Cannot play previously recorded programs from DVR while "Television signal lost"

SomeJoe7777 and aviewer - Thank you for the informative explanations.

mythoughts - Instead of assuming the customer has bad intentions, how about passing some suggestions on to AT&T?

1) On the "Television signal lost" error screen, option #5 - 'go to the att.com/ufix website' is not very helpful.  If you get this error, your Internet is DOWN.  The phone does still work, so provide the ATT service number instead.  (If it's a bad RG/Gateway, they'll have to place a service call anyway.)

2) Could ATT give the customer some type of work-around for "last resort" DVR watching?  At the time the service call is placed, the support person could give the customer a temporary by-pass code that they could enter on a DVR menu to initiate play-back.  It could be valid for only a certain number of hours at a time.

3) Thinking outside the box:  If the television signal is lost, and the customer is trying to watch a program on the DVR, is there a way that the DVR could use the phone to call in for the authorization code?

As you're much more familiar with the U-verse system and equipment, mythoughts, you could probably come up with all sorts of ways of helping out a legitimate customer instead of being paranoid.

I'd also like to point out that "signal lost" can also occur to just one STB when others are working.   So, in addition to using TS&R on a Smartphone using the downloaded application, you could potentially use it on a connected PC to resolve "signal lost,' though you are correct that some potential causes of the message would prevent going to the website and using TS&R.

Though being told to go to the TS&R tool may lead some people to find out that their Internet connection is down when they didn't already know that, which is a useful troubleshooting step in and of itself. 

Sometimes the answer is just "No, it can't be done". 

It might not be the answer one is looking for but it is what it is....at least for now.