Recorder Problems?
speedo123
Contributor - Level 1

I've just switched over from DirecTV "TiVo" boxes.  Have some problems and/or lack of (or no knowledge of how to do) certain features.  Anyone else having these problems or know how to get around them?  Any info will be greatly appreciated!

1) When recording a program, is there any quick way to get to the beginning of the recording?  Using the rewind feature takes quite a while if you have more that 15 minutes of the show recorded.  With DirecTV (and I assume regular TiVo), you could go forward or reverse 1/4 of the recording with one button push.

2)   "Hold" doesn't work if you change channels.  When you come back you're at the end of what's recorded again and, combined with "1" above, it takes several minutes to get back to the point where you had put the program on hold.  A real pain.  Any way around this?

3) When watching the recorded portion of a "live" show and you run past the actual end time of the show (e.g.: to 3:15 PM), the DVR is also recording the program that started at 3 PM.  However, instead of showing this next program from the 3 PM start time when the previous show ends, it jumps to the 3:15 time and shows from there.  You have to rewind back to the beginning (see problem 1!), which is not quick to do.  Another real pain.  Any way around this?

4) When you use the Favorites Menu button, you can't enter a channel number and go to it as you can on the regular Menu.  Means you have to use the Up/Down button to navigate.  Yet another pain.  Any way around this?

5) The 3 sec "Skip Back" button doesn't always work right.  Sometimes it actually moves the program forward or just pauses it briefly.

6)  Forward and Back options aren't always available so you can't do that with the program.

7) The DVR Series record doesn't always work.  A program can be set up to record all episodes, but it doesn't always record a new episode.

😎 Sometimes when hitting Rewind or Fast Forward, rather than do that, it jumps back or forward from the beginning to the end of what's recorded.  (Now if only I could figure out how to get it to do that for "1" above!)

9) Doesn't show how much "more" of a show is recorded.  Only where you're now at and how much was already recorded.

10) You can't go back past the present time in the Guide, only forward.  This can be done with the DirecTV guide and can be helpful at times.

The above issues and a few others posted or commented on elsewhere in this forum, make the FIOS "experience" not as good as DirecTV.  However, the FIOS picture is better and it doesn't go out during storms.  I hope these are just "growing pains" and will be corrected.  If they are, FIOS will be GREAT.

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Re: Recorder Problems?
matcarl
Master - Level 1
For item #1: After you select the show and it starts in the middle, hit the DVR button again, while it's playing, go back into recorded programs and select it again and then it gives an option to start from beginning. Some of the other issues you mentioned about not skipping right are supposed to be fixed in an upcoming patch in a few weeks.
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Re: Recorder Problems?
speedo123
Contributor - Level 1
Thanks for the quick response.  However, what you said is correct for a show you have pressed the "Record" button for, but not for the auto recording that the DVR does to enable you to pause and rewind a show you are just watching.  DirecTV records up to 1/2 hour of the "current" shows on each tuner.  Don't know how much time the FIOS DVR records, but it's getting to the beginning of this recording that I'm asking about, not a "red dot" recorded show.  Or getting back to the beginning of a "live" show, not one selected from the DVR menu.
Message Edited by speedo123 on 08-11-2008 04:18 PM
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Re: Recorder Problems?
matcarl
Master - Level 1
Sorry I misunderstood. You cannot go back without hitting the reverse button. It buffers 60 minutes.
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Re: Recorder Problems?
speedo123
Contributor - Level 1
Thanks matcarl.  The 60 minute info is good to know.  But Verizon needs to do something about offering a "Quick Rewind" option for buffered programs.  As this can already be done (see problem 8), they just need to program this "glitch" into their OS.
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Re: Recorder Problems?
skippy
Enthusiast - Level 1

After being spoiled by the Direct tivo system it really sucks to have to use this DVR and system. The DVR is deficient and the guide sucks.

After giving FIOS a month I really regret leaving Directv.

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Re: Recorder Problems?
Keyboards
Master - Level 3

@speedo123 wrote:
Thanks matcarl.  The 60 minute info is good to know.  But Verizon needs to do something about offering a "Quick Rewind" option for buffered programs.  As this can already be done (see problem 8), they just need to program this "glitch" into their OS.

You do realize that ther are 3 speeds of FF and REW?  Just in case you didn't realize, you can hit the REW button 1, 2, or 3 times to cycle from slowest to fastest rewind (or FF).  Still takes a while in the fastest mode.

eidted for clarity

Message Edited by Keyboards on 08-13-2008 01:16 PM
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Re: Recorder Problems?
speedo123
Contributor - Level 1

@Keyboards wrote:

@speedo123 wrote:
Thanks matcarl.  The 60 minute info is good to know.  But Verizon needs to do something about offering a "Quick Rewind" option for buffered programs.  As this can already be done (see problem 8), they just need to program this "glitch" into their OS.

You do realize that there are 3 speeds of FF and REW?  Just in case you didn't realize, you can hit the REW button 1, 2, or 3 times to cycle from slowest to fastest rewind (or FF).  Still takes a while in the fastest mode.

edited for clarity

Message Edited by Keyboards on 08-13-2008 01:16 PM

Thanks Keyboards, I do know that, but it takes a LONG while to rewind even in the fastest mode.  Way too long!  And then with the problem of "Hold" not working when you temporarily go to another channel, you have to do it again and again!  Wouldn't be quite so bad if that wasn't the case.  I'm really missing the TiVo/DirecTV features that Verizon's DVRs don't offer.  Still on my 3 month trial period.  May go back!

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Re: Recorder Problems?
speedo123
Contributor - Level 1

Any word (or rumors!) about Verizon fixing the Hold "problem?"  It's really a Pain In The {word filter avoidance} that Hold doesn't work if you change stations and come back.  When you combine that lack with the lack of a no "fast" rewind feature so that it takes forever to get back to where you were in a buffered program, the FIOS TV/DVR interface really sucks!  These (and most of the others I mentioned above) are features one takes for granted with most all the other systems out there. Why won't Verizon incorporate them?  Better yet, why weren't they there from day one?! Wouldn't their customer base expand that much faster if their existing customers were happy with the system?

I know I've stopped recommending it to the people I know and am seriously considering going back to DirecTV (which I can also get in a package deal from Verizon) to have the benefits of a REAL TV/DVR system.  I'm sure other dissatisfied users are not giving out the Verizon hoped-for recommendations either.

Message Edited by CharlotteS on 08-20-2008 06:28 PM
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