Multimedia

Controlling a Boxee Box from an IR Remote

Control your Boxee box from any IR Remote (ex. Harmony One)

Jesse Torres

• 3 min read
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Boxee has been discountinued as of 2011. I keep this article to help those of you who still have Boxee boxes. My current recommendation for a digitial media player is Apple TV.

The Boxee Box comes with a cool RF remote with built in keyboard. Unfortunately most people have universal IR remotes and won’t be able to control the Boxee Box unless you apply the following $10 fix:

  1. Buy a Manta TR1 IR Receiver for Boxee Box (a cheap $10 USB IR receiver should work as well) and connect it to the Boxee’s USB port (I have two Boxees and use a Manta and an old Media Center USB IR Receiver.

  2. Download and install the proper IR codes to your universal remote control (you will need to download unless you have a learning remote that can read RF as opposed to reading IR).

The section below provides an example of how to do this for the Logitech Harmony One Universal remote.

Initial Harmony One (Touchscreen)

Button Harmony Command Boxee Command Action while movie playing
Start GreenButton Home N/A
Rec. TV RecordedTV N/A N/A
Live TV LiveTV N/A N/A
Back Back Menu Stops movie and goes back to previous screen
Radio MyRadio N/A N/A
Music MyMusic Music N/A
Pictures MyPictures Photos N/A
Videos MyVideos Local Shows N/A
Star * N/A N/A
Number Input # N/A N/A
Aspect Aspect N/A N/A
Audio Audio N/A N/A
Blue Blue Photos N/A
FWD FWD N/A Skips movie forward
Green Green Local Shows N/A
Media Media Home N/A
My TV MyTV Home N/A
Power Toggle PowerToggle Power Off N/A
REC REC N/A N/A
Red Red Home N/A
REW REW Left N/A
Subtitle Subtitle N/A N/A
Teletext Teletext N/A Stops movie
Yellow Yellow Music N/A

Initial Harmony One (Physical Buttons)

Button Harmony Command Boxee Command Action while movie playing
Menu DVDMenu N/A N/A
Info Info N/A Shows realtime system info (ex. CPU usage)
Guide Guide N/A N/A
Exit N/A N/A
Volume (Up/Down) VolumeUp, VolumeDown Volume (Up/Down) Volume (Up/Down)
Channel (Up/Down) ChannelUp, ChannelDown N/A N/A
Mute Mute Mute Mute
OK OK OK OK
Return OK OK OK
Up, Down, Left, Right DirectionUp, DirectionDown, DirectionLeft, DirectionRight Up, Down, Left, Right Up, Down, Left, Right
REW Rewind N/A N/A
FFWD FastForward N/A N/A
Skip Back Replay N/A N/A
Skip Forward Skip N/A N/A
Page Up ChannelUp Page Up Skips to end of movie
Page Down ChannelDown Page Down Skips to beginning of movie
Channel Up ChannelUp Page Up Skips to end of movie
Channel Down ChannelDown Page Down Skips to beginning of movie
REC Record N/A N/A
Stop Stop N/A Stops playing movie
Pause Pause Pause/Unpause Pause/Unpause
Play Play N/A N/A
#'s #'s N/A Number entry to jump to a specific time in the playing movie
+ Clear N/A N/A
E Enter N/A N/A

Final Harmony One (Touchscreen Buttons)

Button Harmony Command Boxee Command While Movie Playing
Music MyMusic Music N/A
Photos MyPictures Photos N/A
TV Shows MyVideos Local Shows N/A
Power Off PowerToggle Power Off Power Off

Final Harmony One (Physical Buttons)

Button Harmony Command Boxee Command Action while movie playing
Menu Back Menu Stops movie and goes back to previous screen
Info Info N/A Shows realtime system info (ex. CPU usage)
Guide GreenButton Home N/A
Exit Back Menu Stops movie and goes back to previous screen
Volume (Up/Down) VolumeUp, VolumeDown Volume (Up/Down) Volume (Up/Down)
Mute Mute Mute Mute
OK OK OK OK
Return Back Menu Stops movie and goes back to previous screen
Up, Down, Left, Right DirectionUp, DirectionDown, DirectionLeft, DirectionRight Up, Down, Left, Right Up, Down, Left, Right
REW Rewind N/A N/A
FFWD FWD N/A Skips movie forward
Skip Back ChannelDown N/A Skips to beginning of movie
Skip Forward ChannelUp N/A Skips to end of movie
Page Up ChannelUp Page Up Skips to end of movie
Page Down ChannelDown Page Down Skips to beginning of movie
Channel Up ChannelUp Page Up Skips to end of movie
Channel Down ChannelDown Page Down Skips to beginning of movie
REC N/A N/A
Stop Teletext N/A Stops playing movie
Pause Pause Pause/Unpause Pause/Unpause
Play OK OK OK
#'s #'s N/A Number entry to jump to a specific time in the playing movie
+ N/A N/A
E OK OK OK