# TiVo Slide Pro Remote



## Tivo II Jack (Aug 10, 2003)

I used to keep all my remotes wrapped inside clear plastic keeping them always like new. It worked well but it sometimes made it difficult to find less used buttons. I am now trying a new method to prevent the labels from disappearing from the buttons.

Attached is a photo of my three day old Slide Remote for my Roamio Pro on which I have coated all the buttons with clear nail polish. I will post a new photo in one month to see how well this works.

The white spot on the Right arrow (Play) button just above the Pause button is actually light reflecting off the nail polish.


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## HenryFarpolo (Dec 1, 2008)

I would try another experiment. Don't protect the remote at all and see if the print on any buttons wears off.

I have an original slide that I have had since it was introduced. With an occasional cleaning it still looks like new with no sign of wear on any button including 30 second skip which gets a heavy workout.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

I would be afraid the slight flexibility of the buttons would cause the polish to peel or flake, removing the paint along with it.


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## Tivo II Jack (Aug 10, 2003)

HenryFarpolo said:


> I have an original slide that I have had since it was introduced. With an occasional cleaning it still looks like new with no sign of wear on any button including 30 second skip which gets a heavy workout.


Are you talking about the labels on the actual buttons or the labels printed on the body of the remote near the buttons. I have a grey Humax remote that I was only using for 3 or 4 months before buying my Roamio Pro and there are several buttons where the button label has worn off and where there is no label on the body of the remote.

Of course they are worn off because they are the most frequently used buttons and I really don't need the labeling anymore, but that doesn't help any visitors who want to use my remote.

I realize it is not that big a deal, just thought I'd give it a shot.


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## Tivo II Jack (Aug 10, 2003)

jrtroo said:


> I would be afraid the slight flexibility of the buttons would cause the polish to peel or flake, removing the paint along with it.


I thought about the polish peeling off but in the tiny bottle I bought, there is enough to keep renewing the coating until we are watching Tivo on the back of our eyelids and pressing buttons by thinking about it.<g>

I did NOT think about the polish peeling off or cracking and taking the paint with it. I guess I will see soon. Your note also reminded me of something else. This is a slide remote and there are 49 more labels to coat under the slide counting the 4 way Up/Down/Left/Right + Select button as 5.

This is my first slide remote and those buttons are *ALWAYS* protected by the slide. That is because in 4 days, the only time I have ever opened the slide was to play with it or explore it.

Using the non-slide remotes, you can use the on-screen alphabet to find anything you want within 3 or 4 clicks. Just opening the slide and closing it eats up two of those clicks. So far I see zero advantage to having a slide remote.

Looking at the open slide horizontally, there are two buttons in the center bottom under the round 4 way that are labeled and I still have no clue what they are. The label on each is identical and looks like a bracket laying on it's back: |.....| [Disregard the dots between the brackets]


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## Tivo II Jack (Aug 10, 2003)

Tivo II Jack said:


> Using the non-slide remotes, you can use the on-screen alphabet to find anything you want within 3 or 4 clicks. Just opening the slide and closing it eats up two of those clicks. So far I see zero advantage to having a slide remote.


One more thought. On my new slide remote as well as the non-slide that came with the RoPro, some genius decided to move the Guide button from it's out of the way on the upper right side of the older remotes to DEAD CENTER for your thumb's range of motion and very close to where the oft used Select button was.

I *NEVER* use the Guide button and since my Sony Series 1 in 1998 have probably only pressed it about 5 times...never on purpose. In the 6 or 7 weeks I have had the RoPro, I have probably pressed the Guide button more than 50 times, and again, *NEVER ON PURPOSE*.

It has made the new Back button one of my most used buttons. It allows me to back out of the useless Guide and get to the Select button I meant to push.

It would be great if they would just move the Select button to where the Guide button is now and move the Guide button either to where the Slect button is now or back to where it was. Currently in that position is the Zoom button. I have no idea what the Zoom button does.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Tivo II Jack said:


> Using the non-slide remotes, you can use the on-screen alphabet to find anything you want within 3 or 4 clicks. Just opening the slide and closing it eats up two of those clicks. So far I see zero advantage to having a slide remote.


So much faster to enter text, especially if searching for a show, well worth the pain of open/closing over mindlessly scanning around an onscreen keyboard and overshooting a letter. The on screen keyboards are also different in the applications, so it gives a consistent way to enter text.

Oh, and the guide is a great way to eliminate channels. Much easier than going through the list in settings.

Zoom button gets you to the show in the upper corner from the UI.


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## Tivo II Jack (Aug 10, 2003)

I recognize your name and know you and I have been in discussions in the past. Probably within the past 6 months we were in a discussion about the slide before I had one and while they were unavailable. Someone in that discussion was absolutely adamant about the greatness of the slide, but I don't think it was you. It may have been the person who is also here now and uses the Penguin avatar. Whomever it was, their adamancy was what convinced me to give the slide a look.



jrtroo said:


> So much faster to enter text, especially if searching for a show, well worth the pain of open/closing over mindlessly scanning around an onscreen keyboard and overshooting a letter.


I don't find the tiny keyboard all that easy to use. I would also prefer it if they did not split the keyboard and placed the 5 way Up/Down/Left/Right/Select and surrounding four buttons on the far left or right. I am so used to using the on-screen keyboard, I rarely overshoot anything. Maybe with practice, I will adapt to the slide also.



jrtroo said:


> Oh, and the guide is a great way to eliminate channels. Much easier than going through the list in settings.


I just made a few adjustments to the Guide. It now shows only my Favorite channels, but it still shows more programs I never want to see or never heard of than the ones I actually watch.

Not sure what you mean by "eliminating channels". The only things I was able to do was change the appearance of the Guide. As for the list in settings, I guess you mean the Channel List. I set that up just once when I get a new Tivo. As always, when I got this RoPro, I went into the channel lists on it and on the Series 3 it was replacing. I just quickly moved through the list matching the RoPro list to the Series 3 list.



jrtroo said:


> Zoom button gets you to the show in the upper corner from the UI.


The Live TV button less than an inch above the Zoom button already does that.


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## HenryFarpolo (Dec 1, 2008)

Tivo II Jack said:


> Are you talking about the labels on the actual buttons or the labels printed on the body of the remote near the buttons. I have a grey Humax remote that I was only using for 3 or 4 months before buying my Roamio Pro and there are several buttons where the button label has worn off and where there is no label on the body of the remote.
> 
> Of course they are worn off because they are the most frequently used buttons and I really don't need the labeling anymore, but that doesn't help any visitors who want to use my remote.
> 
> I realize it is not that big a deal, just thought I'd give it a shot.


There are only a couple of buttons with labels. Buttons or labels, lables or buttons you will have a hard time wearing out the print. Don't worry about it, it's not a Humax!!


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## Tivo II Jack (Aug 10, 2003)

HenryFarpolo said:


> There are only a couple of buttons with lables. Buttons or lables, lables or buttons you will have a hard time wearing out the print. Don't worry about it, it's not a Humax!!


Take a look at the photo again, every single pressable item on the remote has a word or symbol printed right on them.

Unlike the larger Humax that has text printed on the actual body of the remote for many buttons, only the lower right Enter button also has text "Last" printed on the body of the remote. Those labels will NOT wear off.

I have been using Tivo remotes since 1998 and the words being worn off the buttons is what first inspired me to wrap them in clear plastic.


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## HenryFarpolo (Dec 1, 2008)

Do whatever floats your boat. I think we can wrap this one up!!


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Tivo II Jack said:


> I don't find the tiny keyboard all that easy to use. I would also prefer it if they did not split the keyboard and placed the 5 way Up/Down/Left/Right/Select and surrounding four buttons on the far left or right.
> 
> I just made a few adjustments to the Guide. Not sure what you mean by "eliminating channels".
> 
> The Live TV button less than an inch above the Zoom button already does that.


I use the old slide, and would love for it to have had a split keyboard. I have phone apps that do this and find it much easier to use the shorter reach. Got used to small buttons with a blackberry. Delays in onscreen keyboards cause overshoot, glad its not an issue for you. The slide also keeps a log of your presses so you can enter text quickly, much faster than moving a cursor around. To each their own if you like using the arrows.

In the guide, you can remove channels quickly by hitting select while on the channel banner on the left side. Great to eliminate channels that rename themselves over time and keep coming back (common for my area).

Live TV works very differently than zoom. I never watch live TV, and so that button would take me to something I was not watching. Obviously, I also have no need to flip between tuners either. Zoom also resets the aspect ratio while watching a recording.


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## rjgibson0066 (Feb 13, 2007)

Anal


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Tivo II Jack said:


> Using the non-slide remotes, you can use the on-screen alphabet to find anything you want within 3 or 4 clicks. Just opening the slide and closing it eats up two of those clicks. So far I see zero advantage to having a slide remote.


I find it primarily useful for setting up wishlists or searching in apps (netflix, youtube, etc); where just a letter or two isn't enough to get what you want. (But if you don't do that, then no, the slide keyboard may not be that useful for you)

Typing out a wishlist for, say, Veronica Mars with the slide takes open slide, 13 characters, enter, close slide - call it 16 'clicks'. 
Do that with the onscreen ouija board board (HD horizontal style) and it's:
V = 6 clicks (over 3, down 2, select)
e = 4 clicks (up 2, over 1, select)
r = 6 clicks (over 4, down 1, select)
o = 4 clicks
n = 2 clicks
i = 6 clicks
c = 7 clicks
a = 3 clicks
<space> = 1 click (FF button; otherwise 4 clicks)
M = 5 clicks
a = 5 clicks
r = 10 clicks
s = 10 clicks

for a total of 69 clicks (70 to press 'enter' to complete the entry)

That's a _huge_ difference. Especially since I can type on the slide at normal speed, and not have to wait for the onscreen display to catch up to make sure I didn't miss a click driving the cursor back and forth across the on screen keyboard. (Or worse overshoot off its left side and jump back to the previous menu)


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## SugarBowl (Jan 5, 2007)

the iphone/ipad app has a keyboard mode. For the few times that I use the TiVo's TV interface for searching, that's what I use.


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## gonzotek (Sep 24, 2004)

Jonathan_S said:


> I find it primarily useful for setting up wishlists or searching in apps (netflix, youtube, etc); where just a letter or two isn't enough to get what you want. (But if you don't do that, then no, the slide keyboard may not be that useful for you)
> 
> Typing out a wishlist for, say, Veronica Mars with the slide takes open slide, 13 characters, enter, close slide - call it 16 'clicks'.
> Do that with the onscreen ouija board board (HD horizontal style) and it's:
> ...


The hardware keyboard remotes (as well as the mobile apps that provide keyboards) are also useful for entering email/password combos - you can't predict those like you can with popular tv/movies, so the user has to enter the full text of the address or password before they can move on to the next step.


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## NYHeel (Oct 7, 2003)

Jonathan_S said:


> I find it primarily useful for setting up wishlists or searching in apps (netflix, youtube, etc); where just a letter or two isn't enough to get what you want. (But if you don't do that, then no, the slide keyboard may not be that useful for you)
> 
> Typing out a wishlist for, say, Veronica Mars with the slide takes open slide, 13 characters, enter, close slide - call it 16 'clicks'.
> Do that with the onscreen ouija board board (HD horizontal style) and it's:
> ...


Except that you probably only really need to enter the V and E for it to find Veronica Mars. I rarely need to enter more than 3 or 4 letters.

Edit: Oh wait I missed that it was for a wishlist. I thought you were referring to search. Probably because I never use wishlists.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

NYHeel said:


> Except that you probably only really need to enter the V and E for it to find Veronica Mars. I rarely need to enter more than 3 or 4 letters.
> 
> Edit: Oh wait I missed that it was for a wishlist. I thought you were referring to search. Probably because I never use wishlists.


Yep, like gonzotek alluded to, searches are easier because once you get 'close' you can scroll through the list of suggestions.

Wishlists, password, or any other place where you need to type out the full text the onscreen keyboard can become annoying. The Slide or app keyboards are much supperior in those rare conditions.

But _mostly_ I have a slide (original, not pro) because it was the first RF remote TiVo offered and therefore worked better for normal tivo commands than the IR remote. (Especially when I'm curled up under a blanket watching while the TV)


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## Tivo II Jack (Aug 10, 2003)

Jonathan_S said:


> I find it primarily useful for setting up wishlists or searching in apps (netflix, youtube, etc); where just a letter or two isn't enough to get what you want. (But if you don't do that, then no, the slide keyboard may not be that useful for you)


Didnt even think of wish lists which I do use often enough. One thing though, in Roamio the on line keyboard has been changed and is squarer. It now looks like the attached photo.

It is an improvement, but not all that great. Heres how V Mars compares:

V = 6 clicks (over 3, down 2, select)...= 6 clicks...over...1	down...4...select
e = 4 clicks (up 2, over 1, select)...= 8 clicks...over...3...up...4...select
r = 6 clicks (over 4, down 1, select)...= 6 clicks...over...2...down...3...select
o = 4 clicks (over 4, down 1, select)...= 4 clicks...over...2...up...1...select
n = 2 clicks (over 4, down 1, select)...= 2 clicks...over...1...select
i = 6 clicks (over 4, down 1, select)... = 2 clicks...up...1...select
c = 7 clicks (over 4, down 1, select)... = 3 clicks...over...1...up...1...select
a = 3 clicks (over 4, down 1, select)... = 3 clicks...over...2...select
<space> = 1 click (FF button; otherwise	4 clicks)	Ditto
M = 5 clicks (over 4, down 1, select)... = 5 clicks...over...2...down...2...select
a = 5 clicks (over 4, down 1, select)... = 5 clicks...over...2...up...2...select
r = 10 clicks (over 4, down 1, select)... = 6 clicks...over...2...down...3...select
s = 10 clicks (over 4, down 1, select)... = 2 clicks...over...1...select

Yours: for a total of 69 clicks (70 to press 'enter' to complete the entry)
Note: Your click totals are a bit off to get to the:
n = 6 not 4; 
c = 6 not 7; 
a = 6 not 3
M = 6 not 5
a = 6 not 5
r = 6 not 10
s = 6 not 10
: for a total of 71 clicks (72 to press 'enter' to complete the entry)

Mine: for a total of 56 clicks (57 to press 'enter' to complete the entry)

Final conclusion: We both have way too much time on our hands.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Tivo II Jack said:


> Didn't even think of wish lists which I do use often enough. One thing though, in Roamio the on line keyboard has been changed and is squarer. It now looks like the attached photo.
> 
> It is an improvement, but not all that great. [snip]
> Yours: for a total of 69 clicks (70 to press 'enter' to complete the entry)
> ...


Agreed. 

I was doing this off a screenshot of the highdef horizontal on-screen keyboard (and certainly could have screwed up the click count).

I guess with the new 'squarer' Romio keyboard there have now been _at least_ three different TiVo on screen keyboard layouts. (The SD menu 'tall' layout, the HD menu 'horizontal' layout, and the Romio 'square' layout). All of which would have different click counts for the same text due to differences in when they line-wrap the alphabet.


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## JoJetSki (Jul 25, 2006)

Tivo II Jack said:


> It would be great if they would just move the Select button to where the Guide button is now and move the Guide button either to where the Slect button is now or back to where it was. Currently in that position is the Zoom button. I have no idea what the Zoom button does.


When you are watching non-HD channels and they put up 16:9 content with black bars on both the top and bottom you can press Zoom and the black bars will disappear and the image will be zoomed to the full size of your 16:9 HDTV. Certain channels on my Comcast cable like Sundance do not come over in HD so I use Zoom all the time to maximize the screen, however it seems to clip the image sometimes. The zoom button will not work on an HD channel even if they are showing older Non-HD content with black bars.


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## Tivo II Jack (Aug 10, 2003)

JoJetSki said:


> When you are watching non-HD channels...


Can't think of any non HD channels I even have anymore.



JoJetSki said:


> Certain channels on my Comcast cable like Sundance do not come over in HD so I use Zoom all the time to maximize the screen, however it seems to clip the image sometimes. The zoom button will not work on an HD channel even if they are showing older Non-HD content with black bars.


I can do that with my Sony TV controls. It automatically zooms to full screen whenever a non HD channel is on. It gives me a choice to zoom horizontal or vertical and they both clip the image a bit, it has to. Zoom horizontal makes people look a bit shorter and fatter and vertical makes them look a bit taller and thinner.

To me, the shorter fatter looks the least distorted so mine is set to that, but like I said I can't remember the last time the TV showed a zoomed view.


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