Universal remotes to control a PC?

A

arthur_tuxedo

Gawd
Joined
Jan 8, 2003
Messages
566
I was thinking of how useful it is to control an HTPC by remote, and wondered if a universal remote could be made to take over the functions of a TV tuner remote or one with a USB receiver. If so, does anyone know how this would be accomplished? Ideally, I'd like to use an RF universal remote to control the TV, stereo receiver, and HTPC.
 
depends on the ir receiver you are using. The logitech harmonys work well with mce receivers.
 
I suppose what I'm asking is whether a person could buy an RF receiver that could then be made to work with an existing RF remote.
 
if you buy an MCE IR receiver (comes with remote usually) then buy a univeral remote that supposrt MCE like the logitech harmony remotes and you will be in business. Logitech used to make an RF remote. I use an 880 to control my xbox 360, htpc, tv, receiver, and dvd player.
 
i use a harmony for my htpc. but i still buy the microsoft mce remotes just so i can get that receiver. its worth the $30 though, it has outstanding performance.
 
I use the Harmony 720 in conjunction with the Microsoft MCE IR Receiver. I bought the Microsoft MCE remote & receiver on fleabay just for IR receiver for $15 (including S+H). Works very well. Been using the Harmony for over a year. Very customizable.
 
I use the Pinacle MCE remote on my Vista Ultimate x32 and it works really good. I got it for free with a graphics card I bought. :D
 
What is it about a remote that makes it MCE compatible? Why couldn't a person take any old universal remote and train it to work with a PC-compatible receiver?
 
if you wanted to learn the keystrokes, that would work. the mce compatibility comes with the remote having prebuilt profiles.
 
Ah, I see. That's cool, then. Does anyone know which RF receiver has its codes freely available, or whether there's a way to upload them into the remote?
 
definitely go with an mce branded remote. there is no setup, its plug and play. when you go to watch tv, you dont want any annoying problems and thats what mce remotes get rid of.

for $30 you can get the REAL microsoft mce remote kit. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1212337417&sr=8-1

you dont have to use the remote... mine just sits as a backup in case my harmony remote dies. when you go to harmony's website, you can select "mce box" for your tv and the remote automatically sets itself up to work perfectly, JUST like the original ms remote.

the microsoft remote kit is very high quality and it works better then any remote ive ever used. its honestly more comfortable and easier to use then my harmony- but my harmony does more of course.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
So it sounds like a person will want to use an IR remote and not an RF remote along with the MCE remote receiver. To clarify, the kind of universal remotes I'm talking about are the really high-end ones. I would have liked to have used an RF remote, but it doesn't sound like this is possible unless there exists an RF receiver for PC whose codes are published.
 
you can use an RF remote. all RF remotes use an RF receiver on the end with an IR transmitter. you put that unit in line of site of your equipment. Your TV, receiver, etc dont receive RF either, why should the MCE remote have to? the Universal remote does that for you, one of the reasons it is high end.
 
That's handy. Can an RF remote learn from the MCE remote, or will I have to find the codes somewhere?
 
same comments apply...a good remote will have the MCE profile already built in. have you actually looked at any remotes yet?

says works with vista at the bottom and lsits several in the compatibility database...
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/devices/374&cl=us,en

says "most multimedia computers...
http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=16000&i=554RF20&tp=712&tab=detailed_info

there are more, those are just the first 2 I have seen in a quick search.
 
The constraint in this situation is that the choice of remote is out of my hands, so I'm trying to find out a solution that will work with any universal RF remote.
 
And what ID is saying is that most RF universal remotes come with an IR blaster that converts the RF signal to an IR one and beams it towards your components. Almost all components work off IR instead of RF, so there has to be something to convert the signal back to IR. As long as the remote can learn the MCE codes, and you have an IR receiver for your HTPC, you SHOULD be good to go.
 
arthur_tuxedo said:
The constraint in this situation is that the choice of remote is out of my hands, so I'm trying to find out a solution that will work with any universal RF remote.
Click to expand...

so you are saying you arleady know which remote you will be using? that information would make this conversation different, shorter, and much easier. What RF remote do you have?
 
RTI T1 is what we'll be going with. The installer tells it doesn't learn, but she might be able capture the receiver's codes into a .px file (whatever that is) and make it work that way. Sorry about my noobish questions, but I really know almost nothing about universal remotes, and I gather that making one work with a PC is not really the easiest learning ground.
 
yeah, she should be fine if you have an MCE remote to let her steal the codes from. this looks more like a corporate type controller.

oh and HTPC and remotes are as complicated as you make it. MS has one that works, the trick is emulating it. bot any different than any other device you are trying to control.
 
I would second the Media Center IR Blaster and the Logitech Harmony Xbox 360 controller, it's like a match made in heaven.
 
I have a USB-UIRT and a Snapstream Firefly IR receiver, would either of these work with the 550 or 880?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top