I can’t remember how many times I’ve missed recording a TV Show. Either I heard about a great new show that is on Tonight or had an oh-no moment where I realized I had forgotten to program my DVR. I was excited to learn about my cable companies new service that allows me to access my DVR remotely.
Cablevision just integrated the ability to remotely access your DVR with the TV Listings available from their OptimumOnline.com site. Once you sign-in with your OptimiumOnline ID It allows you manage you existing recordings, scheduled recordings and browse TV listings online and schedule a new recording. In fact I found this online interface easier to use than managing the recordings on the DVR itself. Some of the benefits include: browsing your existing recordings and deleting multiple recordings at the same time, easier searches/browsing for programs to record, and programming all the options (only first episode, adding extra minutes on the end for live shows etc…) on one screen when scheduling a new recording. You cannot, unfortunately, watch recorded programs over the internet but perhaps that will come soon!
If you don’t have Optimum, you may want to check with your cable/DVR provider to see if they offer a similar service. I know that Tivo has offered this service for some time. If your provider does not have this service or you want the ability to actually watch the recorded programs you may want to check out Slingbox. Its not free but its a great service.
For those with Optimum that subscribe to Optimum for their Cable and Internet here are the instructions to access TV Listings and your DVR online.
- Go to http://tvlistings.optimum.net/grid.shtml
- Sign in – by clicking link in top right corner
- Click the DVR Tab
