Just saw Motorola is planning on putting out a XBMC remote!  Kinda like the Boxee remote, with a keyboard on the backside.  No word if it's backlit or not.  I know a lot of you have been using a Harmony universal but I haven't had much luck with mine (although I haven't REALLY tried).  I did a quick program of it and it seems "sluggish" compared to the cheap MCE remote.  Now I just use the MCE remote but I do keep a keyboard near the TV just in case.  This looks like it would eliminate the need for it....But for $60 it better be backlit!

 

http://www.tested.com/news/motorola-made-xbmc-remote-now-available-for-presale/2118/

Can't really compare that to an Harmony... Harmony is a universal remote that can control all your devices in your Home Theater. It doesn't look as if this XBMC Remote has that capability. I can see it can control your TV, but what about your receiver, set top box, room lighting etc. etc. etc. $60 is way too steep for just a 1 trick pony (2 tricks?).

 

I agree with the sluggishness of Harmony's, some models are hit and miss. I love my One but it's a bit slower than the original MCE remote that my IR receiver came with and slower than an 880 model that is also in my household.

It looks like another good try but fail. I need universal remote capabilities as well.

 

FYI, it seems Harmony remotes send the command on button release. Quicker button presses would make them respond faster.

my harmony works fine with my XBMC, though I did have to customize the keyrepeat rate and one other thing to get the "delay" to be less substantial.

 

The reason the MCE remote and receiver works so well is because a lot of people have it and have already customized the above settings mentioned.

I have my One set down further than what a User can set (I had a tech do it from the backend), I also had to turn off repeat entirely (which they had to do too)... it's still sluggish unfortunately. Great remote but sluggish.

I have my One set down further than what a User can set (I had a tech do it from the backend), I also had to turn off repeat entirely (which they had to do too)... it's still sluggish unfortunately. Great remote but sluggish.

 

I was talking about those settings within XBMC itself, not on the Harmony.

I have no discernible delay with my Harmony... I push the button, XBMC responds as expected... It's an 880 as opposed to the One, if that makes any difference...

 

One thought is that I never used another remote with XBMC, so perhaps I just have nothing to compare it to... though I'm sure I would have noticed a delay if there was one (that sort of misbehaviour drives me nuts )

Man I'm still rocking the old school DVD Remote and Dongle. 7bucks off Ebay. LOL

I run free XBMC remote software on my phone (Droid 2).  Works pretty well, though it does have 'socket timeout errors' from time to time (not sure what that means).  It is definitely slower than the MCE remote, though, so I often use that for my day-to-day watching.  The phone remote is more of a party trick than anything else.  For music, though, I do find it very nice to be able to control my living room home theater system from anywhere in the house, without looking at the TV screen.

I run free XBMC remote software on my phone (Droid 2).  Works pretty well, though it does have 'socket timeout errors' from time to time (not sure what that means).  It is definitely slower than the MCE remote, though, so I often use that for my day-to-day watching.  The phone remote is more of a party trick than anything else.  For music, though, I do find it very nice to be able to control my living room home theater system from anywhere in the house, without looking at the TV screen.

This is exciting! Just downloaded and installed. Will try when I get home. Sweet sweet android!

 

One question: You say it allows you to control volume on home theater, but I assume it's the volume inside XBMC only, correct? Or is there some kind of magical interface with my amp.... which seems highly unlikely, but sure would be awesome!

I run free XBMC remote software on my phone (Droid 2).  Works pretty well, though it does have 'socket timeout errors' from time to time (not sure what that means).  It is definitely slower than the MCE remote, though, so I often use that for my day-to-day watching.  The phone remote is more of a party trick than anything else.  For music, though, I do find it very nice to be able to control my living room home theater system from anywhere in the house, without looking at the TV screen.

This is exciting! Just downloaded and installed. Will try when I get home. Sweet sweet android!

 

One question: You say it allows you to control volume on home theater, but I assume it's the volume inside XBMC only, correct? Or is there some kind of magical interface with my amp.... which seems highly unlikely, but sure would be awesome!

Just inside XBMC.  No magical interface exists...  The volume buttons on the droid control the volume in XBMC. 

(I have the XBMC remote on my Droid-X)

Just tried it! How fun! Finally, I can play music in the basement, and listen upstairs!

 

Too bad about the lack of magical interface! ... Though I found if I turn the volume in XBMC down, and the amp volume up, I get fairly good volume range...

Actually, I can control my receiver too...but I paid a premium for a fancy receiver that can be controlled via HTTP.  I have a Yamaha RX-1000.  There's an official app for iProducts, and an unofficial app for Android (that works VERY well).  Through this app I have full control of the most useful bits of the receiver - volume, scenes, zone control, party mode, etc.  I can even power it on and off...

 

The only thing I can't control from my phone at this point is the power button on my TV.  I did find a unit (from a recommendation on these forums) that lets you control any IR device over a network, but it costs over $100.  I haven't yet justified spending that much to save me the trouble of using a regular remote or just getting up and pressing the button.  The audio stuff makes more sense to me as that I can enjoy from anywhere in the house (especially once I get my zone 2 speakers set up...).

With use of the Zilog chip and a few UART's to handle coms between, it should be possible to build a Bluetooth to IR box.  This is without looking at datasheets.  The price would be knocking at $100 and that's just hardware, I'd have to tackle the software and chip programming as well, which, is no huge deal -- if my time allowed it, which at the moment it doesn't unfortunately.

 

I'll have to Google that IR controller via Network.

 

Actually, I can control my receiver too...but I paid a premium for a fancy receiver that can be controlled via HTTP.  I have a Yamaha RX-1000.  There's an official app for iProducts, and an unofficial app for Android (that works VERY well).  Through this app I have full control of the most useful bits of the receiver - volume, scenes, zone control, party mode, etc.  I can even power it on and off...

 

The only thing I can't control from my phone at this point is the power button on my TV.  I did find a unit (from a recommendation on these forums) that lets you control any IR device over a network, but it costs over $100.  I haven't yet justified spending that much to save me the trouble of using a regular remote or just getting up and pressing the button.  The audio stuff makes more sense to me as that I can enjoy from anywhere in the house (especially once I get my zone 2 speakers set up...).

 

....sorry for bringing up a very old topic, but I thought I'd share this with you.

I just received one of these: http://www.pulse-eight.com/store/products/104-usb-hdmi-cec-adapter.aspx

What it will do is, that it will let you control your xbmc box through the TV remote.

You need a TV or Theatre-Equipment with some sort of CEC link feature.

With Panasonic - in my case - this is called VIERA-Link...Samsung, Sony and other brands name it differently, but it'll be the same thing in its core.

 

Well, I hooked it up to my HTPC, using an openelec version from the suplliers site on a spare USB to test, and to my TV.

Guess what...it is working right out of the box 

What makes me so exited is the power-on/-off feature.

 

- switch on xbmc and TV comes on

- switch off TV and  xbmc box goes into suspend

- switch on TV and select HDMI input for xbmc and xbmc box comes up

- switch off/suspend xbmc and TV goes off as well.

 

- and you can control xbmc, once up, from the TV remote.

 

...not all xbmc actions are mapped out of the box, so some customizing needs

to be done...but for me, this is a major milestone in convenience.

 

Ford