Free 54.1 Remote With Google Assistant

Yesterday’s mail included a “Gift” from Dish — a Voice Remote with Google Assistant. For some reason, I immediately began thinking about Troy :) And sure enough, the “voice” part of this “free” remote requires enabling Google Assistant :( Thankfully, I was able to turn the microphone button into a text search button and avoid becoming a pawn in the tug of war between Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri, etc..

The good news: We now have a backup remote with back lighting in case our trusty V52 remote dies :)
The bad news: The V54.1 Voice Remote’s combined Hopper 3 & TV power button is a mess. If the Hopper is OFF and the TV is ON: pressing the combo power button turns the Hopper ON and the TV OFF - DUH

For those wondering why the TV would be ON when the Hopper is OFF — we stream a lot using our Apple TV. We mainly use the Hopper to check the local news and weather. With the V52 remote switching from the Apple TV to the Hopper only requires pressing the “Hopper” power button - once. FWIW It seems like a 2nd press of the power button on the V54.1 will turn the TV back on without turning the Hopper off. But then the TV has to go through the motions of “waking up” again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Foxbat and TheKrell
Yesterday’s mail included a “Gift” from Dish — a Voice Remote with Google Assistant. For some reason, I immediately began thinking about Troy :) And sure enough, the “voice” part of this “free” remote requires enabling Google Assistant :( Thankfully, I was able to turn the microphone button into a text search button and avoid becoming a pawn in the tug of war between Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri, etc..

The good news: We now have a backup remote with back lighting in case our trusty V52 remote dies :)
The bad news: The V54.1 Voice Remote’s combined Hopper 3 & TV power button is a mess. If the Hopper is OFF and the TV is ON: pressing the combo power button turns the Hopper ON and the TV OFF - DUH

For those wondering why the TV would be ON when the Hopper is OFF — we stream a lot using our Apple TV. We mainly use the Hopper to check the local news and weather. With the V52 remote switching from the Apple TV to the Hopper only requires pressing the “Hopper” power button - once. FWIW It seems like a 2nd press of the power button on the V54.1 will turn the TV back on without turning the Hopper off. But then the TV has to go through the motions of “waking up” again.

If your TV is on and your Hopper is in standby then pressing any key on the remote should turn the Hopper on.
 
If your TV is on and your Hopper is in standby then pressing any key on the remote should turn the Hopper on.
Thanks for the tip.

But… while pressing any button on the V54.1 does turn the Hopper On without turning the TV Off — it does not switch the input on our Visio from the Apple TV to the Hopper, like the power button on the V52 remote does.
 
Yesterday’s mail included a “Gift” from Dish — a Voice Remote with Google Assistant. For some reason, I immediately began thinking about Troy :) And sure enough, the “voice” part of this “free” remote requires enabling Google Assistant :( Thankfully, I was able to turn the microphone button into a text search button and avoid becoming a pawn in the tug of war between Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri, etc..

The good news: We now have a backup remote with back lighting in case our trusty V52 remote dies :)
The bad news: The V54.1 Voice Remote’s combined Hopper 3 & TV power button is a mess. If the Hopper is OFF and the TV is ON: pressing the combo power button turns the Hopper ON and the TV OFF - DUH

For those wondering why the TV would be ON when the Hopper is OFF — we stream a lot using our Apple TV. We mainly use the Hopper to check the local news and weather. With the V52 remote switching from the Apple TV to the Hopper only requires pressing the “Hopper” power button - once. FWIW It seems like a 2nd press of the power button on the V54.1 will turn the TV back on without turning the Hopper off. But then the TV has to go through the motions of “waking up” again.
If your Hopper is on and the TV is off, then use the TV's remote to turn the TV on. That should get you back in sync.
 
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
I always use the SAT mode button to turn on my Wally (or Hopper Duo) receivers. If you only want to turn the TV on or off, press the TV mode button before pressing the Power button. By the way, Dish has been made aware of the issues with the 54-series remote Power button, and they are working on fixing this.
 
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
Dish has been made aware of the issues with the 54-series remote Power button, and they are working on fixing this.

Interesting. I don't see how that's fixable with only a single button. Yes, there are workarounds, but it's a PITA and I generally turn my poor TV on and off several times before I get both it and the Joey doing what I want. This is possibly because I get a spurious turn off after using that power button to turn everthing on. I don't know what's going on there; it's like the TV receives the power-on signal twice.
 
Thanks guys.

I have a V52 remote that does everything I really need. I was only interested in the V54.1 for the back lighting. But that’s not worth the hassle of a work around that requires extra button presses and/or a 2nd remote. I’ll just pull the batteries out of the 54.1 and put it in a draw as a spare.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheKrell
Interesting. I don't see how that's fixable with only a single button. Yes, there are workarounds, but it's a PITA and I generally turn my poor TV on and off several times before I get both it and the Joey doing what I want. This is possibly because I get a spurious turn off after using that power button to turn everthing on. I don't know what's going on there; it's like the TV receives the power-on signal twice.
Have you tried using the learning function of the remote? Perhaps you can re-program that button to learn the signal that a single press of the Power button on the TV remote sends.
 
Thanks guys.

I have a V52 remote that does everything I really need. I was only interested in the V54.1 for the back lighting. But that’s not worth the hassle of a work around that requires extra button presses and/or a 2nd remote. I’ll just pull the batteries out of the 54.1 and put it in a draw as a spare.
You don't need to use the TV's remote every time. Just once to get the TV and Hopper back working together on the Hopper's remote.
 
Have you tried using the learning function of the remote? Perhaps you can re-program that button to learn the signal that a single press of the Power button on the TV remote sends.

I was suspicious of the CEC. The power button does seem to be working correctly for the TV otherwise.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pattykay
After some more experimentation I realized that the problem was that I was using the “power button” to “turn on / switch” to the Hopper. That how it works with a V52 remote. But the V54.1 has changed the function of the power button.

If the TV is already on, because were were streaming on the Apple TV, we can “turn on” the Hooper and switch the Visio to the Hooper's HDMI input by just pressing the SAT button on the side of the remote. And we can switch back to the Apple TV's HDMI input by pressing the “Menu” button on the Apple TV remote. Neither one of these buttons (i.e. SAT & Menu) are really intuitive. But they do work.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DWS44 and pattykay
After some more experimentation I realized that the problem was that I was using the “power button” to “turn on / switch” to the Hopper. That how it works with a V52 remote. But the V54.1 has changed the function of the power button.

If the TV is already on, because were were streaming on the Apple TV, we can “turn on” the Hooper and switch the Visio to the Hooper's HDMI input by just pressing the SAT button on the side of the remote. And we can switch back to the Apple TV's HDMI input by pressing the “Menu” button on the Apple TV remote. Neither one of these buttons (i.e. SAT & Menu) are really intuitive. But they do work.
If Limited Mode is off under Remote Settings, on most TV's you can hit the TV button on the side and then the Input button below it to change inputs on your TV
 
I went to the DISH website over two months ago to see if I qualified for a free remote and was told I did qualify and in 4-6 weeks it would be at my door. Now, more than two months later, it is still someplace else, other than at my door/in my hands, so I tried DISH chat and the representative told me that I will not get it because I already have one (1) NON-Google Assistant DISH 54.0 remote. I have read here that various users/posters have received their FREE Google Assistant DISH 54.0/54.1 remote even though that already had numerous 54.0 and 54.1 remotes already.
Thank you, I just needed a place to vent.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheKrell and HipKat
You don't need to use the TV's remote every time. Just once to get the TV and Hopper back working together on the Hopper's remote.
And, like I said, it really isn't necessary to use the TV's remote at all. Just press the TV mode button, then the Power button to turn the TV back on, then the SAT mode button. (Having said that, if I am sitting near the TV, I will just use the front panel Power button on the TV, instead of changing modes on my remote.) Getting rid of the separate "TV Power" button was one of Dish biggest mistakes with the 54-series. But of course, they had to make room for the microphone somewhere.
 
I went to the DISH website over two months ago to see if I qualified for a free remote and was told I did qualify and in 4-6 weeks it would be at my door. Now, more than two months later, it is still someplace else, other than at my door/in my hands, so I tried DISH chat and the representative told me that I will not get it because I already have one (1) NON-Google Assistant DISH 54.0 remote. I have read here that various users/posters have received their FREE Google Assistant DISH 54.0/54.1 remote even though that already had numerous 54.0 and 54.1 remotes already.
Thank you, I just needed a place to vent.
The branding of these remotes can be really confusing. The 54.0 remotes have the exact same functionality as the 54.1 remotes. The only things that make a 54.1 remote a "special" Google Assistant remote are the logo at the bottom of the remote, and the color of the microphone on the button. So really, there is no such thing as a "NON-Google Assistant DISH 54.0 remote" unless of course you choose to disable the Google Assistant functionality, and have the microphone button launch text search instead.
 
This is odd. I received my free remote and it says (on the back) that it is a 54.0. Yet, it is backlit (turns on when I pick it up). Is back lighting supposed to be the only difference between the 54.0 and 54.1?
My original 54.0 is backlit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: pattykay
We came home from vacation and there was a smallish brown box in the mail. When I opened it, it was the Dish Voice Remote. I was surprised as I hadn't ordered it. The backlit feature would be nice, but I'm not a Google Voice or Alexa user currently so I doubt that would ever get used.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts