New S3 User - Online Scheduling Question

[fareal]

Next week some time I should be a new S3 user. The only other TiVo I've used before is a DirecTiVo which didn't have the online scheduling feature. How does this work? I've seen the online scheduling page at TiVo.com (http://www3.tivo.com/tivo-tco/index.do). When I go to that page and set something that I want to record, is it immediately pushed out to my TiVo at home and my TiVo is immediately setup for that recording? So if it is 5:50pm and I'm using Online Scheduling to schedule something at 6pm the recording will be successful? Or does my TiVo at home check at specific times or intervals throughout the day?

Do I have to open any ports on my router for this feature to work?

I've seen this page at TiVo.com (http://customersupport.tivo.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=127D5F60-EF84-4790-85AC-8FC6D408B5A7) which talks about ports. But are all of those required to be open on the router? Seems that some of those are for software firewalls on individual computers for other TiVo networking functions to work?

[ZikZak]

It takes about 15 minutes for the request to get to your tivo. You don't need to open any ports; the tivo connects outwards every 15 minutes to check for online requests.

Indded, the ports on the page you reference are for tivo-to-go, which is not yet available on the S3.

[Bierboy]

That's optimistic. You really need to give it at least an hour to make sure you'll get the recording. I've scheduled shows online with less than an hour to air time, and, on occasion, they only record partially.

[TLev]

The lawn service cut my dish network cable. Is there any way to capture my favorites by scheduling on line?