# Remotes



## bagofice (Feb 7, 2015)

I like the smaller remote provided with my Roamio Pro, but the lack of a backlight is a big negative. My call to TiVo to see what options are available was fruitless. What RF remotes, with backlight, and smaller size are out there? And where can you buy them? TiVo told me Best Buy sold their remotes, but the BB website had none.

As a Plan B, any recommendations for a Harmony remote? There are so many models to choose and some are rather expensive. A Harmony that would control my Samsung TV (on/off only), my Yamaha receiver and of course the Roamio would definitely warrant my consideration. RF. and backlighting are a must, the size I'll just have to accept.

All help is appreciated.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

I think there is really something wrong with the people answering the phone at TiVo.

What you want is a TiVo Slide Pro Remote:
https://www.tivo.com/shop/detail/tivoslidepro
http://www.amazon.com/TiVo-Slide-Remote-Roamio-DVRs/dp/B00HC2XTMA


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## bagofice (Feb 7, 2015)

The phone rep was not very knowledgeable. I think I know more than her after I did 5 minutes of research. I'm just a little peeved that my $900 Roamio Pro purchase didn't include a lighted remote, and TiVo cheapening out over a couple bucks causes me to spend $50. Oh well, Amazon here I come. You'd think the top of the line unit could include a top of the line remote.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

bagofice said:


> The phone rep was not very knowledgeable. I think I know more than her after I did 5 minutes of research. I'm just a little peeved that my $900 Roamio Pro purchase didn't include a lighted remote, and TiVo cheapening out over a couple bucks causes me to spend $50. Oh well, Amazon here I come. You'd think the top of the line unit could include a top of the line remote.


The Slide Pro wasn't out when the Roamio Plus/Pro were introduced. But I agree that the Pro should have come with a premium remote. The previous top of the line models did.


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

So I just placed an order for a Roamio Plus (and a Mini 2 for another room). I'm an old-timer with TiVos but have been away for a while (I was previously using a couple of TiVo HD's. One got fried due to a freak electrical issue, and instead of replacing it, I decided to try out WMC for a while).

I used to love my TiVo remote. So much so that I tried on a couple of occasions to use it to control WMC, but ran into some issues there. I also have an Apple TV that we use pretty regularly, but mostly for AirPlaying Pandora to it or for renting movies from iTunes.

With the Roamio, I'm thinking that I could theoretically eliminate my need to even use the Apple TV, since it has Pandora and I can rent movies via other methods (Amazon and Vudu, I believe). So using my TiVo as my main (and only?) input might actually be doable. But just in case I really want to occasionally switch to a different input, I'm thinking through how the remote situation will work.

I should add at this point that I also own a couple of different models of Harmony remotes, and that's what we use now. But, again, I'm trying to see if there's a way that we could use just the TiVo remote. With the oldest TiVo remotes (of which I have at least a couple lying around somewhere), they had a hard 1/2 switch. This was intended for controlling two different TiVos, but I could cleverly use the #2 position to control an Apple TV, because the Apple TV is designed to learn buttons from other remotes. But...

Can those very old TiVo remotes control all of the necessary functionality of the Roamio? I see that the newest remote that comes with the Roamio has the following extra buttons:
- Back
- 4 colored buttons

It also has a "Zoom" button whereas the really old TiVo remote I'm looking at now has a "Window" button up top, which I'm thinking might be the same thing (but maybe not).

So are those buttons absolutely necessary? Why doesn't the left arrow serve the same function as "Back"?

Alternatively, is there perhaps still a 1/2 functionality with the newest TiVo remote that requires some sort of button press combination?


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

I just found this on the TiVo website in regards to the Roamio remote:


> Switching to IR mode
> 
> To enter IR mode, press and hold the TiVo+Red C buttons until the activity indicator on the remote control lights. The remote remains in IR mode until you enter the key combination that puts the remote into RF mode.
> 
> ...


It sounds like this could be a clunky way for me to do what I'm asking about. If I covered up the IR sensor on the TiVo I could use RF mode for the TiVo and IR mode for the Apple TV.

I have a feeling that switching between the two modes might be difficult to teach my wife.

On a side note, how did the TiVo remote go from being one of the best remotes ever to being the cluttered mess that it currently is? It's too bad that when they revamped the software/UI they didn't also simplify the remote. The Apple TV remote accomplishes almost everything that a TiVo remote does, but with just a few buttons. TiVo could have consolidated the directional pad and the Rewind/FF buttons, as well as the Play/Pause/Select buttons. And the colored buttons should be unnecessary. The numeric keypad is also a relic of the past that should be removed.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

srauly said:


> On a side note, how did the TiVo remote go from being one of the best remotes ever to being the cluttered mess that it currently is? It's too bad that when they revamped the software/UI they didn't also simplify the remote. The Apple TV remote accomplishes almost everything that a TiVo remote does, but with just a few buttons. TiVo could have consolidated the directional pad and the Rewind/FF buttons, as well as the Play/Pause/Select buttons. And the colored buttons should be unnecessary. The numeric keypad is also a relic of the past that should be removed.


So if I'm watching channel 46 and I want to switch to channel 1203, how do you suggest that I go about doing that if there is no number pad on the remote? Hit the "guide" button and then hit the "up" or "down" button several hundred times?


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

tarheelblue32 said:


> So if I'm watching channel 46 and I want to switch to channel 1203, how do you suggest that I go about doing that if there is no number pad on the remote? Hit the "guide" button and then hit the "up" or "down" button several hundred times?


Well, I doubt you actually have 1200 channels that you subscribe to and watch. And I believe that once you're on the guide, one of the buttons (channel up/down?) will move one page at a time.

Also, why are you doing so much channel surfing when you have a TiVo?


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

The directional pad and program controls are also used concurrently.

Not sure what the back button does, I seem to have enough controls with the functions on the older remote. Could be wrong, as I have not used it.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

jrtroo said:


> The directional pad and program controls are also used concurrently.
> 
> Not sure what the back button does, I seem to have enough controls with the functions on the older remote. Could be wrong, as I have not used it.


The back button comes into play mostly for the straming apps.


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

jrtroo said:


> The directional pad and program controls are also used concurrently.


But they could have designed it to not be so.



bradleys said:


> The back button comes into play mostly for the straming apps.


Yeah, that's what I thought I read somewhere. But do you *need* the Back button in those apps or are there ways to work around it?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

srauly said:


> Well, I doubt you actually have 1200 channels that you subscribe to and watch. And I believe that once you're on the guide, one of the buttons (channel up/down?) will move one page at a time.


I didn't say I have 1200 channels, but I do have a channel 46 and a channel 1203, and there are several hundred channels between them, which would require several hundred button pushes to go between them if there were no number pad.



srauly said:


> Also, why are you doing so much channel surfing when you have a TiVo?


Going from one channel to another isn't really "channel surfing". "Channel surfing" is when you flip through live TV channels, not really knowing what you want to watch. But if I am on one live TV channel, and I know I want to go directly to another live TV channel, I type in the channel number to get there, and I don't think that behavior is all that unusual.

Perhaps what you are trying to say is that I (and everyone else) should change our TV viewing habits so that we never again watch live TV just so you don't have the annoyance of having a number pad on your remote. If so, that is very unrealistic.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

srauly said:


> But they could have designed it to not be so.
> 
> Yeah, that's what I thought I read somewhere. But do you *need* the Back button in those apps or are there ways to work around it?


I think the "instant replay" button performs the same function as the "back" button in the apps.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

srauly said:


> But they could have designed it to not be so.


That would make no sense. In a program, you need to have the ability to control playback.

To see information, guide data, and whatnot during playback you would either need 1) a dedicated function button or 2) some multi-use function buttons or 3) reuse other buttons for the purpose.

Without the pad, the colored buttons, or the numbers, where would you gain that ability? A menu during pause?

The apple remote looks very limiting, especially if used with a DVR, and not a simple playback device.


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

tarheelblue32 said:


> Perhaps what you are trying to say is that I (and everyone else) should change our TV viewing habits so that we never again watch live TV just so you don't have the annoyance of having a number pad on your remote. If so, that is very unrealistic.


I think you're getting a bit defensive. The numeric keypad is a relic of the past. Can it be occasionally useful to have and offer a quicker way to jump to a channel than you'd otherwise have? Sure. But I believe that a remote control's use improves if you can limit the number of buttons on it, and the need for numeric buttons is far down the list. One could just as easily argue that we should have a Seinfeld button that jumps us to our Seinfeld recordings. It would be useful to some, but a waste of space for many others.



jrtroo said:


> That would make no sense. In a program, you need to have the ability to control playback.
> 
> To see information, guide data, and whatnot during playback you would either need 1) a dedicated function button or 2) some multi-use function buttons or 3) reuse other buttons for the purpose.
> 
> ...


Yes, you would do it via multi-use buttons. In fact, the Apple remote is an excellent example of how to accomplish this. The Amazon Fire TV remote, Google Nexus Player remote, and Roku remotes, are all also of this same design. These are all devices that can pretty much do the same sort of things that a TiVo does, but their UI and remotes are designed to work with a very basic set of buttons. Now, I would argue that they're a little *too* limited and need the following additional buttons:
- TV power
- Volume up/down (and mute functionality)
- TV Input

One of the unique things about the TiVo (which I never really used much, and I'm not sure whether most TiVo users these days use) are the Thumbs Up/Down buttons, so if those are still a big part of the TiVo user experience for most people, then I think a case could be made to include those as well.

The Rewind/FF and skip functionality could be done via the D-Pad. When you're watching a program, the D-Pad would be used to skip around. When you're in the menus, the D-Pad would be used to navigate the menus. IOW, you don't need different buttons for moving around in menus vs moving around the timeline of a TV show.

The Select/Play/Pause could all be combined into a single button.

A Stop button on a remote nowadays is unnecessary, and is a relic from the days when we used physical media (e.g., for VHS tapes, and even DVDs, Pause is different than Stop, but for digital media on a HD, it's effectively the same). The TiVo got this right on day one.

The TiVo/Guide/Live TV/Back buttons could all be combined into a single Menu button. A quick press could be treated as Back while a press-and-hold would bring you to the main menu where there would be options for the Guide and Recorded shows (among other choices). Note: this is where some of the simple remotes I've mentioned diverge a bit from Apple's design and add a dedicated Back button.

The Info button could be handled via the D-Pad up/down button, but I wouldn't be opposed to having a dedicated Info button.

One additional dedicated button that I would say that a TiVo remote does need, which the Apple TV, etc. can get away without having, is the dedicated Record button.

This discussion is academic, though, because the TiVo UI isn't designed to work this way. So we're stuck with a way-too-busy remote with lots of dedicated buttons.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

srauly said:


> The Stop button is unnecessary.
> 
> One additional dedicated button that I would say that a TiVo remote would benefit from, is a Record button.


Do you own a TiVo remote? There is no stop button, but there is a record button.


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

Arcady said:


> Do you own a TiVo remote? There is no stop button, but there is a record button.


Sorry if my post got confusing. I was talking about what the ideal remote needed and didn't need, and might have gotten a bit sloppy. I'll edit my post to correct and clarify.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

srauly said:


> I believe that a remote control's use improves if you can limit the number of buttons on it


And I believe the opposite. Combining lots of different functions into a single button can make a remote counterintuitive to use. If TiVo wanted to, they could combine lots of different functions into a single button. For example, instead of a dedicated guide button, they could just tap the select button twice to bring up the full guide. But if they did that, most users would probably never know that is even an option.



srauly said:


> One could just as easily argue that we should have a Seinfeld button that jumps us to our Seinfeld recordings.


No, one could not.


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

FWIW, I do think there's an ideal balance between having too many dedicated buttons and having too few buttons serving too many functions.

I think the current TiVo remote is definitely way too far into the former category. The Apple TV remote is too far towards the latter category. But I think the Apple TV remote is a lot closer to the correct balance.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

I think the TiVo remote is the right balance between a simple AppleTV-like remote and something stupidly cluttered like a cable box remote.

I was at someone's house, using their Motorola cable box. They have separate buttons for page up/down and channel up/down. That's just silly.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Arcady said:


> I think the TiVo remote is the right balance between a simple AppleTV-like remote and something stupidly cluttered like a cable box remote.


+1


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

Arcady said:


> I think the TiVo remote is the right balance between a simple AppleTV-like remote and something stupidly cluttered like a cable box remote.
> 
> I was at someone's house, using their Motorola cable box. They have separate buttons for page up/down and channel up/down. That's just silly.


I agree with you about the cable box remotes. Unfortunately, the current TiVo remote isn't *that* many buttons removed from that cable box remote. The original TiVo remote was a bit simpler. Now they have the Back button (which TiVo originally designed the left D-Pad to do) and those four colored buttons with no names.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

If I were going to make my own TiVo remote, there are a few buttons I could get rid of:

Live TV
Record
Slow

But tons of people would freak out if you took those buttons away.

I have a FIOS remote sitting here. It has buttons like "widgets" and "options" and "fios tv" and "dvr" on it. WTF is a DVR button supposed to do on a DVR?


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## gespears (Aug 10, 2007)

It's interesting to me to see that the harmony remotes have gone to the simpler side, but adding more touch screen functionality. I've set some up for some of my customers but I'm not sure I like it. I know where the buttons are on my oder Harmony one and I have to look at the touch screen to make sure I'm touching the correct spot.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

gespears said:


> It's interesting to me to see that the harmony remotes have gone to the simpler side, but adding more touch screen functionality. I've set some up for some of my customers but I'm not sure I like it. I know where the buttons are on my oder Harmony one and I have to look at the touch screen to make sure I'm touching the correct spot.


Having to look at a remote to use it is like having to look at the keyboard to type. Once you learn where all the buttons/keys are, there is no more need to look. You just know where things are. That's why I've never cared at all if a remote or a keyboard has backlit keys.


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## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

srauly said:


> I think you're getting a bit defensive. The numeric keypad is a relic of the past. Can it be occasionally useful to have and offer a quicker way to jump to a channel than you'd otherwise have? Sure. But I believe that a remote control's use improves if you can limit the number of buttons on it, and the need for numeric buttons is far down the list. One could just as easily argue that we should have a Seinfeld button that jumps us to our Seinfeld recordings. It would be useful to some, but a waste of space for many others.
> 
> Yes, you would do it via multi-use buttons. In fact, the Apple remote is an excellent example of how to accomplish this. The Amazon Fire TV remote, Google Nexus Player remote, and Roku remotes, are all also of this same design. These are all devices that can pretty much do the same sort of things that a TiVo does, but their UI and remotes are designed to work with a very basic set of buttons.
> 
> ...


This is quite possibly the most absurd thing I have EVER seen on the Internet. You are comparing devices that don't have functions that require numbers, or record programs, to a device that does. That is some flawed logic...

The keypad is essential to the use of the the tuners. tarheelblue32 was dead on with that point.

Eliminate the record button?!?!? This is a DVR, the R is for recorder. It would take at least three button presses to replace that button in many instances. I use it frequently When I watch <gasp> live tv. But, hey, I'm doing it wrong...


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

h2oskierc said:


> This is quite possibly the most absurd thing I have EVER seen on the Internet. You are comparing devices that don't have functions that require numbers, or record programs, to a device that does. That is some flawed logic...
> 
> The keypad is essential to the use of the the tuners. tarheelblue32 was dead on with that point.


No, the TiVo does not *require* numeric buttons. As I already explained, the numeric buttons are shortcut buttons, which can be helpful on occasion, but are largely a relic of the past and don't make as much sense on a DVR where the idea is that you are watching shows on demand, as opposed to channel surfing. Having dedicated numeric buttons make about as much sense as having a dedicated QWERTY keyboard. The Slide remote offers just such a thing, and it can be a great timesaver for occasional purposes, but is not a necessity for most people. In fact, this is a great example of how TiVo could offer something for everyone. A simple remote with the bare minimum of buttons, and a power-user remote with QWERTY keyboard, dedicated numeric buttons, etc.



h2oskierc said:


> Eliminate the record button?!?!? This is a DVR, the R is for recorder. It would take at least three button presses to replace that button in many instances. I use it frequently When I watch <gasp> live tv. But, hey, I'm doing it wrong...


Re-read my post. I did not recommend removing the Record button. In fact, I said quite the opposite.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

The difference of firetv/appletv to a DVR is monumental. That is why amazon and apple have not entered the DVR market, it is harder to do (and profitability is not a guarantee).

In your expertise, please tell us exactly how I would select a channel without numbers in less keypresses than today. I would also appreciate knowing how I could use both play control keys and the dpad without adding new buttons or reusing the ones we have. You COMPLETELY missed the point on the dpad- it is already a multi-use button. During playback, I use it for a miniguide, information, and to drop back to the menus- all with just one "superbutton". 

Thanks, if you have a actual suggestion for a better way for these specifically, I would like to see it.


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

jrtroo said:


> The difference of firetv/appletv to a DVR is monumental. That is why amazon and apple have not entered the DVR market, it is harder to do (and profitability is not a guarantee).


This has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion (and it's also just your opinion).



jrtroo said:


> In your expertise, please tell us exactly how I would select a channel without numbers in less keypresses than today.


You wouldn't. If you need to go from channel A to channel B, you would bring up the guide and navigate to it. Pressing-and-holding on the down button would scroll through and the speed would increase so that you could navigate a long list in a very brief period of time. FYI, this is how it is done, for example, on the Apple TV and with KODI (aka XBMC). For someone who has memorized the channel numbers for certain channels and likes being to jump to a handful of them by typing in the 4-digit sequence, they may not like losing that ability. For the majority of the world, it would be a non-issue. The goal I'm describing here is *not* to necessarily be able to do anything and everything with the same, or less, number of button presses. The goal is to get the number of buttons down to a minimum without having a significant negative effect on the usability (and, in fact, to improve overall usability).



jrtroo said:


> I would also appreciate knowing how I could use both play control keys and the dpad without adding new buttons or reusing the ones we have. You COMPLETELY missed the point on the dpad- it is already a multi-use button. During playback, I use it for a miniguide, information, and to drop back to the menus- all with just one "superbutton".


You wouldn't need to lose any of that functionality. As I mentioned before, this would require changes to the TiVo UI to support, so obviously you can't do what I'm talking about with a TiVo *today*, but you absolutely could do all of those things with fewer buttons if they modified the UI somewhat, just as you can do all sorts of things with an Apple TV, Fire TV, etc. with a minimal number of buttons.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Your response is pretty much what I expected, thanks for affirming.

FYI- polls here have proven one important thing, that not just many, but MOST Tivo users spend a great deal of time watching and managing live TV. I don't, and would not miss the number keypad, but MOST do, so they are not going anyplace.


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## RoyK (Oct 22, 2004)

srauly said:


> This has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion (and it's also just your opinion).
> 
> You wouldn't. If you need to go from channel A to channel B, you would bring up the guide and navigate to it. Pressing-and-holding on the down button would scroll through and the speed would increase so that you could navigate a long list in a very brief period of time. FYI, this is how it is done, for example, on the Apple TV and with KODI (aka XBMC). For someone who has memorized the channel numbers for certain channels and likes being to jump to a handful of them by typing in the 4-digit sequence, they may not like losing that ability. For the majority of the world, it would be a non-issue. The goal I'm describing here is *not* to necessarily be able to do anything and everything with the same, or less, number of button presses. The goal is to get the number of buttons down to a minimum without having a significant negative effect on the usability (and, in fact, to improve overall usability).
> 
> You wouldn't need to lose any of that functionality. As I mentioned before, this would require changes to the TiVo UI to support, so obviously you can't do what I'm talking about with a TiVo *today*, but you absolutely could do all of those things with fewer buttons if they modified the UI somewhat, just as you can do all sorts of things with an Apple TV, Fire TV, etc. with a minimal number of buttons.


Yet one more 'expert' who is absolutely certain that since he does something one way it is the only sane way and everyone save a few misguided does things his way too.


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## joewom (Dec 10, 2013)

srauly said:


> No, the TiVo does not *require* numeric buttons. As I already explained, the numeric buttons are shortcut buttons, which can be helpful on occasion, but are largely a relic of the past and don't make as much sense on a DVR where the idea is that you are watching shows on demand, as opposed to channel surfing. Having dedicated numeric buttons make about as much sense as having a dedicated QWERTY keyboard. The Slide remote offers just such a thing, and it can be a great timesaver for occasional purposes, but is not a necessity for most people. In fact, this is a great example of how TiVo could offer something for everyone. A simple remote with the bare minimum of buttons, and a power-user remote with QWERTY keyboard, dedicated numeric buttons, etc.
> 
> Re-read my post. I did not recommend removing the Record button. In fact, I said quite the opposite.


Most absurd thing I have heard that a cable box were most have hundreds of channels don't have numeric buttons so one can tune to said channels without finding them in the guide or somethiing else that would take far more effort and time then to click 2 to 4 numbers.


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## srauly (Apr 26, 2000)

Wow, you number-punchers sure are a sensitive bunch. I wonder how long some of you have owned your TiVos. I remember back in the early days of these forums when people would talk about how their life changed when they fully adjusted to the TiVo model of watching most shows *after* they were recorded. I actually do a decent amount of channel surfing sometimes, but I couldn't even tell you what any of my channel numbers are.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

srauly said:


> Wow, you number-punchers sure are a sensitive bunch. I wonder how long some of you have owned your TiVos. I remember back in the early days of these forums when people would talk about how their life changed when they fully adjusted to the TiVo model of watching most shows *after* they were recorded. I actually do a decent amount of channel surfing sometimes, but I couldn't even tell you what any of my channel numbers are.


I don't use the numbers very often either, but I do use them for SPS codes and other things. I think the TiVo remote is one of the nicest remotes that I own...

I hate the flimsy, minimalist remotes of most of the current streaming boxes - so I can't agree with your recommendation.

My favorite TiVo remote is the Slide... I actually like that is has some substance to it and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the keyboard.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=501103


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Sorry, I need the number buttons. 1 for SPM, 2 to ToDo. 1-8 for setting TiVo remote code. It has nothing to do with inputting channel numbers to view Live TV, but I use them to jump to a specific channel in the guide sometimes.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

srauly said:


> One could just as easily argue that we should have a Seinfeld button that jumps us to our Seinfeld recordings.


That's more akin to, say, if had TiVo cut a deal w/ one or more app vendors and threw special buttons onto the remote to launch each specific app. (like this)

A better argument might be that TiVo could have saved some money by simplifying their remote sans the numpad and other functions accessible via the UI, in the same way that TiVo doesn't ship a back-lit remote with QWERTY keypad with every unit -- though this more complex, more advanced remote can be purchased separately.

Of course, similar to the Slide Pro, TiVo *could* release a minimalist remote, for those looking for that experience. That said, there's nothing stopping someone from creating their own minimalist remote for use w/ the TiVo, though it would likely need to be IR-based, assuming the RF pairing and communication is proprietary to TiVo. Can a Roku, AppleTV or similar remote be reprogrammed with the necessary TiVo IR codes?


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

bagofice said:


> The phone rep was not very knowledgeable. I think I know more than her after I did 5 minutes of research. I'm just a little peeved that my $900 Roamio Pro purchase didn't include a lighted remote, and TiVo cheapening out over a couple bucks causes me to spend $50. Oh well, Amazon here I come. You'd think the top of the line unit could include a top of the line remote.


Who cares? There is no need for a lighted remote. I guess the Slide Pro is lighted? I didn't even notice. Once you use TiVo for more than 5 minutes, you'll know where all the buttons are without seeing them. My main TV is in my unheated basement, and it's been a bit cool lately here in CT, so I keep the Slide Pro under two layers of quilts, and use the RF to control the TiVo. I can't see the remote, and I have no issues fully operating the TiVo, as long as I don't have to adjust the volume!

Number buttons are an absolute necessity to have on a remote, even though they are rarely used, so whether you can actually see or feel them, who cares. Either turn the light on, or just page down through the guide. It's probably just quicker to page down through the guide most of the time anyway, although I'm on a 625mhz Comcast system, so maybe people on 860mhz systems, other providers with SDV, or FIOS would disagree.


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