MCinKC's profile

Tutor

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4 Messages

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012 5:09 PM

Two identical TV's with Two Different Uverse boxes

I recently finished my basement 'man cave' complete with two identical 42" Vizio (Model E422VLE) LCD's. I have ATT Uverse, but am working with two different boxes: a Motorola VIP1200 DVR box and the other is one of ATT's newer Cisco wirelss boxes.

I programmed one ATT remote to work the TV volume and other functions, and both TV's also respond to that remote. The ATT remotes look identical and sure enough, when I change the channel, both TV's channel changes.

I don't mind having two remotes, but am open to purchasing a universal remote as well. Is there a way to change the code on one remote, so that each works its Uverse box independantly? What other remote options do I have?

Thanks in advance!

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

Expert

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10.1K Messages

11 years ago

psoftkidd - that is because the IR rcvr can still see the other remote. You have to hide the PA STB so that it cannot see any IR.

 

If the TVs are identical the TV IR affects both, as well.

Expert

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14.5K Messages

12 years ago

The standard U-verse remotes works on all of the different U-verse receivers.  One option would be to purchase a AT&T U-verse Point Anywhere Remote for one of the TV's.

Tutor

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4 Messages

12 years ago

So this remote would allow me to control box boxes independantly? For instance, I could change the channel on one TV (which is connected via HDMI to one box) without the other TV's channel changing? If this were the case then I assume there are codes for each one of my boxes that I could program into the Point Anywhere remote?

Expert

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14.5K Messages

12 years ago


@MCinKC wrote:

 

So this remote would allow me to control box boxes independantly? For instance, I could change the channel on one TV (which is connected via HDMI to one box) without the other TV's channel changing? If this were the case then I assume there are codes for each one of my boxes that I could program into the Point Anywhere remote?


Yes, with the use of the Point Anywhere Remote and the standard remote.  The Point Anywhere Remote will control one of the U-verse receivers, and the standard U-verse remote will be used to control the other U-verse receiver. 

 

No, there is a dongle that will be placed into the USB port on the front of one of the U-verse receivers.  The dongle will be paired with the Point Anywhere Remote.  The Point Anywhere Remote does not work on the U-verse receiver without the use of the dongle.  Thus, the Point Anywhere Remote will only be used to control only one of your receivers.

ACE - Expert

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34.7K Messages

12 years ago

The Point-Anywhere RF remote sends commands via RF to a USB dongle, which translates the commands to an IR signal emitted by an LED on the dongle.

 

The way that the Point-Anywhere RF remote would work in this situation is this:  You would place the dongle in front of the IR port of the STB it controls and block off the IR port so that no other IR commands coudl reach it.

 

 However, this only solves the problem of the STB receiving commands.  When using buttons that send the TV signals, both TVs would still potentially recieve the commands (as they are sent via IR only). Maybe a toilet paper core taped in front of the TV's IR receiver would force you to align the remote such that only one TV could get the signals?

 

Another option for controlling the DVR/STB would be, if you have a spare iOS device sitting around, the iOS application that can serve as a remote via IP networking.

 

Expert

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10.1K Messages

12 years ago

MCinKC - Not exactly. The point anywhere remote does have a pairing with its dongle receiver. So if you have multiple point anywhere remotes you can pair each one.

But, you need only one. You use one IR remote & one RF remote. You hide the RF STB so it does not respond to the other IR.

But, what are you going to do about the TVs?

I actually have the exact same set-up, but intentionally have different TVs.

There is a brand new more elegant (read potentially expensive) solution. at&t just introduced an easy remote app for iphone, ipod, ipad that works via the RG wireless,


User manual for U-verse easy remote - https://www.att.com/support_media/images/pdf/uverse/Easy+Remote+tutorial+_07122012.pdf

The u-verse easy remote app, available on iTunes, appears to have the following new (more than the basic remote) features -
Click speak button & it responds to voice,
Two font sizes - multicolors
Prominent Closed Caption (CC) single press toggle button.
Favorite channel scan.buttons in addition to full channel scan buttons
One button Favorites guide.
Paired with STB - Supports multiple STBs. << control both STBs individually with one remote>>
Sort channel list by channel name.
Optional haptic feedback.

 

Major missing feature - Mute/Volume control of STB  << With your TVs being the same & you usually have them both on, If you could control the STB volume/mute you would be perfect. >> 



The same functionality may be available or on the way for other smart phones.

Tutor

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4 Messages

12 years ago

That sounds like an easy enough solution. I'll try it out and see what happens. Thanks for the input everyone!

Expert

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10.1K Messages

12 years ago

MCinKC - The RF remote actually has a solution for controlling the two volumes individually.

The default for a remote programmed for a TV is to control the TV volume. Do not program the RF remote for a TV.

In this scenario -
The IR remote turns both TVs & one STB on/off at the same time.

The RF remote turns on/off the other STB.

The IR remote controls all watching activities of the IR TV.

The RF remote controls all watching activities of the RF TV.

 

Oops, the RF TV still sees the IR signal intended for th other TV. Have to keep thinking. If you cover the IR sensor, then you need a way to turn it on.

Tutor

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4 Messages

12 years ago

What if I am able to get two different codes for the TV's and program one code on the IR remote and one code on the RF remote? Would that solve the issue of controlling the two TV's with the two different remotes?

ACE - Expert

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34.7K Messages

12 years ago

Probably not.  Given identical TV's, I'm assuming the two codes are both recognized by both TV's and would therefore still be procesed by both.  Unless you could somehow tell the TV that you want it to react only to IR commands from a certain code.  I'm not aware of any TV's with that functionality.

 

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