# USB keyboards now working



## mikerr

Since 15.2 TiVo now supports any USB keyboard plugged into the back:

Enter = Select
Esc = Clear (danger!)

F1 = TiVo
F2 = LiveTV
F3 = Guide
F4 = CLEAR (danger!)
F5 = Thumbs Up
F6 = Thumbs Down
F7 = Channel Up
F8 = Channel Down
F9 = Record 
F10 = Info

Odd choices for ESC and F4 to be clear, and more than a little dangerous when in "my shows"

Up and down arrows work as expected, 
left arrow is "Back", right arrow is "select".

Pressing F11 gave me a surprise though:



















Yep, the old SD menu is still there, and quite a bit quicker than the HD menus.

Also some more options:










Kidzone and guru guides just say network error though.

I was hoping that watch liveTV would bring up the old live tv guide, but no luck.


----------



## RichardJH

Shame I can't use one keyboard for both Win7 HTPC and the Tivo


----------



## cwaring

mikerr said:


> Pressing F11 gave me a surprise though:


 Sweet!

Thanks for doing that


----------



## TIVO_YORK99

Well done for working this out Mike.

I'd much rather have the SD main menu than the current HD one.

Just a shame you can't press F12 and get the menu's in blue (with Recommended by Sky Digital text as well of course).

Wonder if there is a key for the really cool Mr Tivo bootup screen?


----------



## unitron

RichardJH said:


> Shame I can't use one keyboard for both Win7 HTPC and the Tivo


What, they don't have KVM's over there?


----------



## cwaring

Anyone know where I can get mini-wireless-keyboard for not much money? ie <£20. Ebay, Amazon and Novatech are all useless.

(Don't want to pay stupid money for something I won't use much.)


----------



## mikerr

I was thinking of this:







@ £19.99
Dimension(L x W x H mm) 135x95x30mm
http://www.ebuyer.com/250233-xenta-...ith-touchpad-and-multimedia-keys-usb-pkb-1720


----------



## SPR

Carl - there's several on eBay at around the £18 mark including delivery


----------



## VirginMediaPhil

Apple USB Keyboard (late 2007) doesn't work.


----------



## warrenrb

What the heck is a "Swivel Search"?


----------



## TIVO_YORK99

cwaring said:


> Anyone know where I can get mini-wireless-keyboard for not much money? ie <£20. Ebay, Amazon and Novatech are all useless.
> 
> (Don't want to pay stupid money for something I won't use much.)


Hi Carl,

There is one here at maplins that seems to have good reviews. Its more like a blackberry phone but looks like it might be ideal with Tivo. Only thing is we don't know if it will work with Tivo yet :

http://www.maplin.co.uk/mini-keyboard-with-touchpad-for-media-centre-517250

Edit - Actually scrub that. It doesn't support F keys. Bit of an oversight not to include them.


----------



## cwaring

mikerr said:


> I was thinking of this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> @ £19.99
> Dimension(L x W x H mm) 135x95x30mm
> http://www.ebuyer.com/250233-xenta-...ith-touchpad-and-multimedia-keys-usb-pkb-1720


Hmmm....



from one of the reviews said:


> You can forget touch typing of course and each stroke needs to be more deliberate. keyboard feedblack is a definite rubbery click, more like hitting the button on a remote control than a keyboard.


Now I don't want to "touch type" but I want quicker text entry than that 



SPR said:


> Carl - there's several on eBay at around the £18 mark including delivery


I've seen a few but they all seem to be bluetooth, which doesn't work. Will have another look later on.

*ETA:*
I think I might have found one!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Super-Com...oard-2-4Ghz-Nano-/280703512101#ht_1292wt_1163

I wonder if the dongle will pick up the signal enough though, from round the back of the Tivo?


----------



## RichardJH

unitron said:


> What, they don't have KVM's over there?


Why would I want to use KVM with a wireless keyboard.

I use a Logitech K400 wireless keyboard







with the HTPC for internet etc where the Media Centre remote isn't useful, eg text input.

It would have been great to put another wireless dongle in the Tivo and be able to use the same keyboard


----------



## zekeisaszekedoes

Thanks Mike, I've added the information to my CableForum thread about the 15.2 update.

AFAIK there is no way to control playback, i.e. pause/fast-forward. I assumed the numpad might be used for that but it just does numbers it seems.

Anyone have the full keymap for this? Would be very useful.


----------



## mikerr

cwaring said:


> I think I might have found one!
> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Super-Com...oard-2-4Ghz-Nano-/280703512101#ht_1292wt_1163
> 
> I wonder if the dongle will pick up the signal enough though, from round the back of the Tivo?


That one's also cheaper on ebuyer:







@£8.95 
http://www.ebuyer.com/233152-xenta-...uk-keyboard-2-4ghz-nano-usb-receiver-sk-094ag
looking at its size: 283x122x21mm
its more than double the size of the 135mm "mini keyboard" first mentioned:







@ £19.95

Still not sure which to get myself!


----------



## cwaring

zekeisaszekedoes said:


> Anyone have the full keymap for this? Would be very useful.


See Post #1, or is that not what you meant?



mikerr said:


> Still not sure which to get myself!


For the price I'm getting the cheaper one. I can always just stick it away somewhere when not using it


----------



## Johnny_boy

I downloaded the peanut plus app for the TiVo for iPad and iPhone for 69p and if you turn it on its side then you have a qwerty keyboard. Works with everything but iplayer.


----------



## zekeisaszekedoes

The Android TiVo Commander app gives you a virtual remote, virtual keyboard which works on most things and control of My Shows and recordings, to a good extent. It's the quickest way I've found to remote the TiVo, even including using a USB keyboard with the F11 SD menus.

Better still, managing My Shows/recordings etc is done in the background while the TiVo continues to play fullscreen, handy if you have a missus who can't stand the tinkering when she's watching her godawful soaps or whatever. 

To get it working you do need to enter the TSN, MAK and IP numbers in the Custom Settings menu but after that it's plain sailing.


----------



## Fixerman

zekeisaszekedoes said:


> The Android TiVo Commander app gives you a virtual remote, virtual keyboard which works on most things and control of My Shows and recordings, to a good extent. It's the quickest way I've found to remote the TiVo, even including using a USB keyboard with the F11 SD menus.
> 
> Better still, managing My Shows/recordings etc is done in the background while the TiVo continues to play fullscreen, handy if you have a missus who can't stand the tinkering when she's watching her godawful soaps or whatever.
> 
> To get it working you do need to enter the TSN, MAK and IP numbers in the Custom Settings menu but after that it's plain sailing.


Thanks for your information.:up:

I would like to use this app but I don't know where to access the numbers you mentioned. Any help appreciated.


----------



## zekeisaszekedoes

Sure.


Go *Home -> Help & Settings -> System Info*.
TiVo Service Number (forth line of text). Make a note.
Go back.
*Media Accesss Key* (MAK) is second option. Press right, enter PIN, make a note.
Go *Home -> Help & Settings -> Settings -> Network*.
TiVo IP address is fifth line on the right text column.
Go back.
Go *Network Remote Control*. Allow.

Type the IP, MAK and TiVo service number into the TiVo Commander app under Custom Settings. When done and pressing back on the Android device, five options should appear:


Remote
My Shows
Search
Settings
About

Enjoy!


----------



## unitron

RichardJH said:


> Why would I want to use KVM with a wireless keyboard...


To enable using it with more than one thing?

The wireless receiver for the keyboard plugs into a USB port on the computer, right?

Using a USB keyboard with the TiVo means plugging into one of its USB ports, right?

So try a USB KVM.


----------



## Brangdon

mikerr said:


> Pressing F11 gave me a surprise though:


That one doesn't work for me.

Edit: ah; it does work, just not from the home page.

These aren't the s1 menus. For example, My Shows has the option to group programmes into folders which s1 didn't have (or need, with only 40Gb). I guess they are from s3.


----------



## AdamInKent

Johnny_boy said:


> I downloaded the peanut plus app for the TiVo for iPad and iPhone for 69p and if you turn it on its side then you have a qwerty keyboard. Works with everything but iplayer.


Thanks for the pointer  I found it a doddle to set up (it found my TiVo automatically). The keyboard and remote are surprisingly responsive: entering search text is no longer such a chore. The favourite channel list at the side of the remote is useful too. It'll fill the gap until the official app is released.


----------



## mikerr

mikerr said:


> That one's also cheaper on ebuyer:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> @£8.95
> http://www.ebuyer.com/233152-xenta-...uk-keyboard-2-4ghz-nano-usb-receiver-sk-094ag
> looking at its size: 283x122x21mm
> its more than double the size of the 135mm "mini keyboard" first mentioned:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> @ £19.95
> 
> Still not sure which to get myself!


The mini keyboard has just dropped to £15.99, so I'm ordering both to play with


----------



## cwaring

I'll tell you what else works now... *the US Tivo Slide Remote* 

(Almost. The 'zoom' button turns on the subtitles, but other than that it works fine.)


----------



## nrc

warrenrb said:


> What the heck is a "Swivel Search"?


Swivel Search was TiVo's first implementation of search that worked across multiple content sources (broadcast, Amazon, Netflix, etc) along with cross-referencing. It used the HME toolkit with a look similar to the old interface. It was replaced by what is called "TiVo Search" in the US or "Search All TV" on the VM TiVo.


----------



## Fixerman

nrc said:


> Swivel Search was TiVo's first implementation of search that worked across multiple content sources (broadcast, Amazon, Netflix, etc) along with cross-referencing. It used the HME toolkit with a look similar to the old interface. It was replaced by what is called "TiVo Search" in the US or "Search All TV" on the VM TiVo.


Thank you NRC for a very comprehensive explanation.:up:


----------



## CeeBeeUK

I can confirm that the Keysonic keyboard works and has no problems with the wireless dongle signal being blocked from the back of the cabinet!


----------



## Faz

cwaring said:


> I'll tell you what else works now... *the US Tivo Slide Remote*
> 
> (Almost. The 'zoom' button turns on the subtitles, but other than that it works fine.)


That is good news!
I think I'll have to get me one of those badboys!


----------



## cwaring

I'd hold off of a while as you might get one for free before long from VM.

Also..



cwaring said:


> (Almost. The 'zoom' button turns on the subtitles, but other than that it works fine.)


This seems to have corrected itself now. Not sure what that's about.

Also, it doesn't have a button to put your Tivo into standby either.


----------

