# Comcast now has online DVR management - why can't TiVo do this?



## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

Comcast now has online DVR scheduling and management. It doesn't look like it's for the Comcast TiVo service though.

The thing that caught my eye is the ability to modify existing recording and series recordings (their version of season passes) by just selecting the recording on the web site and changing it. It can also order the series recordings online. Finally, the user can specify the default DVR to record on.

It would be nice if TiVo could add this functionality, especially the online "season pass" management and recording modification. TiVo already has the To Do list online so the information is there, they would just need to integrate it with their scheduling code.


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

Moxi added this capability last spring. DirecTV and Dish Network both plan to add this capability in the near future. Before long, TiVo may be the only one without it...why?

TiVo pioneered remote scheduling on a DVR. Had you told me three years ago that TiVo would lag behind 80% of all DVRs in remote scheduling, I'd not have believed it. But that's the direction we're headed.



morac said:


> It would be nice if TiVo could add this functionality, especially the online "season pass" management and recording modification. TiVo already has the To Do list online so the information is there, they would just need to integrate it with their scheduling code.


I would also like to see the ability to edit the channel list / favorites online. That's another feature Moxi added last spring.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

bkdtv said:


> Moxi added this capability last spring. DirecTV and Dish Network both plan to add this capability in the near future. Before long, TiVo may be the only one without it...why?
> 
> TiVo pioneered remote scheduling on a DVR. Had you told me three years ago that TiVo would lag behind 80% of all DVRs in remote scheduling, I'd not have believed it. But that's the direction we're headed.
> 
> I would also like to see the ability to edit the channel list / favorites online. That's another feature Moxi added last spring.


and don't get me started on iphone/blackberry mobile scheduling, I'm stunned at how damn difficult it is with Tivo. It's great if it's a single show that you know the name of that's on once, but heaven forbid you know the time and channel, there's no way to do it.

My example? Saturday NASCAR races, if I decide at the last minute to record via iphone, I know it's ESPN or ESPN2 at this point in the season, but keyword "NASCAR" doesn't find it, and I can't search by time and channel (bangs head on desk) they so much need a mobile app that works.

Diane


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

If Tivo does add something along these lines they should also allow removing and re-ordering season passes as well as removing shows from NPL.


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## jkalnin (Jan 8, 2003)

dianebrat said:


> and don't get me started on iphone/blackberry mobile scheduling, I'm stunned at how damn difficult it is with Tivo....


Go to iPhone, open Safari. Go to url: tv.yahoo.com. 
Click on the TV Listings button.
This way you can easily browse the TV guide chart by time, date, and channel.
Click on Nascar.
Click on "Record to TiVo" button. Then click on the "Record this episode" button.
Voila!

However, you shouldn't have to do all this through yahoo. There should be a TiVo app by now.


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## donnoh (Mar 7, 2008)

I'd give my left nut (not really) for coordinated recording. Too many times I ask for a program to record and both tuners are busy. Why can't Tivo poll my other Tivo and see what is has to do at the same time?

I have spent a lot of time managing SP's putting network SP's ahead of cable SP's because of cable's ability to replay a show instead of showing infomercials.

If Tivo could just ask me if I'd like to record a show on my other Tivo instead of me having to look for another showing it would be nirvana.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

bkdtv said:


> TiVo pioneered remote scheduling on a DVR. Had you told me three years ago that TiVo would lag behind 80% of all DVRs in remote scheduling, I'd not have believed it. But that's the direction we're headed.


I definitely agree. You have to wonder what Tivo is thinking sometimes or if they are thinking at all. The sad thing is these are the types of things that would sell Tivos imho.

Don't get me wrong I like being able to record HD but if things like remote management of season pass manager and cooperative scheduling had been introduced I would have come back sooner. On top of it I would have a reason to tell my family and friends to make the switch back from Directivo since as of right now they don't have a reason since they don't need to record HD, have Netflix accounts, care about streaming content, or any of the extra features Tivo currently offers. They just want something to record tv and record as many of the shows they want as possible without having to babysit it.


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## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

I agree that it's kind of surprising that TiVo has lagged so much in this area. Interestingly it seems like privacy may be part of the reason. Are any of these other places requiring a special opt-in just to get the scheduling information to their servers?

It seems like TiVo has been much more under the microscope for privacy concerns than these other companies and it's been a bit of an albatross for progress in some cases.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

Yeah I have always heard privacy was the reason behind this. This could easily be solved by allowing users to opt-in and personally I would have no problems. Then again I would rather TV networks know what I watch and don't watch.

My whole thing though is Tivo Desktop should be a work around for the privacy issue and it is surprising they haven't done something where you can even just manage them on your local machine through Tivo Desktop. Tivo Desktop should really add features like season pass management, cooperative scheduling, better conflict management, and scheduling recordings.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

Hopefully, the recent online scheduling website that Tivo activated is just the first step.
They had to get the base operation going with people using it to work out the major bugs.
Once things are going smoothly, they can add functionality.
One can only hope.


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## TiVoStephen (Jun 27, 2000)

Hey folks,

Please check out http://m.tivo.com/ from your mobile phone -- it was very easy for me to search for Nascar, hit View Upcoming and then hit Next to see Saturday's races (it was on page 2 for me -- lot of Nascar tomorrow).

Also, if you have an iPhone, please check out i.TV -- http://www.i.tv/about/ -- it's similarly very easy to schedule Nascar recordings.

Finally, just wanted to make sure folks are aware that Series3/TiVo HD owners can view their To Do list and Season Passes from http://www.tivo.com/tco

Best regards,
Stephen


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

TiVoStephen said:


> Finally, just wanted to make sure folks are aware that Series3/TiVo HD owners can view their To Do list and Season Passes from http://www.tivo.com/tco


Thanks for chiming in. I actually mentioned that in the original post, though it was kind of hidden in the second paragraph.

Also technically you can't see your SP online, just the To Do list and Now Playing list.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

morac said:


> Also technically you can't see your SP online, just the To Do list and Now Playing list.


I didn't think you could and kept looking for them though. I must admit I do use the new site for setting recordings, but wish they had options like setting all Tivos or select Tivos at the same time. I usually put the same season passes on both Tivos just in different order and it would be nice if you could select all Tivos as an option instead of just specific ones.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

jkalnin said:


> Go to iPhone, open Safari. Go to url: tv.yahoo.com.
> Click on the TV Listings button.
> This way you can easily browse the TV guide chart by time, date, and channel.
> Click on Nascar.
> ...





TiVoStephen said:


> Hey folks,
> 
> Please check out http://m.tivo.com/ from your mobile phone -- it was very easy for me to search for Nascar, hit View Upcoming and then hit Next to see Saturday's races (it was on page 2 for me -- lot of Nascar tomorrow).
> 
> Also, if you have an iPhone, please check out i.TV -- http://www.i.tv/about/ -- it's similarly very easy to schedule Nascar recordings.


Good tips both!
However I will say that at least twice in the past 6 months on a Saturday morning on the road, I've looked for the afternoon Nationwide race and used the keyword "NASCAR" with m.tivo.com and gotten the countdown show, the NASCAR NOW reshowings, old races on ESPN Classics, but not that day's race, very frustrating. It's always a last minute thing, and I know the right keyword doesn't find the actual race. (happened August 1st in fact)

I will look into the Yahoo! approach however.

Diane


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## MitchW (Jun 5, 2002)

ATT Uverse also offers online DVR management of recordings, searches and series details.


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## magnus (Nov 12, 2004)

I would really like to see the equivalent of TWP for SA Tivos. Something that Tivo would build into the OS... now that would be cool.


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## reneg (Jun 19, 2002)

dianebrat said:


> Good tips both!
> However I will say that at least twice in the past 6 months on a Saturday morning on the road, I've looked for the afternoon Nationwide race and used the keyword "NASCAR" with m.tivo.com and gotten the countdown show, the NASCAR NOW reshowings, old races on ESPN Classics, but not that day's race, very frustrating. It's always a last minute thing, and I know the right keyword doesn't find the actual race. (happened August 1st in fact)
> 
> I will look into the Yahoo! approach however.
> ...


NASCAR Wishlist settings:

Keyword: (Sprint Cup) (Nationwide) (Camping World Truck) -practice -qualifying
Title Keyword: NASCAR Racing
Category: HD
Wishlist Name: NASCAR

Recording options:
Show Type: First-run Only
Stop Recording: 1 hour longer

Back to the topic at hand. Simply put, the Tivo web site should allow us to do everything that we can do in front of the Tivo with the Tivo remote.

Plus, the Tivo website should back up our season passes, Wishlists and other configuration parameters and allow us to push them back down to the same or another Tivo.


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

reneg said:


> Plus, the Tivo website should back up our season passes, Wishlists and other configuration parameters and allow us to push them back down to the same or another Tivo.


Or share SPs & WLs with friends!


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## TriBruin (Dec 10, 2003)

reneg said:


> Plus, the Tivo website should back up our season passes, Wishlists and other configuration parameters and allow us to push them back down to the same or another Tivo.


Someone else will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the Tivos' SPs are being backed up. If you change the drive in your Tivo, they will come back.

IIRC, it was a result of the new features that Tivo added a few years ago (KidZone?). It was more of an undocumented feature as it only applied if you changed the HDD in your Tivo.


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## bmgoodman (Dec 20, 2000)

TiVoStephen said:


> Finally, just wanted to make sure folks are aware that Series3/TiVo HD owners can view their To Do list and Season Passes from http://www.tivo.com/tco
> 
> Best regards,
> Stephen


That's a cool feature. Except that both my HD Tivos show NOTHING in the To Do List and both have Now Playing from July. But hey, sometimes I want to know what items USED TO BE on my Tivo a few weeks ago.


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## reneg (Jun 19, 2002)

TriBruin said:


> Someone else will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the Tivos' SPs are being backed up. If you change the drive in your Tivo, they will come back.
> 
> IIRC, it was a result of the new features that Tivo added a few years ago (KidZone?). It was more of an undocumented feature as it only applied if you changed the HDD in your Tivo.


SPs can be back up as referenced in the following thread: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=303886#6. I'd expect more control and flexibility from a Tivo website app.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

bmgoodman said:


> That's a cool feature. Except that both my HD Tivos show NOTHING in the To Do List and both have Now Playing from July. But hey, sometimes I want to know what items USED TO BE on my Tivo a few weeks ago.


A reboot should fix that. The TiVo folks who frequent these boards have suggested that in the past....


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## jfalkingham (Jul 23, 2002)

This feature is open to TiVo users on Comcast's equipment also:

http://www.comcast.net/tivo

Just login and activate it. Works great and I can manage season passes, etc. :up:


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

jfalkingham said:


> This feature is open to TiVo users on Comcast's equipment also:
> 
> http://www.comcast.net/tivo
> 
> Just login and activate it. Works great and I can manage season passes, etc. :up:


Now that's great functionality. Just throw in the ability to add/modify wishlists, a channel list/favorites editor, a custom RSS feed page with series options...


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

If they can do all that for Comcast TiVos then I'm guessing it's something they will eventually offer for standalone TiVos. Probably just easier to try out on the Comcast side since they have a much smaller install base.

Dan


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## Ladd Morse (Feb 21, 2002)

TiVoStephen said:


> Finally, just wanted to make sure folks are aware that Series3/TiVo HD owners can view their To Do list and Season Passes from http://www.tivo.com/tco


That's a very nice feature. And if you could also delete shows from the "to do" list and the "now playing" list, it would be even better.

I just got back from three weeks of vacation and there were numerous times I wished I could have deleted programs scheduled to be recorded and programs that had already recorded, to ensure there would be room on the hard drive for programs I really wanted to ensure would be there when I returned.


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