How does the remote communicate with the Apple TV? (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF, IR?)

[DominikHoffmann]

Do you know what signal transmission technologies the remote for the Apple TV uses? Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF or IR? I am wondering, to what extent it would work around the house without line of sight. The idea would be that the Apple TV would be connected to a receiver which would pipe out the signal to all TVs around the house simultaneously, so that i could use one single remote and change programming on all TVs at the same time, regardless of which room I am in at the time.

I am also wondering about the Function101 remote, which comes in two versions, Bluetooth + IR and IR, only. Any idea, whether it’s any good? Macworld is currently hawking it.

 

[seek3r]

Do you know what signal transmission technologies the remote for the Apple TV uses? Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RF or IR? I am wondering, to what extent it would work around the house without line of sight. The idea would be that the Apple TV would be connected to a receiver which would pipe out the signal to all TVs around the house simultaneously, so that i could use one single remote and change programming on all TVs at the same time, regardless of which room I am in at the time.

I am also wondering about the Function101 remote, which comes in two versions, Bluetooth + IR and IR, only. Any idea, whether it’s any good? Macworld is currently hawking it.

It uses bluetooth to connect to the aTV, no need for line of sight, though it has IR that can be configured to use the volume (up, down, mute) with devices that it cant control through CEC. The aTV can also be controlled by any remotes connected to CEC devices in the active chain (ie my TV remote can navigate on my aTV)

 

[waw74]

it's bluetooth, so you may run into range issues in rooms further away

There's also a remote baked into iOS that uses wifi, and it's also available on watch and iPad.

with the remote apps, you can only control volume/power of the TV if you're using HDMI-CEC. But with what you're doing, that may not be important.

Set up the Apple TV Remote on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

With the Apple TV Remote in Control Center, you can control your Apple TV or AirPlay-compatible smart TV with your iPhone or iPad.

support.apple.com

 

[Casey Royals]

You can use the iPhone remote when you are out of Bluetooth range with the physical remote.