I have a Comcast Xfinity system and am wondering about the easiest way to record the new American Gods series on Starz?
I’m a huge Neil Gaiman fan, so I’ve not only read and enjoyed his book American Gods but been watching and tracking the production of the Starz mini-series American Gods too. First episode was broadcast on April 30, 2017 but even days – or weeks! – later, it’s not too late to set up a series recording with your Comcast Xfinity DVR. Mine was set up a few days prior (you can’t really set things up until a few weeks before broadcast because it isn’t yet in the guide database).
What may surprise you is that the easiest way to work with the Xfinity system is actually through your Web browser, not through the on-screen system or menus. At least, I find it the case. More options, easier to click on things and the entire presentation of information seems to be more compact and easy to follow.
I’ll start at the Xfinity TV listings — http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/tv-listings — and when you go there, just make sure you’re logged in to your Comcast account so your changes in the browser are sent to your actual DVR. On the top right of the pages is a search feature, that’s where we’ll really start:
The next step is easy: search for the show or movie you seek. In this case “american gods”:
There’s the match we seek. Click on it.
And I’ll note that their search is pretty sophisticated too. You can try searching for actors and directors, and can have partial matches or even a single word to see what results are shown. A good way to look ahead for movies from a favorite director like Alfred Hitchcock or series like Friends or Lost.
Back to topic! Click on the matching show in the search results:
That’s the one! You can read through the studio-provided synopsis or just proceed by clicking on the “Record Series” button.
Here’s what happens when you click:
There are all the things you can tweak and select. If you don’t have HD in your Comcast subscription, the HD preferred option might not be shown, but otherwise you can see it makes it easy for you to record a ton of stuff and prioritize which you really care about!
I always start 1 minute early and end 5min late because I’ve had too many recordings where the post-credits “next episode” preview is cut off or the “in the last episode” bit at the beginning of the show is cut off. Those are easily changed with the start/stop times.
Ready? Click “Confirm” on the lower left and your series recording is set up!
Now if you look at the general info for American Gods, you’ll see that it shows you’ve got a series recording set up too:
And that’s all there is to the process. Now to sit back and enjoy the show…