Reader Bill, who sends in this video of what his DVR recorded during last night’s American Idol finale, says:
“Just thought you would like to see for yourself the kind of service Comcast delivers for a $150 a month.”
You know, Bill. This happens to me every time I record football on CBS. (Full disclosure: I don’t have Comcast.) I’m always having to record 60 minutes, too. It used to bug me, but I’m starting to like 60 minutes more and more every year… their consumer reporting is really interesting… I think it’s a deliberate plot.
Anyway, you’re not alone, we found another poor Comcast user whose DVR cut out. And another one. And another one. And it wasn’t just Comcast either…
Personally, as someone who liked the Sopranos finale, I think it’s almost better this way.
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My VZ motorola box cut off early, too. looks like show ran over. I’ve learned to record the next program (or 2) when I noticed that Versus never allowed enough time for an NHL playoff game. My daughter asked why I recorded Professional Bullriding! Game 2 or 3 of the Flyers/Pens series went 45 minutes longer than the VS timeslot.
You actually used the Tragic tag for this?
This is why I don’t miss cable.
@bravo369: Survivor is getting a bit old but it still holds my attention. But I don’t watch the gimmick seasons like when they had teams divided by race competing against each other. Talk about stooping low for ratings. It was disgraceful and I refused to watch it. I also hate all-star seasons when they bring back the supposed popular people. Yuck. Seeing them once is enough for me.
The Amazing Race remains my favorite. Love that show. CBS was a fool to put it up against Sunday Night Football.
@B: That is EXACTLY what I was going to say! These things always made me miss the moment of zen and Colbert saying goodnight.
This is not Comcast’s fault. The DVR will record the show for the time that it is scheduled for. It is a machine. It doesn’t “know” that a live show is going to go long. This is the subscribers fault for not programming his DVR to record an extra few minues. If a baseball game is “scheduled” to be on from 7:30 until 10:30 and the game goes to extra innings and doesn’t end until 11 is it the cable company’s fault that it went long. Come on! This isn’t even a story. It is just a stupid reader who is complaining.
This isn’t about Comcast. The show ran over. Anyone who didn’t account for that possibility in their recording preferences had their recording cut off.
also: [flickr.com]
Why is everyone blaming Fox? They provided a show jam packed with entertainment– so much so that it ran over because they just couldn’t fit all of the stuff they had to show. I mean, there was … that.. erm, ad for that movie… oh, and there was that really cool time when .. uh… that guy came out and sang… and then there was when George Michael sang for 3 hours… and… erm… Ryan Seacrest!
Seriously, though, this is NOT a story. I don’t know why AI doesn’t just get scheduled to run long like every other show on TV (i.e., Lost always shows up on my DVR as running 10:02-11:00, or 10:00-11:01, etc), maybe Fox doesn’t want to mess with local affiliates? But blaming Comcast is like blaming American Airlines when you’re snowed in at the airport and no flights can get out. There are plenty of legitimate things to complain about with these companies and fluff pieces like this dilute that message.
wow, welcome to the conversation. this has been an issue since DVRs were invented. if the show says 8-9, they record 8-9. if the show goes over because someone thought it would be cool to add 2 minutes, then you’re SOL. this is why the Comcast DVR has the option of recording as much as 15 minutes into the next show or the show before what you want to watch. mark it down: stupid consumer.
The exact same thing happened last year. Sure the cable companies are retarded to not allow flexibility here, but it’s mostly Idol’s fault. It really makes you wonder if we needed to see Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr singing with a vintage Gladys Knight.
I blame it on Seacrest.
A friend of mine has a Comcast DVR. Instead of just blindly hitting the “record” button, she goes down to “view the settings for this recording” and sets it to start a few minutes early and stop a few minutes late. It works.
This is clearly a result of the broadcast from Fox running past the normal time the show would end. The DVRs offered by Comcast actually allow you to record over the scheduled time (1 minute to 2 hours after) so you can avoid issues such as this. As a rule of thumb it is best to set any type of recording for a live show, a finale or sports event to go at least 15 minutes over (maybe more for a sports event). By default a DVR records by what the time on the guide shows. It does not have the ability to know if a show or event is going to go beyond that. Just like any device, it is best to read the manual before using it. If ever needed you can see most of Comcast’s manuals here –> [www.comcast.com] (DVR guides are on the left)
@pianos101:
WAAY after the fact, but I was being completely sarcastic. There’s like 10 explanations of what happened.
My TiVo was worse than that…it got ALL THE WAY TO THE WORD DAVID, and then it was done recording.
Not really a big deal–I only watch the last minute of each show anyway, but man!
This is serious blame the messenger. How is it Comcast’s fault that a show ran long?
Could this just be one of those off time issues? Some shows do the ‘super-sized’ (9:00-10:15) or the ‘off-sized’ (9:00-10:02) shows?
This was a big reason why I got rid off all my DVR/PVR setups… It’s just easier now to use T.E.D. …
Umm has anyone thought its maybe Fox’s/American Idols fault for running it over the 2 hours?
Meh.
I have two TiVos. I signed up for Season Passes for AI, so it never asked me to extend the recording time.
My old TV upstairs cut out right after the word “Cook” in the finale.
My shiny new Series 3 HD TiVo cut out right after the word “David” and before “cook”.
TiVo isn’t magic, folks.