DVR recording portability
As I prepare for my shift from one television service provider to another, a conundrum presented itself. All these shows that I routinely watch, but more importantly record – I’m going to have to manually schedule those recordings again.
Now I guess that would be ok if it was an infrequent event. But it really isn’t much fun – if you’ve had to redo it because the set-top box needed replacing. Or in my case since I’m switching providers. Hey, even if I was going to go get a Tivo unit, I’d still want to be able to automate this. Or at least make it as painless as possible.
I propose a standardized spec, XML format, that is universally adoptable, regardless of your service provider. It will be somewhat localized to your region. TitanTV has already gotten halfway there. Channel listings specific to your area. Available in an XML format. What we need to be able to do is export those settings to a file, so that anytime you need to switch out hardware (or share the same settings across multiple boxes), it’s a snap.
Something like -
<recordingList>
<recording>
<id>1234</id>
<channelId>1006</channelId>
<progId>123456</progId>
<recFlags season=Y newOnly=Y hd=Y>
</recording>
</recordingList>
To take it to the next level, perhaps you could even enter a URL on your set-top box, from which to retrieve the settings. This way, you can manage your recordings online, and schedule or edit recordings from any web interface. Site, mobile – hey you could even tweet a recording preference to your recording manager.
The business case, we’ll let’s see -
1. As the host of such services, you have access to show popularity data (with relevant user privacy consent). Networks would pay big money for this.
2. You can tap into a new audience market when your current user-base evangelizes shows they watch, inherently promoting your service.
3. As a content provider, you would have increased adoption of DVR services, easier device upgrades and easier sell to new customers who may be on a different device.