We’re Pleased to Announce Remote DVR Services

Oct 18 2010

We’re Pleased to Announce Remote DVR Services

A lot of times I’ll be walking down the street and a half-remembered snatch of an old TV theme song will drift through my head. Once I lock in on it (usually it’s just the A-Team theme again) it makes me want to watch the show really, really badly. But by the time I get home, I’ve walked past a bunch of other stuff and am thinking about squirrels or dinner or worrying that I offended somebody with an e-mail. Sometimes all three.

Then hours later I’m sitting in front of the DVR trying to remember what it was. I always forget, shrug and watch Soul Train reruns again.

It’s really a rich tapestry.

But our new Remote DVR Manager changes that. We’re thrilled to announce that our customers across most of our footprint can now use our Remote DVR Manager to manage scheduled recordings on their DVRs at home from a computer or browser capable mobile device.

As of October 18th, 2010, we will be launching our Remote DVR Manager in the following markets:

Carolinas region
Northeast region
New York City region
San Antonio, Texas
San Diego/Desert Cities

As of October 29th, 2010, customers in El Paso, Austin, Corpus Christi, Laredo and the Midwest (excluding NE Ohio and Green Bay) will also be able to use our Remote DVR Manager. We should also be able to launch Dallas in the 4th quarter of 2010.

If you are reading this before the aforementioned launch dates, please be advised that the products may be “soft-launched” in your area already. In that case, feel free to give them a try, but please be aware that we’re not all the way cleaned up for company yet and you may not have the optimal experience that we hope to provide by the launch date.

I thought I’d pull together a quick tutorial that would show our customers how to use Remote DVR Manager to perform the tasks that most people are likely to use. We’ve also got a much more advanced, in-depth user guide, as a PDF. All the photos below are pretty tiny, click on them to see much larger/more legible versions.

First of all — to log in via MyServices:

1) Go to: My Services

2) The MyTV tab within MyServices shows your scheduled recordings, a quick search field and also shows a link to the mobile version (mdvr.timewarnercable.com). The mobile version works best on smartphones – please bear in mind that Remote DVR may not be available to all mobile devices. The full site doesn’t render too well on mobile browsers, and we want you to have the best possible experience.

3)To view TV listings:

You’ll see the familiar grid guide. Click on a show to expand, view info and set a single or series recording.

4)To schedule a recording:

Press the “record” button to order a one-time recording (or click “setup series recording” to schedule as a series.)

5)Search by title

You’ll see your search results here. You can get more information or schedule a recording directly from the results.

Search by keyword

Here you’ll see a keyword search for “Italian,” with “cooking” as a genre filter

In the Show List tab you can view, change, and cancel upcoming recordings. Here’s all the upcoming recordings for the living room DVR:

Here you can see the expanded info from the show list entry, get more information, edit your recording options or cancel a recording altogether. We can’t yet delete past recordings. However, we know that it’s important, and we’re working hard to implement this in a future release:

Right now this service is only available to our customers in the aforementioned areas. But we’re working to roll it out to all of our customers nationwide. We know you all want it, and we’re working really hard to make it a reality. Please bear in mind, too, that some services are not available to CableCARD customers, and not all equipment supports all services.

If you’re reading this post after our launch dates and have any feedback or see any bugs, please let us know in the comments section. Our developers and product people will be checking in, and they’ll take all of your input on board for future iterations.

Categories: What's New

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63 Responses to “We’re Pleased to Announce Remote DVR Services”

MH
Oct 18, 2010
at 4:14 pm

doesn’t work on Blackberry Curve. Login page just takes you back to the login page without and error msg.
wrcfanatic
Oct 18, 2010
at 8:30 pm

RemoteDVR has been available in San Diego/Desert Cities since late September.
Jack
Oct 19, 2010
at 1:07 am

I have been using the Beta in your Milwaukee-Wisconsin division and LOVE IT! What I love the most, is being able to search by Keywords in show descriptions! Thank you! I wish Navigator had Keyword Search on the Keyboard as another alternative to Title Search. Customers, you have already seen how great the Keyword Search and filtering options are on DVR Manager! The next goal for TWC? Bringing Keyword description searching to the Keyboard on the boxes! I hope this will be considered in an update next year!

It is a wonderful product, because I have the ability to program my DVR through the computer without disturbing anyone who is watching TV. It can take about 30 seconds to a minute to process requests. Here are some bugs I found:

1.) When you log in to My Services and set up a recording, sometimes the Processing Screen gets stuck by just spinning around and around for five minutes. Since nothing goes to the DVR, until the confirmation appears, if your recording has not been processed after a good 90 seconds, I have found that by clicking another tab and going back to schedule the recording will make it work.

2.) Very often when you get a list of shows returned to you, and you click on the little icon that says for example, “8 shows in the next 10 days” sometimes the episodes do not open up their descriptions. You click on the little circle thing to schedule a recording, which is supposed to than show the episodes to record, sometimes it does not. You can’t open the Show List to open up the show descriptions to record them. This happens to me, about every other day. The workaround is to wait for several minutes and than try again.

3.) TWC may want to consider pairing up with Google or something for the search engine, because for right now, the DVR Manager requires perfect spelling of searched words. If you don’t have good spelling skills, you may not get any results.

4.) Coinciding with #3- The word syntax currently has to be exact. When I looked for episodes of “That 70′s Show” verses “That 70s Show” the apostrophe made a difference. I can’t remember which verbiage produced results, but it’s little things like this. The searches have to match in spelling and syntax based on what is in the database. Poor spellers currently, may be frustrated.

5.) Some users are complaining that the Remote DVR Manager needs better conflict resolution management. A friend of mine in one of your New York areas has said he constantly has to check the Show List for conflicts on his DVR, BEFORE scheduling anything remotely. The conflicts are seen by the box in his division, but not by Remote DVR Manager in his division.

6.) TWC should provide an update where you can see your Show List of what has already been recorded on Remote DVR Manager. I heard this is coming in a future update. RIGHT NOW, YOU CAN ONLY SEE FUTURE RECORDINGS ON REMOTE DVR MANAGER, OR SHOWS THAT ARE IN THE PROCESS OF BEING RECORDED. Currently, once a show has been recorded using DVR Manager and has completed, it only shows on the box. An update to Remote DVR Manager should show the Post-Recorded Show List, and the percent of recording space currently being used, like on the boxes.

7.) An update to Navigator should give the Keyboard Keyword Search functionality. If TWC could make the Navigator searches more like Remote DVR Manager Searches it would be a thrilling experience for all.

8.) Sometimes multiple pages of shows do not bring up search results to record or get more information. For instance, if a show brings up 8 pages of information, clicking on page 2 will truncate the information where only the results of shows will be presented. (i.e No Record or Full Information options.) Page 5 may have a full page of data, page 6 may be truncated again, and so forth.

Jack
sho 'nuff
Oct 19, 2010
at 6:22 am

I learned about the NYC beta a few weeks ago and have been using it a lot on my Blackberry Tour. Works fine.
Dean
Oct 19, 2010
at 12:23 pm

I’ve been using this on my iPhone since the soft launch in NYC. I love it and have been waiting for Time Warner to add these features!
Ben
Oct 19, 2010
at 1:52 pm

Where is the smartphone app? If this is official, why is it still “Beta”? Have you fixed the Conflict Resolution where I am missing recordings because the Remote Manager doesn’t check for them?

Overall this is a great feature that just needs some tweaking. If you could only get Navigator working this well!
ara donakan
Oct 19, 2010
at 3:52 pm

when it would be lunched in los angles area.
oneil
Oct 19, 2010
at 6:20 pm

Will this be available in LA markets and any idea when??
Thanks
KH
Oct 19, 2010
at 9:17 pm

Will Dallas use I-guide for the Remote DVR as we are a motorola based system?
Charlie
Oct 20, 2010
at 11:48 am

The most irritating thing about the twc dvr is the inability to select & delete multiple recorded shows in one step, each show must be deleted one at a time– it’s inconvenient and a real pain. I was hoping the new mobile dvr manager would address this, however I’m not surprised it doesn’t. Why can’t they make an attempt to replicate the functionality of the user friendly TIVo system?
TWC is Terrible
Oct 21, 2010
at 12:03 pm

How about be please to announce ESPN 3 that a deal was made for on September 2nd yet will still don’t have access to. Then TWC closed the blog down because they saw people upset about it. This is the absolute worst ISP there is. You guys should change this from untangled to tangled because all of the customers are in a web of lies. The lack of customer service from TWC is terrible and the prices are even higher than every other ISP around my area. My switch will be final on the 25th. This is supposed to be about rolling over or getting tough. A lot of people should try getting tough on TWC instead of rolling over for everything they pull on the customers.
AJA
Oct 22, 2010
at 12:56 pm

why no app like everybody else?? worthless to me. just calling it like it is.
Jeff Simmermon
Oct 22, 2010
at 1:05 pm

We figured it was worth releasing now, rather than waiting several months for the app to be ready, too. Call me crazy here, but I’ve derived some value from it without an app. Perfect is the enemy of the good, as the saying goes.
DW
Oct 24, 2010
at 9:09 pm

Very good idea. Based on limited use so far the execution is not so good. Responsiveness in the mobile browser is very slow (I’m on wifi and other web sites work very fast in my smartphone browser, so it’s a TW web site issue). I also got “server failed to communicate” numerous times trying to access the mobile site, and the TV listings before they finally worked.

The link “Access Remote DVR Manager on your Mobile Phone” actually goes to the FAQ page (?), and once there the back button just repaints the same FAQ page (?).

I’m glad you made the web site available even if it’s not polished. I understand an app is coming so hopefully that will be a big improvement on usability and speed.
James Wilentz
Oct 25, 2010
at 1:19 pm

When I try to log on it says it “can’t communicate with my DVR”. I’ve called service and they say they’re “escalating” the issue, but what gives? I’ve got a Scientific Atlanta box that’s working fine.
Umi
Oct 25, 2010
at 2:20 pm

People like AJA always remind me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
mike
Oct 30, 2010
at 11:12 pm

got as far as “processing” icon…but it never goes through. Just processes endlesly. Im in NYC
Laura
Oct 31, 2010
at 2:04 pm

Why did you skip over Northeast Ohio? But the rest of the state has it? Weird.
Michelle
Oct 31, 2010
at 2:07 pm

Love it so far!!! Wish there was an app for the iphone though instead of going to the webpage!
Jack
Oct 31, 2010
at 5:47 pm

Remote DVR Manager still has its good days and bad days. But here are the main bugs that are the most problematic:

I am in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Division btw:

1.) The Search engine still many, many times does not return results that are known to be correct. I might type in Emeril Live and get no results at all at say 10am. I log in again at 1PM and I get no results if I type in Emeril. Or I might get results with just a partial word and not the whole word, even if the results are correct. This can change almost as often as on the half hour. It’s sort of like the “Forrest Gump” movie with regards to Remote DVR Manager Searching. “You never know what you are going to get.”

2.) When a listing is returned, there is a little circular thing that is supposed to show more listing details so you can get additional information or set up a recording. Many times, you click on the circular thing and the listings do not expand, making the show unrecordable using the search option. But again, as I pointed out in option #1 this can change from log in to log in and hour to hour

3.) If there is a multiple page of listings for a show, suppose page 1 of 8 is showing. You click on page 2 and the only thing that shows is the titles of search results. Click on page three, listings are expanded correctly, click on page 5, they are truncated again.

These are Remote DVR Manager’s Biggest bugs that I observe. Those three items need the most work as national rollout continues.

What about long term goals for Navigator and Remote DVR’s Future Plans? My recommendations would be the following:

1.) Making Navigator and Remote DVR Manager more synchronized with each other by adding a Keyword Description Search option to the Navigator Keyboard. This is essential and should be added before the end of first quarter for next year. Adding Keyword Search to Navigator will allow the boxes and Remote DVR to to co-exist with more similar feature sets. The long term effects of this will be better communication with customers, their set top boxes, and the Remote DVR experience.

2.) Later on down the road after the above bugs have been worked out and the Navigator Guide gets a Keyword Search function like Remote DVR Manager, you should add:

a.) A Remote DVR indicator showing the programs that have already been recorded to the DVR. (second or third quarter of 2011.)

b.) A percent (% of space used for each user’s DVR) showing current storage on DVR Manager. (second to third quarter of 2011.)

But get Keyword Search on the Navigator boxes, and the two main bugs indicated above out of Remote DVR Manager first.

Thanks for this input!

Jack
Jack
Nov 01, 2010
at 2:46 pm

Any word on when Columbia South Carolina gets Remote DVR Manager? Someone I am trying to help reports that he is still running Navigator MDN 2.4 from May of 2009. I know that MDN 2.5 or higher is a prerequisite for Remote DVR Manager on a Navigator MDN box. Thanks!

Jack
Saurabh
Nov 01, 2010
at 6:45 pm

This does not work. I get the following error all the time when managing my DVR remotely. “STB has not responded within 30 seconds”. I’m on hold with customer service since the past 1 hr
Jack
Nov 02, 2010
at 5:08 am

Jack@Saurabh,

What is your division? Having you tried logging out and logging back in again? Are you logging in through the computer website or the Mobile Phone application? What is the make and model of your DVR?

Did you get through to Customer Service and did they solve the problem, or escalate it to someone who could?

Jack
dread pirate roberts
Nov 02, 2010
at 9:05 am

non-contributing zero video was priceless!! Thanks Umi!! @Saurabh

on hold for an HOUR? You could have driven home and programmed it!!! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk
John
Nov 12, 2010
at 12:05 am

Jeff, I need this now!!! I’d be happy to beta test, it doesn’t need to be perfect! Perfect is definitely the enemy of the good.

John in Santa Monica CA.
Brad in Fallbrook
Dec 07, 2010
at 7:21 pm

I’m in Fallbrook. Thought that would have been in the San Diego roll-out but it looks it’s not working yet. I assume this is an issue with our motorolla equipment as we are the old Adelphia customers and we haven’t seen many of the previous feature updates.

Any plans to bring us into the 21st century?
WRCFanatic
Dec 10, 2010
at 3:29 am

I’ve have used this service on my Samsung DVR’s and it works great. I live in the SA/Cisco part of San Diego. I wouldn’t expect RemoteDVR for motorola until sometime next year.
Dirk
Dec 10, 2010
at 2:32 pm

Based of Jeff Simmermon comment the testing in the Dallas area seems to be having some issues. None of the “products” are working for me. Not a good start to a product that is supposed to be so great.

” If you are reading this before the aforementioned launch dates, please be advised that the products may be “soft-launched” in your area already. In that case, feel free to give them a try, but please be aware that we’re not all the way cleaned up for company yet and you may not have the optimal experience that we hope to provide by the launch date.”
Jack
Dec 10, 2010
at 4:19 pm

Jack@Dirk,

I had DVR Manager issues for about a month after the launch date, but now, in my Wisconsin division, it works great! Better than the box! (More features, functionality, Guide Filtering, and Keyword Search!!!) Which I wish the good techs at TWC would add to Navigator!

I heard that Remote DVR Manager is in Beta in Texas and should be out of Beta and ready for prime-time like it is in the other divisions by New Years’ Day. Probably another three works of squashing bugs in your area, because it is so new there.

You should do what I did, leave comments on the forum here in the DVR Manager Section. Does your division have an FAQ and DVR Manager Troubleshooting Contact? Mine does and I used it when Remote DVR Manager first came out.

Like I said, it took about three weeks to get the bugs out, but after that it works great.

Jack
Jack
Dec 25, 2010
at 1:29 pm

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Some problems with Remote DVR Manager today (Milwaukee Wisconsin.) When I got into “My Services”, I noticed that a show that I had set to record was listed to record on two stations. It was Elvira’s Movie Macabre, “Santa Clause Conquers The Martians.” Note that in Milwaukee, we have WMLW, a Milwaukee station SIMULCAST on TWC channel 7 and 982. The time was the same, 12 Midnight (CST.)

I was thrown for a loop, because Remote DVR Manager had both stations set to record at the same time. When I tried to cancel under the options: “Full Info”, “Record Options” or “Cancel.” After asking me if I wanted to cancel, it did not cancel. The little icon just spun around and nothing happened.

However, when I went back to the Show List, the scheduled show was no longer set to record, so I guess it worked eventually.

The tip is if something does not work for Remote DVR Manager, try going to a different screen, or logging out of My Services and Logging in again. The Remote DVR screens may not update instantaneously and may take some time to synchronize.

Jack
Jim
Jan 27, 2011
at 7:39 am

When will this be coming to NE Ohio? When will I be able to watch recorded content remotely? That is the feature that would be really big?
Ken
Feb 05, 2011
at 6:16 pm

One of my complaints is that the iPhone version has a nice app blue TW “eye” icon (when saved to the home screen), but if used on the iPad, the app icon doesn’t appear. This would be easy to fix with the way the pages are redirected and identified.
David
Feb 07, 2011
at 8:18 pm

This would be great as an iPhone app… I know I’m not the first to think so! Get with the program TWC!
Brent
Feb 24, 2011
at 4:40 pm

well you said 4 quarter of 2010 for Dallas.

Its Middle of 1st quarter 2011.

wheres the remote dvr TWC? i cant wait to have this feature!
PJinLA
Apr 15, 2011
at 3:16 am

Any idea on the Los Angeles roll out? I’m eager to have this functionality available here.
Bob
May 23, 2011
at 1:04 pm

I called customer service who said remote access should be work in my area (Los Angeles, LA). When the tech arrived he had no idea what I was talking about. He claimed it’s not available in Los Angeles. My guess is the service is available but the techs don’t know anything about it so they just tell people it’s not available in their area.

P.S.
If you have the Motorola DCX3400 box and they want to change it out, don’t. I was told by customer support that the reason it’s not working is because the remote DVR access (Manager) is not compatible with the Motorola box and I would have to exchange it for a Scientific Atlantic box, but he also advised me that would be a big mistake. Both the online customer service, the tech who came to my house, and most internet sources confirmed that the Motorola box it the more desirable box to have.
Craig Whitley
Jun 08, 2011
at 3:05 pm

Like the feature a lot if it would work “most” of the time.

About 50% of the time I can access the DVR other times I get a 701B error that I don’t a DVR to access DVR Manager. Also the link on that error page for Live Chat is broken.

I have had 2 service calls today in an attempt to fix this. Swapped the cable box 2 times (story in itself (new type box does not allow remote control of audio level directly from the box)) and still not working.

Your crews are great, show up on time, polite, but this seems to be more of a system level issue as that is what I was told ~~2 months ago when I was unable to use DVR Manager for over 2 weeks.
Craig Whitley
Jun 09, 2011
at 1:21 pm

4th day in a row not able to use DVR Manager! Anyone listening?

Buffalo, NY area
Jeff Simmermon
Jun 09, 2011
at 2:53 pm

Craig,

I’ve passed this on to our online care team (@TWCableHelp on Twitter) as well as out product team. We should be able to help shortly.
Craig Whitley
Jun 10, 2011
at 1:55 pm

Thank you Jeff! They called me yesterday afternoon. Just a note: Service is still down but your people are responding well!
Craig Whitley
Jun 15, 2011
at 8:36 am

DVR manager is now operational as of 6/15/2011 in the Buffalo NY area.

Jeff the TW staff have been very proactive in resolving this issue.

Thank you for your efforts.

Craig
Cecilia
Jul 11, 2011
at 11:36 pm

I live in the San Fernando Valley and have whole house DVR. Two weeks ago I was able to use the remote DVR manager on My Services. One week ago when I tried to schedule a recording, it said I did not have DVR service, which I did as I verified on the TV. One week later (now), when I log into My Services the option to record from my DVR is gone. I have called about 8 times and was transferred from one dept. to another and no one knew what I was talking about – although everyone was very polite. When I spoke to the tech he said the box must not be sending the signal out and that’s why I wasn’t able to access. The box was switched and I still have no online remote DVR service. I am very frustrated!! Can anyone tell me if they are having the same problem? TWC, can you please fix this?
Jack
Jul 13, 2011
at 3:22 pm

I am very pleased with the overall performance of Remote DVR Manager! A huge software update that I would love to see!

Please allow the use of a back up system for DVR Saved Recordings for shows and Series, Scheduled Recordings for shows and series, and box settings. Those settings should be stored on the TWC server in conjunction with a customer’s “My Services” account.

When a customers box craps out and has to be exchanged, work on a software update that will allow shows and settings from My Services and Remote DVR Manager to be transferred to the new box, over any high-speed Internet connection. This is what Remote DVR Manager needs the most!
Julia Chisholm
Jul 15, 2011
at 9:54 am

Hi. I love the new features. I do have a suggestion for the iPad app: It would be nice if the DVR feature would include a way to delete recorded programs from the DVR. It is good to be able to set recording but if the DVR is out of room, it won’t accept any new recordings. Thank you for the opportunity to make a comment.

Julia
Nick Taylor
Jul 19, 2011
at 1:39 pm

I spent 3 hours today (in thousand oaks, ca) trying to get iPad 2 application working with the guide and dvr. The main goal was to get remote DVR working all together. Unfortunately the service person did everything he could, and could not help. All my cable boxes were upgraded to the new motorola ones with new software, and still nothing. I was told Tier 3 was going to call me and am still waiting. I have tried using remote DVR through my iphone and received at 706b error (through their mobile remote dvr site). When accessed through my laptop, i receive a 701b error.

When i log into myservices through time warner, it does not have any ability to record programs remotely. The error codes seem to tell me that “the system” is not even aware i have a DVR box…

When clicking the Time Warner iPad app (on ipad 2) on version 2.0.0 the dvr button responds with a “dvr management unavailable: cable box not responding – we were unable to communicate with your cable box. please try a gain later. if this error persists, please contact customer care for assistance”

When i click on the “new” guide button in version 2.0.0 this message appears…. “Guide Unavailable: cable box not responding – we were unable to communicate with your cable box. please try a gain later. if this error persists, please contact customer care for assistance”

This is about where I am at… Pretty frustrated as I do this for a living and cant figure it out. Any Ideas? Why is there so many issues with the remote DVR service? The data is all through a Coaxial cable…. no Cat5 needed…. so what is the issue? seems internal programming to me…. any ideas?
Michael Dickens
Jul 21, 2011
at 1:57 pm

During the few times I have used Remote DVR Manager (the mobile version), it has worked very well, but I find it to be very incomplete

1. So we can record and manage previously scheduled future recordings, so why can’t we view and/or delete what is CURRENTLY on the DVR from the DVR Manager site? It would be nice to have the option to delete recordings before scheduling a recording, that way you can prevent the DVR from auto deleting a show you still want to watch just because the DVR is full and needs to clear space for future recordings, U-verse has this option, and I think DirecTV and Dish Network does to (not completely sure) so why not TWC?

2. It still says Beta after about a year (or half a year at least) after it came out, is it really still in Beta or was the Beta label just not removed? I know this is not a big deal, but it does give the impression that TWC isn’t finished with it yet, and that anything can happen, or that it was just abandoned

3. Now the iPad app is out, and includes, among many other features, support for Remote DVR Management, um… Wrong iDevice TWC, support for DVR Management is much more suited for the iPhone, iPod Touch and maybe even Android, the iPad is just too large to fit in someone’s pocket, and when you want to record something, you want to do so from a device you can put in your pocket and take anywhere, you can’t do that with an iPad, and chances are if you can use an iPad somewhere, you can also use a laptop, so what’s the point of even using Remote DVR Manager on an iPad when you can just as easily do it from your laptop?
John H.
Aug 02, 2011
at 2:11 pm

I have been eagerly anticipating the release of an app on the android market. Is there any plan for this at all? There’s an iPad app. Why not one for us android users? I like the web version of remote dvr, but an app would be much nicer and more convenient. I’m in N.C., by the way.
Todd
Aug 15, 2011
at 7:52 pm

I found this website to be very helpful to learn how to program my DVR. It has instructions for using the remote, or accessing from a mobile phone.

http://www.dvrtimewarnercable.com
Greg C
Aug 22, 2011
at 10:51 pm

I am in North San Diego county and had the same error via the web site for remote dvr manager Error code 701b. I have called several times and told that time warner doesn’t know what that error code is and would escalate the issue and get back to me. I have never heard back from TW despite hours on the phone with them. SAD!
Ronda
Oct 11, 2011
at 11:23 am

PLEASE create a phone app for the DVR Manager! It’s really hard to use the website on a phone and if it’s not for on the go, then what good is it?!!