Will Verizon ever give us the ability to watch our DVR remotely?
rayminette
Newbie

  Yeah, its great I can see what programs I have recorded and program new ones, but why doesn't Verizon allow us the simple feature of watching those recorded programs on a laptop/PC?  Sure I can get a slingbox or TiVo or something like that to accomplish this but I would rather not have to spend more money to achieve a simple thing.

   In this day and age a feature like watching recorded programs should be a no brainer.  Has Verizon ever given any reason why they don't allow this?

Thanks

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Re: Will Verizon ever give us the ability to watch our DVR remotely?
Hubrisnxs
Legend

I haven't heard any whispers about doing that just yet, I know that they are trying to make more channels available to watch online in general, but not direct access to the DVR remotely.  Like you said though, if you get a sling box from the store, it takes care of that functionality and it's made by a company that has been doing that technology for a while, so all the kinks are worked out and it works REALLY REALLY REALLY well.

Take a look on Amazon.com for a sling box, or look for one at your local retailer.

If they charge over a 200 bux and up for the box, then it might not be as simple as one might think.  many people think the monthly price for these cable boxes are high enough as is, so idk if its that big of an added cost, but I'd hate to have that past on to everyone to satisfy x amount of customers.

In fact that may be your reason right there,   Maybe the demand for that funcitonality isn't as big as we would imagine.

But any official response about it from verizon?   none that I have heard of, in fact I haven't even heard whispers about that functionality in general with the FiOS service..... 

sad but true ...

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Re: Will Verizon ever give us the ability to watch our DVR remotely?
philhu
Contributor - Level 2

Get a Slingbox Pro HD

It will allow you to watch your boxes  (up to 2 or three with a Slingbox Pro), on any computer anywhere

If you then get a Slingcatcher, you can also watch the box on ANY tv anywhere.

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Re: Will Verizon ever give us the ability to watch our DVR remotely?
jumpin68ny
Master - Level 2

So how does a Sling Box work?  I mean where is it placed within your TV?  Does it change your channels for you when you are remote?  How does it work with a Verizon STB?  How do you change channels?

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Re: Will Verizon ever give us the ability to watch our DVR remotely?
spacedebris
Master - Level 2

Back a couple years ago, this question came up and there was an offical Verizon response. I'll see if I can find the press release. If I can I will post it. But the basic idea was that Verizon was not going to work on getting the DVR to be computer compatible. They said something vague about being concerned about copyright infringment and rebroadcast (via the internet). They didnt go into details, just quoted that there were some "legal concerns" and until they could work those out they were not going to offer that ability.

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Re: Will Verizon ever give us the ability to watch our DVR remotely?
philhu
Contributor - Level 2

Slingbox is cool

What you do it take the composite or HDMI output from your cable box, and plug it into the Slingbox

You then configure the slingbox for your cable box/tivo type and it puts a virtual remote control on your screen.  When you click the remote, the slingbox, back home, sends the correct IR command to the box being watched.

You can then watch it on a PC.

If you buy a Slingcatcher, it will connect to a tv without a computer, so you can take it on trips and plug it into your hotel tv, etc.  It comes with a remote that gets mapped to the device being watched and works almost seamlessly.

Sling does a bandwidth optimization using the bandwidth it has to create a picture as good as possible using that bandwidth.  It works very will on FiOS.

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Re: Will Verizon ever give us the ability to watch our DVR remotely?
nXt1
Contributor - Level 1

@jumpin68ny wrote:

So how does a Sling Box work?  I mean where is it placed within your TV?  Does it change your channels for you when you are remote?  How does it work with a Verizon STB?  How do you change channels?


A SlingBox goes in between your device's connections.

Here's a simple "look" at a SlingBox.

I have a SlingBox Solo (1 HD source).

It has connections for component, s-video and rca video and audio.

From my FiOS box, I have HDMI going to my TV, and Coaxial going to my sound receiver.

Then I have the Component from the FiOS going to the SlingBox, and the L/R RCA Audio going into the SlingBox.

(You can also just use component into the slingobox, then OUT of the slingbox too, it has inputs and outputs for passthrough connection).

The SlingBox then takes an ethernet cable (for internet access) and comes with IR dongles, that you position in front of the FiOS box so it can send remote control commands.

There are other SlingBoxes that support multiple devices and HD devices, so they'll be lots of different connections.

You can then load the SlingPlayer software on any computer, OR you can even just go to sling.com and login to your account and watch your TV! No install required (except for the browser addon).

One thing I like to do is watch TV when I'm on the computer, and if your TV is somewhere else, just load up the SlingPlayer and bam, you're watching TV on your PC.

Sling also has software for iPhone/BlackBerry/Windows Mobile/Palm/Symbian phones. Androids coming soon.

Works great on the phone, only issue is, it takes a good 5-10 seconds for commands to be issued.

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Re: Will Verizon ever give us the ability to watch our DVR remotely?
harley8004
Enthusiast - Level 3

I remember a Verizon VP in India touting that fios would be able to watch tv from the dvr but instead Verizon dumped flexview on us 😞 Comcast, Directv, Dish and Cablevision all allow their customer's to view content stored on their DVR's remotely. Not pay for movies that you can get from video store or perhaps own in you home. I can't figure Verizon out. Maybe Comcast, Directv, Dish and Cablevision have better content provider lawyers working for them to allow their customer's the flexiblility and availability of their DVR content. Just saying

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