DVR Remote

Developer: Stutsman Software
Category: Utilities
Version: 2.01
Release Date: May 16, 2009
Size: 1.9 MB
Price: $2.99
Rating 9/10

 I love my TiVo. I really do. I like the interface, the ease of use, the web-enabled programming, the little bloop-bloop-bloop-KADOOP noise that it makes when I'm browsing my shows. I don't mind that I'm getting overcharged for something the cable providers would be giving me for free. It's the way I roll.

But one of the things I don't like about my TiVo is the remote. It looks and feels okay, but when I use it, I have to lean forward and sideways while twisting my arm into ligament-damage territory. Fresh batteries have no effect. And one of the things I *hate* is that when I want to search for a specific program, it takes me half an hour to hunt-and-peck each of the letters to spell it using the up-and-down arrows.

Enter DVR Remote, an app for the TiVo crowd. DVR Remote duplicates the functionality of your TiVo Remote, down to the placement of the buttons. Its signal is far stronger than the real remote, and it would be a nice little exercise in remote cloning except for two things that make it worth the cost: channel memory and real-text typing when you're looking for shows. You can bookmark your favorite channels on the bookmark tab, then simply tap the channel, and your TiVo will jump to that station. You can pair the app with more than one TiVo, if you're a multiple-TiVo household. And you can schedule recordings through a mobile browser that takes you right to the TiVo site.

But the killer part of DVR Remote: no more hunt-and-peck. If I want a season pass of "Friday Night Lights," I don't have to go to the terrible TiVo search screen and enter "F" tap-tap-tap-tap-tap "R" tap-tap-tap-tap-tap "I" until I want to claw my eyeballs out with a spork. I can enter the text right there on the phone, hit "enter," and DVR Remote will do all the tapping for me. It's a small thing, but it's honestly worth the three bucks for me right there.

The developers have been pretty good about releasing updates for the app, making it more stable, quicker, and easily paired with your favorite TiVo. It's a solid, workhorse app that I prefer to use over my actual TiVo Remote.