My Fire TV is part of a set-up consisting of itself, TV (duh), A/V Receiver, and a couple of other HDMI devices that go into the receiver. TV, A/V receiver and others are controlled via Infrared remotes, while Fire TV remote is Bluetooth, if I understand correctly. I'd like to consolidate all the different controls into one universal remote and was wondering if someone had any ideas on how to go about that.
I've previously owned a Logitech Harmony remote that worked well, but I really don't want to shell out $250+ for those.
I've confirmed that RF-type mini keyboards with a USB receiver work. Now I need to find a similar one with IR and learning functionality. I've been looking at Amazon and it looks like something like this might work.
If anyone has recommendations, I'd be very grateful.
You can just use the Flirc IR to USB receiver. Search Amazon for FLIRC, its $30. Then use that with your current universal remote, if you have one.
I can't post link, too new, but here is the XBMC thread confirming its functionality.
ht tp://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=191109&pid=1674861
Spelvin said:
You can just use the Flirc IR to USB receiver. Search Amazon for FLIRC, its $30. Then use that with your current universal remote, if you have one.
I can't post link, too new, but here is the XBMC thread confirming its functionality.
ht tp://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=191109&pid=1674861
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the Flirc suggestion, I'll look into it. Unfortunately I don't own a universal remote any more. My old Logitech Harmony 880 died a few years ago, and I've been making do with a Sony Google TV remote (comes with a couple of IR blasters.)
a lot of people seem to like the ortek/mce remote but it only has a mousepad-thingy and no kdb. then again spamazon has it for USD12.55, so that's almost worth getting just to have a spare remote.
the remote you linked, Chahk, seems quite useful (although who chose the button colors it is so ugly
the keyboard/mouse side looks like the standard Rii type - I have one of the most basic Rii for my ouya, except in BT rather than RF. the touchpad is kinda sketchy and takes some finesse, but it works well enough. the keyboard works well enough.
my favorite is still the PS3 / BD remote. but it only has 2 IR modes (tv, and amp/receiver) and it sounds like you have 3-4 IR devices?
(and the IR modes are only of the "pick a number out of the hat" variety, not custom programmable or learning or anything.)
it works great with ouya bluetooth, but there are at least 2 problems in regard to firetv:
- either amazon has to expand BT settings to generic HID, or we will need root to edit some config files.
- it is a pinless device. for android up to 4.1.x there is a consistent workaround. but not for android 4.2 and higher. (but again editing config file would probably be enough)
Is there an remote app from the market you can use to control the Fire TV?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
scottsdca said:
I can confirm that the Ortek-Windows-Infrared-Receiver-Ultimate I purchased from Amazon does indeed work with my Harmony One and the Fire TV.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
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Do the "Home" and "Menu" buttons work with the Ortek remote?
I have a similar MCE remote (LINK) which mostly works but not these two buttons.
kociubin said:
Do the "Home" and "Menu" buttons work with the Ortek remote?
I have a similar MCE remote which mostly works but not these two buttons.
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Click to collapse
All the buttons show there work, including "Home" and "Back", however there is no button on the remote to bring up a context menu
google "fire tv tips" there is a key map that shows what buttons do what on a google tv forum
Remote/keyboard app
Is there a remote app from the market you can use to control the Fire TV?
scottsdca said:
Is there a remote app from the market you can use to control the Fire TV?
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Click to collapse
Not an official one. Able Remote works well for Google TV, but requires a companion app to be installed on the TV. The developer will have to come up with a Fire TV specific version.
Well, I went ahead and ordered this ugly monstrosity. It's coming from Singapore, so it'll be a few weeks before it get here.
Chahk said:
Well, I went ahead and ordered this ugly monstrosity. It's coming from Singapore, so it'll be a few weeks before it get here.
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Click to collapse
It's here, and it does a fine job at controlling the Fire TV. unfortunately it does a piss-poor job of controlling pretty much anything else. Contrary to the description, it has no "IR learning" functionality, but a simple list of codes instead. The list is quite limited, and only supports half of my devices. I'm done with cheap Chinese knock-offs, and will be ordering a Logitech Harmony remote instead.
[Update]:
Harmony Ultimate is here, and it controls everything I have except Fire TV. Aaaaarrrghhh! I'm ready to pull my hair out over here.
Last chance. I'm ordering one of those cheap USB IR receivers that people over at AVS Forums are saying work well with Fire TV, and teaching my Harmony the basic buttons (left, right, up, down, select, back, home.) If that doesn't work - all of it is going back to their respective manufacturers until they learn how to play nice with each other.
UPDATE 2:
Victory! After hooking up the IR receiver from the MCE remote to Fire TV, and teaching Harmony the basic keys, I can now control everything in my setup with a single remote. Of course the voice input from the Fire TV remote is missing, and since Harmony Ultimate has no keyboard, I'm stuck doing text entry letter-by-letter via the clunky mid-90's interface. It'll do for now, until I figure out a way to either bring QWERTY to Harmony, or get a USB hub for Fire TV so that I can use my RF micro-keyboard.
Now I need to do some wire management to take care of the spaghetti wiring from all these devices.
UPDATE 3:
Got a simple unpowered 4-port USB hub, plugged in both the IR receiver and an RF receiver, so now I can also use a micro-keyboard for doing text input. The living room is now wife-approved!
Here's another "All-In-One" universal remote option that will work for both standard IR devices and BT devices:
Blu-Link Universal Remote
This remotes can:
1. Act like a normal IR remote (i.e. it has a slew four digit codes to program the remote to work with your IR components)
2. Act like a BT remote (has a built in BT transmitter in it to work with BT devices such as gaming consoles, media boxes (Roku/Fire TV/Apple TV)
3. Has a learning functionality so that any button on your remote can be learned by the Blu-Link remote
(The user guide for the remote can be found here)
The best part is that the remote is only $27.
My only issue now is that I lose the speech recognition ability of the Fire TV remote, but I have yet to find any universal remote setup that can do that.
smithmal
I ended up with this BT/IR kbd+touchpad +8 IR keys, and it's not bad so far ... aside from being a little flimsy and the IR is not super-strong and the battery is only 250mah.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=59103175&postcount=8
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M32PBXO/
but I still almost wish for having one of the singapore monstrosities, simply for how wonderfully unbelievably ugly it is.
smithmal said:
Here's another "All-In-One" universal remote option that will work for both standard IR devices and BT devices:
Blu-Link Universal Remote
This remotes can:
1. Act like a normal IR remote (i.e. it has a slew four digit codes to program the remote to work with your IR components)
2. Act like a BT remote (has a built in BT transmitter in it to work with BT devices such as gaming consoles, media boxes (Roku/Fire TV/Apple TV)
3. Has a learning functionality so that any button on your remote can be learned by the Blu-Link remote
(The user guide for the remote can be found here)
The best part is that the remote is only $27.
My only issue now is that I lose the speech recognition ability of the Fire TV remote, but I have yet to find any universal remote setup that can do that.
smithmal
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Click to collapse
That remote sounds interesting. Does it work well with Fire TV? Like all the basic fire tv buttons are available? And are you using bluetooth or IR with a usb receiver?
smithmal said:
Here's another "All-In-One" universal remote option that will work for both standard IR devices and BT devices:
Blu-Link Universal Remote
This remotes can:
1. Act like a normal IR remote (i.e. it has a slew four digit codes to program the remote to work with your IR components)
2. Act like a BT remote (has a built in BT transmitter in it to work with BT devices such as gaming consoles, media boxes (Roku/Fire TV/Apple TV)
3. Has a learning functionality so that any button on your remote can be learned by the Blu-Link remote
(The user guide for the remote can be found here)
The best part is that the remote is only $27.
My only issue now is that I lose the speech recognition ability of the Fire TV remote, but I have yet to find any universal remote setup that can do that.
smithmal
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Click to collapse
Did you actually manage to get the remote to show up? Every time I tried to pair it, nothing showed up. Also tried it on my nexus player without any luck...
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
I did not. My initial understanding of the remote's capability was based off of erroneous information posted by an Amazon reviewer in the Q&A section for the product. Once obtaining the product I found out that the BT commands for the remote are specific only to the PS3 (i.e. the remote has no ability to "learn" new BT commands). Also, as you mentioned, the FireTV does not recognize it in pairing mode. For this reason, the remote would not work as I had hoped and I updated the Q&A product section on Amazon and sent it back.
My solution was to purchase a FLIRC dongle, download the FLIRC software to my PC, manually force the FLIRC to update its firmware (which is important as the firmware that originally installed with the software would not allow me to properly program the "back", "home" and "menu" buttons; this is done by downloading the latest firmware (which I believe is now v3.5) by following the instructions posted here), program the dongle with my IR remote (I settled on using the standard universal remote that comes with my TV) and then plug in the FLIRC dongle into the USB port of the FireTV.
After that, I had a "All-In-One" universal remote solution that would allow me to operate both my TV and FireTV with one remote.
smithmal
Hey!
I can't for the love of god be able to pair my Amazon FireTV Remote, Shield TV does not want to detect it while my macbook detects the remote without any problem.
I hold the "Home button" on the FireTV remote to put it in pairing mode, my macbook detects the fire remote without any problem and the shield never shows it while looking for bluetooth devices...
I tested my bluetooth speaker to see if shield's bluetooth was working and it detected the speaker without any problem, I don't understand why it never "sees" the firetv remote.. any ideias? plz halp!
Hello,
which Version do you like to pair? The Amazon Fire TV 1 or 2 remote? I have a Fire TV 2 Box and i was able to pair the remote with the Shield. The Version 2 is not bluetooth! You have to pair it as original Stuff.
Greetings
Can you use the Amazon Fire TV remote off/on button to turn off or make the Shield sleep?
Turn on does work with every key. But turn off you have to use the shutdown menu. But at this time i use a Logitech Remote + Hub + Flirc.
AndroidDuke17 said:
Hello,
which Version do you like to pair? The Amazon Fire TV 1 or 2 remote? I have a Fire TV 2 Box and i was able to pair the remote with the Shield. The Version 2 is not bluetooth! You have to pair it as original Stuff.
Greetings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by pair it as original stuff? I have a fire tv voice remote 2nd generation and can't seem to pair it with the shield.
BRICK0044 said:
What do you mean by pair it as original stuff? I have a fire tv voice remote 2nd generation and can't seem to pair it with the shield.
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Click to collapse
I believe he (or she) means you need to pair it as a Shield accessory rather than as a bluetooth accessory.
mrwookie6379 said:
I believe he (or she) means you need to pair it as a Shield accessory rather than as a bluetooth accessory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely right. The remote 2nd generation is not a bluetooth. You have to pair it as original remote in the menu.
Regards
I have the first generation, it's bluetooth, but the shield doesn't detect it.
efegue said:
I have the first generation, it's bluetooth, but the shield doesn't detect it.
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Click to collapse
I had the same Problem. I own a Amazon Fire TV gen1 bluetooth voice remote and I can not connect it with my nvidia shield tv pro.
I hope this is not caused by the firmware update version 352.
Any hint out there? I can not find the ES File Explorer too.
Greetings by Idijt
I didn't have to do any pairing to make it works.
But for few days, voice research doesn't works anymore.
shaun.s said:
Can you use the Amazon Fire TV remote off/on button to turn off or make the Shield sleep?
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Click to collapse
Which on/off button?
The Fire TV remote does not have such a button.
I_did_it_just_tmrrow said:
I had the same Problem. I own a Amazon Fire TV gen1 bluetooth voice remote and I can not connect it with my nvidia shield tv pro.
I hope this is not caused by the firmware update version 352.
Any hint out there? I can not find the ES File Explorer too.
Greetings by Idijt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the Amazon Fire TV Gen 1 voice remote too and cannot pair it to my Nvidia Shield TV? It can't see it even though I've tried both ways to put the remote into discovery mode:
1) Hold HOME button for 5-10 seconds
2) Take batteries out and put them back in
I like this remote better because it has all the buttons I actually need to use. I think someone at Nvidia tried to make their remote too simple that it hurt its basic functionality.
Assuming the v1. Voice is anything like the v2 Voice...
You'll need to give it more like 20s! This is also true for the FireTV2 itself. 10s, just isnt nearly long enough.
i have the shield tv (2017) and the firetv4k remote
when trying to pair as shiel accessorie i press the home button for abt 10-20 sec and then i see that the shield moves to the next step of pairing...however after some waiting time it fails and gives a failure message
any idea what else i could try?
snoopy7804 said:
i have the shield tv (2017) and the firetv4k remote
when trying to pair as shiel accessorie i press the home button for abt 10-20 sec and then i see that the shield moves to the next step of pairing...however after some waiting time it fails and gives a failure message
any idea what else i could try?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have same issue, it shows Shield controller but then stops process
after the upgrade to nougat i had the same problem... pairing the amazon remote took forever and ended in a failure notice. try to pair the game controller first and than the fire tv remote. after pairing the game controler and orignal shield remote the amazon remote paired just fine.
Anyone found a solution? None of those solution works, amazon fire voice remote worked with my old tv shield, but it won't pair with 2017 model.
It dose show a picture of old shield tv game controller, after a while say faild.
n4r30s said:
Anyone found a solution? None of those solution works, amazon fire voice remote worked with my old tv shield, but it won't pair with 2017 model.
It dose show a picture of old shield tv game controller, after a while say faild.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it possible that this is a Android 7 Nougat bug with bluetooth? I found something similar with a short google query.
At common:
Perhaps there is a chance to use adb or another script to add bluetooth firetv remotes.
I found some adb cpommands but missed the importand ones: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41594707/adb-shell-bluetooth-commands
This is looking nice too and seems to have some code on github: http://www.londatiga.net/it/program...ally-pair-or-unpair-android-bluetooth-device/
We shoukd be able to find out the mac of the remote on a working FireTV-Device with adb enabled.
I am currently not at home to try it it out, can somebody try it?
Greetings by Idijt
..
2nd gen fire tv remote:
voice search was working perfectly till the last update. now it will start searching on button up and down so the results cant be shown because of the new search action
Gesendet von meinem ALE-L21 mit Tapatalk
I have a few firetv sticks. Today I noticed something peculiar. One is located in my garage and I was using an IPTV app on the device. I picked up the tv remote to set the timer. I backed out and realized was backing out of a menu app on the firetv. I also have an RCA universal 6 device remote and it worked as well. I know I programmed the rca to control a roku. But I don’t recall doing anything for the firetv. I certainly never did anything to the Panasonic remote (it’s an older plasma tv). Anyone ever seen this? I have many of the universal remotes and it would be great to program more to work with other firetv sticks.
What you're seeing is called HDMI-CEC. It allows the TV to send basic navigation commands to the Fire TV over the HDMI connection. No programming is needed. You can verify this is what is happening by disabling HDMI-CEC in the Fire TV's display settings. See here: http://www.aftvnews.com/amazon-fire...able-hdmi-cec-in-new-5-2-4-0-software-update/
I have a FireTV Stick 4K with latest offical firmware and trying to pair a Alexa Voice Remote (1st Generation). I really tried everything, but the FireTV does not recognise it
I still have an old Basic Edition Remote, that does pair without any problems.
I also reset the Voice Remote as descirbed in the amazon help (tried all button combinations, also from the other remotes). Removed batteries, restarted FireTV, even reset FireTV, tried pairing with home button after restart, tried pairing ober the menu with add new remote... nothing...
I thought it's broken, but it does pair after reset (with left button and menue button) to an old FireTV 2 (which i normaly no longer use). So the remote seems to work. Because i get it done with other remote and on other FireTV hardware i also shouldn't be too stupid to just do it right...
And because the old basic remote does also pair to the FireTV Stick 4k, the FireTV Stick should also be fine...
Any ideas I could try to get the damn voice remote got paired to the FireTV Stick 4k?
The FireTV 2 remote uses WiFi direct.
The basic edition, 2nd and 3rd gen remotes use Bluetooth.
The WiFi direct remote is not compatible with the 4k Stick.