Need Remote Control for HTPC

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2[H]4U
Joined
Jun 12, 2001
Messages
3,886
I was in debt and I sold my Remote Wonder II (Which I liked very much)

I'm stuck between these choices

Remote Wonder II/Plus (I don't want a remote Wonder One)
Snapstream Firefly/Firefly Mini
Streamzap
or a MS Media Center Edition

Programs I use are Zoomplayer, Sage TV, Winamp, Windows XP Professional With SP2. The Remote wonder I had did all of that and more so I want a remote that can control all of those programs.
I use Sage TV with a Hauppauge PVR-150MCE. I have a couple of questions about the MS MCE remote I know it comes with IR blasters can I use those to control my cable box? (Cable Vision is trying to make everybody get a box by taking more and more channels off the cable ready line up which pisses me off :mad: ) and will it control all of those programs I listed without any problems in XP Pro?
 
I've tried a RW2, I have a Firefly and I've also had a Streamzap.

The Streamzap is pretty damn basic but it will do what you require of it on the cheap, I sold mine cause it didn't give me enough options.

I just did not like the RW2 remote, it just didn't "feel" right for what I wanted.

I had been using the Firefly, it did pretty much everything I wanted of it. I rather liked it.

Then I bought an MS MCE remote. Now the Firefly sits in a box collecting dust. I very much like my MCE remote. :)

I used the MCE remote with many of the apps you listed, my setup was Zoomplayer, Media Portal, iTunes, SageTV and for the most part everything worked just fine. All of the apps have pretty decent support for the remote and when they don't you can remap certain keys to it.
 
is the remapping easy and straight forward enough to figure out? and what about cable box control? (I have a scientific Atalanta 4250HD hooked up through S-Video on a Hauppauge PVR 150MCE) Do I need any special drivers since it's meant for MCE? I'm using XP Pro SP2 Thanks
 
MCE is XP Pro; you already have the drivers for it.

It'll control the cable box but I don't know the details since I don't use one.
 
pm me if you want to buy my remote wonder2 . i use a harmony 880 now with an IR reciver for all my electronics and MCE so i dont need the RW2. i also have the first remote wonder but i see you dont want it.

IR blaster can work great but they can also be very finicky. because they rely on you htpc they can act up during heave use due to cpu load.

MCE is XP Pro; you already have the drivers for it.
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mce is xp home but drivers are the same.
 
As another former Firefly remote user, I've moved to the MCE remote and haven't looked back. Sure, the Firefly is RF, which is kind of nice, but the major drawback for me was not being able to wake the computer from standby with it. Now that I have my MCE remotes working and waking my client computers from standby, I really need to get my Firefly remotes up for sale ;)
 
sorry... your correct. xp pro with no DNS services

with the firefly where you easily able to control your electronics? and how are you doing so now? i cant stand more then one remote... it makes me crazy. my htpc is on 24/7 so i never ran into standby issues.

i hear the MCE remote is pretty good.

i like the harmony because setup is a no brainer and it controls everything i have: 360, SA explorer 8000,denon ar686s and htpc with mce. i was also able to set up my dimmer but by habit still get up to hit the switch. my pronto remote is great but a PITA to set up and the batt. only lasts about ten hours of use at a time, logy 880 will do three weeks easy at a few hours use a day (few for me is about 5-6 pc, movies, music, TV)
 
Tangent inc. said:
with the firefly where you easily able to control your electronics? and how are you doing so now? i cant stand more then one remote... it makes me crazy. my htpc is on 24/7 so i never ran into standby issues.
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The Firefly is RF, not IR so you can't really do much of anything else with it beyond the PC.

Yeah, the Harmony remotes are pretty awesome and worth getting if you need to control several devices. You still need to get an IR receiver for them though so picking up an MCE remote as an interim is a good idea since the Harmony can easily use it's receiver.
 
i just got then MCE remote yesterday. I love it, although its the only one I've used. It can control my directv box with no problem.
 
yeh when i was using the remote wonder II i set up a usb ir blaster system and i got sick of ripping through it every time i got a new component. now i use an ir receiver to control MCE with my harmony.

Format _C.... did you narrow your choices down any?
 
Yes I'm going to get a Microsoft MCE Remote. The one that comes with the little IR blasters
 
IMO, the only remote worth buying is a harmony remote. I have one for my HT and it controls everything perfectly. Set up time was seriously like 4 minutes and it couldn't have been easier. I have the xbox 360 version so I can navigate xbox menus easily. I've been able to retire a total of 6 remotes and can just use this one, with a push of one button, to turn on and use anything and everything in my system.
 
IMO, the only remote worth buying is a harmony remote. I have one for my HT and it controls everything perfectly. Set up time was seriously like 4 minutes and it couldn't have been easier. I have the xbox 360 version so I can navigate xbox menus easily. I've been able to retire a total of 6 remotes and can just use this one, with a push of one button, to turn on and use anything and everything in my system.
Click to expand...

I second this, love my 360 remote, but this user may not have a 360 and not need something so extravagent.
 
The price on the Nokia 770 internet tablets has been coming down. I've seen a few posts around about using them with VNC as a touchscreen remote. Seems interesting. I've been shopping around for a good price. $140 to $180 seems to be the range.
 
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