Cloud DVR Playback Issues (recordings are freezing) - UPDATED 4/18/24 with a message from Spectrum
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I traded in the Xumo boxes for the old school DVR boxes. I can watch the DVR again with no issues. The cloud DVR is trash.
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Give Spectrum credit. I was going to cancel the Cloud DVR service Thursday due to extreme buffering and pixelization. Thought it was isolated until reading many complaints here. Polite and informed Spectrum representative gave me the heads up of the email that was going to be sent out to all DVR customers later in the day. I did not cancel. Spectrum giving service credit and being transparent in the email was a perfect response to this situation. Think the servers are located in their regional footprints and some regions are maxed out at capacity if I had to guess. Tampa area here….
Watching a crappy DVR recording now from the Movie Channel and it is pixelated like a pirate video site, but will be patient and hope things improve. Trying to move on from TiVo after 20 some years of great DVR service, but the cable card and tuning adapters are hard to find support for anymore. Tuning adapter has not worked for months and lost many channels because of it.
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To the commenter above this post , you are lucky you had a well informed honest representative. I called for at least the fourth time , the last time asking about the refund that was being issued and she had the nerve to tell me that I should go back to using the boxes and I said my TV’s are mounted and don’t want the clunky boxes and she said “ well the cloud service Is not working out for you “ ha, FOR ME AND MILLIONS OF OTHERS . I was angry and even angrier who hours later I received the email with the explanation. Worst customer service thru this ordeal !!!
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In playing around with this I've found that the cloud DVR won't record a series even though it indicates that recording is taking place. However, a scheduled recording for a single episode seems to work. Going to try that work around for a while.
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Reposting this message from 4/18/24 to ensure awareness:
Hello—
We’d like to give you an update regarding the technical difficulties some of our customers have recently experienced with our Cloud DVR service.
Due to the success of our Xumo platform and the resulting higher interest and usage of Cloud DVR within the Spectrum TV App, our Cloud DVR platform has seen much higher use than expected. We are making significant improvements to the Cloud DVR platform to meet this higher demand.
In the meantime, while the current Cloud DVR product meets the expectations of many customers, it is not meeting our quality standards for some customers, we would like to communicate the following:
We will provide Cloud DVR customers with a full credit for their Cloud DVR service, including last month and each new month until we restore performance to our quality standards. No action is required on the part of our customers – this credit will occur for all customers currently billed for Cloud DVR service, whether you have experienced issues or not, and you will continue to be able to use Cloud DVR service.
In the short term, recordings you have scheduled through Sunday, April 21, may not be recorded. As an alternative, you can access most programming Free On Demand. Beginning Monday, April 22, you will be able to record programming as usual.
We have accelerated our planned improvements, made additional capacity investments in the platform, temporarily stopped accepting new customers, and restricted our own employees’ Cloud DVR Plus access to provide more capacity for our customers.
You can expect to see progressive improvements in the quality of your experience as we complete these upgrades over the course of the next two months. We will notify you when the updates are complete, so you can enjoy the high-quality Cloud DVR experience you deserve.
We want to again apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you for being loyal Spectrum customers and thank you for joining the Spectrum Community.
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Last Monday, April 22 — the day that Cloud DVR recording capability was restored to Spectrum subscribers — I tried the service again, and was pleased that a couple of shows that I recorded played without any problems. But the next day, when I attempted to watch another program, the glitches once again reared their ugly heads, skipping, freezing, etc. So I went back to using YouTube TV for its Cloud DVR, which records and plays programs without any of the bugs that have plagued Spectrum's service for months, if not years now.
I'm aware that Spectrum has cautioned that it will take time to work the kinks out of its system, and that in the meantime, the company is offering a credit for what is essentially an unusable Cloud DVR as it now exists. But it shouldn't have taken a groundswell of complaints from subscribers to reach a boiling point before Spectrum finally announced that it would try to repair its broken Cloud DVR apparatus. I remain a Spectrum subscriber because my apartment building has a bulk service agreement with the company, and the price that I pay for cable TV and a modem is actually less than the company charges for a modem alone. But in order to have a viable Cloud DVR, I am being forced to pay an extra $80 a month for YouTube TV — an additional sum for which Spectrum's $10-a-month credit can hardly compensate.
So Charter really needs to make certain that it either fixes its Cloud DVR service expeditiously and permanently or stops offering it altogether and adjusts its monthly fees accordingly, because unlike over-the-top virtual cable providers such as YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV, Spectrum's cable systems are franchised and overseen by local governments, and as such, are ultimately answerable to them for the services that they promise to deliver to their customers.2 -
My Cloud DVR keeps crashing and freezing for the last 3 weeks
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We also have been having problem with Cloud DVR for several months now. Also noted dramatic improvement after April 22 for a few days. Then, instead of fuzzy video, we started have sound drop out, or just having the entire recording freeze up with three blinking dots on the screen. Every once in a while, we would get a message about having "temporarily lost the program" which would kick you out of the recording.
We noted prior to April 22 that if we started a recording that had fuzzy video, if we fast forwarded the recording to the end, then hit the PREVIOUS button to get out and restarted from the beginning, it would most times play clean for that 1 time. Haven't tried that that work around since April 22. Will try again later today and report back.
Otherwise, for now we are seeing the cost of cloud DVD being credited out as they recently reported. In the mean time, recording quality is sporadic with video, sound, and lockup problems still occurring.
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Everyone is getting monthly Cloud DVR credits until service has been fully restored and updated.
Spectrum says the total project is estimated to be about two months.
Satch
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Cloud DVR quality is unacceptable. Buffering, video like looking through security glass, audio dropouts. This is TERRIBLE. Especially vexing while watching live sports, such as F1 qualifying, and totally useless when watching "The Voice". And, since it appears that this is going to a support bot, it is insulting that we cannot even talk to, or email, a human being. And there seems to be no inclination to adjust billing to recognize the shortcomings in the service.
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After some difficulty finding my previous comment, I see that my statement regarding fees was in error. I apologize for that, as I could not find the cloud dvr comments when I set up my membership in the forum. The rest stands. My point of reference for quality regarding cloud dvr function is expecting the equivalent of local DVR contained in a previously supported Windows Media Center, digital tuner, cable card, tuning adapter environment, on a much lower bandwidth internet feed. The Cloud DVR interface is obviously a first attempt, and needs work, but the bandwidth should have been anticipated with market research to determine the volume of local, non dedicated hardware, recording being done in the existing customer base (via other devices and dedicated digital tuners).
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