My DirecTV DVR Wishes
Posted October 12th, 2009 @ 11:22am by Erik J. Barzeski
With two DirecTV DVRs, each having equalled and even surpassed the TiVo(s) they replaced, things have been going along swimmingly. We're recording everything we want, including Penguins hockey games, and not missing anything.
But, as with all things tech, I'm not satisfied. There are two features I'd love to see implemented.
The first is sharing of content from the hard drive of one DVR to the TV attached to the second. DirecTV already supports sharing content with your Windows PC - though it doesn't work within Parallels and might never be available to Mac OS X users - so why not share recorded content from one DVR to another? There are occasions when I'd like to lie in bed and watch something I recorded in the living room. It'd remove the "where?" question from the "I want to record this show" process.
I don't expect this to go over the cable, so network connectivity could be a requirement, just as it is with the DirecTV2PC software.
The second option? DirecTV already allows you to schedule recordings for any DVR you own on their website - so I'd like to extend that option to scheduling recordings from the other DVRs in my house. Again, they're already on a network. They have the same programming. They see the same guide data.
Currently, when I get a conflict, I have to physically visit the other DVR, turn it on, and schedule the recording. This too removes the "where?" question from the equation, and if the first idea were implemented, I wouldn't even necessarily care where a show was scheduled to record.
Oooh, a Realization
In fact, the ideal situation would be the ability to "consolidate" receivers. Treat them as one receiver, but instead of only being able to record two programs at once, you could record 2N shows at once. You could play them back anywhere and every DVR in the house would show the same list of shows. If you get halfway through House downstairs, you could pick up right where you left off while lying in bed upstairs. Nirvana!
Hopefully they're working on that. 🙂
Donate Life
Posted 14 Oct 2009 at 1:18pm #
The DirecTV iPhone app is great for scheduling recordings without having to turn on the TV. It's also quicker to use the phone if you need to search for a program as you have an actual keyboard.
Posted 14 Oct 2009 at 1:54pm #
[quote comment="55757"]The DirecTV iPhone app is great for scheduling recordings without having to turn on the TV. It's also quicker to use the phone if you need to search for a program as you have an actual keyboard.[/quote]
Thanks. Yeah, it's not bad. Typically I record sports shows, though, and the only way to really add padding is to do it on the DVR itself. When I'm out or I just want to record a non-live event (and thus one that doesn't need the padding), the iPhone app or even the mobile site is a good way to go.