How do I fix lagging playback of DVR recordings?

Thanks, but that doesn't work. 

Hi there, @Rowe444 we would be happy to take a closer look into what's going on with your DVR recordings.

In order to proceed further, we would like you to join us in a Direct Message. You can do this by checking in the DM inbox which is located next to the bell icon.

We are looking forward to working with you to get this resolved.

Latoya, AT&T Community Specialist

Have the same issues with my U-verse DVR as @Rowe444 @was having. Would like to know what ATT did for @Rowe444 but can’t find results? Can anyone help me? 

If you are having the exact same problem (lagging issues with DVR content playback but not live viewing), then there are two general categories of problems:

1) The DVR itself has an issue

2) The network between the DVR and the other receivers has an issue that only affects playback of DVR content

So, let's check a few things:

a) Do you have issues when playing back content on the actual DVR itself?

b) Do you have issues when you do a rewind or pause of live TV or only when watching explicit recordings?

c) Is there any pattern to when these issues occur?

Thanks JefferMC for your quick response! Yes, we have problems upon play back of recorded programs! Issue with recorded programs only. No patterns noticed. We watch most of our recorded programs in the evening. I’ve reset and reset but to no avail. We went to fiber last month hoping that would solve the problem. It did not. Had the problem in December and continues to this day. Would like to solve myself, but May have to call a technician out. But after reading comments this may not help. Skeptical at best. Snapper51 

AT&T directions did not solve my problem. Not by the list herein nor over the phone. Sorry.

HOWEVER - I found a full update option under settings (via using the remote control), even though it said I was already up to date.   It ran, it reset & removed some glitch /*info showed on screen for a second /  and began to work much better.  It solved the issue, for the most part.  Note that if there's a weak signal while recording due to weather or activity, it can happen, but MUCH less so. Also, I have found if I am recording more than one show at a time, all being recorded simultaneously will suffer.  

Thanks Rowe444. Strange the issues started in December 2022. Until then went for years without any issues. One of our old DVRs cooling fan began to fail. Att sent replacement and that’s when our troubles began! Want to keep Att U-verse, but thinking I might have to consider other providers. Did you look into that? Snapper51 

December 2022 is about when my issues began as well. Techs told me they have ended servicing the boxes and are pushing customers to switch to  DirectTV stream (which I tried and did not like.)  They do not even make the boxes anymore.  I was told they just give you (or mail you) a used box which was returned when a replacement is requested. 

I had Comcast Xfinity but had to switch to AT&T when I moved because of my area.  Comcast Xfinity had excellent service. 

They are not making new DVRs or receivers, they are just refurbishing the models that are returned.  OTOH, we're still using the one we received in Nov 2009 and -- knock on wood -- it's still operating fine.  The disk drives can be replaced with newer ones during refurbishment, and that's the most likely part to wear out.

It may be that your new DVR does have an issue and also needs to be replaced.

Let's get your DVR working again, @Snapper51! 

Thanks, @JefferMC, for your insightful comments. 

Since you were not able to resolve this with troubleshooting, we'll need to speak privately in order to get a tech out there. Please check your direct message inbox in the top right corner of the page. We'll be messaging you there shortly. 

Raiden, AT&T Community Specialist 

Raider never got with me on Direct Messaging. I am old guy and just want the problem fixed. Tired of watching a recorded program and missing important words in a conversation or action! 

Hey, @Snapper51! We sent you a direct message. You can access it through the direct message inbox in the top right corner of the page. It's the chat icon next to the bell icon. 

Raiden, AT&T Community Specialist 

@JefferMC yea they "can" replace the hard drives but I've yet to see any proof they actually bother to during "refurbishment" based on my admittedly limited research the newest dvrs are circa 2014.  But I've never seen a dvr that didn't have a hard drive manufactured roughly the same time as the dvr box itself.  (You can check by looking in the cooling slots and seeing the manufacturer date codes on hard drive, although on some models like the pace 8005/8010 you might need to remove the drive to see the code).

I'd love if someone had proof of a newer harddrive and that was even a possibility.   Sadly my working theory is due to the millions of former uverse customers they have enough used dvrs stockpiled they just ship them back out until they are 100% sure they are DOA and then toss them.  Rather than actually test and refurbish them.  

Interestingly in the past I've always assumed any problems with recordings had to be due to a bad harddrive.  But I'm not sure about that anymore, there might be as many software issues as there are hardware issues.   My current dvr started having problems over a year ago but I've not replaced it yet and the problems seem to go away and change and come back.  Which makes me think it might not actually be a bad harddrive. (I also think there might be issues with overheating, my non scientific evidence shows I have less glitches in recordings when I put a raised wood cutting board under mine that allows even more airflow(and absorbs and dissipates a little of the heat unlike the wood dresser that's surface is now ruined from the heat, these energy suckered get toasty. Lol

Also I'm still considering attempting to replace the harddrive myself the next time it truly fails, but that's only possible if the articles that are 10 years old+ are still true and the uverse dvr really does automatically reinstall the software on a blank drive. Also finding a compatible drive might prove a challenge given the low power media drives they use of a starting to get outdated variety.

TL:DR att equipment is terrible and they barely keep uverse equipment functioning.  

att equipment is terrible

It's was the very state of the art technology about 17 years ago.  It's actually aged fairly well, considering.