WHY Won't MY DVR RECORD?

Why is my Comcast DVR dropping shows that should record?

• We have Comcast DVR. We have it scheduled to record a show that airs everyday. It used to record everyday just fine, but now, sometimes it doesn't record. When we check scheduled recordings, it shows that it isn't scheduled to record until next week, therefore skipping this entire week's shows.

• Answer:

  First check the TV schedule. Sometimes networks rearrange things, or run reruns. For instance, we record Glee, but it's in reruns until February. Our DVR realizes it's a rerun and skips it. Some shows are especially bad at giving accurate information. The Daily Show on Comedy Central, for instance, only gives accurate descriptions the first time a new episode airs. Every other time, the description is simply "News show. 1999" regardless of what the specific episode is. This causes our DVR to think all those instances are the same episode, when in reality they aren't. This is a problem with the network being lazy, not Comcast. (Even the host of The Daily Show jokes about how Comedy Central is screwing up his DVR's ability to record his own show...) If you want all episodes recorded, regardless if it's a rerun or not, you can change the recording options. Sometimes a DVR can be set to only hold a certain number of episodes of a show. This can be helpful for some shows, like the nightly news when you only want the latest episode. Otherwise you'll probably want to change the limit of episodes recorded under the recording options for your show. Another thing could be you have more than one (or 2) shows that occur at the same time. In this case, the DVR will record the show(s) that are the highest on your list. If you have a show that you really want to be recorded no matter what, try moving it higher on the list. Most DVRs also have a "To Do List" which lists every instance of every show, whether it'll be recorded or not, and why. You can look in here to see why certain instances are being skipped. It may be because the DVR thinks it's a rerun, or another higher priority show is being recorded. You can override the DVR's decisions from here as well. Finally, check how much time is left on your DVR. If the disk is full, and you've locked all the shows so they can't be automatically deleted, nothing new can be recorded. If none of these does it for you, it's time to call Comcast and troubleshoot. DVRs are basically computers and like most computer applications, they can have bugs or errors.