# Can the Slide Pro remote control input on an A/V receiver?



## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

So I picked up a Slide Pro remote for my new Roamio and seem to have everything set up with it EXCEPT the ability to switch inputs on my A/V receiver. I have the TV Pwr button set to turn both the TV and Pioneer receiver on and off. The Mute and Vol buttons control the receiver. But I can't get the Input button to work with the receiver. I was able to use the learning function to get the Input button to switch to the correct TV input but can't get that button to control the receiver. The Slide Pro actually flashed four times in learning mode after receiving the receiver input command, as though it had successfully learned it, but when I tested it out, the light on the front of the Roamio flashed but the receiver did nothing.

Beyond that, I don't even know if it's possible to have that button control BOTH the TV and the A/V receiver at the same time, the way the Pwr button can work both. When I use the TiVo, I need to switch HDMI inputs on the TV AND switch to the optical audio input on the receiver.

This is weird. Assuming someone is using a receiver, they most likely would need the ability to switch inputs on it. Why would TiVo make the remote so that it could control volume on the receiver but not inputs?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

NashGuy said:


> So I picked up a Slide Pro remote for my new Roamio and seem to have everything set up with it EXCEPT the ability to switch inputs on my A/V receiver. I have the TV Pwr button set to turn both the TV and Pioneer receiver on and off. The Mute and Vol buttons control the receiver. But I can't get the Input button to work with the receiver. I was able to use the learning function to get the Input button to switch to the correct TV input but can't get that button to control the receiver. The Slide Pro actually flashed four times in learning mode after receiving the receiver input command, as though it had successfully learned it, but when I tested it out, the light on the front of the Roamio flashed but the receiver did nothing.
> 
> Beyond that, I don't even know if it's possible to have that button control BOTH the TV and the A/V receiver at the same time, the way the Pwr button can work both. When I use the TiVo, I need to switch HDMI inputs on the TV AND switch to the optical audio input on the receiver.
> 
> This is weird. Assuming someone is using a receiver, they most likely would need the ability to switch inputs on it. Why would TiVo make the remote so that it could control volume on the receiver but not inputs?


Since, using a Roamio remote, the Input button does work on my TV, it sounds like it wasn't designed to work on an AVR. I wouldn't use it anyway since that means it would have to cycle through over a dozen selections that I can't even read from where I sit.

I guess that's why option 3 is labeled "TV Input"? I didn't know Yamaha made a TV though.


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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

Yeah the standard remote setup walk-through in the TiVo menu system doesn't have anything about programming Input for an AVR. But then it also doesn't have anything on there about programming the "TV Pwr" button for an AVR either, and that is possible, I did it. For that, you don't even need the learning function of the Slide Pro. A regular Roamio remote can be programmed to power your AVR on and off by doing the same procedure in step 2 on the remote setup menu but with the TV Pwr button. Use the same AVR code that worked for the Mute and Vol buttons with the TV Pwr button. Then when you hit that button, it works for both at the same time.

I was hoping that could be done for the Input button as well. If anyone has been able to make that happen, please tell me how, thanks!


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

If the input button is even capable of learning 2 at one time I would think you would have issues with them possibly getting out of sync (TV and AVR). I run everything through the receiver (video and audio) and the input button on the TiVo remote controls the receiver input (so single cable to the TV from the receiver to the TV).

Scott


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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

HerronScott said:


> If the input button is even capable of learning 2 at one time I would think you would have issues with them possibly getting out of sync (TV and AVR). I run everything through the receiver (video and audio) and the input button on the TiVo remote controls the receiver input (so single cable to the TV from the receiver to the TV).
> 
> Scott


Ah, so you successfully programmed the Input button to control the AVR? I can't even get that to happen.

As for TV and AVR inputs getting out of sync, that wouldn't happen for me because my units both have individual remote codes for each input, i.e., separate buttons rather than one button that cycles through all inputs.


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## NYHeel (Oct 7, 2003)

I successfully programmed the input button on my slide pro to be the input one button from my AVR. If my AVR remote had a discrete button for cycling through the inputs I'm sure I could have mapped that button over. 

I used the learning feature of the slide pro to map the input button.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Me too. The input button on the Slide Pro goes to the input my TiVo is connected to. There is no code (that I'm aware of) to cycle through the inputs.

Although I was going to try an experiment. For a while I was using a Slide Pro with a receiver that had separate on/off commands. To make it work I taught the power button both and the receiver seemed to ignore the one it didn't need while accepting the other. It actually worked great. I was thinking I might be able to do the same with the input button (if it can support more then one code) and at least cycle back and forth between two inputs.


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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

Dan203 said:


> I was thinking I might be able to do the same with the input button (if it can support more then one code) ...


I think that's my biggest question at this point: can the input button accept two codes? I'm going to chat with TiVo support and see if I can get a straight answer and will report back.

If I could get the Input button to at least learn just the code for the AVR, I guess I could go back to connecting the Roamio to the AVR with HDMI. Right now, I have video going from the Roamio straight to the TV with HDMI and audio going from the Roamio to the AVR with optical. When I had everything going via HDMI through the AVR, I was having problems with video sometimes not displaying when the signal changed back and forth between 1080p60 and 1080p24. But I don't have that problem with video going straight to the TV, bypassing the AVR.


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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

I just would like to follow up by saying that the Slide Pro is about the saddest excuse I've ever seen for a "learning" remote. Carefully following the instructions, it will show that it successfully learns a command about 1 in 10 tries. (Yes, I'm using fresh batteries.) Even better, about half the time when it indicates that it has learned the command, it actually hasn't. It has shown a few times that it has learned an Input command for my AVR but it never works. I did get it to successfully learn an Input command for my TV (which then got overwritten) and now, when it shows that it has learned it again, it doesn't work.

As for the ability of the Input button to hold commands for two devices (TV and AVR), I don't think it can (unless my remote is just defective). Someone at TiVo support said it "possibly" could do so, which I think just means "I don't know if it can or not."


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> Me too. The input button on the Slide Pro goes to the input my TiVo is connected to. There is no code (that I'm aware of) to cycle through the inputs.
> 
> Although I was going to try an experiment. For a while I was using a Slide Pro with a receiver that had separate on/off commands. To make it work I taught the power button both and the receiver seemed to ignore the one it didn't need while accepting the other. It actually worked great. I was thinking I might be able to do the same with the input button (if it can support more then one code) and at least cycle back and forth between two inputs.


Dan,

What receiver do you have? My older Onkyo has a code that cycles through the inputs on the receiver although interestingly the Onkyo dedicated remote doesn't have a button that uses it. I have an older URC-6131 that I was able to manually program the Onkyo cycle input command and then use that to teach the TiVo remote. 

Our Onkyo receiver also has discrete on/off commands so I may have to try your trick for teaching the TiVo remote both!

Scott


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

For the TiVo learning remotes, only the power button can learn more than one command; the input and the two volume buttons can only learn one command each. The TiVo website makes this clear if you read it carefully.


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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

ej42137 said:


> For the TiVo learning remotes, only the power button can learn more than one command; the input and the two volume buttons can only learn one command each. The TiVo website makes this clear if you read it carefully.


Ah, OK, thanks for confirming. I've found the TiVo support site to be not-great; I did some searches but didn't find what I needed.

Anyhow, I'm shipping the Slide Pro back, not because of the difficulty I posted about above but because the buttons on the slide-out keyboard would only work intermittently. TiVo support chat instructed me to do a global reset on it, then pair it again with my Roamio. I did so and, for a little while, it worked perfectly. Really made the search feature more convenient. But then a few hours later it was back to working on only about 70% of key presses.

Haven't decided if I'll try a second unit or not. The backlight feature is nice but I don't like the fact that it doesn't automatically light up when moved (like my Harmony 650 does) -- you have a hit a button or slide the keyboard to get it to light up. The Slide Pro also feels really heavy in hand. I find the original Roamio remote more comfortable. But having the keyboard and dedicated search button is very nice...


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

NashGuy said:


> Ah, OK, thanks for confirming. I've found the TiVo support site to be not-great; I did some searches but didn't find what I needed.
> 
> Anyhow, I'm shipping the Slide Pro back, not because of the difficulty I posted about above but because the buttons on the slide-out keyboard would only work intermittently. TiVo support chat instructed me to do a global reset on it, then pair it again with my Roamio. I did so and, for a little while, it worked perfectly. Really made the search feature more convenient. But then a few hours later it was back to working on only about 70% of key presses.
> 
> Haven't decided if I'll try a second unit or not. The backlight feature is nice but I don't like the fact that it doesn't automatically light up when moved (like my Harmony 650 does) -- you have a hit a button or slide the keyboard to get it to light up. The Slide Pro also feels really heavy in hand. I find the original Roamio remote more comfortable. But having the keyboard and dedicated search button is very nice...


Yes, it has always been flaky, but just lately they made some changes and completely destroyed the indexing so that it is very difficult to find anything.

I only pull out my slide remote when I need to do searches; usually I use a Logitech Harmony 890. I too have found the keyboard response slightly unreliable, you have to watch what you type to make sure it actually read your keypress, and you can't type too fast. But it's still faster and more convenient than doing grid typing.


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