Excessive ads on dvr recordings

In the run-up to the 3rd season of The Ark, I've been playing the previous programs, saved on my X1 DVR. They have become unwatchable!

In the past, saved recordings have matched the broadcast that was recorded, including its ads. (So, they had political ads for elections in the past.) Now, current ads are being inserted. Were these mere replacements for the recorded ads, that would be no big deal. However,

I'm getting less than 10 min. of program and then a block of ads (up to 10 ads). In at least one case, when I carefully monitored the time, I got 10 ads, then 7 min. of program, and then 5 more ads.

What's going on?

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XfinityDilary

Official Employee

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3.5K Messages

16 days ago

User_8bs01h. I'm sorry to hear that's been your experience. Recordings should be enjoyable to watch, especially when you're catching up on a series before a new season. The frequency of the ads you're describing certainly doesn't sound ideal. To better understand what's happening, can you let us know if this is occurring with all DVR recordings or only with The Ark? Also, are these recordings stored on your X1 DVR, or are you accessing them from On Demand? Any additional details you can provide will help us take a closer look and determine whether this is expected behavior or something that needs further investigation.

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User_8bs01h

Regular Visitor

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29 Messages

15 days ago

I don't have that much saved on the X1 DVR, but still at an hour each, it will take a while to test them all. So far, sampling shows the other recordings (one STTNG episode and episodes from the new "Matlock") are OK. There were several oddities with the Ark episodes, though. Usually, when I select an episode, a menu with "watch options" appears--with the DVR recording and the original network's broadcast among the options. Now, there is much inconsistency with this.

First, S1, ep.4 has excessive advertising. I took notes starting at approximately 38 minutes in: there were 7 minutes of program followed by 9 ads, followed by 7 more minutes of program, and 9 more ads. Unwatchable!

Second, most of the season 1 episodes now have the same recording date, though they were recorded week-by-week. Something certainly changed.

Third, season 2 is quite messed up. Many (but, so far, not all) of the recordings are gone, replaced by Plex as the only watch option. Now, season 1 is 2 years back, so I could understand their being deleted. But season 2 should still be available as recorded. I read that the SYFY channel made a rebroadcast deal with one of the other services (Hulu? Paramount?). Is that why my recordings have been deleted?

Something strange is happening with X1 DVR recordings in the Cloud! If I find anomalies with any of my other recordings (Matlock, one STTNG, and a Tom Lehrer special), I'll let you know. The only other anomaly I spotted was one recording that I didn't schedule and that was for a program I don't watch. I deleted it as soon as I spotted it. I don't use the Cloud for storage, but my assumption had been that it is not unlike a hard disk, with files staying where placed and unaltered. It now appears much more fluid, with files being shuffled around--and occasionally getting misfiled. ?

Anyway, thank you for your reply. I don't know if this information will be helpful or not.

Yours, User_8bs01h

P.S. It's a long walk from my couch to the DVD player, but I do own the DVDs for both seasons of The Ark, and will watch them to get ready for Season 3. (It's the only decent science fiction on right now.)

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XfinityChelseaB

Official Employee

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2.4K Messages

@User_8bs01h, thank you for that update, we appreciate it! We understand that advertisements can sometimes be frustrating. While we do not determine, control, or moderate the advertisements or content provided by individual networks, we do want to make sure we address your DVR concerns and help identify what may be happening. To better understand the issue, could you let us know if recordings are being deleted unexpectedly from your DVR? If so, do you happen to know approximately how long those recordings had been saved before they disappeared? Any additional details you can provide will help us investigate further and provide the most appropriate support. We appreciate your patience and look forward to assisting you.

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14 days ago

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User_8bs01h

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29 Messages

This month, the SYFY channel has been rebroadcasting episodes of The Ark, and it looks like some of the DVR's recordings have been replaced by the re-broadcasts. The original season 1, ep.4 broadcast certainly had a normal proportion of programs to ads, but it may be that the SYFY channel is loading its re-broadcasts with ads. Because my understanding is that the DVR doesn't record repeats of previously recorded programs, and because the entire first season is still available to me as saved recordings, it hadn't occurred to me that I was looking at a repeat and not the original recording. I am sorry for any confusion I caused, though. The DVR's recording of repeats explains the multiple episodes with the same date, since the SYFY channel had broadcast repeats in pairs over the course of several mornings.

Every time I check the saved recordings, though, I'm finding that something has changed.

S2, Ep.1 of The Ark was first broadcast in July of 2024, and seems not to have been re-broadcast yet. The DVR recordings of that and the following episodes through Episode 7 are available. The recording of Episode 8, though is missing. It is available only from Plex. Episode 9 is still available as a DVR recording. Episode 10 is Plex only. Episode 11 is available as a DVR recording. Episode 12 is Plex only. So, currently, three recordings have been deleted, and the remaining 9 are currently available. Earlier today, I had the impression that more were Plex only, All the episodes were recorded.

There are other deleted recordings, for Matlock: For S1, Episodes 11, 14, and 18 only Paramount+ is available. The rest of the season is still available as recorded. In season 2, episodes 15 and 16 are available only from CBS. (The DVR was set to record the series, but If I remember correctly, episode 16--the last episode of season 2--did not record.)

I realize that Comcast says it keeps the DVR recordings for a year, and my recordings have been living on borrowed time for a long time. I had thought that because I've used so little of the allocated recording space (55 of 300 hrs.), the company was just letting the recordings stay around.

I'm sorry if this sounds confusing! When playing through a series, I just look at the episode numbers, not the date/time stamp, so I didn't notice the change in recording dates when they occurred.

Anyway, thank you for your patience!

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14 days ago

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XfinityKei

Official Employee

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2.6K Messages

@User_8bs01h Glad things are cleared up with the broadcast and repeated shows. If the show is marked as new by the network it will record if you have it set to new episodes only. You can modify the time of a recording and ensure its set to keep for one year. The DVR automatically erases programs when space is needed. It deletes the oldest recordings first. I have a link from our Help and Support page with more information on our DVR https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/x1-dvr-overview

How much space do you have in your DVR currently?

(edited)

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14 days ago

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User_8bs01h

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29 Messages

Currently, 18% of my allocated recording space has been used. That's why I thought my older recordings had not been deleted.

I am puzzled over the deletion of 3 recordings of season 2 of The Ark, 3 episodes of season 1 of Matlock, and 1 or 2 (not sure that episode 16 was ever recorded) episodes of season 2 of Matlock. These weren't deleted to make room, and if they were deleted because of age, why just these episodes?

My recollection of the initial DVR setup is fuzzy. The Ark was broadcast shortly after I acquired the X1 DVR, and in choosing "record series," I might not have known about the "new only" vs. "new and repeated" option. Most probably, I would have assumed that the DVR wouldn't overwrite existing recordings. I've now made sure it records "new only," so the ad-laden re-runs won't be overwriting my saves.

Thank you for your reply!

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14 days ago

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XfinityOrlandoM

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3.6K Messages

@User_8bs01h

You're welcome do you have any other questions or concerns?

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14 days ago

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User_8bs01h

Excessive ads on dvr recordings

XfinityDilary

User_8bs01h

XfinityChelseaB

User_8bs01h

XfinityKei

User_8bs01h

XfinityOrlandoM

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