Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a brilliant idea TiVO should have built long ago. This remote was connected to a TiVO HD with a TiVO wireless adapter already connected.
Installation couldn't be easier. Plug the Bluetooth receiver (supplied in the box) into one of the USB plugs in the back of your TiVO (if you like there is a USB 'extension cord' you can plug in and Velcro to the top of your TiVO), put in the two AA batteries in the remote. Guess what, that's it. No seriously, there is nothing else to do. NADA, nothing, it works right out of the box perfectly.
Oh, I did oversimplify things a tiny bit, if you want to control the power for your television, and volume / mute on your A/V receiver; you have to do that programming. But, you know, you've done that already with the regular TiVO remote, so there's nothing new there. Hey, you did write down your code numbers, right? The instruction booklet does remind you to go to the TiVO menu, settings, Remote Control, and then select the appropriate control.
The thing you really want to know about, that keyboard. In a word, it is excellent. I absolutely HATED arrowing around to select letters on season passes, searching YouTube, and even set up my remote control. With this remote, when you arrive at a menu that wants letters entered, couldn't be easier, slide the remote open, press the letter keys on the QWERTY keyboard and numbers on the number pad to the right. It works so fast I couldn't believe it.
So setting up my television codes (Samsung) and my A/V receiver codes (Yamaha) I had to arrow down for a week to get to the S's, and then worst with Y's. On this remote, slip it open and press S, and there I was Samsung. Press Y and there you are for Yamaha. So quick, so easy.
The remote does a pretty cool glow whenever the room is dark and you press a button. The glow is white / blue and subtle. I've gotten so used to button location that the light is almost not necessary.
Comment on the size - this remote is a little chunk of meat. Mr. Peanut gained some weight, and he got shorter. He's about twenty five percent shorter than the original remote. It is a bit thicker, maybe twenty five percent. To my hand, it feels really nice. Small hands might find it a bit bulky.
Key layout is just fine. In order to shrink this thing, they had to move some keys up a bit. Select is now in the center of the top dial (it was below before). Pause is now in the center of the bottom dial (it was below before). Volume and Channel are now switched with the thumbs up and down buttons. I'm sure I'll hit the wrong button in the beginning. Otherwise the layout is pretty similar. It won't take long to get used to the slightly changed layout and key feel. You almost have to not think about where you are putting your fingers, they pretty much go where they should.
The keyboard is very easy to use. Spacing of the letter keys is very nice. Anybody that has typed on a Blackberry will feel at home here. There's an arrow / select button (replica of the top circle buttons on the TiVO remote) at the left of the letters. The interesting thing, it is rotated ninety degrees. This makes sense; you have to turn the remote ninety degrees to use the keyboard, so this orientation is logical or intuitive. The number pad on the right is very useful. Overall, it is super simple to perform any kind of search in the TiVO menus.
By default, the remote control transmits over Bluetooth for TiVO commands if the dongle is plugged in your TiVO. The remote tip glows blue when transmitting. For the volume, input, power, and mute buttons, both Bluetooth and IR commands are transmitted. The cool part of the Bluetooth instructions, it's no longer necessary to point at your TiVO. That's also a curse, if you drop your remote in the couch and buttons start pressing, all those bogus commands will go to your TiVO. I've accidently changed the channel a few times.
Overall, this remote is well built, feels very good in my hand, is super simple to install, and makes searches easy to do. I really like this remote.
I have a PS3, but haven't tried pairing to see if it will work like a keyboard for that device.
Sept. 5, 2010 Update: The remote mysteriously stopped working. IR worked fine, the blue light came on just fine, but the TiVO would do nothing. I tried pairing the remote (pretty easy to do) and nothing worked. So I tried TiVO on line chat - that never ever ever works with any company. But NO TiVO actually hired some smart fast people to help with support (just like their phone support). The problem was a defective bluetooth dongle. They're shipping me a new one. I happened to have a bluetooth USB dongle and tried it out. Voila, it worked. Sweetness.
Still is an awesome remote.
October 13, 2010 Update: PS3 pairing, doesn't work, at least I can't get it to do anything useful. Pairing was impossible through the bluetooth device menu on the PS3 - the PS3 scanned and scanned, the TiVO Slide was in pairable mode, and it was never found. When pairing it under the BD-Remote menu, pairing worked, the remote connected to the PS3. BUT, it wouldn't do anything useful. The keyboard did not work as if I was pressing letters. The buttons did random things - somehow I almost always ended up at the PS3 black screen asking me if I wanted to shut down the system.
So in a word, NO for the PS3.
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