# DirecTV app for the iPhone.



## Xzisted (Feb 12, 2007)

Will DirecTV release an app to do scheduling from the iPhone. I know they have m.directv.com, but I still think that is a little rugged to use. Does anyone have any knowledge of any upcoming product?

Thanks,

X


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Have not heard anything.

Check my sig for an easy way to bookmark the online scheduler though


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## jfalkingham (Dec 6, 2005)

Probably after they build an app for mobile OS leaders Symbian, BlackBerry & WinMo. I'd be happy to write one if you want to paypal me some $$$ :sure: 

Seriously though, I don't see how DTV can spend the money/resources in making a client based app when the web interface scales across all.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Without an API published by DIRECTV, the chances are vanishingly small to get any kind of third party scheduling application for any platform.


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## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

harsh said:


> Without an API published by DIRECTV, the chances are vanishingly small to get any kind of third party scheduling application for any platform.


Very true. There really is no way for a 3rd party to interface with the online scheduling service as it exists right now and I do not see the iPhone as a huge priority for Directv with all the other things they are/can be working on and that have much broader consumer demand.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Xzisted said:


> Will DirecTV release an app to do scheduling from the iPhone. I know they have m.directv.com, but I still think that is a little rugged to use. Does anyone have any knowledge of any upcoming product?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> X


Personally, I've got a Blackberry .. I don't know of any upcoming product, but certainly a slick interface would be nice.


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

There really is no point since http://m.directv.com works well. A slick looking interface would be a plus but wouldn't make it any more functional.


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## JayB (Mar 19, 2007)

Chris Blount said:


> ...since http://m.directv.com works well.


Personally, I wouldn't say "works well", I'd say "works". By this I mean that it does get the job done but it is clearly a lowest common denominator product, designed to work on any mobile device - and it does achieve that. But the interface is somewhat, IMO, clunky and with a bit of work, D* (or whoever they contract their web development to) could make the pages browser aware and optimize the experience to the device and therefore make the service that much more attractive. It's my hope that what we're seeing here is the 1.0 product on the way to the 3.0 product that truly will be the application that does the job in an efficient and elegant manner.


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

JayB said:


> Personally, I wouldn't say "works well", I'd say "works". By this I mean that it does get the job done but it is clearly a lowest common denominator product, designed to work on any mobile device - and it does achieve that. But the interface is somewhat, IMO, clunky and with a bit of work, D* (or whoever they contract their web development to) could make the pages browser aware and optimize the experience to the device and therefore make the service that much more attractive. It's my hope that what we're seeing here is the 1.0 product on the way to the 3.0 product that truly will be the application that does the job in an efficient and elegant manner.


There's a valid point. I agree that a standalone app is probably overkill, but making the page render correctly for each device, or at the very least, each screen resolution, would be great. ESPN is a good example of a site that does a fantastic job of rendering beautifully no matter which mobile device you use. The iPhone version of their site is downright cool.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

There's also the possibility that Apple would not allow such an application in their App Store as it may be considered competition for Apple TV.


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

Ken S said:


> There's also the possibility that Apple would not allow such an application in their App Store as it may be considered competition for Apple TV.


Interesting thought, but they do have a lot of music apps that compete more directly with iTunes/iPod than a DirecTV app would compete with Apple TV, like Pandora, AOL Radio, etc., to name a few.


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## Peapod (Oct 14, 2006)

tcusta00 said:


> ESPN is a good example of a site that does a fantastic job of rendering beautifully no matter which mobile device you use. The iPhone version of their site is downright cool.


I absolutely HATE the iPhone version of their site. It's a very limited subset of the regular ESPN site, and I can never find the content I want now. The whole point of having the iPhone's browser was that I could navigate the full sites and get to all the content.

CNN does this as well, along with some other sites, and I don't use them anymore on my phone.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Is it possible that the problem lies with limitations of the iPhone and not the sites?

Can the iPhone spoof its browser ID?


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

Peapod said:


> I absolutely HATE the iPhone version of their site. It's a very limited subset of the regular ESPN site, and I can never find the content I want now. The whole point of having the iPhone's browser was that I could navigate the full sites and get to all the content.
> 
> CNN does this as well, along with some other sites, and I don't use them anymore on my phone.


You can always view the full version you know... there's a link at the bottom for "espn.com" that takes you to the unaltered version.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

Incidentally, does anyone know how I can get the receiver names changed at DirecTV. They did not take one that I retired off and since I have 2 in one room with the same name, it would be nice to be able to quickly tell them apart without looking at card numbers. Is it as simple as calling them? I imagine I will get a quizzical huh? from a standard CSR.


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## Peapod (Oct 14, 2006)

tcusta00 said:


> You can always view the full version you know... there's a link at the bottom for "espn.com" that takes you to the unaltered version.


Thanks! That was not there at first, and I see that CNN has also added an option. I am much happier now.


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

Peapod said:


> Thanks! That was not there at first, and I see that CNN has also added an option. I am much happier now.


Anytime. What works for some apparently doesn't work for others. I'd go nuts using the full version of their site on my iPhone. :grin:


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Lee L said:


> Incidentally, does anyone know how I can get the receiver names changed at DirecTV.


There is a thread about this somewhere.

You cannot configure the name.


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

harsh said:


> There is a thread about this somewhere.
> 
> You cannot configure the name.


Dish customer is wrong again... you can. Login to your DirecTV account and go into the "My Setup" menu and then click on "Current Setup" and down the page where is lists your receivers there's a drop down list for you to rename your receivers.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

tcusta00 said:


> Dish customer is wrong again...


Say it isn't so!! :eek2:


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

JayB said:


> Personally, I wouldn't say "works well", I'd say "works". By this I mean that it does get the job done but it is clearly a lowest common denominator product, designed to work on any mobile device - and it does achieve that. But the interface is somewhat, IMO, clunky and with a bit of work, D* (or whoever they contract their web development to) could make the pages browser aware and optimize the experience to the device and therefore make the service that much more attractive. It's my hope that what we're seeing here is the 1.0 product on the way to the 3.0 product that truly will be the application that does the job in an efficient and elegant manner.


Agree. I guess what I was trying to say is that it works for now. I would, of course, not be resistant to an iPhone app.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

tcusta00 said:


> Dish customer is wrong again... you can. Login to your DirecTV account and go into the "My Setup" menu and then click on "Current Setup" and down the page where is lists your receivers there's a drop down list for you to rename your receivers.


I was referring to the netBIOS name. I see now that that wasn't what the poster was talking about when they hijacked the thread about a custom iPhone application.

Sorry about that.


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

harsh said:


> I was referring to the netBIOS name.


:scratchin Oh, ok.


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## mutelight (Oct 6, 2008)

harsh said:


> Is it possible that the problem lies with limitations of the iPhone and not the sites?
> 
> Can the iPhone spoof its browser ID?


What would be a limitation? I have seen much more complex applications and games running on the phone than what it would take to run a DVR scheduling program. Also, what would be the need of spoofing the browser ID?



harsh said:


> I was referring to the netBIOS name. I see now that that wasn't what the poster was talking about when they hijacked the thread about a custom iPhone application.
> 
> Sorry about that.


He was referring to the name used by the receivers in the house when remote scheduling the DVR.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

mutelight said:


> What would be a limitation? I have seen much more complex applications and games running on the phone than what it would take to run a DVR scheduling program. Also, what would be the need of spoofing the browser ID?
> 
> He was referring to the name used by the receivers in the house when remote scheduling the DVR.


Some websites will load different versions of themselves depending on what browser they detect as the reader. So, if you spoof the ID from Safari/IPhone to IE you will see a different site...perhaps the one you want to see.


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## mutelight (Oct 6, 2008)

Ken S said:


> Some websites will load different versions of themselves depending on what browser they detect as the reader. So, if you spoof the ID from Safari/IPhone to IE you will see a different site...perhaps the one you want to see.


Oh yeah, I know technically what it would do, I just don't know what the benefit would be.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

harsh said:


> I was referring to the netBIOS name. I see now that that wasn't what the poster was talking about when they hijacked the thread about a custom iPhone application.
> 
> Sorry about that.


So, now we are not allowed to talk about any related topic? We should start new threads all over the place instead of asking a highly related question where somethign is already being discussed?


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## derek5L (Oct 14, 2008)

I have an app called i.TV that works real well and is about to drop an update that will let you control your DVR.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

Lee L said:


> Incidentally, does anyone know how I can get the receiver names changed at DirecTV. They did not take one that I retired off and since I have 2 in one room with the same name, it would be nice to be able to quickly tell them apart without looking at card numbers. Is it as simple as calling them? I imagine I will get a quizzical huh? from a standard CSR.


You can change them online at Directv.com. On the main page of current setup scroll down under your programming and you can edit the receiver names. I would go to each room write down the last 4 of the access card number and what room you want it to be called then go online and edit them.


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## Peapod (Oct 14, 2006)

harsh said:


> Can the iPhone spoof its browser ID?


It is not possible to change the user agent in the iPhone Safari browser. Apple prevents any addons to iPhone Safari, so you would need a third party app that includes browser functionality (some of them have this) that also included the option to override the user agent to accomplish this.


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## rynning (Jan 29, 2007)

derek5L said:


> I have an app called i.TV that works real well and is about to drop an update that will let you control your DVR.


Yes, i.TV is the #1 free app right now for the iPhone/Touch. It's very slick, and you can set it to show DirecTV channels (including locals) for your area, as well as hide channels you don't want to see. It also shows theater listings.

http://www.i.tv/

The App Store says a future capability will be to schedule DVRs, but there's no guarantee that includes DirecTV.

What I'd like to see is the ability to use this as a remote control, kind of like Apple's "Remote" app for iTunes. It's much faster at scrolling and searching than my receiver. That would require some work on DirecTV's part though...


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## islesfan (Oct 18, 2006)

I have to say that it works very well with my Treo 755. No complaints. It loads lightning fast, and I can schedule shows in seconds.


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## tcusta00 (Dec 31, 2007)

rynning said:


> Yes, i.TV is the #1 free app right now for the iPhone/Touch. It's very slick, and you can set it to show DirecTV channels (including locals) for your area, as well as hide channels you don't want to see. It also shows theater listings.
> 
> http://www.i.tv/
> 
> ...


Yeah, I got this app over the weekend too... it's just too bad I paid for the "What's On" app about a month ago. 

I hope they figure out a way to integrate the DVR scheduler with this app... that would be awesome!! Only problem I see is that you need to provide your DirecTV account password to get into the DVR scheduler so that could be a possible security issue... not sure I want to give my account password to the i.TV folks. :shrug:


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## Chip Moody (Aug 1, 2007)

Lee L said:


> We should start new threads all over the place instead of asking a highly related question where somethign is already being discussed?


 Out of curiosity, what does renaming your receivers have remotely in common with an iPhone scheduling app? (Otherwise, I'd think the answer to your question is "yes", IMHO) 

- Chip


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## DCSholtis (Aug 7, 2002)

Has anyone been able to connect to the mobile scheduler yet with a Verizon phone? I just switched over from T-Mobile and I have a LG enV2 which has a wap brower.


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## mutelight (Oct 6, 2008)

derek5L said:


> I have an app called i.TV that works real well and is about to drop an update that will let you control your DVR.


Just grabbed that today, seems like a great application.



Chip Moody said:


> Out of curiosity, what does renaming your receivers have remotely in common with an iPhone scheduling app? (Otherwise, I'd think the answer to your question is "yes", IMHO)


Because you want your receivers to be named properly so you can remote schedule to the proper box.


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## byron (Nov 15, 2004)

derek5L said:


> ... and is about to drop an update that will let you control your DVR.


link please?


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## derek5L (Oct 14, 2008)

byron said:


> link please?


If you touch the app, then it gives a description of what the app does and says that a future update will allow you to remotely schedule DVR 'd programs.


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## byron (Nov 15, 2004)

i searched their site and couldn't find it... but i did see that it's part of the app description on their itunes store listing. i'll be interested to see what DVRs are supported and how the implement that feature.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

Chip Moody said:


> Out of curiosity, what does renaming your receivers have remotely in common with an iPhone scheduling app? (Otherwise, I'd think the answer to your question is "yes", IMHO)
> 
> - Chip


Well, when I use the DirecTV mobile site on my iPhone, I have trouble quickly telling the receivers apart.

I guess my main objection is the crappy response from someone who evidently has no business in the DirecTV forum, being a Dish sub and all, telling me where to post. I always figure the moderators are who should govern such things.


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## Chip Moody (Aug 1, 2007)

mutelight said:


> Because you want your receivers to be named properly so you can remote schedule to the proper box.





Lee L said:


> Well, when I use the DirecTV mobile site on my iPhone, I have trouble quickly telling the receivers apart.


 And now the guy that doesn't own a DirecTV DVR* has his answer. 

Thanks guys - that didn't occur to me, and it should have. Thanks for not giving me a hard time on it.

- Chip

* - I have DirecTV - not Dish, but my DVRs are still Tivos.


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