# DIRECTV iPhone App Update Available (2.5.0 - May 15, 2013)



## Athlon646464 (Feb 23, 2007)

What's New in Version 2.5.0

Search and discover entertainment with the power of your voice. 
- Just talk as you would to a person and the app finds what you're looking for.
- Search for programs by mentioning title, channel, keyword, actor, time frame, genre and more.
- Switch to TV mode to see your dialogue and search results on your TV screen. HD DVR (HR24+) required. Your phone and HD DVR must be connected to same Wi-Fi network.
- See personalized recommendations as soon as you switch to TV mode.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/directv/id307386350?mt=8


----------



## hancox (Jun 23, 2004)

Any more of this "HR24+"-type restriction showing up is going to make me require an HR24+ at every set.


----------



## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

hancox said:


> Any more of this "HR24+"-type restriction showing up is going to make me require an HR24+ at every set.


Turns out you can voice search and schedule a recording on any HR2x, using your iPhone display. You can only _optionally _view Voice Control search results on an HR24- or Genie-connected display, however.

In case folks missed it, there's a Voice Control "First Look" here: http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/203845-dbstalk-first-look-directv-voice-control/#entry3124065

and a cool video demo here:


----------



## hancox (Jun 23, 2004)

Steve said:


> Turns out you can voice search and schedule a recording on any HR2x, using your iPhone display. You can only _optionally _view Voice Control search results on an HR24- or Genie-connected display, however.
> 
> In case folks missed it, there's a Voice Control "First Look" here: http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/203845-dbstalk-first-look-directv-voice-control/#entry3124065
> 
> and a cool video demo here:


Yes, I get that, but D*'s insistence that the HR2x's are all equivalent was merely annoying before. It's now getting a bit silly...


----------



## videoboy77 (Aug 13, 2008)

This is a cute demo but it's so slow and clunky I won't ever use it.

Why doesn't the iphone app have the remote control feature the iPad app has? That seems easy to do.


----------



## badgerdog (Jan 27, 2010)

I cannot get the iPhone app to listen to me (same situation with my wife but that is for a different forum).

When I tap the screen and start speaking, the app returns immediately with:
<inaudible> and "Sorry, I didn't quite get that. Please try again." (or a similar message passively indicating failure).

I am using an iPhone 4s on wifi and have tried the function with and without Jawbone headset.

Any tips?


----------



## Linxs (Aug 2, 2011)

Steve said:


> Turns out you can voice search and schedule a recording on any HR2x, using your iPhone display. You can only _optionally _view Voice Control search results on an HR24- or Genie-connected display, however.
> 
> In case folks missed it, there's a Voice Control "First Look" here: http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/203845-dbstalk-first-look-directv-voice-control/#entry3124065
> 
> and a cool video demo here:


I didn't hear the voice feedback thats in the video. I found it in settings to turn it on and oddly enough its not using a man's voice. Its using Siri's voice.


----------



## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Linxs said:


> I didn't hear the voice feedback thats in video was in the video. It found in settings to turn it on and oddly enough its not using a man's voice. Its using Siri's voice.


I'm also hearing her on my iPhone 4, which is not a Siri-supported device. Could be her voice file is a stock feature of iOS that developers can utilize.


----------



## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

I'm getting a mixture of male / Siri responses.


----------



## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

Siri's voice is also the navigation voice in the Waze(tm) app if you do not change from defaults. Waze(tm) works on non-siri devices as well. I think its a stock voice.

Anyway this app is nice. Good feature that can make searching a tad bit faster than triple tap.


----------



## Swanni (May 5, 2013)

I used Voice Search for about 10 minutes today; found it inconsistent, but intriguing. Like Apple's Siri, it can get frustrating if you search for terms with long names, etc. But it does well with short names, etc., like 'Find Tom Cruise.'
Here's my review:
http://www.tvpredictions.com/dvoice051513.htm


----------



## Swanni (May 5, 2013)

@directvservice just tweeted that improvements are coming...


----------



## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

Anyone try it with their iphone jailbroken and using xcon? the DirecTV app is working currently as xcon just released an update recently. I am not going to update the app and have it not work again.


----------



## RunnerFL (Jan 5, 2006)

dennisj00 said:


> I'm getting a mixture of male / Siri responses.


Same here


----------



## west99999 (May 12, 2007)

joshjr said:


> Anyone try it with their iphone jailbroken and using xcon? the DirecTV app is working currently as xcon just released an update recently. I am not going to update the app and have it not work again.


Works perfectly fine with JB and XCON.


----------



## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

It's a little hard to control the on screen results when swiping on the iPhone. I notice I overshoot quite often. It's a little touchy. Though the GUI animation is nice. Cover flow would have been cool to see on the TV, but it works. I thought you were supposed to be able to tell it to turn to a channel? I said turn to channel 6 and it just showed me programs scheduled on channel 6. I said "ESPN" hoping it would offer to tune to ESPN ; useful if you don't remember the number. Nope... It just showed programs that air on ESPN. I then said "Disney junior". It said no matches found.


----------



## gio12 (Jul 31, 2006)

joshjr said:


> Anyone try it with their iphone jailbroken and using xcon? the DirecTV app is working currently as xcon just released an update recently. I am not going to update the app and have it not work again.


Yes, works fine with latest version on xcon


----------



## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

I've used 'Change to Channel 2 0 2 ' instead of tune. . .


----------



## MrLatte (Aug 19, 2007)

badgerdog said:


> I cannot get the iPhone app to listen to me (same situation with my wife but that is for a different forum).
> 
> When I tap the screen and start speaking, the app returns immediately with:
> <inaudible> and "Sorry, I didn't quite get that. Please try again." (or a similar message passively indicating failure).
> ...


I had the exact same experience when I was on 4G/LTE. Once I was on the same Wi-Fi network it started working.


----------



## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

MrLatte said:


> I had the exact same experience when I was on 4G/LTE. Once I was on the same Wi-Fi network it started working.


Ya, the voice feature only works in the same network as your DVR


----------



## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

gio12 said:


> Yes, works fine with latest version on xcon


Right on!. I don't think that is tied to a version number anymore. xCon "patches" the JB check and makes the app "believe" the iPhone/iPad is not JB


----------



## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

Ok yes using the phrase "change to" will change the channel. So "change to Comedy Central" goes to that channel as does saying the number. Too bad it doesn't do YouTube searches though. Or maybe I just haven't figured it out. YouTube searches is where I waste most of my time with triple tap.


----------



## kram (Sep 3, 2006)

New version worked fine (even voice search) the other day, but then I got an error message saying that my receiver list can't be downloaded. Tried rebooting the phone, deleting and reinstalling the app, But I had to do a reset of my HR44 to get it to work again.


----------



## dengland (Aug 26, 2006)

When I try and send the results to the TV for my HR34, it tells me "The selected Receiver does not have the correct software version to use the Voice feature." I am running the latest NR as far as I know.


----------



## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

dengland said:


> When I try and send the results to the TV for my HR34, it tells me "The selected Receiver does not have the correct software version to use the Voice feature." I am running the latest NR as far as I know.


make sure to elect the HR34 as the receiver you want to use for voice control


----------

