I’ve got a Motorola DCT6416 HD DVR unit from Time Warner Cable (formerly Comcast) and I have a problem with it constantly muting itself. It makes me want to throw the damn thing out the window!
Luckily, I got the answer on how to get around the issue along with a couple other hints. Still, I must say that this Motorola box is a piece of crap compared to Tivo.
If you are experiencing an issue where a small MUTE is centered at the top of the screen on your TV, you are NOT going crazy. It’s the crappy Motorola DVR box muting it’s self. The real problem is that the remote comes programmed to work a TV and not the box. Brilliant right?
This often occurs when you leave your DVR powered off for a while and then turn it on. It will power on and record a show but when it turns itself on, the volume is muted on the cable box.
Here is how to reprogram your remote so you can unmute the DVR:
- Press the “Cable” button at the top of the remote to put it into Cable Box control mode.
- Press and hold the “Setup” button until the “Cable” button blinks twice.
- Enter code 994. The “Cable” button will blink twice.
- Press (do not hold) the “Setup” button.
- Enter code 00141.
- Press whatever button you want to map the mute function to.
Now, while you’re doing that how about making another change to improve your quality of life with this DVR? You can program your remote to give you a 30 second skip, perfect for jumping over those commercials:
- Press the “Cable” button at the top of the remote to put it into Cable Box control mode.
- Press and hold the “Setup” button until the “Cable” button blinks twice.
- Type in the code 994. The “Cable” button will blink twice.
- Press (do not hold) the “Setup” button.
- Type in the code 00173.
- Press whatever button you want to map the 30-second skip command to (I recommend one of the A,B,C buttons). The “Cable” button will blink twice if successful.
If this helped you out, or you have other related tips, please drop me a comment below to let me know.
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Well at least you can get a DVR… I move from Cape Coral to Bonita Springs (23 miles) 6 months ago. I was a Timer Warner customer in the Cape, but the service in Bonita is Comcast. Long story short, I turned in my gear (3 dvr HD boxes) and went on down to Comcast only to find out they were out of DVR’s. That’s right.. Out… 6 months and counting… What do I get? “Please call us back on Wednesdays. That’s when we get our shipments in.†My wish today is that every single person that works for Comcast in SW Florida develops a rash on their nether regions…
So forgive me if I am less then sympathetic to your little mute problems. At least you can still record Hee Haw, and let’s be honest, do you really want to hear that audio?
Best regards,
j-
True dat.
Of course, I have to ask… isn’t there another freaking Comcast office within driving distance that you can go to an pick one up at???
John
Jimbeau,
I feel your pain. I’m in Cape Condo and now that Comcast is attempting to take over when I finally got a singal back my DVRs are constantly recording whatever chanel is on and won’t let me change them. & Of course the trouble numbers are just too overloaded to let me even pretend to wait…..
Look in the sky… It’s a satillite!
Clix
AMAZING!!! Thank you! I thought I was going to go crazy!!! This was EXTREMELY helpful. This was much easier than calling the retards at my cable company.
Thanks SOOOO much for posting this information.
I was so pissed last night. I hope this works!
I hate all of you.. :-)
I am now on a list for a DVR. Apparently, they will call when they come in. And oh yeah, I will be leaving an Annoy-a-tron in the local Comcast office if / when they call me to pick up my DVR.. Annoy-a-tron… Is there no place it can’t go….? (In Homer Simpson’s voice)
j-
Oh god… you kill me Jimbeau. ;-)
Mike – My pleasure. I remember the feeling you experienced last night very well. :-) I’m glad this little piece of info was useful to others…
John
I have the DCT3416 box (not the 6416). The fix worked perfectly for the 30-second skip, but not for the mute problem. Is there a different fix of the mute problem for the 3416 box?
Thank you, I thought I was going insane.
thank you very much, great easy-to-follow instructions. worked like a charm!
I don’t have a setup button on my remote. Do you know what I have to do to fix this problem?
Thanks a ton! Mute wasn’t working for me at all and that fixed it. The only thing now that will still not work for me is the Volume Up and Down buttons, when I press them nothing happens. Is there a code for reprogramming those?
POOR YOU! You want to throw your cable box out the window because Comcast was smart enough to mute a recording when your not home? Think about it, some people have their boxes set to turn the tv on & off so if you are out and the box has to turn itself on to record a program YOU set and you have the volume set to 100, and maybe live in an apartment, you won’t piss off your neighbors. Get it? I do admit it is kind of a pain to turn the mute off. But it sounds to me like you are someone who does not like reading instructions for the remote etc..actually the current Comcast and it’s equipment, for the most part??,is ok. The cost is still WAY to high. As far as being a piece of crap compared to TiVO? You must own stock in TiVO? Considering TiVO has only one function I should hope that this function is better than any other companies “DVR” TiVO costs more and they charge you for the box outright! I would rather have my DVD recorder w/hard drive than TiVO. I am sorry to say, or not? TiVO is obsolete.
Joe,
My comments about the DVR box are based on the fact that it doesn’t work properly.
This is not the only problem with this DVR:
As far as the price is concerned, that has no bearing on the fact that I’m not receiving what I paid for. They forced me to upgrade to digital, then to add HD on top of that, so I’m already paying about $30-40 per month more, so the “free” DVR is largely irrelevant if it doesn’t work.
Finally, I believe your neighbor argument is fallacious. That would mean they had it loud enough to upset people when they were last watching it. The real logic-based reason is that the TV might turn on at night and wake up/scare people – especially in a bedroom. Of course, the fact that it turns on muted – but is still as bright as a lightbulb was ignored…
Besides, it would be very, very…very unwise to allow this DVR to powercycle an expensive HD television. And the vast majority of people don’t.
John
All,
Sorry about the slow response to questions…
Jim,
You might check the following links for information relating to fixing your mute problem:
Russ,
The setup button is in the top left corner on mine. If you don’t have it they may have given you the wrong remote(?), or just a different one? Try the link below…
Programming the Remote
Ash,
You might also try the same URL I just mentioned to see if there is a code to reprogram the volume buttons.
Good luck all!
John
Thank you so much! You rock!
Just spent 15min on the phone waiting for a Time Warner person to answer. After 15 more min, I fired up my laptop, Yahoo!Search for “time warner cable motorola dvr mute problem” and bingo, up comes this web page. 30sec later, the Mute problem is GONE (now mapped to “B” on the remote). Thanks for sharing!
Gary,
Isn’t the Web awesome! :-) It puts power back in the hands of the people. I’m just glad that some good ultimately came out of my frustrating learning curve by being able to share the solution.
Take care,
John
Joe – You sound like an idiot.
The Man,
I have seen that Wikibooks page before. It does not work for my situation. I have a pdf file of my remote, if that would help. I don’t have a website. How can I get it to you?
Russ
Thank you very much for the mute instructions. I was going crazy every time that this happen and on more than one occasion had to turn my dvr off stopping any recording that I was currently doing. I am so glad that I did not have to contact the cable company considering that my last couple of encounters with them have been less than pleasant.
You rock,
Gai
thanks dude you saved my life
Nice fix. I knew what the damn thing was doing, but couldn’t figure out how to make it stop.
I’ve got what appears to me to be a basic question, yet I can’t find any information on it. I would like to plug my Playstation into the FRONT composite video/audio jacks (the red, white, and yellow plugs). I’ve yet to figure out how to make the damn thing see my PS2. WTF? Where is the “input” button. Any clues?
Thanks in advance, and power to the people y’all!
The 30-second skip hack works great on the DCH6416 also. Thank you!
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