Sony Remote and BT TV Box Home Button

[TravelBear]

Hi.  I am setting up a A80L and have a BT TV Pro Box connected by HDMI.  I went through the process of setting up the Set Top Box, chose the BT TV Pro Box and the model number and trying diffrent codes and eventually the channels changed and it said the Sony remote will now control the BT box.  Which is kind of does.  I see the guide, the channel button goes up and down, it will pause live tv.  But I can't figure out how to access the DVR recordings and functions that I would access through the 'Home' button on the BT remote.

I found the menu button on the Sony remote and that gives an option for set top box controls.  Choosing that gives me a list like 'Display, VOD, DVR, List etc'.  I thought that might be it, but choosing any of those options does nothing. 

I found an old thread from 2020 where they found the function on their older remotes, but I can't figure it out on either the smart remote or the not smart remote.  Am I missing something?  Please clue me in if you can.  On the other hand, if this function is not available and a mere wishful dreaming of a simple human who wants one remote to rule them all but it's never going to happen, please let me know so I can stop my quest and not put more hours into hunting the internet for the magical solution.

Thanks for any help.

[royabrown2]

@TravelBear 

Try it the other way round - the Pro box remote should automatically pair with the TV, an long as during the Pro box setup, you had it connected to the TV via HDMI and the TV was turned on.

But both remotes are only ever going to control the basics of the other device; hopefully, the Pro remote will cover enough of the TV function that you rarely need the TV remote though.

To re-pair the remote, in case you haven’t already done that, first reset it:-

https://www.bt.com/help/tv/fix-a-problem/remote/which-remote-do-you-have/resetting-your-remote-contr....

Then:-

https://www.bt.com/help/tv/getting-set-up/how-do-i-control-my-tv-with-my-bt-tv-remote-control-?_gl=1...

If not, for ‘one remote to rule them all’ you are going to need a One For All Or Harmony remote.

But the Pro remote controls the Pro box via Bluetooth, not IR, by default, but an IR remote will work.

You might want to ask more about the Pro box on the BT/EE Community:-

https://community.bt.com/t5/EE-TV-YouView/bd-p/YouView

They tolerate non-BT TV subscribers, in case you came by your Pro box unofficially.

[TravelBear]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

My BT remote can control the basics of the TV such as power and volume but nothing else really.  I'm wanting to use the Smart remote from Sony because of the online applications that the TV offers through Google TV and the voice functionality, moving between sound modes and so on.  More than what the BT remote would offer to control.

I had hoped to control the BT box with the Sony smart remote, it's so close to doing it all, it's just this one function that is missing.  To me, pulling up the Youview menu with MyTV and the recordings is a basic core function.  It's the same function that Youview on the TV uses when the aerial is plugged in directly to the TV and watched in the 'Live TV and Catch Up' facility so I don't know why it's missing from controlling the BT box.  It feels like an oversight by Sony. 

I would go for retiring the BT box and watching live TV direct from the aerial into the TV but then I lose the ability to pause live TV.  I attached a USB HDD to the TV and registered it for recording, but it still didn't pause the live TV when I tried it. 

I tried a Sofabaton remote control on my previous set up and was throughly frustrated with it and ended up returning it.  A great idea badly executed.   

Logitech Harmony is discontinued now, looks like Logitech have packed up shop and walked away from the universal remote control sector.

I have access to an Evolve 4 One for All remote which I've seen control a BT box well.  I haven't tried it on the new set up with the A80L TV.   That might be okay and just use the TV mic for the voice control and hope it doesn't constantly turn on anytime someone mentions Google. 

I might focus on seeing if the TV can function with the HDD attached and pause/rewind live TV that way and then everything will be on the TV only without needing the BT box.  Any hints on getting Live TV to pause would be welcome.

[royabrown2]

@TravelBear 

I don’t know if this information is any good to you for a Sony TV, but it might start a train of thought.

My DTR-T4000 YouView box is plugged into my LG GX TV, and this has what LG call a Magic Remote, which learns about the equipment it is controlling. It looks like this:-

And none of the buttons mimic the blue YouView button on the YouView remote. However, if I press the button to the right of the zero (three horizontal dots, labelled AD/SAP beneath it) I get this display overlaid on the programme on the screen:-

which brings up more controls, and of which Menu is the YouView button.

It’s a long shot, I know, that Sony would have anything quite like this, but if there are any buttons on the Sony remote that open up a further dialogue rather than having an immediate screen action, this may be worth exploring for.

[TravelBear]

Thanks again for the time and effort you put in to replying.

The Sony TV does have an additional menu button and I had been hopeful that would work, but all the additional control functions are greyed out and choosing them doesn't do anything. I think this would be the way to access the recording, but it's non-operational.

There is another option on the list there: Home (Menu) .  This opens the subtitle shortcut, the same as the menu button on the BT box remote.  But on the BT box remote there are two separate buttons for Home and Menu.  It seems Sony have chosen to programme their Home (Menu) option with the  BT Menu function, rather the BT Home function.

I think the only way for this to be solved would be for Sony to add some programming code to make these options live and working.  I can't find anything in settings that would control these options being active or inactive.  I wonder if the programmer took a break for lunch and then got distracted onto something else and never came back to finish it up?  It has an unfinished business kind of feel to it.

[daveyh64]

I doubt you can expect Sony to take the time and effort to investigate all the different functions of the vast amount of remote controls and set top boxes, PVRs, DVDs etc etc (old and new) that can be connected to your Sony TV just so you can only use one remote control.

If they could map all the controls on your box to be functional on your Sony TV remote it would possibly require a labyrinth of submenus to navigate to the function you wanted to use, taking more time than simply reaching over and picking up the boxes own remote and performing the task on it.

[TravelBear]

Well, it might be that I end up using both controls.  But given that the codes exist in a central database available to all the companies, that mapping a basic code to a menu or button function is mostly automated and the kind of grunt work a junior programmer or intern would do, it's not as complicated as you describe.    It's not a case of mapping the whole BT menu structure to the Sony remote.  Once the home button is clicked, then navigation and selection is managed by the existing directional buttons and the okay button in the centre.  This isn't complicated.  They have already mapped all the other buttons on the BT remote, I'm just surprised that they missed off this one button function. 

[TravelBear]

The other surprising thing is that it appears older generation Sony remotes/TV's had this menu option available, but now it's not there, suggesting that when someone was setting up the Set Top Box profile for this latest version, a code has been missed out.

[royabrown2]

@daveyh64 

If LG can pretty much manage what they do with their Magic Remotes, to control other equipment, then you’d think Sony could too.

Though even there, the Magic Remotes can do pretty much everything that Roku remotes can do, except map the Option button, *. That seems to be a blind spot for them 😢

[TravelBear]

@royabrown2 

I have my solution now.  The One For All Evolve 4 remote.  As you predicted, the one remote to control them all wasn't going to be the Sony after all.

The Sony Smart remote could do everything except bring up the BT Box MyTV menu and, I discovered, does not always rewind and fast forward in every app.  The Channel 4 app for example would not respond reliably to the left and right buttons being used as rewind and fast forward.

The Sony Not Smart remote (seems mean to call it that when it has more buttons and actually can do more than the smart remote, but how else to label it?  The Old School remote?  Maybe that's kinder.)  So the Sony Old School remote could do everything, including rewind and fast foward in all the apps (that I've tried) because of those very useful rewind and fast forward buttons.  Except, it still couldn't bring up the BT Box MyTV menu.  Oh so close.

The One For All Evolve 4 remote.  I programmed the TV mode to use the Sony TV.  Using code 1825 for my A80L TV, gave me everything except access to the Settings menu.  However, it's a clever device with a learning mode, so I added the Settings menu button manually to an otherwise unused button (I chose the Smart button which ironically, wasn't doing anything).  This meant I could do everything on the TV. 

Then I programmed the STB mode with code 4031 for my BT TV Pro box.  That does everything, including bringing up the MyTV menu. (Hurrah).

I added my DVD to the BLU mode button, that works fine.

I added my Sony Soundbar to the AUD mode button, which works fine too.

I use the TV Activity button to use both the TV and the STB so I can control volume on the TV and the BT Box together without changing modes.

I use the Movie Activity button to have a one button switch back to controlling just the TV, which includes all the apps.

And so far, it's all working great.  A little learning curve to figure out all the buttons but I'm there.  I can now sit on my sofa, playing Queen of the AV world, with my magical Evolve 4 sceptre, benevolently controlling all my AV subjects.  Hurrah for the Evolve 4!