SUCCESS : 2nd remote for BT TV Box Pro

[philferrar]

Hi - I just had my new box set up and wondered about having a 2nd handset so my wife and I can operate independently without needing to pass the remote around.

Having asked BT directly and searched forum etc. I was led to believe that you cannot have 2 Bluetooth remotes connected. The nearest solution I read about was having a 2nd remote, which when registered caused the 1st remote to fall back in IR [Infra Red - line of sight mode] which would be tolerable.

GOOD NEWS

I went to a well known online store 2 days ago and purchased a 2nd remote "BT TV PRO BLUETOOTH VOICE REMOTE CONTROL" for just £12.99 - it arrived in today's post.

I popped some batteries in and paired it [long press Home ad 9 keys until light flashed] and it registered fine. I tested out the functionality o.k.

When I picked up the original remote [that I expected to be in an unpaired state] it was to my surprise working in Bluetooth mode [not IR] which contradicts everything I had been told about or read.

I have an explanation below, but it is only my 'educated guess' as to what is happening.

The remotes look identical with the exception that the one from eBay has a microphone icon * on the search button, whereas the original has a magnifying glass icon. Additionally when adjusting the volume the original displays a progress bar down the right hand side of the screen, whereas the eBay remote causes a different progress bar to be displayed along the top of the screen.

* this hopefully refers to a software upgrade that had been requested for a while and may support 'voice search'

I therefore assume that the TV Box Pro "sees" these as two different devices and allows them to co-exist, unlike the case of where I believe 2 original devices [with magnifying glasses] knock each other out in terms of Bluetooth registration and function.

Hope this helps.

Phil

[Keith_Beddoe]

@philferrar 

You need to remove that link to ebay, as its not permitted on this forum.

[philferrar]

Thanks for the heads up - I'm new to forum - have amended the post.

[rbz5416 · Accepted solution]

This is a bit of a grey area with, as your research showed, conflicting reports of success. Certainly early attempts posted on these forums suggested it didn't work.

My guess is that the two remotes are identical internally & the microphone icon only removed from later iterations when BT/Sagemcom abandoned trying to make it work. I suspect one of the software updates may have enabled two remotes to co-exist, but with no change logs published that's just a guess also.

I suspect the two different volume behaviours are because one is controlling the Pro Box volume & the other the TV volume. But again, just speculation.

[philferrar]

Maybe my "Success" claim was a little premature. After both remotes were working fine during the late morning and early afternoon - I picked up the original late afternoon and apart from the volume controls it was no longer working. I decided to register it again (Home + 9 keys for a few seconds) and it flashed almost immediately. I tried all the different action keys and everything seemed fine again. I assumed that maybe this new registration had 'knocked out' the registration of the second remote - but no - they are both working happily. I'm certain I did not make any changes in the interim so [guessing again] it seems to be something to do with the TV Box Pro timing out / or rejecting the second remote. Will just need to see if either become inoperable later today, tomorrow, or whatever ???

[philferrar]

Just an update to my previous post. Last night I used one of the remotes to put the TV box into standby, then this morning [at least 9 or 10 hours later] I used the other remote to take it out of standby.  Both remotes are working fine. I don't have a rational explanation but as long as they work, and can be re-registered on demand if necessary [in just a couple of seconds] then I guess there is no major issue.

[davidmbell]

Can a 2nd BT Pro (or even EE Pro) remote be set to work in IR mode? Instead of Bluetooth mode? 

I have an EE Pro box that will live in my lounge, and I want to be able to control that from another room (outside of Bluetooth range) I've got a Technomate HDMI over RF modulator coming, that also has RF capability (like Magic Eye on old Sky) to pass back the signal from room 2, to the lounge via RF over coaxial. But I like the shape of the new "oval" remote, so want to get a 2nd one of those (and not the original YouView remotes, which I know do do both).

So, can the "oval" pro remote work over RF, instead of Bluetooth?

[rbz5416]

Possibly.

The BT remote defaults to IR until it's paired with a box, when it switches to BT. So if the second remote is never in range of the box, it should remain in IR mode.

[davidmbell]

So it can’t be forced to stay permanently in IR mode?

[rbz5416]

No.

You could look at a universal remote like the One For All Zapper.