Visitor

 • 

17 Messages

Monday, July 14th, 2025

Why the 10 minute timeout on pausing recordings

Why is there a 10 minute timeout when pausing recordings on Xfinity DVR?  In my research there have been many customers complain about this, but have not found the reasoning behind it.  I don't care about the "work around" because it is really unacceptable.  I watch a lot of sports.  So If i pause a recording that is pretty much live I am constantly forced to hit play and pause again to reset the timer.  I'm afraid I will see live results which ruins the viewing of the event.

I assume there is some reasoning behind this timer.  I used to be able to pause for an extended period of time, but now it seems since recordings are stored in the cloud this has become a setting.

Oldest First
Selected Oldest First

Contributor

 • 

346 Messages

3 months ago

my theory is that they do this to prevent screen burn in on your tv.....

now i have a question for you, why is it you record sports?.... do you work a 2nd shift? How do you keep yourself in the bubble to prevent learning the results ahead of time?

Visitor

 • 

17 Messages

Appreciate the comments.  Actually, the screensaver should come on which would prevent screen burn.  Is screen burn an actual problem with today's technology?  I honestly don't know.  The way I keep my self in the bubble is to not look at results on my phone etc.  And I am not typically far behind the actual live event.  But If I have something I need to do I really should be able to pause for an extended period of time and come back to it and push play.  If something happens and i see live results that's my problem.  My question is why is there a 10 minute limit?  Didn't use to be and not sure screen burn is the reasoning

Visitor

 • 

17 Messages

3 months ago

So I'm not getting much with this post.  Can someone tell me how to get this question to someone within Xfinity to get an answer?  It is extremely difficult to talk to someone at Xfinity and I know I won't be able to just call and ask this question.

Contributor

 • 

346 Messages

post on their reddit page, they seem more responsive there....

Official Employee

 • 

2.4K Messages

Hi there, @user_0jty1f Thank you so much for taking the time to reach out to us on this forum. You do not need to use the Pause button; pressing Last will automatically pause a DVR recording and will create a proper resume point.-Richard

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

Contributor

 • 

346 Messages

@XfinityRichard​ wait what?.... doesn't "last" just bring up the 10 recently watched channels?

or is this when watching a live recording (chasing the recording)?

Visitor

 • 

17 Messages

Yeah, pressing the Last button doesn't address the question.  When pressing the last button, you then have to select one of the recently watched channels as westwayneguy states.  I guess you can go to something you don't care about and then press the last button to get back to the recording later on.  But that's a lot of extra stuff that shouldn't be necessary.  My question still remains why is there the 10 minute timer when pausing a recording?  If there has to be a timer why not make it 30 minutes or 45 minutes?  Or, better yet, make it a menu option to set the amount of time for pausing a recording?

Official Employee

 • 

210 Messages

@user_0jty1f Thanks for taking the time to reach back out to address this concern. The 10-minute timer is a default setting put in place by Xfinity. I will definitely send over your feedback regarding this topic to try to enhance our customer experience. Is there anything else I can do to help with this topic? 

Visitor

 • 

17 Messages

2 months ago

I received an email to accept the solution?  Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but there has been no solution.  Can someone explain this?

Contributor

 • 

49 Messages

9 days ago

Honestly Xfinity is the worst. Why in the world is there a timeout after just a few minutes when pausing a recorded program? There are so many reasons I hate this but the biggest one is when  you pause a program to take a call or whatever (which obviously mutes the recording) and then it times out, goes to whatever channel you were last on and then you get sound from that channel. MINIMALLY the time out should to be adjustable for the customer. However, as usual, the company doesn't care what the end user who pays their salaries wants. 

Visitor

 • 

17 Messages

I was actually at my brother's house a few days ago and he has Xfinity.  Tried this on his main tv and it just stayed paused.  He has an XG1V4-A.  No idea why this is different.  I have all Xi boxes now so maybe that is the difference?  Haven't had the courage to attempt to call or chat with xfinity to try to find out.  There has to be a difference obviously.

Visitor

 • 

17 Messages

Come on Xfinity!!  Give us an answer please!!!

Official Employee

 • 

2.4K Messages

There is a default timer of 10-minutes that cannot be modified as of now. We will alert our Engineering and Development Team of the need to be able to extend that timer. We are always looking for ways to improve how our customers interact with our hardware, and this is certainly a great idea.

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

Visitor

 • 

1 Message

7 days ago

This!  It's so maddening to pause a recording for a chore or phone call, only for it to revert to live tv.  There seems to be no reason for it and no explanation why it can't be fixed. 

Contributor

 • 

49 Messages

7 days ago

For me it changed when I got a new box. I don't know what the name of it is, but it is the newer one that doesn't have the time on it and doesn't have the red light to show a program is recording. Guess the new box is cheaper for them to produce. I find it annoying to not have these features but the timeout to pause recordings is the most frustrating. They don't seem to care. Why would there EVER be a timeout for pausing??? Why is it taking so long to fix the problem???  I'm thinking about just getting rid of Comcast/Xfinity

Contributor

 • 

92 Messages

@user_a0f600​ 

This box is not a DVR. This is why it's using Cloud DVR

Contributor

 • 

92 Messages

3 days ago

Man, some of these Xfinity folks are clueless. The timeout happens because your recordings are on cloud DVR, which works just like On Demand. It cuts off after about 10 minutes or so.

Non-cloud DVR recordings do not time out.

You’ll know if it’s cloud DVR by pausing your recording.
Under the program name it’ll either say DVR or show a cloud in front of it.

hope this helps. 

(edited)

Visitor

 • 

17 Messages

Saying it is on the cloud doesn't fix something a lot of people feel is a problem.  Is there something technically that requires it to be 10 minutes?  Why can't it be 30 minutes?  I can't count the number of times I pause a recording to take a phone call or even to prepare a snack or lunch and I hear it kick out to whatever live channel I was previously tuned to.  So not only does it kick out the audio comes back on.

All I have been asking in this long thread is someone tell us why the 10 minutes?  And can there be a selection for time or to extend it to some more reasonable time.

Contributor

 • 

92 Messages

I already gave you the answer that the so-called official employees couldn’t. It isn’t broken. That’s just how cloud DVR works and it has always been this way. When you hit play, you are not watching a saved file on your own box. You are streaming that show from Xfinity’s servers, which is why it behaves like On Demand. And like On Demand, it times out after a set period. Non-cloud DVR recordings don’t have this issue because they are stored directly on your device. If that is a problem for you, the solution is simple. Get a box that has a regular DVR.

Contributor

 • 

92 Messages

2 days ago

I already gave you all the answer that the so-called official employees couldn’t. It isn’t broken. That’s just how cloud DVR works and it has always been this way. When you hit play, you are not watching a saved file on your own box. You are streaming that show from Xfinity’s servers, which is why it behaves like On Demand. And like On Demand, it times out after a set period. Non-cloud DVR recordings don’t have this issue because they are stored directly on your device. If that is a problem for you, the solution is simple. Get a box that has a regular DVR.

(edited)

Contributor

 • 

49 Messages

I DO have a regular DVR! That's the point. It has changed.

Contributor

 • 

92 Messages

@user_a0f600​ 
I just read one of your comments? You got a new box that IS NOT a dvr.

(edited)

Contributor

 • 

92 Messages

2 days ago

The reason for the timeout is because it was a Cloud DVR recording. This can happen for a few reasons. You might be using the Cloud DVR service with a non-DVR box, the specific channel or program may only record to Cloud DVR, or there may have been an outage during the recording that forced it to pull the Cloud DVR version since a local copy isn’t available.

With Cloud DVR, you are not watching a file saved on your own box. You are streaming it from Xfinity’s servers, which is why it acts like On Demand and times out after a set period. Regular DVR recordings do not have this issue because they are stored directly on the device.

If that is a problem, the only solution is to use a box with a built-in DVR, although some channels and programs will still default to the cloud because of licensing or other restrictions

Honestly, it is surprising that the ‘Official Employees’ have not explained this clearly. It comes across as ignorance of their own services and equipment, and I am just a long-time Comcast customer who figured it out.

Visitor

 • 

17 Messages

1 day ago

Thought of a lot of ways to reply to this post, but want to be as brief as possible!  You have figured out the difference between DVR recordings and Cloud recordings, but no one has yet answered the original question.  Why is a recording that we now know is a cloud recording only allowed to be paused for 10 minutes before it kicks out to the last live channel.  The point that you pause the recording isn't lost.  You can go back to it as has been discussed here also.  It's just that you should be able to pause a recording, answer a phone call, make some lunch, or whatever you need to do and not have the recording kicked out after 10 minutes.  Only someone from Xfinity can explain this, but that hasn't happened yet.  Can it be programmed to adjust it to say 30 minutes or a selection of times?

I guess another question is can a customer go back to a DVR type setup.  I wasn't asked when most of my boxes were replaced due to other problems.

The original question has not been answered.  I guess we are waiting for someone at Xfinity to analyze and make a decision, or maybe just say it's working as designed which isn't a real answer.

Official Employee

 • 

3.7K Messages

@user_0jty1f I am sorry that the pause is not long enough for you to do any activities during recordings. Our boxes are designed to conserve energy and prevent "screen burn-in" on the TV after a set period of inactivity. 

 

 

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

Visitor

 • 

17 Messages

Don't think burn in is a problem but doing a little research it can be on certain types of screens.  However, screensavers are incorporated for that purpose.  My electronics background seems to say power consumption is not a reason.  I doubt anything is drawing more power when a recording is paused.  Again, 10 minutes is too short as stated by a lot of customers on this forum.  Why 10 minutes?

Official Employee

 • 

2.5K Messages

I think that's a fair question, @user_0jty1f. I know how frustrating it can be to pause a show when the phone rings, or when you need to run to another room for something, only to have the volume kick back in after 10 minutes. This has never been a setting that can be adjusted or turned off, as far as I can remember.

 

If you like, we can submit this as a suggestion to our product developers, to see if the hold time can be adjusted. I'm thinking that if we do that, one of two things could happen. They will either get back to us and tell us why it has to be a strict 10 minutes, or they will incorporate the suggestion into a future update.

 

If you could send our team a direct message with your full name, the name listed on the account (if different), and the service address associated with your account, I'd be more than happy to look into this for you.

 

To send a Direct Message, please click on the “Direct Message” icon in the top-right corner of the screen, next to the bell icon, click the "New message" (pencil and paper) icon, then type or select "Xfinity Support". Type your message in the text area near the bottom of the window and press Enter to send your message and initiate a live session.

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick
forum icon

New to the Community?

Start Here