Horrible remote

[SJR]

This remote was made for the fingers of a 10 year old girl, not a grown adult, particularly a male.  Poorly designed.   Anyone have any suggestions for a substitute?

PS: Love the Box.

[nbs.]

Each to his own

Check out the remotes at buzztvglobal.com 

[Emporium]

My favorite buzz remote is the BT200 (personal taste).   Pretty sure it is obsolete, so the closest one would be the new BT-250.

https://buzztvglobal.com/en-ca/products/bt-250-remote

But honestly, other than the power button, the D-PAD, the 4 buttons in the top/bottom/left/right of the DPAD (menu, previous, channel flashback and info), and the channel +/- and volume +/- buttons I very rarely use the rest.

 

[rdw33]

Not pleased with the remote either.

[Emporium]

You can never satisfy everyone with remotes.  If you make them big, people complain they are huge and awkward.  Make them too small, people complain they are too tiny.  

My personal preference is the size of the BT100/200/250 remotes, but that is personal taste.  The BT300/400 are a change, but not that bad.  I have pretty big hands, and have no issue with the buttons.  Even in the dark, you can easily feel your way around the remote, with the buttons having just enough of a bump to be able to feel your way around and distinguish the buttons.  For the number pad, it is is nice that the "5" key has a little texturing, so you can orient yourself with that middle key.  For the Dpad, it is about the same size (about 25mm).  Maybe the BT300/400 is about 1mm smaller, but that may just be an illusion since it is white vs black (on the older remotes).  The OK button on the older remotes is convex out, but the newer ones are concave in.  Something that does take getting used to.   Now the buttons around the dpad, are a little more spread out vertically on the newer remotes (BT300/400), but the buttons are further apart horizontally on the older remotes.  

You can always also choose to get something like an ARQ-100 remote.   

Or soon to be available ARQ 200 series

https://buzztv.com/site/arq-200-series/

Some people used to swear by their Harmony remotes, but personally have never liked them.  

[rdw33]

It would have been nice to have white letters on black buttons.

[Emporium]

1 hour ago, rdw33 said:

It would have been nice to have white letters on black buttons.

They are translucent on black, in order to allow the backlight through easier.   If they make them solid white (like the older remotes), then you need a more powerful backlight, which sucks batteries like crazy.  I keep the backlight off, exactly for that reason.  

I would have liked solid white also (personal taste), but also keep in mind, being translucent also means the solid white, won't eventually wear off, like I've seen on some cheaper remotes and eventually you have just a bunch of black buttons

 

[Stugots]

Remotes are very subjective, so we have a few versions to choose from.

For those who love more buttons and shortcuts, the IR-200, BT-250, and ARQ200/220/250 will be your best option. These remotes have a smart learning feature; you can manually learn your TV remote codes on your buzztv remote. These remotes do not support OTA updates, and only ARQ200/220/250 have backlights.

For those who mainly use D-Pad, Volumes, and Channel buttons, the BT-400 is a perfect choice. This remote is designed in Korea and has advanced Smart Set technology that auto-detects the 10 most popular TV brands for Source Pairing (Power, Volume, and Source buttons). Other notable features are OTA updates and bright backlights.

Different styles, different sizes, and various amounts of buttons. Take your pick!

[Fastcompany7]

I don’t like the remote either. I just got one last week, included with an HD5.

Simple function buttons like LIVE TV, VOD, and a STOP button missing. Takes away the ability to quickly switch between them… you have to use the menu scroll, press instead.

With no stop, you have to repeatedly use the back button to exit out. 

Poor contrast between the symbols and black background. You shouldn’t have to “get used to it” it should be clear(er)

Then there’s the programable colour buttons… these work for livetv or vod, but only if you’re on the home page.

They have also taken away the ability to power up/down the TV and Buzz unit separately. Only one power button…. Standby mode gone too. (Box related) Much slower powering up.

Now once I connect my ARQ or BT100 remote, all these functions come back(except standby mode)

I don’t mind the feel and look of it, but removing functionality for it… NO! 

After one day use, the BT remote went directly into my spare parts drawer! 

[dishuser]

there is a live tv button

the coloured buttons control more than vod and live tv which isn't done from home page

those buttons can be programmed to open apps from home page

if you can't see them turn the backlight on

suspend or standby as you call it still worx

the power button will power down the box as long as you didn't set it up to power the tv

you only need to press back button once to stop a recording

did I miss anything?

too bad you didn't try learning how to use it before posting crapola about it

[Fastcompany7]

I am aware of what the coloured buttons do., and that they can be programmed… I obviously did did this, if they were programmed for livetv and vod.  I did say that they work, but only from the Home Screen.  Once you are away from home page, they take on a different task. 

My point was… if I am watching  vod, you can’t just switch back to live tv, with a single touch.  You access via the home page, or menu, or back arrow 5 times.  A physical button on previous remotes, addressed that. Why remove it?

The missing physical stop button prevents you from stopping a video in Kodi, for one!  And on VOD, it’s back, then down, then okay to stop it.. Again, more additional moves. To do it on screen. Or can you return to LTV or VOD without going through Home Screen etc… 

And if there is a live tv button(not icon) on this remote… please, do tell.

The “suspend” function I will look into again when I have time. But from what I’ve seen so far, turning off the tv just leaves the box turned on.  I did see the I one thread about this, but I’ll verify if it works or not at home.  
And not much point having tv functionality, if you can’t use it. When programmed for the tv , it shuts both off. They don’t work independently, unless you hook up a different remote… they do.

I know these are minor issues, just annoying. Simply stating my findings and opinion. 

And I don’t state anything I have learned and tried first. However, yes, sometimes there just something you didn’t see or were aware off… that’s what these forums are for. 

PS… dishuser… happy to see Covid didn’t affect your sparkling  personality.

 

[dishuser]

so you turn the box off

now why would you need the remote?

why set the remote up for tv?

see the white button with buzztv logo that's for live tv...so single touch

so if you press that vod stops playing

powerkey defitions/suspend...easy peasy

and my point is your first post on this site is to bash a product and you don't know how to use it

majority make first post asking how to or for help

but you chose not to

good luck

 

[dishuser]

almost forgot

included with your purchase was a card that has link to bt-400 remote manual

if you had went to it you would have known where the live tv button was

Edited January 25, 2023 by dishuser

[Fastcompany7]

My intent was never to bash the box. In fact, I like this box, and most other buzz boxes. definitely my go to. Just wasn’t a fan of the remote. 

Anyway, I confirmed (after checking the white light, that I cannot see, because it’s on the back of the wall mounted TV) that the box does in fact go into standby, when the tv is turned off.  (using the tv remote) I don’t think right away, which is likely why i didn’t notice it. 

Also, you are correct. That white button did stop the video, and returned to live tv.  Thx for that. 

 

 

[Emporium]

TheHD5 does NOT have suspend option on powerkey definitions.  It is just shutdown and restart. 

 However it does go into suspend if you turn off the TV and you have the appropriate CEC settings configured.

OK, the BT400 may not be my favorite remote (I'm still love my BT200), but I don't use any of these buttons (VOD,TVSeries, Server, etc..) anyhow.   Don't think I ever used them once on any of my buzz remotes, other than during initial testing.  In the dark, I hate looking at a remote to find a button.  I am so used to the dPad and all the key buttons around it (Menu, back, guide, mouse cursor), that it is just easier, even it if is 1 or 2 clicks more, to just use those buttons.  I admit, I liked having the "Last CH" and "info" button around the dPad (like on the BT200), but that is personal taste.   Maybe I just got used to simplistic remotes, like on my older MiiBox 3 and it is all just muscle memory after a while.

 

 

[dishuser]

last channel and info are 2/3 buttons away from dpad

close enough for me since I can find them without looking

I stopped using suspend since that means external storage drives are still being powered

for the extra 15 seconds to boot to live tv I'm not giving the drives a quicker death...lol

[dishuser]

again almost forgot

since I only have one bt-200 no one in the house is allowed to take it to use on their box

maybe I will change my mind when I get a bt-250....maybe...lol

[Emporium]

Ya, the last channel and info buttons are not far.  But they are in different places from the BT200 (which I prefer - probably because I'm also used to it).  I have 2x BT200 (from my 2 xrs4900 units, but on one of them I have recently added an ARQ-200 (to keep the second BT200 as a spare).   

I do have the BT250, and I do like it more than the BT400.  It is a little thicker than the BT200, and button layout (around the Dpad) is similar to the BT400.  But it does bring back the discrete buttons that were mentioned earlier.   And it does incorporate an Air Mouse.  When Air mouse is active, the only other key that is active is the "OK" key.  I would have liked to have a few other keys active (like the back button and the home button which would be handy), but it's not a deal breaker.  The little blue LED stays on while the remote is in Air Mouse mode.

 

[dishuser]

I'm mainly interested if mic worx for my tv

that would be handy

[Emporium]

7 hours ago, dishuser said:

I'm mainly interested if mic worx for my tv

that would be handy

You are referring to the ARQ-250, not the BT--250.  The BT-250 does not have a MIC as far as I know, but the ARQ-250 does.

 

 

[dishuser]

5 hours ago, Emporium said:

You are referring to the ARQ-250, not the BT--250.  The BT-250 does not have a MIC as far as I know, but the ARQ-250 does.

 

 

that's the one

[mahuvadilip]

Does anyone know how to find  "Mute" Button for BT-400?  I can not find one? 

I am not fan of this remote.  I had other Buzz TV remote , which are more user friendly. 

[Emporium]

There is unfortunately no mute button.

 

[Stugots]

a poll for the people on this thread https://stbtalk.com/index.php?/topic/8682-poll-for-bt400-remote-users/