Cox → [AZ] Cox Built-in Broadcast Delays

Over the last month or two I've found that the programs I record on my two Cox-connected TiVos are being cut off before the programs end. This has been happening consistently so I have adjusted all of the OnePasses to record an extra minute or two. I also have an over-the-air TiVo and the programs recorded on it are not being cut off prematurely. Looking at it more closely this morning by comparing the Cox feed to the live over-the-air broadcast of the same channels, I've found that the Cox feeds are being delayed about 40 seconds compared to the over-the-air broadcast. I can see where there might be some delay between the original broadcast and Cox's conversion/feed to their viewers but this much delay seems like it would actually be an expensive thing to do. And to what end?

That's why one should always pad programs sufficiently (on both sides). When cox made locals h.264 it added the delay. However I'd rather have that delay and their h.264 which is one of the best conversions I have seen in many markets. A couple of weeks ago there was a program that I thought even looked better than the regular ota version and about as good as the atsc 3.0 version.

Typically in Phoenix I usually find the opposite problem during "dst" (which we don't observe) as the local stations tend to start the airings about a minute early (particularly cbs) as mountain airings occurred an hour earlier and pacific would be an hour later. Once dst is over it tends to be more on time with the rest of the mountain stations.

Though I would think the delay is more from the conversion (and doing it properly without huge loss of quality that can happen if done more quickly), the timing does make me wonder if perhaps there is a timesync issue in that it actually starts at 7:00 rather than 6:59. Such might be used to get their own advertising slots a bit better in synch but typically that is handled a bit differently.

And by the way, I have not seen such cut off at the end with my dvr which periodically adjusts its own internal clock to not use the device's own clock which can run fast or slow but I always have at least 30 seconds padding but there is at least 20-40 seconds recorded after the program ends

Thanks for that information. Who knew that the video coding technique would add such a long delay. Unfortunately, it's not just the local channel feeds that are out of sync with the clock these days, it is also all the cable channels. It wasn't until the last month or two that this became an issue so I'd never found a need to pad recording times.

It will be interesting to see what happens once the rest of the country gets on standard time next month.

On a different subject, I wonder what Cox does to shred their local MeTV feed. If my only source for that channel was Cox, I wouldn't even watch it. Over the air, the quality is outstanding.

Since I understand your OTA MeTV affiliate is broadcast on a .2 subchannel in 720p, are you SURE that Cox is actually re-transmitting it in HD as well?
(since it is a subchannel, perhaps Cox is downconverting it to SD, hence the quality diff)

We've had the exact same issue with our 3 TiVo's as well.

Frustrating.

Don

You are exactly right; they're down-converting it to SD and based on appearance bit-starving it for good measure.

I figured I wasn't the only one but it's good to get confirmation that others experience the same thing. I wonder if this is limited in some weird way to TiVo DVRs or if Cox's leased DVRs normally clip the end of programs too. I'd think that if they did, there'd be more discussion about it.

OK... I just answered that question for myself:

Cox DVR customers don't have this problem because Cox sets the time in their tuners and DVRs behind by about 45 seconds (I didn't measure it exactly.) I have a Cox Contour tuner (not a DVR) and I just confirmed with it that Cox time is about 45 seconds behind the time standard used by TiVo and confirmed by T-Mobile. My TiVos and my cell phone increment each minute at precisely the same moment. The Contour box, however, increments to that next minute about 45 seconds later than the TiVos & T-Mobile. That being the case, Cox DVRs start and end recordings about 45 seconds later than TiVo, so Cox DVR recordings end when the program ends, not prematurely like TiVo's. Unfortunately, TiVo doesn't have a feature to adjust its time manually.

Why don't you just set your Tivo recording defaults to automatically add an extra minute or two, which then affects ANY time you set a recording - problem solved!
»www.tivo.com/content/dam ··· ions.pdf

That's perfect. Thank you! I hadn't even thought of that page of defaults. It wouldn't have helped existing OnePass setups for it will correct those in the future. Thanks again!