
4/21/23 –Called support at 8:45AM. Spoke with Terry in NY. He said someone from 2nd level support will contact me within the next hour. Ticket number is 124751132. As of 1PM did not hear back from support.
Called support again at 1PM. Spoke with Lee. He spoke with his supv who said I have to get a new box. He is shipping a BRAND NEW box today and I should have it on Thursday or Friday. I asked about it being new and he was absulutely sure it would be a new DVR. Called support again later in the afternoon to see if I can request a new DVR with a tech call because a tech can come out next day instead of waiting 3 or 4 days for the shipment. Rep said the DVR’s are no longer produced so new ones are not available at all. She set me up with appt for tomorrow with tech between 3-4PM.
4/22/25 – Received replacement DVR from FedEx this afternoon. It wasn't supposed to arrive yet. It was not new and the inside of it was filled with dust and dirt but it was nicely shrink wrapped. Tech Ray was here around 3:45 today. He replaced the DVR with one that he had in his truck. He set the new-used DVR up and said it will take 30-45 minutes for it to be up. He left while it was still in the process of setting up. He also took the DVR that was shipped to me today along with the old DVR. Noticed the DVR kept rebottling every 2 minutes. Code E126 would show on DVR display for about 30 seconds, then a flashing dot, then DU1 would show for a few seconds and the process would start over in 2 minutes. This went on for about 30 minutes. Called support. She had me unplug the DVR wait 15 secs and plug back in. It took about 5-10 minutes and the unit came up normally.
Tested FF, rewind, pause etc and it appeared to be working fine. Set up favorites, recordings, etc.
The lagging problem returned shortly after.
Did I get another bad DVR or did the "upgrade" Spectum did on April 10th affect the software. Not sure what to do from here. Suppose I'll call support again in the morning. I am so frustrated with Spectrum.
BTW - when I unplug the DVR and plug it back in the FF, rewind, and pause work fine for a short time.
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You have done all the right things,
I don't know what to tell you about the lagging still being there. If signals are good and the box, even if used, and the batteries are good in the remote, you should not have the lag. Why didn't the rep just install the FedEx DVR? Do you have the DVR with no clock on the front?
Satch
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I have clock in front. He left with the FedEx DVR stating that the DVR could take 24 to 48 hours to completely get everything refreshed.
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Hi Steve,
This has to be so frustrating! I would wait until Wednesday. Don't reboot the box during that time because that will affect the populated data. Let it do it's refreshing and updating:
Some new questions:
1.) What is your service location (City, State, and Zip Code?)
2.) What guide do you have? To find out Google Search, "What Guide do I Have?", Spectrum and in the top search results will be a Spectrum site, enter your address and zip code on the Spectrum Site and post a screen shot of your guide here. Are your box and guide the same as what was replaced?
3.) The newest box software is called "Spectrum Guide" You will see it in the "What Guide do I Have?" results. There is also the new XUMO streaming boxes, but as XUMO is totally Internet related and relies on strong signals, I would really try to get a regular DVR box instead.
4.) Since the box swap did not stop the lagging issue, you don't have a box problem. The used boxes can and do still work fine and have been around for many many years. When they come back, they are supposed to go through like a 10 minute or so boot up test and performance check before they are sent back out on the line.
5.) You either have a signal or line issue, or a software update issue. It's not the box.
6.) Wait til Wednesday, and post back here at that time and request that a moderator escalate your service issue if you are still having an issue by reporting the lagging on the board and saying that box swaps have not solved this. The moderator will set up and escalate your service call, and you should get a more through tech. Let's wait until Wednesday. Than when the tech comes out, show him/her the lag time. And you can say "Rebooting the box or swapping the box only brings back the issue later."
7.) Another Question: When you are browsing in the guide and hold the remote control keys down to enter power speed mode, does the data go by quickly or slowly? Check this when you see this post and again on Wednesday noting for us any speed difference.
8.) I have two concerns:
A.) The newer boxes are simply not available in your area. And they are using the older software.
B.) The possibility that the speed lag is not a big enough issue for customers to care, so they are not reporting the slowdown. Note that this assumes that a software update is causing the issue and is affecting everyone in your area.
8.) How much of a lag time is there between sending a FF/RW/PLAY command to your box? (.5 seconds? 1 second?, 2 seconds? More than 3 seconds?)
Satch
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Hi Satch,
Thanks again for responding.
1.I am in West Olive, MI 49460.
2.I have the newer “Spectrum Guide” with the silver remote. Yes same remote and slightly different model of the DVR box. The new one is a DCX3510M, I believe the old DVR box was a DCX3501.
7. I don’t use the Guide button. But when I pressed it it takes a couple of seconds to come up then it slowly “builds” the guide for several more seconds. I use the “mini guide” instead. Not sure what you mean my “power speed mode”.
8. The lag time is probably a second or two. When I press play after doing FF or Rewind it takes a second to start playing so I have to rewind to get to where I want to be. When I press the FF button 4 times to get to the 60 FF speed it takes 4-5 seconds before the 60 speed show on the screen.
Why do you want me to wait until Wednesday?
Steve
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Spoke with support again today. Darius was the rep. He said my original ticket 124751132 was closed. I had to go through the whole process with him. It appears that the reps don't have access to all of the previous notes that the other reps said they put into my account. Darius did a bunch of remote testing on my DVR and then re-updated the firmware. He said he was confident he fixed my issue. He said if it is not fixed to call back and they can open another ticket. The FF, rewind, pause worked for a short time and is now back.
How to I go about getting a moderator involved and get this escalated? It has gone beyond ridiculous.
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Hello @sprill;
I reviewed the conversation and the issue appears to be with the cable box itself. I understand you do not want to swap it since you would lose the recordings but at this point replacing the box is the best solution to correct the issue. You can stop at a Spectrum store to swap it out.
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The box was replaced on 4/22. This is noted in my post on 4/27.
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I apologize. I do see that you have one of our newer cable boxes and the software can have a slight lag in the response times compared to some of our older boxes. It should still have a reasonable response time. It would be helpful if you recorded a video to see the problem in action. Can you record a quick video doing the pause and fast forward?
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Forum will not let me attach file with a .MOV extension
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Can you upload it to a video site like Youtube and post the link to it?
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Don't know how to do that and don't have a YouTube account.
I have been using Spectrums DVR's for nearly 10 years. Since the Spectrum update on April 10, when I press the rewind button to get the 15 speed for rewind it now generally goes to 1/2 rewind speed (slow mo) and takes a couple of seconds just to get there. When I press Pause it can take 2-3 seconds. Similar response with FF. It is absolutely terrible.
I showed it to the two techs that came to my house, on different instances, and they both saw the responses and said it was bad.
The responses for FF, Rewind and pause used to be almost immediate.
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Don't know how to do that and don't have a YouTube account.
I have been using Spectrum's DVR's for nearly 10 years. Since the Spectrum update on April 10, when I press the rewind button to get the 15 speed for rewind it now generally goes to 1/2 rewind speed (slow mo) and takes a couple of seconds just to get there. When I press Pause it can take 2-3 seconds. Similar response with FF. It is absolutely terrible.
I showed it to the two techs that came to my house, on different instances, and they both saw the responses and said it was bad.
The responses for FF, Rewind and pause used to be almost immediate.
Hi Steve,
I wish there was a way to find out what happened to the "Update" on your service on April 10th and to "roll back the firmware." You have the newest traditional DVR guide, you have had had box swaps, so by the process of elimination, that firmware update is the problem.
Wednesday is today. (April 30) The only reason I said to wait til then because of the tech's suggestion to wait up to 48 hours for all the boxes to update. Whatever was done on April 10th has messed up your remote FF/RW/come out of Pause Speeds.
The new Spectrum Guide software takes a second for two to open the Guide, That is normal, it takes a second for two to delete recordings. That is normal. Three or more seconds for RW/FF.out of pause is not normal. Somebody on the higher up needs to escalate this, open a ticket, and keep that ticket open until you have proper DVR FF/RW//Pause speeds. If those speeds are more than a second of a delay.
In the meantime, try the steps on the video above with the remote. In researching this, I found out that sometimes, this can "speed up the process."
1.) Take out the batteries
2.) Press and hold down the power and input button for 30 seconds,
4.) With the batteries out, hold down the power button for 30 seconds and than the Input button for thirty seconds. (This will drain the memory) Press each button several times, up and down, especially the RW/FF/Pause/Play buttons.
5.) Spectrum Guide depends on Internet so I would unplug your Internet modem and router for several minutes. (Say five) Than reconnect the modem first, than the router. Since the firmware was updated, this can be a very important step.
6.) Reconnect the modem first, wait for it to come back online. Than reconnect the router, waiting for it to come back online.
7.) Turn off the box and unplug it for five minutes, After five minutes, plug the box back in wait for it to boot up. again.
8.) If the problem is not solved or comes back in a few days, tell a new tech who comes out that you have had multiple box swaps and have done all of these steps with no change and you need your signals and drop line investigated. I find it strange that in reviewing the conversations that none of the techs have checked the drop lines for ingress (static noise) The drop line might need to be replaced.
Satch
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HI Satch,
For your numbers 5 through 8 both techs that were recently here did, what appeared to be, thorough checks on the line and they said my signal is great.
When doing this the DVR, modem and router were down for quite a while. However, I will try the process again following your steps.
In June of 2024, my line from the telephone pole across the street from me to the house was replaced along with all of the other lines & connections. At that time I was getting consistent "Channel Unavailable" and lots of pixilation. After the lines were replaced the problems reoccurred shortly after the tech left. Another tech replaced the DVR, the next day, which fixed the issues.
I will try the remote reset later today. Thanks again for all of your hep with this.
Steve
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