You’re 100 miles down the motorway and you realise you haven’t recored the latest episode of Lost/Talk To Me/Coronation Street. Not to worry, your trusty blower will come once more to the rescue, you just need to do a bit of fettling to set it up.

What’s the point?

Set your satellite box or computer to record your favourite shows while you’re away – you’ll never miss a programme again!

Is it free?

You’ll need to buy the equipment and maybe a satellite subscription. If you schedule recordings by text they’re 25p each.

Sold! How do I do it?

Step 1: If you’re one of the millions with Sky+ or Sky HD at home. Head to Sky’s Remote Record registration page online and create a MySky account.

Next grab your Sky remote, hit the interactive button and choose Sky Active. Head to the customer support section and choose the option to select your Sky features. Click on Remote Record and seal the deal by hitting the ‘Sky.com user’ option.

Once it’s set up you can text instructions to your box. Just tap in the programme name, channel name, date and time of the recording separated by full stops, then send it to 61759. You’ll get a text back confirming the scheduled recording so you’ll know it’s worked. Each text costs 25p.

Step 2: If you’ve got a 3G phone you can use a special programme guide on your handset to send recording info to the set-top box. Log in to Sky’s website using the account you set up earlier. Follow the instructions to download Sky Anytime to your phone and run it from your ‘Applications’ folder. Once it’s loaded, choose ‘Sky TV Guide’ and pick a programme type. Find the show you want and select it. Choose record and your set top box at home will make sure it’s safe for when you get back. Make sure you set recordings at least 30 minutes before they’re due to start, or your instructions might not make it to the box in time.

Step 3: If you’re without Sky there’s still a way to set up remote recording at home. If you’re using a Mac check out Elgato’s Eye TV products, they’ll let you watch Freeview channels on your computer but best of all they come with a year’s free subscription to TVTV.co.uk – it’s an online programme guide that lets you tell you Mac to record from any computer with access to the web – you can even access the site on your phone’s web browser and set it to record from there. Just make sure your Mac’s Eye TV preferences are set to wake up the computer to check for recordings every hour under ‘Guide’.

Step 4: If you’re using a PC check out Pinnacle’s TV adapters. They support TVTV’s remote scheduling too, so you too can schedule recordings from there just like Mac owners.

If you live in the US or Canada, check out MSN remote record. It’ll make your Windows XP Media Centre or Windows Vista Ultimate PC record TV shows remotely via a simple web interface. You’ll need to supply your own TV adapter and there’s no support for stations in other countries.