Comcast’s AnyRoom DVR and other features launched yesterday in Oregon and southwest Washington.
The new features, which were rolled out under Comcast’s Xfinity TV brand, came along with Comcast’s A28 Motorola guide. About 80 percent of Comcast’s systems are Motorola, with the rest Cisco/Scientific Atlanta.
AnyRoom DVR allows the primary HD DVR to control all of the DVR functions, including scheduling, deleting and recording settings, across up to three networked boxes in other rooms in a home. The networked set-top boxes can be used to view, sort, play, fast-forward, rewind, pause, skip ahead or skip back within DVR recordings and gives subscribers the same control functionality no matter what TV they are viewing from.
Like some of its competitors, Comcast has a service, called myDVR Manager, that allows subscribers to use its broadband service to remotely schedule and adjust DVR recordings online.
There’s also a DVR Search & Record function that lets them search for content by actor, title, director and keyword. Comcast’s DVR History displays information on already recorded, watched and deleted programs, and there’s also a DVR Folders function for when customers record more than one episode of a series.
With the new guide, Comcast’s On Demand Skip Ahead/Skip Back feature lets customers jump ahead or back in 5 minute increments during on-demand programming by using the “up” and “down” arrows on their remotes. Comcast also has the same functionally on its DVR service, as well.
The guide also provisions a new “Watch in HD” button that allows customers to switch to the HD version of the program they are watching, which cuts down on scroll times of going from an SD channel to the HD version.
The “Watch HD” button is also easier on the network since subscribers jump right to the sister HD channel with one click instead of scrolling channel by channel.
“Our digital cable customers in Oregon and soutwest Washington will see significant value and convenience from these new features,” said Hank Fore, regional vice president in Oregon and southwest Washington. “We remain committed to providing our customers with the ultimate TV viewing experience, and AnyRoom DVR, the enhanced DVR functions and new on-screen program guide technology join a long list of value-added features that make watching favorite programming easier and more enjoyable than ever.”
Last month, Comcast started deploying its new Scientific Atlanta guide, which is known internally as the S25, in parts of Connecticut, although the SA guide won’t have all of the same features as the Motorola guide until next year.
