We covered problems with Comcast's DVR pretty thoroughly a year ago (see here and here). But I have another woeful story to share.

For the past month, on pretty much a weekly basis, my Comcast DVR has frozen up. Usually it happens when I don't care, but there have been times when it freezes and fails to record a program I have scheduled. Last Tuesday it froze up at 4:15 p.m. I did what I always do when it freezes: I unplugged it and plugged it back in, as Comcast has directed me to do in the past.

One difference this time: All my stored programs were gone. All the movies I recorded and hoped to watch (gone), the TV shows I needed to see for work from while I was out of town the weekend before (gone), the "Torchwood" episodes I hoped to see once broadcast network reruns kick in in December (gone) and that second episode of "Viva Laughlin," never to air again and unlikely to come out on DVD? Also gone. OK, so maybe that last one is no great loss, but the rest of them are. To go out and rent the movies will cost money. To buy the DVDs of a full season of "Torchwood" will cost me. Some of the TV shows I've been able to find online or on demand, but not all of them ("South Park," part two of a three-parter, appears to be gone for good.) Once more, Comcast costs me time and money and reinforces my distaste for this faceless corporation that doesn't seem inclined to provide its customers with a reliable service.

I called Comcast customer service and was told I had "connectivity issues" after they tried to reset my box from their end and the missing programs didn't come back. Comcast does deserve points for only making me wait three days for a service call, a pretty prompt response. The service tech, as always, was more knowledgeable than the customer service rep on the phone. While the phone rep said Comcast usually can restore the missing programs, the tech said the programs are long gone.

So now I have a new DVR and a newer model at that. So far, it's working OK. But given my past experience, I have no faith that its (so far) sterling track record will last.