One of the things that Xfinity promotes with its service is that I can schedule DVR recordings remotely. Nice. But how do I do it? I have a couple of TV shows I like to watch and would like to be able to schedule a recording if I can’t make it home in time…
Actually Comcast’s Xfinity system has been improving in the last year or two and there’s quite a bit you can do remotely in addition to schedule DVR recordings. You can’t watch your recorded programs remotely — yet — but the company says that’s on the way too, which, when coupled with the remote live TV streaming service that’s already available, makes it a complete mobile TV solution in addition to working in your house.
What you’ll need to do is go to the Xfinity channel listings page and set up your account if you haven’t already done so. Part of that is to identify the DVR (digital video recorder) that you have in your home, or more than one if you’re hard core about it. Then once you’ve done so and you’re logged in to the Xfinity site, you’ll be able to record anything you see listed.
Here’s a small snippet from the recent guide, showing a few premium channels:
If you click on the channel name, you can actually tune your TV to that channel, which makes this a great way to control what you’re watching live. It also lets you indicate favorites (the small red heart) though frankly the favorites feature is kind of half-baked in the online listings. But that’s another story. 🙂
Here I notice the interesting, quirky film Zero Effect is going to be on HBO Signature this evening, so I click on it and see quite a bit of information about the film and when it’s showing:
Notice that in addition to air schedule, the Xfinity program shows on-demand options too. Handy.
But I want to set up a remote recording, so I’ll click on “Record”.
Tip: if you don’t see the Record button you either aren’t logged in to Xfinity or don’t have a DVR set up for your account.
Now you can just go with this setup, but let’s dig in just a little bit further by clicking on “More Options”.
Here’s what’s revealed:
This is great because if you’re recording a sporting event, you know that there’s a chance it’ll go long and you’ll miss the last few minutes, the critical touchdown, the final play. Here you can just specify the end time is +15min or similar. Darn helpful. I do this with TV shows too, because I’ve had too many recordings end 30-60 seconds before the actual show ends. Frustrating!
In this case, however, it all looks good, so I’ll click on “Record Program” and it’s sent to my DVR:
Assuming everything works properly, that’s followed by the show listing info returning, but the “Record” button changed:
That’s it. Ready to record Zero Hour for me to watch later.
While we’re here, though, note that you can also see what recordings are scheduled on your DVR from the Xfinity web site too.
Click on “Saved” on the very top and you’ll see a list of recordings:
I presume that when remote streaming is an option, this’ll be where a “play” or “watch” button will show up!
In the meantime, click on “Scheduled Recordings” on the lower left side to see your schedule:
There it is, queued up for 10.45pm on Nov 6 on channel HBOSH.
Very slick. I use the Web-based interface for Xfinity all the time, particularly to schedule future DVR recordings. It’s well worth your time!
I questioned Comcast about the deactivation of the remote scheduling of a recording. The response was that it was a legal issue they hoped to resolve in the near future.
Yeah, it’s related to a lawsuit that TiVO brought against them. And it stinks. 🙁
Comcast nipped that in the bud. You can’t schedule recordings on the website anymore.
Yeah, and quite annoying at that, Adam!