How do I fix lagging playback of DVR recordings?

Hey there @Rowe444. Thanks for reaching out to us about your DVR recordings lagging. We'd be happy to help you with that.

To get started, we'd recommend checking out this information we have to fix issue with your U-verse TV recordings.

• Press Menu on your U-verse TV remote control.
• Use the arrow keys and scroll down to Help, then press OK.
• Scroll down to information and press OK.
• Scroll right and select Troubleshoot & Resolve.
• Select TV from the top menu.
• Choose DVR and follow the prompts.

Please let us know if these steps help.

Robert, AT&T Community Specialist

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.