Depending on where you get your DVR, it may or may not have the ability to skip commercials. The best ones have a button that lets you jump forward, but if your DVR was issued by a cable or satellite company, they may have hidden or removed it. Here are some semi-secret ways to do it anyway.


It's been a while since we last visited the topic, and we decided to take another look to see if those DVR tweaks and tricks still work. Here's what we found:


Comcast

If you have a newer Motorola DVR, you can easily program a 30-second skip button that works both on pre-recorded shows and while you're in Cable mode and watching certain live TV events. Here's how to do it, thanks to CNET's Matt Elliott:

Press the AUX button. Press and hold SETUP until you see the AUX button blink twice. Type in 01376. If you've done it correctly, AUX will blink twice again. Press AUX button. Press and hold SETUP again until AUX blinks twice, like before. Type in 994. Again, AUX should blink twice. Press (don't hold) SETUP. Type in 00173. Press the CABLE button. Now press the button you want to be the 30-second skip button. Make sure it's a button that doesn't have another use that you use regularly. When you do, the CABLE button will blink twice, essentially confirming you've changed its setting.


Matt notes that the new 30-second skip button will work in Cable mode as well as for pre-recorded programming. He also notes that if your AUX button was set up to control a receiver or some other device in your entertainment system, you'll need to reprogram it after doing this.

This method should work for most newer Comcast-issued DVRs, but if you still have one of the older ones with the silver remotes, our old trick should still work. Here's how to do it, if you need a refresher:

Press the CABLE button at the top of the remote. Press and hold Setup until CABLE blinks twice. Type in 994. If you've done it correctly, CABLE will blink twice. Press (don't hold) SETUP. Type in 00173. Now press the button you want to be the 30-second skip button. Make sure it's a button that doesn't have another use that you use regularly. When you do,the CABLE button will blink twice, essentially confirming you've changed its setting.


That's all there is to it. Reportedly this works even on Comcast's newest DVR models.

DirecTV


If you have a DirecTV DVR (model HR2X) and remote, your remote may already have a "slip" button on it that will essentially fast forward for 30 seconds. It's not the same as actually skipping 30 seconds ahead in one tap, but it probably covers more time. Still, you can customize the behavior of that button so it's a "skip" and not a "slip" if you prefer. According to TV Predictions, this is how you do it:

Press MENU. Browse to Search and Browse and click it. Browse down to Smart Search, and press Select. Type in 30SKIP. Press the red button on your remote. Make sure the ALL header is highlighted. Press SELECT. You may see a message that says "There are no matching programs." That's okay. Press EXIT

Now, the fast forward button will skip forward 30 seconds every time you tap it. Tap the button four or five times when a commercial break starts, and you should be clear of all of the commercials in pretty short order. If you don't like the change and want to undo it, just follow the steps above and use the code 30SLIP instead of 30SKIP, and it should go back to normal.


The folks over at Wired back up this method, and point out that it also works on DirecTV HR20-700s, as well as the newer HR2X models, as long as they've been updated recently.

Dish Network


Of course, Dish Network is the home of the Hopper, a new DVR that's specifically designed to make skipping commercials easy, no matter what TV or device you're watching on. The Hopper is the first device to include Dish's new Auto Hop feature, which will alert you ahead of time that it's capable of skipping over commercial breaks in selected programming, and then just do it automatically without you having to lift a finger.

If you'd rather have control (or you run into programming where Auto Hop doesn't work), you can still skip content yourself—there's likely a 30-second skip button already on your remote. Even if you have an older Dish Network DVR, you probably have a skip button that works for both pre-recorded programming and that works if you've paused live TV, and want to skip any commercials or filler that aired after you hit the pause button.


Verizon FIOS TV


FIOS TV DVRs also don't have a specific "commercial skip" feature, but they do have a built-in 30-second skip and fully-featured fast forward, both of which work on pre-recorded programming and after pausing live TV, but not on Video On Demand programming. However, in some cases if you're using FIOS TV's multi-room DVR feature and watching recorded programming on a non-DVR box elsewhere in your home, the skip button may not work. The fast forward button, however, does work wherever you're watching.

TiVo


TiVo won't skip commercials specifically, but you can change your skip button into a 30-second skip instead of a "skip to the next part of the show." Our old TiVo hack reportedly still works:

While playing a recorded show, hit select-play-select-3-0-select. You'll hear 3 chimes if you did it right. You'll need to redo this whenever the Tivo reboots.


Now, your "skip" button will skip 30 seconds, not to the next hash mark on your show's progress bar. Wired reports that this still works too, and confirms that if your TiVo loses power, gets a software update, or is rebooted, you'll have to repeat the above command to get the 30-second skip functionality back. The skip feature does not work on live TV.

With luck, there's a skip button or feature for your DVR in the list above, or it already comes with a button that allows you to quickly fast forward or skip 30 seconds at a time without hassle. However, you'll notice we didn't mention some providers, most notably Time Warner, who actually going out of their way to stop you from skipping commercials even to the point of disabling fast forward during them. To their defense, they say it's because content owners are making them do it, and there's certainly some truth to that. Regardless of who's to blame, if we couldn't find a method that worked universally for a cable or satellite provider, we didn't include them.


Of course, if you really want full and total control over your pre-recorded programming, your best bet is to either buy your own DVR independent of your TV provider, or build one yourself and record your own shows. Then you're the one in the driver's seat, and you can skip whatever you like.

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