Hi,
We want to setup three Roku Ultras in a children's waiting room, so each child can watch Disney + on a separate TV. That means each remote must only control one TV/Roku and not interfere with the the others. Is this possible? The remotes have a pairing button so I assumed it was using BT which should do the trick but I am getting conflicting answers.
Thanks in advance.
No training what so all, we bring our own knowledge and abilities to help where you can. Mine was helping people with their remotes for over twenty years on line across the net.
As others have written the Ultra remote is wifi-direct, once paired it will only control a single Roku device. But, when it comes to tv controls Roku remote only control non-Roku tv's by IR. Meaning if you have multiple tvs that are the same brand and use the same IR commands a Roku wifi remote will not differentiate tv commands from each other. One remote will control the volume on all similar brand tvs.
Tivoburkee Thanks for confirming the WiFi direct element since StreamerUser said otherwise. BTW I was just approved for the Streaming Expert program and am looking forward to moving ahead with it
We need all the help we can get.:)
technojeff The Roku remote uses WiFi direct to communicate with the player. As a long time Roku enthusiast and owner of a home theater system that included a Logitech Harmony remote, I use the Roku remote separately since the AVR and Logitech use IR and the Roku does not. I would also recommend installation of WiFi Analyzer for Android or something similar for iPhone. This will provide the means to see how many others are using the same channel and if congested, disable the 'auto' feature for channel selection in your router and choose a channel with less congestion. Hope that helps
It is possible, with some caveats as below.
Roku Ultra Voice Remotes use both WiFi Direct and/or IR for device control (depending on whether the remote is paired and active w/ the device, and not when paired to Stick models which have no IR capability), and IR for TV/AVR power/audio functions - in order to use the setup you describe you'd want to make sure each Ultra device is paired to a different Voice Remote and then you'd want to block (cover somehow: e.g. black electrical tape etc) the IR receiver on each Ultra device so that no other remote/device can accidentally control any of the Ultras via IR (this frequently happens when a Voice Remote is not in active connection/communication with the device its paired to: it falls back to IR).
So each remote will be able to control only their respective Roku's if we block the IR port on each of the Rokus? We want each kid patient to change movies without interfering with the other kids Roku.
Assuming:
...then your desired scenario should work
StreamerUser I found your comment of interest. Having recently updated my desktop to a Mac Mini M4, I also updated the Harmony app then synced my Harmony remote after adding the Roku Ultra. But since the voice remote uses WiFi direct, the Harmony cannot control it. When you go to Roku>settings>remote>add remote, but the only type of remote that can be added is Roku. Please elaborate on how a remote that uses WiFi direct can also use IR :) Thanks
If/when a Voice Remote cannot connect/communicate with its paired device via WiFi Direct, it automatically falls back into IR mode for device control (except when paired to Stick models, that have no IR capability) - this is independent of any IR programmed remote mode to control the power/audio of a TV/AVR.
Depending on the Harmony model/setup it may be using IR or ECP to control the configured remote device. The Harmony remote doesnt need to control the Voice Remote, it only needs to control the Roku device (Ultra in your case) either via IR or IP (ECP - External Control Protocol for RokuOS).
Recent RokuOS firmware versions have changed the Control by mobile apps setting default to Limited which effectively disables IP (ECP) control of the Roku device - in order to restore IP (ECP) control you need to change Control by mobile apps = Enabled (this is for Harmony setups or other devices/apps that use IP (ECP) to control the Roku device - it has no impact on IR control which is always active/available for non-Stick Roku models).
FYI only Roku Voice Remotes (WiFi Direct) can be specifically paired (added) via the Add a new remote menu (its a proprietary connection/pairing protocol).
