Registered: Oct 2003
Location:
Posts: 15

TiVo remote control problems.


I got my parents a TiVo for Christmas. It’s been working fine until this week. 4 times now the remote control stopped working. They yellow light on the TiVo would stay on and when you would try to use the TiVo remote it would go crazy. If you pressed the down arrow once it would go down 15 times. We could only get it to work correctly by covering half of the IR sensor up with tape on the TiVo itself. Seems like the TiVo is getting an IR signal for someplace else besides the remote but we can’t find the source. Either that or the IR receiver on the TiVo is going bad. Has anyone else seen this? We’re afraid to send it back for warranty as the problem is very intermittent and I doubt they’ll be able to reproduce it.

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Lansing, MI
Posts: 5232

That's actually a pretty common problem, IR interference. Usually it's from another remote with a stuck button, under a book or wedged between the couch cushions. Weak batteries in remotes can cause them to spew IR gibberish also.

To verify that this is your problem you can do the tent test, fold a thick blanket over a couple times and drape it over the front of the TiVo to block any IR getting through. Hold the TiVo remote inside this "tent" and try a few button presses to see if the problem goes away. If it does, scour the nearby rooms for all remotes and shut them up in a drawer, then try the remote without the tent in place. If that doesn't do it, other sources of IR noise are sunlight and florescent lamps, you can turn off the lights and draw the drapes to see if that improves things.

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