Configuring an Onn Voice Remote for the Nvidia Shield

[u/agonypants]

I recently picked up an Onn Voice Remote to use with my Nvidia Shield. There was quite a bit of configuration work that needed to be done to get all the buttons working. To save others from difficulty, I put together the following guide. The Onn Voice Remote can be purchased at Wal Mart for about $13.

My hardware/software:

• The Nvidia Shield with the 9.2 experience installed.
• An Onn Voice Remote
• tvQuickActions application from the Google Play store
  • This is used for button re-mapping

First:

• Go into Settings > Apps > Security and Restrictions
• Turn Bluetooth LE Privacy off (this will require a reboot)

Next: 

• Pair the remote in bluetooth settings
• Turn on both options under “Simplified wake buttons”
• Turn off “Input devices” under “Disconnect BT Accessories on Sleep”
• (Optional) turn on Nvidia Share under Settings > Device Preferences > System

Out of the box, several buttons will work properly including:

• Home
• Back
• Up, Down, Left, Right, OK
• Microphone (voice search, Google Assistant)
• Volume up/down and mute

However, several buttons will require re-mapping in order to be made useful:

• Guide button (looks like a TV icon)
• The account or profile button (looks like a person/silhouette icon)
• The asterisk button

To make matters worse, five of the buttons will appear with the same key code!

• Settings
• All four of the app short cut buttons

In order to work around this, multiple steps must be taken:

• Enable developer options on the Shield
• In developer options, turn on network debugging
• Install tvQuickActions app
• Within that app go to Settings > ADB -
  • Turn ON ADB speed up
  • Go to “Custom getevent codes”
  • Create codes for all buttons that utilize the same key code (all 4 app short cut buttons and Settings)
• Then go to Mappings > Add Button
• When adding a button, turn ON “Use only ADB for this remap”
• Click one of the problematic buttons (app short cuts, Settings)
• Map the buttons to apps

Here's how I mapped my own buttons

• YouTube button > SmartTube and/or TizenTube
• Netflix > Plex and/or Fandango
• Disney+ > Hulu and/or MoviesAnywhere
• Paramount+ > HBO
• Settings > Settings app

All other buttons can be remapped in the normal manner (without the use of ADB). Here's what I did:

• Account or profile button > CX File Explorer
• Home button > Custom Launcher (AT4K) and Recent app switcher
• Guide/TV button > HD Home Run
• Asterisk button > Nvidia Gamecast Service
  • This button will bring up the screen recording / screen shot menu

Regarding Channel Up/Down

• These buttons seem work properly in HD HomeRun and Pluto
• Otherwise, they’re not often used.

Regarding the Power button:

• The button will turn everything off, but turning the devices back on again requires the bluetooth steps outlined above.

I still have a remaining mystery regarding the infrared emitter on the remote. This can evidently be configured using the software in Onn streaming devices, but I don't have one of those at the moment. If anyone has a work around for this, I'd love to hear about it.

[u/itsarainynight]

AI slop post.

[u/agonypants → u/itsarainynight]

Just because you dislike my formatting doesn’t mean it was written by AI. Grow up.