Sky plus with Geemarc TV-5 remote

[SueI22]

I have recently purchased a Geemarc TV-5 remote (the TV-5 is a very simple remote control aimed at people with dementia, it's for my Mum who struggles with Sky remote).  I have successfully programmed the TV-5 to turn on/off our Toshiba TV, but I have had no luck with the Sky plus box. 

Has anyone successfully used one of these with Sky plus?  

I asked Geemarc support who said that Sky remotes use bluetooth, so  unlikely to work. with TV-5.  Is that right? Do Sky remotes use bluetooth? That doesn't sound right to me. Am I being fobbed off?

Any advice gratefully recieved

[Mark39]

@SueI22 remotes for Sky+ boxes don't use Bluetooth. Those for Sky Q and Sky Glass do, but both boxes are also capable of responding to standard infra red remotes as well. So yes, Geemarc have got it wrong.

Does the Geemarc remote have a learning mode? That's what's needed if it's not set up to work with Sky out of the box.

A simple remote which is known to be capable of working with Sky+ is a Flipper. Google it for details.

[SueI22]

Many thanks Mark,  you confirmed what I thought.  I will go back to Geemarc.  The TV5 does have a learning mode and that worked fine for the Toshiba remote, but it doesn't learn from the Sky plus remote. 

If Geemarc support are still not helpful I will cut my losses and go for a Flipper instead. Thanks for the tip about that. 

[Asdfg123456]

I've just encountered a similar issue connecting the TV-5 remote to Sky Q and almost gave up but found some useful info on another forum that solved the issue. 

You need to put the Sky remote into infra-red mode by holding down the 4 and 6 buttons simultaneously for 30 seconds. You then can program the TV-5 remote as per the instructions in the user guide. 

Note that this will deactivate the voice control on your Sky remote so you need to put it back into Bluetooth mode by holding down buttons 1 and 3 and follow the instructions on your TV set. 

Hope that helps!

[SueI22]

Thanks, that sounds very helpful.  I will give it a try. 

[Mark39]

@SueI22 note that @Asdfg123456's reply relates to Sky Q remotes. It's not relevant to Sky+ remotes which have no Bluetooth function.

[SueI22]

Ah!  No, I didn't spot that.  Shame.  Thanks for pointing it out.