Arris xg1v4 settop box

@XfinityEthan 

I take it the IR sensor is to the right of on/off LED.  Man it is small.

I am going to try an IR extender but with the location of the IR receiver it looks physically impossible to 'stick' it to the receiver.   The IR extender is powered via USB.  Can I use the USB port on the Arris for this purpose?

FYI

This appears to be an unfortunate marriage between the Sony Remote and the Arris settop box.   For whatever reason (may be entirely legitimate) the Sony remote uses RF to the the TV, but IR to the settop box.   WIth my old box this was not ideal, but the acceptance of the IR receiver while marginal, was workable.  The acceptance on the new Arris box is really narrow and basically the Sony remote is useless with it.

If the IR extender doesn't work, it is back to 2 remotes.  I understand which functions are TV and which are settop box, but it is a different story with the other family members.

Thanks for the info. 

I hear ya. I have had a similar situation with no solution. The older boxes would just have a plug for the extender, but these new ones rely mostly on RF. Some boxes RF disables and voice control doesn't work with IR enabled and that is just making it a pain. I get how you are trying to make to make it simple for others and 2 remotes is probably the best bet. 

The Arris XG1v4a box comes with an XR15v2-UQ remote.  The remote uses radio frequency (RF) to communicate with the box.  This gives you more options for placement of the box because it does not require line of sight, so you can hide it behind your tv and it will still work as will the voice input.  I have a Bose Lifestyle 650 sound system which comes with an Infrared remote.  I was able to pair the XG1v4a through the Bose system and then use an IR emitter running from the Bose control box and attaching the emitter head on the top of the XG1v4a at the very top right forward corner.  I can now use the Bose remote to control the XG1v4a as well as the Bose sound system.  (Additionally, I can use the XR1tv2-UQ remote for voice input and/or controlling the XG1v4a box.)  There is no requirement to make any changes to the XG1v4a as it is configured to allow use of RF/IR/Voice all the time.