One of DIRECTV’s best features isn’t very glamorous, but it “just works.” A lot of people say it’s their favorite feature, in fact.
Have you ever started watching a recording only to find that you missed the beginning?
A lot of stations have clocks that are slightly off, and some DIRECTV receivers have had problems in the past where the time drifts a little bit. In fact, some shows, notably Extra and Access Hollywood almost always start 30 seconds early. You could set recordings to automatically start early but you risk recording conflicts that way.
Did you ever try to rewind before the beginning?
Here’s a surprise… most of the time you can actually back up about 30 seconds before the start of the recording! This feature is called SoftPad and it’s completely automatic. Whenever your DVR can, it will record 30 seconds before the scheduled start time and 90 seconds after the scheduled end time on every recording. If there’s a conflict, it will just start and end at the regular time. It’s that easy!
The next time your DVR cuts off the beginning of your favorite show, don’t curse… just rewind! Chances are that it’s all still there.
