I've always been envious of cable users that have the ability to zip through commercials (recorded shows only) with a 30 second skip button. If you're not familiar with the 30 second skip, it's just like it sounds. You push a button while watching a recorded program and you'll skip ahead 30 seconds. During commercials, whacking on the skip button 3 or 4 times is much faster and easier than the fast forward button.

Well if you're a cable customer that uses a DCT6400 series DVR, you should be able to program a 30 second skip on your remote too. I say should because it may depend on what cable company you use but in most cases, the skip codes should work. In this tutorial we'll show you what remote you need and how to program the 30 second skip feature on a few different remotes.

Let's start with the remotes that can and cannot be programmed. If you have the new dual tuner (DCT6412) box, you probably have the DRC800 remote.

This remote is the upgrade to the silver remote which was issued with the single tuner boxes. The main difference between the silver remote and the DRC800 is that the DRC800 has a programmed swap button. The swap button is important because that's how you switch tuners.

The nice thing about the silver remote is that it's totally programmable and you can add a swap button. What sucks about the DRC800 is that it's not user programmable. So, if you have a silver remote, keep it. If you upgrade to a dual tuner box, just keep that remote and just program the swap button. If you have the DRC800, you might check with your cable company and see if they have any of the silver remotes in stock. Otherwise you will have to get 3rd party remote to use the 30 second skip feature.

If you have the silver remote, we'll show you how to program the 30 second skip and if you have a dual tuner we'll also give you the swap code. What makes the silver remote important is that it has a setup button which the DRC800 lacks.

So to program the 30 second skip on the silver remote:

Press the "Cable" button at the top of the remote to put it into Cable Box control mode.

Press and hold the "Setup" button until the "Cable" button blinks twice.

Type in the code 994. The "Cable" button will blink twice.

Press (do not hold) the "Setup" button.

Type in the code 00173 (for 30 second skip).

Press whatever button you want to map the skip function to.

You can also program the "swap" function in by using the same steps as above. When you get to step 5, just use 00236. If you want to program any more buttons, here are the DVR codes:

178 Play

205 Pause

209 Rewind

207 Fast Forward

174 Stop

046 Record

173 Skip

179 Replay

175 DVR

210 PPV

208 OND

083 A/B

177 Live (DVR)

236 Swap (dual tuner DVR)

On the silver remote, you must put 00 in front of the 3 digit code. On some 3rd part remotes you don't need the 00.

So how did I get the 30 second skip with the DRC800 remote? Well, I didn't. What I ran across was the One for All URC3021, this is a pretty cheap but useful remote. All I did was enter the code 1376 for the cable button, and my remote was ready. At the bottom of there is a button called "Quick Skip" which has the 30 second skip. Now you can't custom program the buttons but you can hit the "Set" button and then any of the 3 digit codes above. So if I want to swap tuners, I simply hit "Set" and "236". The only feature this remote doesn't have that the DRC800 has is that I can't scroll the guide day to day or a page at a time.