I've recently been working with IR codes for AppleTV and the quirks that come along with using IR to control the AppleTV.

I have developed 2 layouts that I really like and thought I'd share images of them here.

[Link: dropbox.com]

[Link: dropbox.com]

Edit - The images above have the wrong symbol on Firm4. It should have been Forward 10s (Play followed by a vertical bar). I'm not reposting the images for now but I have updated my config to fix this mislabel.

The config in question supports Play/Pause and Jog scrubbing using the Forward/Reverse 10sec IR command.

The config also supports Forward/Reverse but as ATV transport does not work like any other real-world transport with regard to speed up/slow down of transport,


If you look closely, you will see I've added the +/- buttons to left/right of Forward and Reverse operations on one of the pages.

The +/- buttons, if pressed, simply send Cursor Left/Right which either increases or decreases the jog speed. I've provided a writeup below as to why this was necessary.

One would expect that a transport might behave as follows.
Press Forward (Initiates FF @ 1X)
Press Forward (Increases FF to 2X)
Press Reverse (Decreases FF to 1X)
Press Forward (Increases FF to 2X)
Press Forward (Increases FF to 3X)
Press Forward (Increases FF to 4X)
Press Reverse (Decreases FF to 3X)
Press Reverse (Decreases FF to 2X)
Press Reverse (Decreases FF to 1X)
Press Forward (Increases FF to 2X)
Press Forward (Increases FF to 3X)
Press Reverse (Decreases FF to 2X)
Press Reverse (Decreases FF to 1X)
Press Reverse (Resume playback at normal speed)

Instead, ATV (I am currently running TVOS 14.7) behaves as follows - If you are using the Siri Remote or iPhone/iPad, you simply touch the center of the glass/touchpad and then jog left or right - Easy-peasy. However, if you need to do this via Infrared, things don't work like one would expect.

The behavior below is counter-intuitive to everything we know about Playback Transport Control. Once you start FF or REW, you must send the Forward or Reverse IR command 4 additional times to resume normal playback which means you likely will go Forward or Backward much farther than you really wanted.

Here's what happens when you send IR commands to FF (Fast Forward). Assume we are starting this sequence while something is Playing.

Press Forward (Initiates FF @ 1X)
Press Forward (Increases FF to 2x)
Press Forward (Increases FF to 3X)
Press Reverse (***Increases FF to 4X)
Press Reverse or Forward (***Resumes Playback at normal speed)

OR

Press Reverse (Initiates REW @ 1X)
Press Reverse (Increases REW to 2x)
Press Forward (***Increases REW to 3X)
Press Forward (***Increases REW to 4X)
Press Reverse Forward (Resumes Playback at normal speed)

Through trial and error, I determined is that once you press Forward or Reverse, if you send Cursor Left or Right, the speed in increased or decreased as expected from a normal transport.

Press Forward (Initiates FF @ 1X)
Press Forward Or Cursor Right(Increases FF to 2X)
Press Cursor Left (Decreases FF to 1X)
Press Forward Or Cursor Right (Increases FF to 2X)
Press Forward Or Cursor Right (Increases FF to 3X)
Press Forward Or Cursor Right (Increases FF to 4X)
Press Cursor Left (Decreases FF to 3X)
Press Cursor Left (Decreases FF to 2X)
Press Cursor Left (Decreases FF to 1X)
Press Forward Or Cursor Right (Increases FF to 2X)
Press Forward Or Cursor Right (Increases FF to 3X)
Press Cursor Left (Decreases FF to 2X)
Press Cursor Left (Decreases FF to 1X)
Press Cursor Left (Resume playback at normal speed)


If, while the ScreenSaver is active the following behavior was observed.

Cursor Up - Shows you the description of the current ScreenSaver video.
Cursor Left - Moves to the previous ScreenSaver video.
Cursor Right - Moves to the next ScreenSaver video.


I hope this information benefits someone who might be doing an ATV integration.