# TiVo netflix remote function



## jonhp (Sep 4, 2002)

using a romio;
if you start with a paused netflix video at t1:
1 - fast forward to t2; pause, play: it starts at t1
2 - fast forward to t2; play: it starts at t2.
option 1 above isn't intuitive and isn't how even the TiVo itself works.
Could 1 above please be changed so that it also starts at t2?
thanks for considering.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

I played with this on a few different devices: my Bolt, Roku 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and my smart TV's app. On Roku 3, PAUSE has an identical action to PLAY when sent while FF'ing or REW'ing; on Xbox One, PAUSE is ignored. Netflix on the smart TV and Xbox 360 respond exactly the same as TiVo. 

I don't think that TiVo has any more control of how the Netflix app works on their products than Google has over how the website player works in Chrome. It's written primarily in Javascript running in a pared-down, purpose optimized layout/rendering engine of Netflix's design. It's sort of a highly atypical Web application running in a kind of mini-browser, with most of its code and art assets dynamically downloaded when it starts (though on Bolt and some other devices it only loads it once per device boot so that it starts instantly thereafter). They've written it that way to get the same UI on many different platforms and to be able to make bug fixes and add new features at will without requiring firmware updates, which are generally controlled by the platform OEMs.

This is a request that you should make of Netflix.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

I agree. I was just thinking about how the Amazon, Netflix, and TiVo functions of the TiVo don't use the same remote conventions. It's just annoying as heck. The buttons do completely different things. TiVo needs to introduce some better rules for using their remote so that the other apps function like a TiVo.

I'm only using it temporarily. Eventually when I get my setup up again, I will be using a smart TV or Roku, as the interface for Netflix and Amazon is faster and makes more sense than on TiVo.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

Bigg said:


> I agree. I was just thinking about how the Amazon, Netflix, and TiVo functions of the TiVo don't use the same remote conventions. It's just annoying as heck. The buttons do completely different things. TiVo needs to introduce some better rules for using their remote so that the other apps function like a TiVo.


That's not likely to happen. The streaming services want control over the presentation of their products and they could care less whether there's any inconsistency with the platform's main application's control scheme. Netflix, Amazon, VUDU and YouTube all have different control schemes from each other and from Tivo's, but all of their control schemes are nearly identical on many other different devices. If I only use a single platform, it might seem slightly inconvenient to have to learn all of these different UIs, but if I use Netflix on TiVo in one room, a Roku 3 in a 2nd room, an Xbox One in a 3rd room and a smart TV's internal app in a 4th, it's all the same once I get it started.

If TiVo were to try to impose UI elements on Netflix, Amazon, VUDU, Hulu or YouTube I feel fairly certain that those companies would shrug and remove their apps from the platform, losing few if any subscribers. Their customers would just watch them on other devices that they already own or buy inexpensive new devices to watch them with. They all have apps on hundreds of different platforms with 10s of millions of units in the field. TiVo has zero leverage with which to enforce UI "rules".

If you want the old Roku native Netflix UI you'll need to be careful as to which model you buy. All current models (Roku 4, Roku 3, 2015 Roku 2, Roku TV, Roku HDMI Stick) and all future models have the same UI as TiVo Bolt, Roamio and Premiere. (Roku and Netflix tried hard--or so they claim--to get it to work on other models but couldn't achieve acceptable performance on any of them). The old native Roku Netflix UI significantly does not support Profiles.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

mikeyts said:


> That's not likely to happen. The streaming services want control over the presentation of their products and they could care less whether there's any inconsistency with the platform's main application's control scheme. Netflix, Amazon, VUDU and YouTube all have different control schemes from each other and from Tivo's, but all of their control schemes are nearly identical on many other different devices. If I only use a single platform, it might seem slightly inconvenient to have to learn all of these different UIs, but if I use Netflix on TiVo in one room, a Roku 3 in a 2nd room, an Xbox One in a 3rd room and a smart TV's internal app in a 4th, it's all the same once I get it started.
> 
> If TiVo were to try to impose UI elements on Netflix, Amazon, VUDU, Hulu or YouTube I feel fairly certain that those companies would shrug and remove their apps from the platform, losing few if any subscribers. Their customers would just watch them on other devices that they already own or buy inexpensive new devices to watch them with. They all have apps on hundreds of different platforms with 10s of millions of units in the field. TiVo has zero leverage with which to enforce UI "rules".
> 
> If you want the old Roku native Netflix UI you'll need to be careful as to which model you buy. All current models (Roku 4, Roku 3, 2015 Roku 2, Roku TV, Roku HDMI Stick) and all future models have the same UI as TiVo Bolt, Roamio and Premiere. (Roku and Netflix tried hard--or so they claim--to get it to work on other models but couldn't achieve acceptable performance on any of them). The old native Roku Netflix UI significantly does not support Profiles.


I suppose that's true. It's just unfortunate that their hard-headedness or laziness of caring has made their apps look and feel like crap on TiVo, because TiVo users expect everything on their boxes to act just like TiVo, not like a Roku or FireTV or something.

I understand what you're saying about using Netflix across different devices, BUT I would argue that being consistent with TiVo's UX is more important, because the remote is what is consistent between TiVo on TiVo, Netflix on TiVo, and Amazon on TiVo, but is completely different on Roku or FireTV or whatnot.

Yeah, that's unfortunately probably true, and the streaming providers probably don't care that their apps suck on TiVo compared to other devices.

I don't mind the Netflix interface per se, and it's fine on a Smart TV (I've never used it on Roku or anything else), because it's a different remote. It's that I expect the Peanut to do things the Peanut way, not the way that some other remote does it. It makes sense on another remote, because it's not the Peanut. It's an issue of customization to that remote more than anything.

I plan on moving away from using TiVo for Netflix and Amazon, partly because of performance, but partly because of the remote conventions. My favorite remote is probably Roku's, because it fits in my hand nicely, is simple, and makes sense. I love the Peanut, but the apps just behave too badly to use it. I may also end up with DirecTV, depending on where I live, so that would force me to use the apps on something else anyway.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

I would not expect to get any kind of collusion on these apps all working the same way. I would just be happy with a webpage that did document how they worked. It took forever for me to figure out how to make the timeline show in netflix without pausing the program accidentially. (Down arrow does this!)


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

I haven't used "the peanut" in a very, very long time. I left the one that came with the Bolt in the box--I never unwrapped or examined it. I'm a Harmony One user and haven't had to reprogram, except that they added a BACK button which Amazon decided to change their app to use, unnecessarily removing response to the button that does the same thing on Roamio and Premiere . I'm going to have to add that.

Maybe that's why the different UIs on TiVo don't bother me .


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

mikeyts said:


> I haven't used "the peanut" in a very, very long time. I left the one that came with the Bolt in the box--I never unwrapped or examined it. I'm a Harmony One user and haven't had to reprogram, except that they added a BACK button which Amazon decided to change their app to use, unnecessarily removing response to the button that does the same thing on Roamio and Premiere . I'm going to have to add that.
> 
> Maybe that's why the different UIs on TiVo don't bother me .


Could be. Part of the selling point of TiVo for me is the peanut. I got the Slide Pro just to have an RF remote. It was great last winter when it was like 54 in the basement and I was under two quilts!


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## k3rnel (Dec 1, 2015)

helpful


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