Schedule TiVo recordings from your mobile phone

Posted on January 4, 2009 at 5:13 am

Do you have a TiVo at home? If so, you might be interested in knowing that you can schedule show recordings on your TiVO DVR from your mobile device, i.e. a BlackBerry, Windows Mobile device, or your iPhone.

You probably already knew you could schedule recordings by logging into TiVO.com, browsing the TV shows you want to record and clicking Record Episode. Unfortunately, there was no easy way to do this from your mobile phone. Trying to login into TiVO.com from my BlackBerry never worked since it was not optimized for mobile devices.

TiVo Mobile is a new mobile-only site for all TiVo users that allows you to schedule recordings for your favorite TV shows quickly and easily by going to m.tivo.com from your mobile device.

While on your normal computer, click on Settings and type in your login information that you use at Tivo.com. It will automatically link to your Tivo.com account and will know your local TV schedule, the TiVo that you are using, and everything else. No need to setup channels, enter your DVR serial #, etc.

Click Search and you can quickly search the TV listings for your local cable provider so that when you schedule a recording, it will be the correct date and time.

Simply click Record this episode to schedule the recording. It will automatically send the request to your DVR at home and the show will be recorded just as if you had scheduled it from home.

You can also perform other useful functions like Get a Season Pass, View upcoming episodes, other recommendations by clicking If you like this, and more info about the show.

Once you click Record this episode, you can configure all of the options just like on your TiVo, such as Priority, Quality, Keep Until, Start Time, End Time, and more.

You can also click on Daily Picks and Most Popular to get more ideas for shows to record on your TiVo. The service is completely free and works on most mobile devices. If you have a Blackberry, make sure you have the following settings:

Support javascript

Support HTML tables

Use foreground and background colors

Use background images

Support stylesheets

Show images: On WML & HTML pages

Content mode: WML & HTML

Overall, it’s a about time that this service become available! If I’m at work, I used to schedule TiVo recordings online using their main website, but could never do it while at a restaurant or when I was not near my computer. The mobile version looks great on the iPhone and the Blackberry from my tests. Enjoy!

» Filed Under Cool Websites