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Cool remote for a media centre??

DigitalDivide

By DigitalDivide
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Rajahal Mentor

Rajahal

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Posted

That does look interesting, and for $60 it might be worth trying out.

 

However, my next remote will be the cheapest iPod Touch I can find (likely a used 8 GB model), so that I can run Collect3 Mobile.  This is an app for iPods and iPhones that lets you control XBMC over HTTP - this means that you don't need to be within any particular range of the HTPC, you just have to have internet access.  So if you run this on an iPhone like my friend does, you can turn on a movie or music from anywhere in the world.  Amazing.  Also, the full touch screen surface and high resolution art makes this remote a pleasure to use...you get full fan art, IMDb listings, etc. right on the remote, instead of on the TV.  So you can be reading about the next movie you want to watch while without disturbing your wife's TV show, etc. etc.

 

The iPod Touch or iPhone is by far the sexiest remote I've come across.  The iPad would be great too, but these are still too expensive.

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chanders Contributor

chanders

Posted
Posted

I have a few "remote" apps on my iPhone and while the idea is novel, I like the tactile feel of a remote. No need to watch the remote to raise the volume etc. like you will have to with the iPhone. The iPhone is good if you move from room to room and have a full speaker system throughout your house. You can change songs from just about anywhere via WiFi. However just sitting on the couch taking in a flick with the wife, I think nothing beats a good ol remote. No need to worry if it falls down (and it will!) or something spills on it etc. It will all depend on the application.

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poofyhairguy Explorer

poofyhairguy

Posted
Posted

I'm looking to rebuilding both my server and htpc and came across this little beauty to be used as a remote for my htpc.  I really like this a lot better than a simple remote, seems much more powerful.  Just wondering if anyone has come across this?

 

http://usb.brando.com/rii-mini-wireless-keyboard_p01476c034d15.html

 

 

I saw that on the XBMC forum, and personally I don't like it. To me, any HTPC remote not named a Harmony is WAY too complicated for normal people to use, and I like guests to be able to use my setup. Putting a keyboard on your remote is the fastest way to get this question from your guests: "Is there a way I can just do something easy, like watch a DVD instead?"

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poofyhairguy Explorer

poofyhairguy

Posted
Posted

WAF is where the Harmony wins. Instead of explaining "to watch a movie put the TV on this input, then the receiver on this input, and control the volume with this remote," you say "Hit this button" with a nice "Watch a Movie Label" and (if you are a nerd worth your salt) it magically works for her. Prior to Harmonys there wasn't a HTPC on the planet with a high WAF.

 

To get back on topic, I think that for for us nerds that want to do more than what a Harmony provides (to browse the web, play a game on the big tv, etc), these keyboard remotes like this one and the Boxee remote are the worst of both worlds: If you need a easy to use remote they fail, and it you need an easy to use keyboard they fail.

 

I think a small Bluetooth mouse/keyboard is much preferable, or something like this that is designed for the mouse/keyboard purpose:

 

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboards/keyboard/devices/3848

 

AND a Harmony. Great combo.

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unraided Enthusiast

unraided

Posted
Posted

I second this about the Logitech remote. I have the Logitech Harmony 900 remote control. It is great as it is fully programmable via a Windows-based PC, and keeps a record of your setup for your remote on Logitech's database. In the instance that you need to re-install the sync software on another PC, using your created account with Logitech, and it'll restore your profile and settings for your remote to the other PC.

The user interface, general usability, battery life, signal infrared strength and button layout is also great too. The only downfall is that you have to use a PC to program most functions on it. I believe it is 'wife worthy', by which it is simple to use :). It allows you to create customized macro tasks to have all your equipment power on or off in a sequence, if you have a complex setup of pre-amps, Plasma's, HTPC's, etc.... and the GUI on the screen is easy enough for most folk out there.

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NAS Experienced

NAS

Posted
Posted

For me the Logitach is awful and i wouldnt buy another one.

 

It completely and utterly failed WAF since anytime one of the family diverged from using it (i.e. dared to use a real button say on the tv) the activites would get out of sync and I would get a frustrated call at work.

 

Good signal stregth, passable layout, decent qaulity but complete miss in the software programming side and silly activity based buttons.

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markguy Apprentice

markguy

Posted
Posted

For me the Logitach is awful and i wouldnt buy another one.

 

It completely and utterly failed WAF since anytime one of the family diverged from using it (i.e. dared to use a real button say on the tv) the activites would get out of sync and I would get a frustrated call at work.

 

Good signal stregth, passable layout, decent qaulity but complete miss in the software programming side and silly activity based buttons.

 

Out of curiosity, what do you use instead? The syncing issue would be a problem, but I solved mine by pulling all the batteries from the component remotes and stuffing them in my parts and manuals bin. I haven't seen anything other than the Harmonies that solves this, short of something like my much-missed Control4 setup.

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NAS Experienced

NAS

Posted
Posted

The fundamental harmony problems for me are:

 

They are not true macro based remotes. Whilst you can program them in lots of cool ways once you have used a proper high end remote you soon see their limitations. This in itself is not a show stopper.

The showstopper is activities and WAF. If wife, child or guest cycles power on one device or uses any physical button say to change amp source the harmony doesn't know. Then when wife presses the activity button it does something oddbal that requires me to fix. Not that big a deal you would say but in practice it was and resulted in to many fights :P

 

This all stem,s from the fact that most kit doesnt have separate  on and off codes and it requires ABOLSUTE and SOLE control of the kit using ONLY the harmony EVER.

 

Yes you can learn to work around it but having to teach someone how to recover from an oddball action is usually not possible... that requires true knowledge of the setup which my family will not have ever.

 

In the end I have one remote per bit of kit and concentrate on simplifying the actual cabling/routing.

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prostuff1 Mentor

prostuff1

Posted
Posted

I got my parents a remote for christmas one year and set it up for them.  It did take them a while to get use to it as they were use to reaching for the separate remotes.  I finally took those remotes and hid them in the house so they could never use them again.

 

Once I explained to them that they have to use the Harmony to control everything and not use the old remotes they got better with it.  I also showed them the "Devices" page and told them that there old single remotes were still there if they needed them.

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jazzysmooth Apprentice

jazzysmooth

Posted
Posted

I have a few Harmony 610s and they are great...set one up at the parent's house, etc.  However, I have yet to be able to get one to work with an HTPC.

 

I use a 720 to control my projector, receiver, Dish DVR and HTPC.  For the HTPC I have it emulate a MS Media Center controller and also use EventGhost to gain additional functionality.  Overall I've been very happy with the activity based macros, but can understand how it could be frustrating if one of the devices became out of sync.

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BRiT Mentor

BRiT

Posted
Posted

If you're hardcore enough, the Harmony can't touch a JP1/JP1.3 programmed remote with extenders installed or simply using Discrete On/Off codes. http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/index.php

 

I also hear great things about the Pronto remotes.

 

What the Harmony needs and lacks completely is support for Discrete On and Discrete Off codes, assuming your equipment supports them. Then it doesn't matter if the equipment is already on or toggled out of sync. From what I can tell, the Harmony Remotes only use the simple Power Toggle commands, which leads to the described issues.

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jazzysmooth Apprentice

jazzysmooth

Posted
Posted

What the Harmony needs and lacks completely is support for Discrete On and Discrete Off codes, assuming your equipment supports them. Then it doesn't matter if the equipment is already on or toggled out of sync. From what I can tell, the Harmony Remotes only use the simple Power Toggle commands, which leads to the described issues.

 

Actually the Harmonys can support whatever the device's own remote supports.  My projector has discrete on and off codes, and they were in the Harmony database.  If they weren't, I could tell the Harmony to learn them from the original remote.  Unfortunately many devices seem to use the toggle function rather then discrete codes.

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markguy Apprentice

markguy

Posted
Posted

If wife, child or guest cycles power on one device or uses any physical button say to change amp source the harmony doesn't know. Then when wife presses the activity button it does something oddbal that requires me to fix. Not that big a deal you would say but in practice it was and resulted in to many fights :P

 

No, that's a huge deal. I doubt anyone would suggest otherwise. I guess if someone was determined to have a Harmony-like remote, without springing into the stratospheric level of server based whole house A/V control, they'd clearly have to decide if it was worth the effort. I had forgotten about physically mashing buttons on the components... been spoiled with a dedicated equipment room. You can't swipe the batteries from a component!

 

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Rajahal Mentor

Rajahal

Posted
Posted

As I said earlier, I set up the Harmony 610 for my parents.  They got used to it within a week or two, even my mom (who is not tech savvy whatsoever).  Even if someone does press the buttons on the components, the harmony is able to recover.  I haven't run into any 'oddball' situations as you describe.  In fact, I don't see how you would, since the harmony just sends commands such as 'change input to hdmi1, set receiver to 'dvd', etc'.  So it doesn't matter what the starting position is, the command the remote sends still work.  The ONLY issue I've seen is that our DVD player has a physical power button that will override everything else (it isn't a simple toggle button, it seems to actually cut power to the device, similar to the switch on the back of a PSU).  But I don't see any other remote being able to overcome that either.

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