TV Answer Man, I tried to record and use the DVR controls for last Thursday’s NFL game on Amazon and they wouldn’t work. I couldn’t watch a replay or rewind to the start of the game after it began. Do you know if this has been fixed for this week’s game? — Gina, Trenton, New Jersey.
Gina, you are not alone. Amazon’s Thursday Night Football Help Page says to record a Thursday Night Football game, and use other DVR features like pause and rewind, you go to the game’s page on the Prime Video app or the Amazon web site and select ‘Record Thursday Night Football’ or ‘Add to Watchlist and Record.’
However, many viewers (including yours truly) noted that their game page displayed a ‘Add to Watchlist’ button, not ‘Add to Watchlist and Record’ button. In addition, if they clicked on Add to Watchlist, the DVR controls would not work during the game although the page would say recording had been enabled.
Ok now I'm at home ready to watch the game, and there's no option to watch from the beginning on my Roku. It says "recording enabled" but there's only a big play button for "watch live." My phone has a "watch from beginning" option I'm not seeing on my Roku.
— Mario Mike (@mariomykol) September 16, 2022
Am I the only one that can’t fast forward or rewind TNF on Prime?
— Greg Meinholz 🧀 (@gmeinholz) September 16, 2022
@NFLonPrime Why is the prime app so awful? If you need to go to restroom & pause for 60 sec, instead of resuming it backs out to main menu. Hitting play doesn't resume, u have to click "watch", then it asks u to watch live or resume? Does anyone at Amazon actually use this?
— Simba Chinawah (@simbadogg) September 16, 2022
https://twitter.com/phillipank63/status/1570583247431831554?s=20&t=zAGAAscxfez33-Sr-3Ew3w
https://twitter.com/BroncosFanatix/status/1570594255684640770?s=20&t=zAGAAscxfez33-Sr-3Ew3w
You can see more viewers complaints in our Comments section here following this story.
The game’s Replay feature also did not work for some (including yours truly) after the game was over. I couldn’t replay last Thursday’s Chiefs-Chargers game until the afternoon of the next day despite several earlier attempts.
I would like to report that Amazon has definitely cleaned up the errors for tomorrow’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns at 8 p.m. ET. But the Amazon TNF Help Page continues to say that you should click the ‘Record Thursday Night Football’ or Add to Watchlist and Record’ button. Plus, Amazon’s customer service team at Twitter continues to repeat what’s stated on the Help Page. There’s been no acknowledgement that many viewers (but not all) were unable to use the DVR controls.
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So the best I can advise you at this point is to follow the instructions and hope it works tomorrow night. If you enable this recording feature before the game starts, Amazon says you will have access to a full game replay, and be able to pause, rewind and fast-forward while watching the game. If you enable it during the game, you will have access to the full game replay only, and limited ability to rewind to earlier in the game or use other DVR controls.
Enabling the feature after the game will provide you access to future game replays (but not the one just played) and the ability to watch from the beginning, according to Amazon.
The TV Answer Man will monitor this situation during tomorrow’s night game and report back here if it continues to have issues.
Also: The NFL Network will repeat the game at 12:15 am.
Until then, happy viewing and stay safe!
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman