Are you holding the remote parallel to the floor and pointing directly at the Comcast box?

Have you changed the batteries in the remote recently?

I have not changed the batteries, I just now did. I will be more careful to keep the remote parallel and point directly at the box. As I said, it did channel and volume up and down, not the other functions.

I am trying to duplicate the situation now. I just started a recording and then turned off the TV. I turned on the TV, went to another station and tried the buttons that were not working, now they are working. I wonder if it is the new batteries (the old ones were probably quite old,) or if the recording needs to be playing longer than a minute or two to cause the problem.

Thanks so much for your ideas. If it happens again, I'll post it immediately on this wonderful website.

Ginny

Don't worry Ginny, ours does the same thing occasionally. It's not the Remote, it's you Box (DVR). I had a guy come out and he kept saying it was my Universal Remotes (I have 3 Identical Radio Shack Kameleon Remotes set up to run everything (Home Theater, Blu-ray, Cable Box and TV). When he made this comment I gave him the Comcast Remote and nothing changed! We are still having problems (our Box is a Motorola DCX3400). I think we are on our 3rd box since we started again with Comcast! I am about ready to go trade it in for another Box, just need the car so I can drive there (wife uses our only car). The guy they sent out was worthless, 3 problems, 0 problems fixed! Funny thing, he was training another Comcast employee! Hope you have better luck getting things fixed then I have! Take your Box back to Comcast and get another, should fix that problem (a new problem may show up with the new Box, who knows).

I don't have Comcast but I think the problem is somewhat common to all the providers. All the DVR boxes are essentially computers and are generally built with mediocre specifications to keep the cost down. I think what you're experiencing is, just like the computer on your desk, as demand on the system rises (like recording) performance slows. I've noticed that when our Uverse box is nearly full with recordings, performance really drops off. I think that's because, just like with a desktop computer, the operating system uses some of the hard drive space as virtual memory. Little hard drive space means little virtual memory and slower performance.

If you have lots of recordings, you might try deleting some of them. You can also ask Comcast for their latest, greatest box but you may already have that...

John,

You are 100% right, the Box is just a mini Computers and are subject to everything a normal computer is (Lockups, freezes, resetting etc...). Sometimes you do need to replace the box ifthe same problem persists.

This will happen on my box whether I have anything on the DVR or not. It is very temperamental and will something do it's own thing. There are times none of the Buttons work (on the remote or on the box itself). I usually have to unplug the box and let it set for a while (resetting it).

My real problem is with all the Trips I've made to Comcast exchanging equipment. I recently replaced 2 Cable Adapter Boxes and my Modem/Router. The Modem/Router was the 6th in a year. Once I was home and all hooked up one of the Cable Adapter Boxes didn't work correctly and neither did the Modem/Router. I ended up having Comcast come out this time and they found nothing wrong! I packed up the Modem/Router and took them back again to Comcast. They Replaced the Cable Adapter Box with the same model. The Modem/Router, well I requested a Modem this time with no Router. I decided to use my old Linksys Router. I now have everything working except for the Cable Box in the front room (it had a bunch of stuff on the DVR my daughter recorded). I couldn't return the box for fear of being killed by my daughter (would have lost all her recordings)(maybe next time).

Thank you for telling me your story. It's always good to know we aren't alone with our problems. I think it's amazing that a company like Comcast would have such inferior products. I will try another box but the thought of having to go to the Comcast office and wait for who knows how long, sounds dreadful! I'm considering switching to Direct TV.