Slingbox can handle this too... sadly, recently discontinued. I wonder if basic IR control from old hardware would still work? https://www.slingbox.com/help/KB/KB-5000050
With TiVo, network remote protocols are the way to go, though! Back when I had TiVo I used this app on my laptop to control it: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/network-remote-for-tivo/id914331224?mt=12
Thanks for all of the replies, they have provided some good places to start. I'm still all ears if there may be others.
Will a HDMI-to-IPTV adapter work with the DRM channels. I like your idea it would be nice to use my tivo as a 4 tuner source for channels.
I haven't had any problems with my Comcast feed, but one of those cheap HDMI splitters that strip the HDCP would be all that is required.
I also have comcast. I still use my tivo for those few channels I pay for but can't use with channels dvr.
Might I present you with another alternative?
Home Assistant with a Nabu Casa subscription (for remote access) and a Broadlink RM mini or RM Pro 4 for RF/IR control.
Thanks for that idea. I (very lightly) use a SmartThings hub, so I wondered if there was an easy way to add an IR bridge to it. That led me to find this: http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Use_SmartThings_with_a_Device_with_an_IR_Remote
Broadlink would be a non-starter since it would need an Android device as a proxy, but the SwitchBot hub looks promising.
If I decide to go the IR route instead of network remote that seems to be the easiest way to get this working in my case.
I have a Harmony Hub set up to do all IR Blasts.
Then, on my Raspberry Pi I have the "Harmony API" installed. There's this guy you may have heard of named Jon Maddox who has it on his GitHub. 
Every device you set up in your Harmony Hub becomes a slug that you can call over HTTP. So for instance, you could have a TV turn on/off or change HDMI inputs.
Next up, with my SmartThings hub, using the web interface I installed a Device Handler and SmartApp called "HTTP Button". Using that, I created virtual button that I can launch from SmartThings. Because SmartThings is also tied into my virtual assistance, I can ask her to do the actions, too.
You could stop there, or you could also go one step further with something like WebCore to do more automation or multi-step functions. You could also do basic automation in SmartThings and some of the add-ons, but it depends upon how detailed you'd need to get.
So, not going to lie, this is a long, complicated, and mildly expensive setup, but it does work perfectly once everything is in place!
I like where this thread is going 
It would be really awesome if there were a way to "wrap" this setup inside an HDHR emulator so you wouldn't have to do anything special inside Channels. And the emulator would take care of sending IR commands to the tuner.
A quick Google search turns up some open-source projects out there that more-or-less do this sort of thing.
Another great idea, but IMHO one best suited for the product devs to incorporate natively into Channels. I'm imagining a new official wifi IR Blaster product offering that offers native customizable IR controls. In reality though, I know my use case is probably pretty limited so if I were the Channels guys I wouldn't want to do it 
, knowing that I wouldn't be making any money on the effort.
I decided to give the SwitchBot Hub a try, and it was incredibly easy to set up a working virtual IR remote using their Android app. The combo of a Chromecast w/ Google TV running Channels and my phone sending the remote commands will work out well.
I'm not super keen on the idea that I am relying on SwitchBot to continue to exist for this to work, but for now it was a cheap and super easy solution to set up.
Which HDMI-IPTV device did you buy? Did it work with Channels?
The Lenkeng v3 transmitter discussed here.
https://blog.danman.eu/new-version-of-lenkeng-hdmi-over-ip-extender-lkv373a/
The LKV373a v3 is no longer available, but you can still find the v3 version of LKV383a on eBay (avoid all of the v2 or v4 models). Works very well with Channels, but I did need to strip DHCP using a HDMI splitter in order for it to be reliable.
Here's another model
Nice, thanks.
What's the issue with the v4? Did you find any links of people trying it and problems they ran into?
v4 locks down the config UI, so they enforced the Tx and Rx units to work as a pair. As the blog describes, this product was never intended to be used as a configurable uni/multicast device, which makes the $40-$50 price tag a steal.
Are you still using your HDMI encoder? Did you find a solution for IR blasting?
The encoder was was sock-drawered after a while in-lieu of the simple-to-maintain HDHR Prime. IR was controlled via a Switchbot Hub.
If/when the Prime becomes a doorstop I'll come back to this setup, in addition to incorporating the relevant ideas from this fellow (like the use of the TivoCommander app):
A really popular programmable IR blaster is the Broadlink. They make a few different models, which even include RF.
I had an app years ago that managed the control of them, but they have direct support in Home Assistant now. And even if you don't use Home Assistant for anything else, it'd be worth using it just to control this, just because it can be very tedious.
These have been adopted a TON by home automation fans, so there's lots of projects to control them now.
https://www.amazon.com/Broadlink-RM4-Universal-Control-Compatible/dp/B07ZSF46BX
