The DVR Hates Me

OK, I have a Comcast question for anyone who cares to answer.   Comcast’s CS is feast or famine, and this isn’t urgent, just a question I have.

Why does the storage capacity of my DVR seem to change from day to day?  A couple of days ago, I’m sitting happily at about 50%, content that ONE DAY I’ll watch those Discovery “Human Body” episodes I recorded, or that 20/20 that featured the royal family.

I get up this morning, and the screen is filled with an urgent message about my DVR being full and that no more recording can be done.  Of course, this included the CSI NY I was attempting to record last night.  Lintilla’s going to be royally ticked.

Anyway, I proceed to delete everything unnecessary, and hardly a dent was made in the total space used.  I deleted EVERY recorded program but the last Medium.  With that one 1-hour program, 66% was filled.  Granted it was HD, but I’ve had well over 10 hours of HD programming stored before.

I’m going to guess and say that, when maintenance on the DVR is being performed - say a defrag - the necessary space on the DVRs hard drive is reserved and unavailable.

Am I close?

I WILL say that booting the thing doesn’t help, in the immediate term.

I need something concrete to tell my wife, because she thinks I’m an idiot when it comes to the cable TV.  For instance, on either of our receivers, there are times when I pause live TV, start watching again, get to a commercial and hit the fast-forward button.  Nothing happens.  I hit it again, still nothing.  Again,again.  Then 30 seconds later, the DVR begins responds to the first FF, then a few seconds later, the second.  It gets to where the show has come back, so I hit play.  But the DVR is now responding the the 3rd and 4th times I hit FF, and soon, I’m 10 minutes past where I want to be.  When it finally responds to when I hit ‘play’, it’s showing the next set of commercials.  I hit rewind, with no immediate response, and the whole thing starts all over again in reverse.

Lintilla swears this NEVER happens to HER.  And for all I know, it doesn’t.

Are DVR manufacturers involved in some kind of feminist plot to make husbands give up the remote control?

Update:  I should also add - Am I the ultimate dork because I actually watch all the recently added HD channels in Nashville?  Animal Planet , ABC Family (Trillian just discovered Sabrina), Disney, TLC, Discovery,Food Network,History Channel, HGTV,CNN, Science and sometimes even TBS and AMC? 

Mea Culpas On The Edge

Random stuff on a Tuesday:

First and foremost, tomorrow (Wednesday) is the day of Lintilla’s sugery.  She is not concerned, and we’ll just have to see what they find when they get in there.  She’d appreciate any prayers and good thoughts sent her way.  We’re getting up quite early, as is usual for outpatient surgeries like this.  Hopefully,they’ll get rid of the bad stuff, and that’ll be the end of it.

 I’ll keep you posted.  I’m taking the day off tomorrow so I can be there for her.

Totally changing gears…

Our experience with Comcast today was the exact opposite of yesterday.  Lintilla called and got a very helpful CS rep, who sent out a technician.  He was prompt and very helpful, and after a little prodding around, fixed the problem.  He said we had some long-overdue maintenance that needed to be done - he changed out each and every one of our leads.  Excellent!  He didn’t even charge us, and I was quite willing to pay.

This is excellent customer service, and I want to shout about it as loudly as I did the horrible customer service.  Viva la Comcast!

I’m seeing a pattern in myself - I have a “trigger”. Remember in the Back To The Future movies, how Marty McFly was all timid - unless … someone called him “chicken”?  Then he got mad and irrational.  I am apparently the same way when I percieve that someone is looking down on me intellectually.  I have no idea where this comes from; I’ve always been looked at as being a nerd, a geek, a mad scientist.  Yet, I have a stong insecuity about it, apparently.  Maybe I subconsciously hate myself for not finishing college, I don’t know.  So, I’ll keep working on it.  Hopefully y’all will be patient with me.

In answer to John’s rhetorical question: in a couple of months, the WGA strike will probably cost me at least 1000 page views a day.  It translates to a pretty good chunk of change. Get to the table!!!

I had an unexpected lunch with an old friend today.  We were debate partners in high school, and like brothers most of the time.  That was quite enjoyable.  I hope we can do it again, soon.

I’m also quite happy that my brother and parents are in town this week.  I had a great time with Zarniwhoop at the game, and visiting with the folks.  Of course, Zarni and I will go to the Jags game,and I’m trying to set up a Brothers’ Night Out for me, Zarni, and Marvin to go to the Preds game Saturday night.  This is how many men bond: parallel play, like toddlers. 

Trillian has invited her BFF for a sleepover this weekend.  This is the same girl who was the recipient of Trillian’s uncharacteristic bullying.  Kids are strange, and forgiving.  There is much we can learn from them.

My Comcastic Week

Log

This page provides important information that can be used to resolve problems with your cable modem.

Time Priority Description 2007-11-05 20:02:21 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC framing 2007-11-05 19:59:52 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync 2007-11-05 19:59:49 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync 2007-11-05 19:59:49 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC framing 2007-11-05 19:41:07 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync 2007-11-05 19:41:06 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync 2007-11-05 19:41:06 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC framing 2007-11-05 19:41:04 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC framing 2007-11-05 19:39:49 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC framing 2007-11-05 19:39:46 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync 2007-11-05 19:39:39 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync 2007-11-05 19:35:42 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync 2007-11-05 19:35:39 critical No Ranging Response received -T3 time-out 2007-11-05 19:35:36 critical No Ranging Response received -T3 time-out 2007-11-05 19:35:35 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire FEC framing 2007-11-05 19:35:31 critical No Ranging Response received -T3 time-out 2007-11-05 19:35:17 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync 2007-11-05 19:34:47 critical No Ranging Response received -T3 time-out 2007-11-05 19:34:41 critical No Ranging Response received -T3 time-out 2007-11-05 19:34:40 critical No Ranging Response received -T3 time-out 2007-11-05 19:34:35 critical No Ranging Response received -T3 time-out 2007-11-05 19:34:33 critical No Ranging Response received -T3 time-out 2007-11-05 19:32:08 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync 2007-11-05 19:31:20 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync 2007-11-05 19:31:17 critical SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Loss of Sync

That’s the last 30 minutes in the life of my cable modem.  It’s been like this for over a week.  I am speaking to you now via Verizon Wireless and their broadband card, which is slow but better than what I’m getting through my cable modem.  The so-called customer service rep at Comcast tried to give me the exact same spiel BusyMom got about my router (It might have been the same person, for all I know).  The best way to tick me off is to speak to me like I’m an idiot.  And even if I was an idiot, it’s not too hard to figure out that when the little light that says “cable” will not stay lit, you have a problem with the signal.  Comcast CS management: please update your scripts!  Maybe take out the parts about arrogant condesension while you’re at it.

When I look direcly at the modem’s URL, I’m getting crazy variations of downstream (all of them LOW), and absolutely NO upstream signal.  Yes, I’ve tried bypassing the cable splitter; it makes minimal difference.

I’m willing to accept that a)My cable modem is dying or b) maybe, just maybe, there are signal problems on the west side of town.  Or maybe all those reports we’ve been reading in the Nashville blogsphere are all coincidences.  But we can’t get to the bottom of things because the CS people are hung up on my router.

 I’ve already severed ties with one unresponsive ex-monopoly.  I’d like to work this out, but that’s not possible dealing with people who are not polite and talk down to people.

I work from home a lot, and I have Vonage.  This is going to end, Comcast,and soon.  One way or the other.  How it ends depends on your attitude when I call again tomorrow.