DirecTV iPhone app now available

All those eagerly anticipating the DirecTV iPhone application, and all its remote scheduling, program browsing capability can download it right now from the App Store. All that’s required is iPhone software 2.2.1 or higher.

Never miss an episode of your favorite shows. DIRECTV’s free iPhone application turns your iPhone or iPod touch into the easiest, fastest, most convenient way to find any program and set your home DVR — no matter where you are. An entire universe of DIRECTV entertainment is now just a tap away. Download and start exploring today!

It’s easy. It’s fun. And it’s yours FREE from DIRECTV.

FEATURES

• Search for any television show up to 14 days in advance
• Browse programs by channel or date & time
• Get program information instantly, including description, length and rating
• Record a single episode or an entire series
• Program Pay Per View movies to be recorded and ready to watch anytime
• Record to any DIRECTV DVR in your home

REQUIREMENTS

• iPhone software v2.2.1 or higher
• Browsing capability is available to everyone, but programming functionality is available to DIRECTV customers only
• DIRECTV customers must have a residential home account registered on directv.com to access recording functionality
• Requires a Wi-Fi, Edge or 3G network connection to run. Remote connections may vary
• In rare instances, scheduled recording(s) may not be recognized
• Requires DIRECTV Plus^® DVR (models R15, R16, R22), DIRECTV Plus^® HD DVR (models HR20, HR21, HR23) or TiVo^® Series 2 receivers with 6.4a software

Hit the source link below to download it from the app store.

source:directv

Sirius XM Radio planning to stream to iPhone, iPod

Sirius XM Radio Inc. is planning to stream its subscription radio service to the iPhone and iPod Touch devices from Apple Inc. beginning this spring.

After narrowly avoiding a filing for bankruptcy protection last month, the nation's only satellite radio provider wants to step up sales directly to consumers. New car purchases -- which had been Sirius' best source of customers -- are way down.

Sirius XM also said in a call Thursday to discuss its fourth-quarter earnings that it's ramping up efforts to reach buyers of used cars with factory-installed satellite radios.

"We've been testing a number of initiatives to make the Sirius XM content and experience more ubiquitous," said Jim Meyer, president of operations and sales at New York-based Sirius.

Sirius now has 19 million subscribers, up 10 percent from a year earlier.

By streaming its music, sports and talk channels to users of the iPhone and iPod Touch, Sirius can give its existing subscribers another way to access content and let new customers sign up without buying new radios, CEO Mel Karmazin said.

source[yahoo]

SDV - Will it impact you?

For those of you that don’t have a Tivo DVR, this might not be an issue. But for others(like me), it’s driving me bonkers. My cable company Time Warner has started implementing this thing called SDV, or Switched Digital Video. With satellite providers Dish Network and DirecTV promising so many channels in HD, the cable industry says they need to increase its capacity and “Switched Digital Video” allows them to add more channels without expanding their systems. However, once your cable provider enables SDV, any channel that is “switched” will be blacked out to consumers using a CableCARD in their HDTVs.

This is from the Tivo website:

Switched Digital Video (SDV) is a new technology that allows cable providers to expand the programming you receive by sending certain channels to customer homes only when the channels are requested. If you have a TiVo HD, TiVo HD XL or Series 3 HD DVR with CableCARDs, you could see a blank screen on a number of channels if your cable provider makes the transition to SDV. The good news is that TiVo has worked with your cable provider to develop a solution at no cost to you.

This is what you need to do:

1. Watch for communications about the transition to SDV from your cable company.
2. Call your cable provider to get a FREE Tuning Adapter.
3. Install the adapter by plugging it into your cable line and the USB port on your TiVo DVR, or have a cable company technician install it.
4. Continue to enjoy your TV and TiVo DVR in the same way you always have.

TiVo does not distribute Tuning Adapters – only your cable provider can do that – but with the most current software update, your HD TiVo DVR is fully compatible and ready to display SDV channels as soon as a Tuning Adapter is installed.

Of course my local provider does not have these tuning adapters yet, and has not even announced when they will have them available. So I’m paying for many channels that I don’t receive, which is driving me frickin bonkers. Are you one of these people? I’m going to be switching to DirecTV if this is not fixed very soon.