# TiVo Remote Control From PC



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

I have tried several PC Remotes for my TiVo and they all have limitations. One of the best I found was for Virgin Mobile in the UK. But the buttons on the remote are in different locations than a standard US remote and it couldn't handle channel switching for the US such as channel 10-1.

So I created my own. It uses the Telnet interface available on a TiVo to control it using an image of a standard remote. It also allows you to create a channel list and switch channels by simply clicking on the channel in a scrollable list.

I need some people to test it for me to look for any bugs and to recommend changes. It is a work in progress and additional features, such as a help file, are planned, but so far it seems to work extremely well for me.

A couple of quick notes on use.

To edit the channel list, click on the Edit Icon.









After editing the list, click on the Back Icon to save the changes.









When in the editor you can do a right click and call up a context menu allowing you to Insert or Delete rows.

Options for the IP Address and the port to use can be changed by clicking on the Options Icon.









The port should be left at the standard port number of 31339 unless you need to change it to do some port mapping on a router.

It can be downloaded from http://instipics.com/remote/TiVoRemote.zip.

Please give me feedback.


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

Screen Shot


----------



## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

Is this for a smartphone/tablet or for a PC/laptop?


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

I believe the description says PC. I have tested on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.


----------



## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

Looks nice, but does it do anything that the remote simulator in KMTTG doesn't do?


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

It's just a small footprint TiVo remote for Windows.

My TiVo is in my media room and the HDMI output runs to 4 other TVs in other rooms. I needed a way to control the TiVo from the other rooms so this runs on my Windows tablet. I don't need to transfer and decode shows. Or if I do I use TiVo Desktop to transfer the files to the desktop in my computer room, then use Direct Show Dump to convert it to MPEG and then use VideoPad or Prism to convert it to any other format. Then I can save it on my 4TB Network drive and play it on my Media Player or DVD player that supports XVID files or share it with a friend.


----------



## Fofer (Oct 29, 2000)

jgbrown54 said:


> My TiVo is in my media room and the HDMI output runs to 4 other TVs in other rooms.


What HDMI splitter do you use for that? Just curious.


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

Fofer said:


> What HDMI splitter do you use for that? Just curious.


Hmm. It's a No-Name from China for $27. Here is a link on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003LMN5N8/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The first picture is not correct. Look at the second one.
I also use a 4 port Switch that I got on EBay. Here is a link to it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/310901211322?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
It's nice because it splits the audio out onto a fiber to run into my surround sound. And I can switch from TiVo, to Media Player, to DVD, to Wii.
So the output of the switch runs to the splitter.


----------



## TexasGrillChef (Sep 15, 2006)

I have tried 2 windows TiVo remote. 

The one listed above the photo of the remote is to big and I have to scroll up and down. 

Is their is way to make it smaller so I don't have to scroll it up and down?

TGC


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

Wow. You mean someone actually tried it?

I made it this way for 2 reasons. 1. I use it on my Windows tablet and one drawback with other remotes was that the image is too small and difficult to read. 2. Once the channel list is populated I rarely use the number buttons.

There are a couple of ways I could modify the program.

One would be to modify the window size to show more. The other is to use a smaller image.

The first change would depend on your screen resolution. On a screen 1024 X 768 you can make the window taller and the existing image fits. Then I could save your window size and it the next time you open the program. So let me ask......what is your screen resolution? And.....if you grab the bottom edge of the window and hold down your left mouse button to stretch the window and also grab the blue bar at the top of the window to move it up and then stretch it again, will the image fit?

For the second method I could offer an Image Size setting in the options. Either Large or Small Image. The large image would still need to scroll like it does now and woould work for me on my tablet whereas the small image would be sized to fit in the window and would work well on a monitor or laptop.

Or I could do both. Make a larger window and a smaller image. Let me know what would work best for you.

Thank you for testing my remote. As you can see I have had very little response. Are there any other changes you would like to see or anomalies your have experienced? Which option above would you prefer?


----------



## TexasGrillChef (Sep 15, 2006)

The Channel changing is pretty cool. I admit that... but I never watch live TV. Unless the event is live, like a ball game or something.

I only watch recorded, and then do a lot of jumping back n forth. So as nice as the channel changing feature is, it isn't much value to me.

I wanted a pc remote as I watch TV and work on my laptop. Having a remote on the "Desktop" is much easier and quicker then picking up my ipad etc.... I use the TiVo app on my iPad to schedule all of my recordings. 

Because of the laptop dimensions.... I only see 1/2 the remote. 

I understand that making it smaller, might make it harder to press the buttons, especially if your on a windows tablet. Maybe have a choice of two different sizes???

TGC

Since this is a laptop, the internal display only has one resolution setting.... 1366x768. I have the remote window open as large as it goes... From top to bottom. The other option you could consider, is the option to have the channel listing on the left or right of the remote, as well as on or off. Just an idea.


----------



## TexasGrillChef (Sep 15, 2006)

another feature idea, is a button like the configure button/option button for more than one TiVo as I have 3 and to switch required putting in the ip address each time. 

Just an idea

Otherwise it seems to work quite nicely and really quickly! 

TGC


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

Good suggestions. I'll work on these.

I'll put in an image size selection but just to understand, I made it so you only see half of the remote so I can have it large for my tablet which you don't need. You should be able to see everything except the number buttons when it comes up. Are you seeing less? You say you watch mostly recorded stuff. What do you use the numbers for? Why do you need them for watching recorded stuff?

For multiple TIVOs how about if I use the A, B, C, and D which are currently unused buttons to switch between them? I have no idea what these buttons are supposed to do.


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

Try this one.

http://instipics.com/remote/TiVoRemote.zip

I added an Image Size selection to the configuration screen and used it to resize the image so it fits without scrolling and moved all of the control buttons to their new locations. It will also save your selection for the Image Size and use that the next time you open the remote.

If this looks good I'll move on to your next suggestion.


----------



## spocko (Feb 4, 2009)

Resurrecting this thread 2 years later.  Thanks for sharing this app.The image size selection seems to work fine. I'm running it on a desktop PC with mouse, so the smaller image is preferable.

If you're still working on this, I'll second these feature requests that were mentioned earlier:
- Add option to hide channel list (to make the window more compact)
- Add the ability to store the IP address of multiple Tivos, and switch between them using a set of buttons or a drop down list. Do not use the A/B/C/D buttons on the remote to switch Tivos.

Thanks again.


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

There have been so few responses I didn't think anyone but me cared to use it. I have made some changes such as adding a button to hide the channel list if you don't want it, activating the A, B, C, and D buttons since I finally upgraded to a TiVo that uses them, Did some sizing on the windows so that they only clip the bottom of the remote if your screen resolution is low, and fixed the up arrow key that no one even bothered to mention wasn't working right. Give me a few days and I'll post an update. I'm going to be out of town for the weekend. I'll also look into adding multiple TiVos. The channel list can be nice if you are like me and only use OTA, but if you have 300 channels it would really be a pain. I find that I don't really use it anyway. I just go to the Guide. So I'll probably just eliminate it entirely. My original plan was to populate it like the Guide. But I assume you can see the TV screen so why bother. Let me know if you have any other suggestions. This was never meant to be a do-all TiVo desktop replacement. Just a small footprint remote.


----------



## spocko (Feb 4, 2009)

Sounds great, thanks! It makes sense to keep this app small and simple. If someone wants Tivo desktop-like features, they can use kmttg, which has an integrated network remote control feature.


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

Please try my latest version.

http://instipics.com/remote/TiVoRemote.zip

Yes I know. It needs a little cleanup. I'll do that while working on your latest suggestions.


----------



## spocko (Feb 4, 2009)

Thank you very much. Here are a few observations with this version:

- When using "small" mode, the icon to expand/collapse the channel list is not displayed correctly. (non-issue if you are going to remove the channel list)

- Unhandled exception occurs when clicking on the remote buttons if the IP of the Tivo is not reachable 

- When using "small" mode in Windows 10 with default theme, the maximize/minimize/close buttons cover the entire title bar, so there is no grab handle available for moving the window around. Windows 7 doesn't have this problem because the buttons are more compact.

- A user could get around the above issue by resizing the width of the window slightly, but that is not allowed. The window always snaps back to the default width.

- The window does allow vertical resizing, but does not provide a scrollbar when resized smaller than the image. It would be nice to provide a scroll bar, so user could make the window small and expose only the part of the image that they need, for example the middle section with the playback controls. If scrolling is hard to implement, then maybe you could provide a button that toggles between the full image and a smaller image containing only the playback controls. Not a huge deal. As it is, we can already resize to hide the part below the playback controls, so maybe that's good enough.


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

Thank you so much for testing this version. I had made some changes and it was working for my immediate needs. But I did not really do much testing. You just saved me a bunch and some things I might have missed.

- When using "small" mode, the icon to expand/collapse the channel list is not displayed correctly. (non-issue if you are going to remove the channel list)

I had just added a quick button to hide the Channel List and didn't worry about it's function since I was going to remove the Channel List anyway.

- Unhandled exception occurs when clicking on the remote buttons if the IP of the Tivo is not reachable 

I guess I always entered a good IP. I'll put some error checking in when adding additional remotes. Ultimately I would like to have it search for TiVos on the network and populate the IPs automatically. Initialy Though I will add an entry for 3 remotes to manually populate just because it's simpler. Is that enough for you?

- When using "small" mode in Windows 10 with default theme, the maximize/minimize/close buttons cover the entire title bar, so there is no grab handle available for moving the window around. Windows 7 doesn't have this problem because the buttons are more compact.

Gee. It worked fine with the Channel List. Since I hid it I have only used the large one. Oops.

- A user could get around the above issue by resizing the width of the window slightly, but that is not allowed. The window always snaps back to the default width.

I'll play with that a little. I might need more width to add in the Settings button. That may be enough. I don't think I can move the Icons.

- The window does allow vertical resizing, but does not provide a scrollbar when resized smaller than the image. It would be nice to provide a scroll bar, so user could make the window small and expose only the part of the image that they need, for example the middle section with the playback controls. If scrolling is hard to implement, then maybe you could provide a button that toggles between the full image and a smaller image containing only the playback controls. Not a huge deal. As it is, we can already resize to hide the part below the playback controls, so maybe that's good enough.

This also worked with the Channel List. I removed the list and made the window too narrow to display the scroll bar. It's there. You just can't see it. Spin your scroll wheel or whatever and it will probably scroll. I'll fix the width which should also take care of the standard windows buttons.

I'm back in town and will work on this but......You might know how it is when you go to someones house and you know PCs but they don't. My brother had issues loading the latest updates from Microsoft. Blue Screen Of Death. It seems a lot of people are having issues with different updates. I was up until 6:00 am working on his PC and then had to get up at 9:00 to get dressed for a funeral. Visitation, Service, Lunch, then drive for 6 hours to get home.


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

Here you go. Please try this. It should be closer to what you are looking for.

http://instipics.com/remote/TiVoRemote.zip

It now supports up to 3 TiVos. The Channel List is gone. If you move it or size it (vertically) it will remember the settings the next time you open it. I also added error checking for the IP addresses.

Let me know what you think of it or if you have any other suggestions. I do have some things I still want to add like automatically identifying TiVos on the network and allowing port assignments. Watch here for more updates.

Merry Christmas


----------



## spocko (Feb 4, 2009)

Looks great, thanks! You addressed all my earlier comments.

A couple of very minor things: 

- When resizing the window vertically, the scroll position always gets reset to the top. I would be nicer if it could retain the current scroll position while resizing. 

- When maximizing the window, is it possible to resize it just to display the whole remote image, instead of resizing to fill the screen?


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

- When resizing the window vertically, the scroll position always gets reset to the top. I would be nicer if it could retain the current scroll position while resizing. 

I'll have to play with this a little as I'm not sure if I can do it. When you are scrolled down from the top, the top of the image is actually set to a negative number. I can probably save this value and make sure that it is set after the resize. The trick would be if you resize the bottom border the top would stay at the same place. If you resized the top border, it would have to shrink from the bottom.

- When maximizing the window, is it possible to resize it just to display the whole remote image, instead of resizing to fill the screen?

I can understand why you would want this. Maximize is a windows function that sets the form to the screen size. See any other window that has a maximize. Restore on the other hand sets it to it's last set size. I should be able to override this and basically set it to it's default size which would be the same as when you select either the small screen or the large screen. The problem will be that then it will lose the restore size that you had it set too before the maximize. There is a parameter for Maximum Size. I'll have to see if that will make this work. Otherwise I will be giving you a new functionality while eliminating an existing one.


----------



## spocko (Feb 4, 2009)

jgbrown54 said:


> The trick would be if you resize the bottom border the top would stay at the same place. If you resized the top border, it would have to shrink from the bottom.


In either case I think it would be fine to just retain the image position relative to the top border.



jgbrown54 said:


> There is a parameter for Maximum Size. I'll have to see if that will make this work.


The Form.MaximumSize property looks like it might do the trick.


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

Here is a new version. This one handles the Maximize although I'm not sure how you will like it. The MaximumSize does work but, all Maximized forms are docked to location 0,0.

http://instipics.com/remote/TiVoRemote.zip

I'm still trying to figure out the scroll issue. When a form containing a control that is using Autoscroll is resized, it automatically resets the scroll position to 0. Probably because the scroll bar image is based on a percentage of scroll.

On the maximize, I think I'll work on adding a control that will set the form to the maximum size without doing a windows Maximize and another control to set it back to the resize value. Then I'll do away with the Maximize and Minimize buttons on the Title Bar. Unless you think it is adequate as it is.


----------



## spocko (Feb 4, 2009)

Thanks so much for your work on this. I think it's adequate as is. The maximize control isn't very useful since it moves the window location, but that's ok, it's easy enough to resize by grabbing the top or bottom of the window. Not worth putting more effort into it unless you are having fun with it.

If you want to keep tweaking, here's a few more nitpicky ideas. No pressure though!
- There is a little extra space to the right of the image compared to the left, the right side could be reduced to make both sides symmetrical.
- When the scroll bar is not displayed, you could use a narrower window width to eliminate the space that is reserved for the scroll bar.
- A right-click context menu could be added to give access to the Tivo selection and settings controls. Might be useful when the window has been reduced and the top of the image is not visible.
- The rough corners on the left side of the image could be smoothed out, particularly near the Input and Zoom buttons.


----------



## jgbrown54 (Jul 13, 2006)

One more version. I found that the form top was not being restored if you closed the program and reopened it. It's supposed to open in the same size and location you had it the last time you closed it down.

http://instipics.com/remote/TiVoRemote.zip


----------



## ke3ju (Jan 5, 2004)

I was really looking forward to trying this app, but when I run setup.exe I get this:










Can not find a solution to this other than turning off UAC, or other equivalent actions. I am a local admin on my machine, and I do not want to disable UAC.


----------



## smalis (Sep 15, 2003)

Hi there-

I'm trying to get an Android app (Anymote) to send a wifi command to my Tivo to execute the A button. Can you please give me the (telnet?) code/command you send for this button? IRCODE ACTION_A is not working for me.

Thanks.


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

smalis said:


> I'm trying to get an Android app (Anymote) to send a wifi command to my Tivo to execute the A button. Can you please give me the (telnet?) code/command you send for this button? IRCODE ACTION_A is not working for me.


That is the correct code. (Note that, like all TiVo remote sequences, it must end with a carriage return.) But I know nothing about Anymote.


----------



## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

This has quit working for me on 2 different PC's.

I've used it for quite a while now, off and on, and when I just tried it now, I get an 'IP not found' error.

Of course, I've verified the IP.

Remote still works from KMTTG, configure for RPC. Except, it turns out, that I just now tried to use the 'Reboot TiVo' feature in KMTTG and it appears to not have worked. Manual reboot (read: pulled the power cord) did not solve the problem.

I was actually trying to get EventGhost to control this TiVo and it appears to be having the same issue.

I even disabled the Windows Defender Firewall, after 'allowing' TiVoRemote through the Firewall.

Any ideas?

-Kyle


----------



## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

I still can't get this app to work.

KMTTG can control it.

I can get to the TiVo 'Congratulations!' web page. But I get an IP Address Not Found error for this app.

Any ideas?

-KP


----------

