# Harmony Remote with TiVo Bolt



## Player1138

I am debating on whether or not to get a TiVo Bolt leading to my questions.

I currently have a Harmony One which I absolutely love. Sadly it is getting a little outdated as it is only IR when most stuff is going RF and Bluetooth.

Does anyone have the Harmony One with a Tivo Bolt? I am curious if you can map the buttons to do everything without have to use the touchscreen for everything.

I am considering upgrading to the new Harmony Companion as it has more physical keys. Does anyone have this one with the Bolt? If so how does it work?

Thanks.


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## solutionsetc

I don't use harmony anymore, but the bolt responds to both RF and IR so you should be OK.


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## scottfll954

I have a harmony700 and a BOLT

I have found that the BOLT remote is more responsive.. I assume cause its RF...

I will continue to use the bolt remote for that reason alone


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## mdavej

Tivo IR codes haven't changed in years, Bolt included. On all Harmonys, you can map any function to any button. The One has no colored buttons, so those usually need to go on the screen. The Companion has no screen at all, so you actually lose a lot of functionality. Without a screen, may as well just use the TiVo remote. 

Personally, I like the Nevo C2 which is $16 on eBay. It's nearly the same as a One but adds colored buttons. It lacks a rechargeable battery, but you can add that easily. Can't beat the price.


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## jrgtivo

Colored buttons and slow (you can program Slow to the pause button and use the play button as play/Pause) are missing from the Harmony One, but the ******** are on the 900, if anyone is looking to buy one on Ebay.

You can program the up/down buttons to the Thumbs (though I have down = "List" and up = "Live TV"). The physical "List" button is missing from the current Tivo remote, but the code brings you straight to "My Shows" = convenient.

Also, two other Tips:
1) Add the humax tivo/DVD DRT800. This gets you the remote code for "Stop." I find that useful.
2) Program a sequence for Zoom+Clear. Assign that sequence to the Exit button. That will get you back to what you are watching from as many places as possible.


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## moveandstore

I prefer the Harmony 650. All of the functions that the Tivo remote has, the 650 can do just as well. The color buttons on the 650 (along with the screen) works great. No lag at all. (I have my Bolt in plain sight of the TV; BluRay Player (Sony); Receiver (Sony w/4k pass-through) ; and my Roku 2, so it is a great all-in-one solution for my needs.)

I can't justify the expense of spending 100.00 on a remote. But IMHO, I find that the 650 is the best universal remote for the money, and ease of use. Unless you have many pieces of equipment and they are not in line of sight where you have to have a RF remote or a IR Blaster. Otherwise I can use my iPhone as a bluetooth solution for the Bolt & Roku.


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## HarperVision

Does anyone else have the Harmony Smart Keyboard with Hub and smartphone app? I just grabbed one on a good deal from BB to mainly use with my HTPC, but curious how well it integrates with the TiVo and your entire HT system?


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## SrLANGuy

Player1138 said:


> I am debating on whether or not to get a TiVo Bolt leading to my questions.
> 
> I currently have a Harmony One which I absolutely love. Sadly it is getting a little outdated as it is only IR when most stuff is going RF and Bluetooth.
> 
> Does anyone have the Harmony One with a Tivo Bolt? I am curious if you can map the buttons to do everything without have to use the touchscreen for everything.
> 
> I am considering upgrading to the new Harmony Companion as it has more physical keys. Does anyone have this one with the Bolt? If so how does it work?
> 
> Thanks.


I don't have the Harmony Companion, but I do have Logitech's previous model which was called the Harmony Smart Control. It's nearly identical, but the Harmony Companion has a few more buttons on the remote.

The remote talks RF to the hub and the hub sends all of the IR (or Bluetooth) signals to your devices. When I first got this, I was amazed how fast it was. I had some of the previous Logitech Harmony remotes without the hub and it always seemed like there was a delay between pressing the button and when the device received the IR signal. But with the newer remote and hub, there's no delay whatsoever. I highly recommend it!


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## mdavej

jrgtivo said:


> Add the humax tivo/DVD DRT800. This gets you the remote code for "Stop."


Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I've been searching high and low for a Stop code. For my fellow JP1ers out there, it's OBC 72.

After using Stop for 50 years on every playback device ever made, I can't adjust to the TiVo way. I've got to have Stop. Using Back or LiveTV always ends up stopping later than I intended and sometimes doesn't work at all, depending on what I was doing last.


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## Player1138

SrLANGuy said:


> I don't have the Harmony Companion, but I do have Logitech's previous model which was called the Harmony Smart Control. It's nearly identical, but the Harmony Companion has a few more buttons on the remote.
> 
> The remote talks RF to the hub and the hub sends all of the IR (or Bluetooth) signals to your devices. When I first got this, I was amazed how fast it was. I had some of the previous Logitech Harmony remotes without the hub and it always seemed like there was a delay between pressing the button and when the device received the IR signal. But with the newer remote and hub, there's no delay whatsoever. I highly recommend it!


Thanks. So the remote you have has the buttons needed to easily control the Bolt?


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## mdavej

All Harmonys are fundamentally the same. It doesn't matter what buttons they have since you can put any function on any button. Just Goggle a picture of the model you want, and if it has enough buttons to do everything you have in mind, buy it.

IMO, neither the Smart nor the Companion (although it has a couple more buttons) really has enough buttons for every possible TiVo command. They have no place to put Live, Zoom, thumbs up/down or skip fwd/back (those share the ffwd/rew buttons). I think a remote with a display for additional functions and actual physical skip buttons is still your best bet. The lack of skip buttons on recent Harmony models is the main reason I have something else.

I think the Tivo buttons on my $16 Nevo look pretty darn good.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10607882#post10607882


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## SrLANGuy

Player1138 said:


> Thanks. So the remote you have has the buttons needed to easily control the Bolt?


It works fine with the Bolt and the buttons can be customized any way you want. Some buttons even allow for two functions. If you do a "short press" it does one thing, but if you "long press" it does something else.

I normally use the Logitech remote for everything *except watching TiVo*. I use it to power on my devices, switch activities, control my other devices (like Xbox One, Apple TV, Roku, etc.). Once I switch to my "Watch TiVo" activity, I prefer to use the TiVo remote itself. But I would have no problem using the Harmony for that either.


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## jrgtivo

mdavej said:


> Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
> 
> I've been searching high and low for a Stop code. For my fellow JP1ers out there, it's OBC 72.
> 
> After using Stop for 50 years on every playback device ever made, I can't adjust to the TiVo way. I've got to have Stop. Using Back or LiveTV always ends up stopping later than I intended and sometimes doesn't work at all, depending on what I was doing last.


JP1 and the original URC 6131 was a great way to program a Tivo oriented universal remote.


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## Robbo1

Where is the IR receiver physically located on the Bolt?


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## aaronwt

Robbo1 said:


> Where is the IR receiver physically located on the Bolt?


I think it's behind the TiVo guy. I remember seeing something in that spot when I had my Bolts open. At the time I didn't know what it was. But now that I think about it, I think it was the IR receiver. Can someone else confirm?


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## JayMan747

mdavej said:


> Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
> 
> I've been searching high and low for a Stop code. For my fellow JP1ers out there, it's OBC 72.
> 
> After using Stop for 50 years on every playback device ever made, I can't adjust to the TiVo way. I've got to have Stop. Using Back or LiveTV always ends up stopping later than I intended and sometimes doesn't work at all, depending on what I was doing last.


I hear you on that...
Also, why is there no exit button on Tivo?


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## mikeyts

My Harmony One works just fine. I haven't bothered to unpack the TiVo remote yet. Of course, I haven't tried to do everything yet D:. The one difficulty that I've run across is that they seem to have changed the Amazon UI a little; it uses the Back button and does not respond to |<< or the instant replay button. My Harmony still uses the Premiere definition, which, like the Premiere remote, doesn't have that button. I'll have to adjust the settings.


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## Player1138

mikeyts said:


> My Harmony One works just fine. I haven't bothered to unpack the TiVo remote yet. Of course, I haven't tried to do everything yet D:. The one difficulty that I've run across is that they seem to have changed the Amazon UI a little; it uses the Back button and does not respond to |<< or the instant replay button. My Harmony still uses the Premiere definition, which, like the Premiere remote, doesn't have that button. I'll have to adjust the settings.


Thanks. That is good to hear.

Assuming you use the screen for the colored buttons?


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## Gilgamesch

Does anybody know how to program the Tivo 30 second skip into a Harmony Touch remote.


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## dnorth12

Gilgamesch said:


> Does anybody know how to program the Tivo 30 second skip into a Harmony Touch remote.


You don't program the remote. The setting is saved in the TiVo. Use the TiVo remote to do it, just works easier.

While playing back a recorded show enter: Select-Play-Select-3-0-Select


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## Gilgamesch

dnorth12 said:


> You don't program the remote. The setting is saved in the TiVo. Use the TiVo remote to do it, just works easier.
> 
> While playing back a recorded show enter: Select-Play-Select-3-0-Select


I have the new Tivo Bolt and I believe there is a button on the Bolt remote that does the 30 second skip and I was wondering if the command was either in the Harmony data base or if there might be a button on the Harmony remote that corresponds to the button on the Tivo remote. I know the channel up button on the Harmony remote does the new Tivo skip feature. If I do the select-play-select-30 select funtion what button will it program on the remote. Thanks for the advice.


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## aaronwt

Gilgamesch said:


> I have the new Tivo Bolt and I believe there is a button on the Bolt remote that does the 30 second skip and I was wondering if the command was either in the Harmony data base or if there might be a button on the Harmony remote that corresponds to the button on the Tivo remote. I know the channel up button on the Harmony remote does the new Tivo skip feature. If I do the select-play-select-30 select funtion what button will it program on the remote. Thanks for the advice.


It's the same button. The skip button defaults to the 30 second scan. When you enter that code it becomes the 30 second skip.

Using the Bolt Remote with commercial Skip mode, the channel up or the "D" buttons use it. Using channel up is not specific to the Harmony remote.


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## mdavej

Gilgamesch, 

Realize that the Touch has no skip buttons per se. They have combo skip fwd / ffwd and skip back / rew buttons. You must reprogram the short and long presses of these buttons or put the functions on different buttons or program gestures. Out of the box, short press of the skip buttons on a Touch perform ffwd/rew, not skip. Holding down the button (long press) performs skip. I recommend you simply swap the long and short press functions.

After getting skip working as desired on the Touch, then you can program Tivo to do a scan or instant skip as others have said.

These combo skip buttons are the main reason I no longer buy Harmony remotes. It's a terrible trend to remove physical buttons that are used so frequently by so many people.


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## JayMan747

mdavej said:


> Gilgamesch,
> 
> Realize that the Touch has no skip buttons per se. They have combo skip fwd / ffwd and skip back / rew buttons. You must reprogram the short and long presses of these buttons or put the functions on different buttons or program gestures. Out of the box, short press of the skip buttons on a Touch perform ffwd/rew, not skip. Holding down the button (long press) performs skip. I recommend you simply swap the long and short press functions.
> 
> After getting skip working as desired on the Touch, then you can program Tivo to do a scan or instant skip as others have said.
> 
> These combo skip buttons are the main reason I no longer buy Harmony remotes. It's a terrible trend to remove physical buttons that are used so frequently by so many people.


I'm about to move my first Tivo (Bolt) into Main TV room and will be using the Touch/Ultimate.
-How well does the Harmony remote work with Tivo?
-Any other changes to Harmony for Tivo? -I had already done the Swap you mentioned above on Fios DVR.


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## mdavej

JayMan747 said:


> I'm about to move my first Tivo (Bolt) into Main TV room and will be using the Touch/Ultimate.
> -How well does the Harmony remote work with Tivo?
> -Any other changes to Harmony for Tivo? -I had already done the Swap you mentioned above on Fios DVR.


As I said, I'm not a Harmony user, but Tivo works fine with other universal remotes. I don't see why Harmony would be any different. The IR signals are essentially identical no matter what remote you use. If they weren't, they wouldn't work at all.

If I had a Harmony Touch/Ultimate, besides the skip swap, I'd add the following to the display if they weren't there already:
- Thumbs up/down
- Live
- Zoom
- Clear
- Slo-mo
- Captions (this would have to be a short macro)

I'd also add an actual Stop code to the stop button, otherwise assign Back to it. And I would copy the Enter command to the Last button and make sure the Tivo command is mapped to the DVR button.

All other commands should have already been automatically mapped to their respective hard buttons.


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## Player1138

Does Tivo have one FF speed? Or does it mirror most other DVR boxes where if you hit FF multiple times it will increase the FF Speed.

Also does Tivo have a feature when you hit play it backs up a few seconds to account for the time it took you to recognize your show was on to hit play.


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## Gilgamesch

mdavej said:


> Gilgamesch,
> 
> Realize that the Touch has no skip buttons per se. They have combo skip fwd / ffwd and skip back / rew buttons. You must reprogram the short and long presses of these buttons or put the functions on different buttons or program gestures. Out of the box, short press of the skip buttons on a Touch perform ffwd/rew, not skip. Holding down the button (long press) performs skip. I recommend you simply swap the long and short press functions.
> 
> After getting skip working as desired on the Touch, then you can program Tivo to do a scan or instant skip as others have said.
> 
> These combo skip buttons are the main reason I no longer buy Harmony remotes. It's a terrible trend to remove physical buttons that are used so frequently by so many people.


Okay I am a bit confused how to peform these changes. How do I change the fast forward key so it will do a 30 second skip with a short press. Do I need to do the whole select 30 sequence or is this something I can do with the online software. I really appreciate the advice and help.


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## mdavej

Gilgamesch said:


> Okay I am a bit confused how to peform these changes. How do I change the fast forward key so it will do a 30 second skip with a short press. Do I need to do the whole select 30 sequence or is this something I can do with the online software. I really appreciate the advice and help.


Go to the site below for instructions. Go to Living Home, then Adjust buttons. You'll see how to assign long and short press there. You want to assign the skip command (or whatever logitech calls it) to the short press of the skip button (I assume that's what you want to do. It's what I would do).

https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/customizing-physical-buttons-on-your-remote

You only need to do the select sequence if you want to change whether skip is and instant skip ahead 30 sec or a really fast 30 sec search.


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## mdavej

Player1138 said:


> Does Tivo have one FF speed? Or does it mirror most other DVR boxes where if you hit FF multiple times it will increase the FF Speed.


It's the latter. Another reason it's better to have skip fwd and fast fwd on separate buttons.



> Also does Tivo have a feature when you hit play it backs up a few seconds to account for the time it took you to recognize your show was on to hit play.


Yes, it automatically backs up. It's been very accurate for me.


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## Gilgamesch

mdavej said:


> Go to the site below for instructions. Go to Living Home, then Adjust buttons. You'll see how to assign long and short press there. You want to assign the skip command (or whatever logitech calls it) to the short press of the skip button (I assume that's what you want to do. It's what I would do).
> 
> https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/customizing-physical-buttons-on-your-remote
> 
> You only need to do the select sequence if you want to change whether skip is and instant skip ahead 30 sec or a really fast 30 sec search.


Thanks for the advice. I will check out the page. I have to say I was just using the Tivo remote and I like it better than the Touch. I prefer the raised buttons over the flat buttons on the Touch.


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## ChuckMc

moveandstore said:


> I prefer the Harmony 650. All of the functions that the Tivo remote has, the 650 can do just as well. The color buttons on the 650 (along with the screen) works great. No lag at all. (I have my Bolt in plain sight of the TV; BluRay Player (Sony); Receiver (Sony w/4k pass-through) ; and my Roku 2, so it is a great all-in-one solution for my needs.)
> 
> I can't justify the expense of spending 100.00 on a remote. But IMHO, I find that the 650 is the best universal remote for the money, and ease of use. Unless you have many pieces of equipment and they are not in line of sight where you have to have a RF remote or a IR Blaster. Otherwise I can use my iPhone as a bluetooth solution for the Bolt & Roku.


I am confused here. When I try to program my 650, the Harmony App advises me it cannot control the Bolt because it is an RF device and the Harmony is an IR only remote. Any thoughts?


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## thyname

ChuckMc said:


> I am confused here. When I try to program my 650, the Harmony App advises me it cannot control the Bolt because it is an RF device and the Harmony is an IR only remote. Any thoughts?


The IR Harmony remotes certainly can control Bolt. Bolt has both IR and RF capabilities.

Bolt works fine with my Harmony Touch.


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## mdavej

ChuckMc said:


> I am confused here. When I try to program my 650, the Harmony App advises me it cannot control the Bolt because it is an RF device and the Harmony is an IR only remote. Any thoughts?





thyname said:


> The IR Harmony remotes certainly can control Bolt. Bolt has both IR and RF capabilities.
> 
> Bolt works fine with my Harmony Touch.


Yep. Ignore that message. Any IR universal remote will work fine. If you can't get past the message, pick a different model like Roamio. The codes are the same for all models except the really old ones.


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## mikeyts

I think that my Harmony remote's definition of TiVo is a combination of two models, Premiere plus something earlier just for the STOP button code; no such button on contemporary TiVos. My problem now is that I need an IR code for BACK; streaming apps on previous models use the skip-back button (|<<) but some idiot developers have chosen to assign the function to the new BACK button alone, even though skip-back continues to have no function assigned in those contexts. This is frustratingly true of the Amazon and Plex apps; in either, I cannot go back one level, having to return to the top of the menu to go back at all.


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## lessd

mikeyts said:


> I think that my Harmony remote's definition of TiVo is a combination of two models, Premiere plus something earlier just for the STOP button code; no such button on contemporary TiVos. My problem now is that I need an IR code for BACK; streaming apps on previous models use the skip-back button (|<<) but some idiot developers have chosen to assign the function to the new BACK button alone, even though skip-back continues to have no function assigned in those contexts. This is frustratingly true of the Amazon and Plex apps; in either, I cannot go back one level, having to return to the top of the menu to go back at all.


I set up my Harmony on the TiVo-HD and have gone from that model to every series up to the Roamio and never had to reprogram the TiVo part, only the TV part when I got a new HDTV.


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## mikeyts

lessd said:


> I set up my Harmony on the TiVo-HD and have gone from that model to every series up to the Roamio and never had to reprogram the TiVo part, only the TV part when I got a new HDTV.


I had the original CableCARD-capable Series 3 "OLED"; never bought a TiVo HD. I'm not sure why I switched to the Premiere's definition, but I know I use a combination of that plus something else for the STOP button, which no TiVo remote since has featured. I did not change anything for Roamio and wouldn't change it now if it weren't for this BACK button BS.



Player1138 said:


> Thanks. That is good to hear.
> 
> Assuming you use the screen for the colored buttons?


Sorry--I somehow missed that response. Yes, I use the screen for the colored buttons. Harmony One may be the only contemporary Logitech remote which lacks hard buttons for the colors; I've come close to buying Harmony 900 just for that.


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## bmt

Did anyone figure out how to get the harmony to generate the "BACK" operation for Amazon / Netflix? Really frustrating that this doesn't just work...


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## mdavej

Are you saying the "BACK" command is missing from the Harmony database? Or are you saying the Tivo BACK function itself, even on the Tivo remote, doesn't function properly in those apps?

If it's the former, I can post the code which you can email to [email protected] to add to your account. Or you can simply switch your Tivo remote to IR temporarily and learn it. Or you can pick a more recent Tivo model from the Harmony database which most likely has the BACK command.

If it's the latter, then only the app developer can fix it.


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## timbracken

On my remote I made the back button short press = 'Last', long press = 'Back'. When I'm in Amazon and want to go back, I long press the back button on remote. It is annoying how some of the apps work to go back.


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## mikeyts

What really annoys me about it is that they didn't reuse the old key for backing out one level, SKIP-BACK. That still works in most of the apps. They could have left that in in place and added the BACK key.


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## aphoid

I have a Harmony Elite which does IR, Bluetooth, and WiFi. I have it working with my Bolt over IR. Is there any way get it to use the WiFi Network Remote features instead? I know the Network remote works from other apps...


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