Mobile phones to operate TV recorder, says Opera

Mobile phones can soon be used to control a video recorder for people away from home when their favourite programs are on, Norwegian mobile phone internet browser maker Opera Software said on Tuesday.

Opera, which made its debut on the Oslo bourse on March 11, said that the Mobile Interactive Programming Guide (IPG) would allow clients to look up television schedules on a mobile phone and then press "record" to a video recorder, no matter how far away.

"The mobileIPG means full freedom to see what you want when you want it," Christen Krogh, vice president of engineering at Opera said in a statement.

"It takes just a few seconds to look up the program on the mobileIPG on your handset, and then activate your recorder at home with just a click," he said.

Opera said that it cooperated with two German companies, DiscVision GmbH and TVinfo internet GmbH, in the research.

Opera's internet browsers are installed on a range of mobile phones. It said that the new mobileIPG system could attract clients ranging from pay TV operators to mobile phone operators.