# Does MiniVox support CEC?



## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

Does the newer MiniVox support CEC in any form? The 2nd gen Mini I have does not seem to.

What I'm interested in is having it send a "change to my input" command to my AVR, the way my Amazon Fire does - I press the "Home" button on the Fire, and my Marantz AVR switches to its Fire input. To get back to the Mini, however, I have to use the Marantz's remote to change inputs. 

What would be very handy is if pressing the TiVo button on the remote sent a command to switch the Marantz to that input.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I don't think any TiVo supports HDMI-CEC.


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## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

That's kinda sad in 2018. At the very least I hoped the new MiniVox would support the "Switch to my feed" input like the Fire and many other devices do. Very simple to implement if the will exists to do so, and like on the Fire, it can be made optional.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

dougdingle said:


> That's kinda sad in 2018. At the very least I hoped the new MiniVox would support the "Switch to my feed" input like the Fire and many other devices do. Very simple to implement if the will exists to do so, and like the on the Fire, it can be made optional.


Here something I observe. I have a Mini VOX, running Hydra, connected to a Sony 32EX700. The Sony has its CEC-type control disabled. I also have a A93 Mini on TE3 connected. When I'm done with the Mini I always put it into Standby and sometimes power it off. I found that if I put the Mini VOX into Standby and power off the TV at once, the Mini never goes into Standby. If I power the TV back on, I see the display that wants me to hit Select to enter Standby. I have other A93 Mini units on two different televisions that do not exhibit this behavior. On the VOX, I just wait for the LED to go out before turning off the TV.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

I don't see how you could get CEC triggers from a device (Mini) that was still on the whole time you were switched to the other device (Fire).

On the other hand, a simple HDMI auto switch would handle this easily, automatically switching back to the last active video signal.


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## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

mdavej said:


> I don't see how you could get CEC triggers from a device (Mini) that was still on the whole time you were switched to the other device (Fire).
> 
> On the other hand, a simple HDMI auto switch would handle this easily, automatically switching back to the last active video signal.


The way the Fire does it, it only sends the "Switch to my input" trigger when you press the Fire remote's Home button. The Mini or Minivox could send that same trigger only when you press the TiVo button, or the Enter button, or the Thumbs Up button, or... If one wanted to get really fancy, one could make it a menu item with the user able to select which button makes it go, with no button as the default (for those who aren't interested).

The HDMI auto switches I've had were easily confused and thus unreliable, and one that supports HDCP 2.2 and UHD 60 Hz with any form of HDR is not inexpensive. Additionally, if I'm watching the Fire, but the Mini is on, how would I get it to automatically switch back to the Mini without having to go through putting the current device to sleep, which is too much work compared to just picking up the other remote?

The easy way is to have the thing send a "Select ME!!!" trigger with a specific button push, like the Fire does. Easy to do, just needs someone at TiVo to own the concept and code it. It is pretty astonishing that in 2018 TiVo still doesn't have this feature.


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## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

After some more thought, the TiVo button is ideal, since it also wakes the Mini if it's asleep.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

dougdingle said:


> After some more thought, the TiVo button is ideal, since it also wakes the Mini if it's asleep.


So does Live TV and Guide.


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## mikeparksne (Aug 18, 2017)

JoeKustra said:


> Here something I observe. I have a Mini VOX, running Hydra, connected to a Sony 32EX700. The Sony has its CEC-type control disabled. I also have a A93 Mini on TE3 connected. When I'm done with the Mini I always put it into Standby and sometimes power it off. I found that if I put the Mini VOX into Standby and power off the TV at once, the Mini never goes into Standby. If I power the TV back on, I see the display that wants me to hit Select to enter Standby. I have other A93 Mini units on two different televisions that do not exhibit this behavior. On the VOX, I just wait for the LED to go out before turning off the TV.


I noticed this same thing happening. I have to wait for the Mini to shut off first, then power down the TV when using the Tivo remote. However, if I put in standby and use the TV's remote to power down, the Tivo goes into standby. Apparently, the mini sees the TV shutdown command as a command, and doesn't go into standby when using the Tivo remote. This is a HYDRA thing, because it didn't do that before.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

mikeparksne said:


> I noticed this same thing happening. I have to wait for the Mini to shut off first, then power down the TV when using the Tivo remote. However, if I put in standby and use the TV's remote to power down, the Tivo goes into standby. Apparently, the mini sees the TV shutdown command as a command, and doesn't go into standby when using the Tivo remote. This is a HYDRA thing, because it didn't do that before.


That's so weird. I just tried it. I can drop my Mini to TE3 but not today. I'll try it on Saturday. I also need to verify use of RF mode on a Mini VOX remote.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

dougdingle said:


> The way the Fire does it, it only sends the "Switch to my input" trigger when you press the Fire remote's Home button. The Mini or Minivox could send that same trigger only when you press the TiVo button, or the Enter button, or the Thumbs Up button, or... If one wanted to get really fancy, one could make it a menu item with the user able to select which button makes it go, with no button as the default (for those who aren't interested).
> 
> The HDMI auto switches I've had were easily confused and thus unreliable, and one that supports HDCP 2.2 and UHD 60 Hz with any form of HDR is not inexpensive. Additionally, if I'm watching the Fire, but the Mini is on, how would I get it to automatically switch back to the Mini without having to go through putting the current device to sleep, which is too much work compared to just picking up the other remote?
> 
> The easy way is to have the thing send a "Select ME!!!" trigger with a specific button push, like the Fire does. Easy to do, just needs someone at TiVo to own the concept and code it. It is pretty astonishing that in 2018 TiVo still doesn't have this feature.


You can only put one device that is always on, on a auto switching HDMI switch. Then you put the always active device on the port with the least priority. That way things will switch properly to the correct inputs.


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## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

aaronwt said:


> You can only put one device that is always on, on a auto switching HDMI switch. Then you put the always active device on the port with the least priority. That way things will switch properly to the correct inputs.


if I'm watching the Fire, and the Mini is on the port with least priority, how would I get it to automatically switch back to the Mini without having to go through putting the Fire to sleep, which is a lot of button pushes compared to picking up the TiVo remote (since I will be using the TiVo next anyway) and just pushing a button on it to make the TiVo the selected input on my AVR?

I'm puzzled why there's so much resistance to an _*optional *_menu parameter that would make the TiVo work like just about every other device with an HDMI output, and drag it kicking and screaming into 2016. The various Amazon Fires have had it for years. So has the the Roku. On either of those, hit the Home button, and that input is selected on my AVR. How much simpler can it get?

Sure, there are endless workarounds (I've thought of them all) that involve me buying more hardware, or pushing a bunch of buttons on the remote of the current device (or both). A simple _*optional *_"Select my input" CEC command on the TiVo would make all of that academic. No one has to use it if they don't like it.


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## tapokata (Apr 26, 2017)

TiVo is a unified entertainment system, or that's how it's marketed. In TiVo's world, there is no reason nor need to ever have to change inputs, as the UES can handle everything you need from the TiVo remote.


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## dougdingle (Jul 4, 2007)

tapokata said:


> TiVo is a unified entertainment system, or that's how it's marketed. In TiVo's world, there is no reason nor need to ever have to change inputs, as the UES can handle everything you need from the TiVo remote.


Every component I have that has built-in apps makes the same pretty much worthless claim as TiVo in that regard. Each one wants to be the center of my 'entertainment universe', and in that regard, they all fail quite miserably.

I have a somewhat extensive setup (pales in comparison to some, I know), a total of eleven devices here with built-in apps, five of which are TiVo based (Roamio Pro + 4 Minis). The TiVo based ones are the worst when it comes to app responsiveness, features, bug fixes/updates, and especially stability while in use. The only time I ever use any TiVo built-in apps is if I happen to be watching some old Star Trek or another on cable, and I can launch the Netflix or Amazon app and have it go to that exact episode in much better quality and without commercials; that is a nifty feature. Otherwise, I never use any of TiVos built-in apps.

When a device tries to be all things to everyone, it is bound to do, at best, a mediocre job of most of it. TiVos are no exception.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

I don't have the hardware to check whether it's true, but a comment from David Shoop on the FB TiVo.Innovate group has me wondering whether the latest TE4 update (21.*.v5) includes CEC for the Mini VOX.

Shoop: Hail Hydra
FBer: I will when my mini vox gets cec
Shoop: hum, perhaps it's in this latest version? (link)​


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## Darrell Patton (Jul 19, 2018)

tapokata said:


> TiVo is a unified entertainment system, or that's how it's marketed. In TiVo's world, there is no reason nor need to ever have to change inputs, as the UES can handle everything you need from the TiVo remote.


If Tivo wants to be the a real Unified Entertainment System, then they should support every app that a Roku can run, or at the very least give me a current version of the ones they do claim to support. A possible alternative would be to have HDMI inputs on their boxes to allow me to plug in other devices, which would allow me to run a Roku or Fire from the Tivo. I know, it's not gonna happen.


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