Another remote post

[lithium630]

The time has come that I need to replace my media center remote. I realize that there are lots of posts about remotes already, but I do not want a harmony or a universal remote. I'm looking for a Media Center remote with the green button. The sticking point is that I want it to control the TV power. I really miss the old Microsoft peanut remote with TV power. Are there any remotes left that fit this seeming simple criteria?

[newfiend]

Ok..gotta ask...why no on the harmony? I programmed my harmony's menu button to replicate the green button function.. Easy peasy.

Sent from my WP7 using Board Express

[adam1991]

XBox Universal Media Remote (the older beige one).

[NWW]

XBox Universal Media Remote (the older beige one).

How does it connect to the HTPC?

[adam1991]

Not sure what you mean.

If you have a Media Center remote and appropriate IR receiver, the XBox Universal Remote will happily work with that IR receiver.

[bmblank]

The xbox is a Microsoft product. The remote should work with either.

[barnabas1969]

Ok..gotta ask...why no on the harmony? I programmed my harmony's menu button to replicate the green button function.. Easy peasy.

Sent from my WP7 using Board Express

I agree. I programmed the "Menu" button on my remote to send the command for the green button. Makes perfect sense.

[newfiend]

Ok..gotta ask...why no on the harmony? I programmed my harmony's menu button to replicate the green button function.. Easy peasy.

Sent from my WP7 using Board Express

I agree. I programmed the "Menu" button on my remote to send the command for the green button. Makes perfect sense.

actually I learned to do this from STC.. Gotta give him props where props is due..

Sent from my WP7 using Board Express

[barnabas1969]

I've never used a Harmony, but my remote is programmable by a web-based program (with an ActiveX control, so it only works in IE). Mine has a pre-defined set of IR commands that work with Media Center. The web interface has a picture of the remote. I can just drag a command from the list of available commands to any button on the picture of my remote.... and voila! The list of IR commands is very complete. Every piece of A/V equipment I've ever programmed into the remote has commands that don't even exist on the original remote that came with the equipment.

I assume Harmony works in a similar way.

[adam1991]

Harmony works *exactly* the same way, except for the part requiring ActiveX (thankfully).

What remote do you have?

[barnabas1969]

I have the Acoustic Research AR-RX18G. Acoustic Research is an Audiovox brand, but the remote is actually made by Universal Remote Universal Electronics. It was much, much cheaper than the Harmony One when I bought it several years ago. You can get them as cheap as $50.00 on e-bay now, or $70.00 on Amazon.

I recently purchased a new AVR for the living room and moved my old AVR to my bedroom. I wanted another programmable remote for the bedroom to control the TV, AVR, Media Center extender, and BluRay player... so I bought another AR-RX18G on e-bay for less than $50. It just shipped today, so I'll have it in a few days.

[newfiend]

I will say that the setup software for the remotes (harmony) could use some simplification .. For the novice it has its learning curve.. It needs to be a bit simpler. But it does work great once you get it figured out.

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[barnabas1969]

I will say that the setup software for the remotes (harmony) could use some simplification .. For the novice it has its learning curve.. It needs to be a bit simpler. But it does work great once you get it figured out.

Sent from my WP7 using Board Express

The same can be said about the Acoustic Research software, but it's much easier to use the software than it is to program a remote by pressing buttons on the remote. Before buying the AR remote, my previous remote was a Sony Remote Commander with a large (like 3"x5") touch screen that I bought back in 2003. The Sony remote had no means by which to program it from a computer... so moving up to the AR was better by leaps and bounds.

For a newbie who has never programmed a remote with such advanced features, it takes some time to figure out everything.

[bmblank]

I found the harmony to be an absolute dream to program. How can it get any easier than "what do you use to change the volume?" I would let my parents program a remote, and that's saying something.
If you're trying to get a little more customized I could see where it would take a little getting used to, but as far as I'm concerned its still nothing that somebody who designed their own htpc couldn't handle in about 5 minutes.

[barnabas1969]

I agree with bmblank. Basic remote programming is a piece of cake. It's when you get into the macros, activities, and such that it can become a little more complicated. But... for a techie geek... it's still no big deal... just a little time consuming.

On the AR remote, when you setup an activity (e.g. "Watch TV"), you get a chance to assign each group of keys (groups like: volume up/down/mute, channel up/down, numeric keys, touch screen, RGYB buttons, etc) to a device of your choice.

[lithium630]

The xbox is a Microsoft product. The remote should work with either.

I just don't like Harmony remotes, or most universal remotes for that matter. I don't have anything to control anything but a TV and HTPC so I just want a simple Media Center Remote. I have 6 tv's and would like to use the same remote on all of them. Maybe it's just my ir receiver, but Xbox remotes do not work. I have a couple old linksys extenders and they do not work on those either. I don't believe they are the same as media center remotes. There is a setting on the xbox to tell it whether you are using an xbox or media center remote.

[newfiend]

I found the harmony to be an absolute dream to program. How can it get any easier than "what do you use to change the volume?" I would let my parents program a remote, and that's saying something.
If you're trying to get a little more customized I could see where it would take a little getting used to, but as far as I'm concerned its still nothing that somebody who designed their own htpc couldn't handle in about 5 minutes.

If your using the online programing wizard for a harmony 300 or 300i remote it is easy .. Its the Logitech Harmony Remote software 7 for the higher end remotes that can be a bit of a pain to configure.. Especially if your configuring a HTPC with it. There are multiple profiles for Media Center.
Media Center PC, Media Center PC SE, Media Center Keyboard .. It took awhile to figure out what profile worked best with my built in IR in my case. One profile would work .. One wouldn't .. Part of it was the damn iMON software for my IR that wasn't working correctly. Once I figured out the software and profile that worked it was easy from there. But hey I was a noob once too..
newfiend~

[newfiend]

The xbox is a Microsoft product. The remote should work with either.

I just don't like Harmony remotes, or most universal remotes for that matter. I don't have anything to control anything but a TV and HTPC so I just want a simple Media Center Remote. I have 6 tv's and would like to use the same remote on all of them. Maybe it's just my ir receiver, but Xbox remotes do not work. I have a couple old linksys extenders and they do not work on those either. I don't believe they are the same as media center remotes. There is a setting on the xbox to tell it whether you are using an xbox or media center remote.

Here is a link to xmbc's site that has quite a list of remotes for MC
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Re ... ol_reviews
newfiend~

[newfiend]

http://www.origenae.com/en/accessory_rc197.htm
EDIT: It does have both TV and HTPC power buttons
newfiend~
You can get it here.. $25.00 http://www.shop.perfecthometheater.com/ ... -RC197.htm

[lithium630]

I don't see any on the list with a tv power button, BUT it does show a registry tweak to get the Xbox remote to work. I might try that. Won't help with the Linksys extenders but those will be the first replaced when the Echo's are available.