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No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 3:21 pm
by kennyken
As the title states I'm looking to purchase a remote control for my PC. I use Windows 10 Pro with a Terratec Cinergy 2400i and have the unofficial "WMC-V8.8.1" installed which works lovely, besides MS uninstalling it every time there is a build update! I'm just looking for something that will launch WMC off the remote with ease and control the navigation easily? I see lots of cheap remotes on eBay but do they launch WMC? Most remotes I find are typically by HP etc. so I'm unsure of the compatibility. Thank you. Kenny.

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 2:18 pm
by StinkyImp
I've been using this free remote for WMC since last June. It even has mouse and keyboard functions if needed.

I use it to control Win 7 WMC (and Kodi 18) but it appears to run on Win 10 too.

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 8:38 pm
by joelkirzner
Any Logitech Harmony remote will work wonderfully. You'll need an infrared receiver hooked to the PC to work, obviously.
I've been using Logitech remotes for well over a decade with all my WMC PCs.
The Harmony 650 is a great and affordable choice, like around $35.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/logitech-h ... lsrc=aw.ds

Besides all the standard functions of controlling fast forward, rewind, page up/down, etc., you can also program the remote to turn on the TV and automatically open up WMC and go to Live TV, for example.
The color screen is customizeable, so you can have "Recorded TV", "Live TV", "Movies" or whatever displaying.
I have a "Media Center" dedicated button on the color display of the harmony remote that will open up WMC if it's not already open. It basically functions like the original Windows Media Center "Green Button" remotes.

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 11:52 pm
by mcewinter
Here is a remote designed for Windows 10. Not bad for $25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDUV-bI8Vso

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2019 8:20 pm
by mdavej
Any MCE or Ortek with "the green button" will launch WMC, as will any universal with MCE codes (like Harmony). Of course, you need an IR dongle to go with it. So may as well buy a cheap MCE remote anyway. Your Harmony won't work without a dongle. Just avoid those ultra-cheap (<$8) Chinese ones. Stick with Rosewill or something similar. Or, for ultimate flexibility, get an FLIRC and use any remote codes you want.

As mentioned earlier, there are many phone based remote apps that work over wifi and do full qwerty and mouse for free. HippoRemote is the best of these, IMO. For a universal remote option, theHomeRemote plus MCE Controller works great.
http://www.kindel.com/products/mcecontroller/

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2019 9:55 pm
by kennyken
These are all excellent replies and have more than answered my question a big help!

I'll certainly try Unified first though I have a wireless network my system with Media Center is on Ethernet to the router so not wireless, but it is discoverable on the network so hopefully its still possible.

The discussions of the "Green Button" is what I like, remotes where you can just launch Media Center and its pretty easy to use. I've seen all the cheap remotes online that are not branded and I really did not want to go there. I am considering a Harmony remote the 650 looks very nice and I kind of forgot about those. The Pepper Jobs seems to be around £36.00 in the UK which is a bit more than I wanted to pay but it does look very versatile!

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2019 9:57 pm
by kennyken
mdavej wrote: Sat Feb 09, 2019 8:20 pm Any MCE or Ortek with "the green button" will launch WMC, as will any universal with MCE codes (like Harmony). Of course, you need an IR dongle to go with it. So may as well buy a cheap MCE remote anyway. Your Harmony won't work without a dongle. Just avoid those ultra-cheap (<$8) Chinese ones. Stick with Rosewill or something similar. Or, for ultimate flexibility, get an FLIRC and use any remote codes you want.

As mentioned earlier, there are many phone based remote apps that work over wifi and do full qwerty and mouse for free. HippoRemote is the best of these, IMO. For a universal remote option, theHomeRemote plus MCE Controller works great.
http://www.kindel.com/products/mcecontroller/
For the Kindel link apologies Dave what is that for? Is it used for configuring remotes to use Media Center?

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:12 pm
by suttonb1
I've found the Logitech Harmony 350 to be ideal for WMC, as it's the only decent device with dedicated DVR and LIVE TV buttons. Certainly you could program a higher end Harmony to do this with one of the "activity" buttons on the LCD, but I simply want a good remote without bells and whistles that just works!

Can anyone recommend a non-harmony remote with dedicated DVR and LIVE buttons that works equally as well as the 350 with WMC?

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 6:38 pm
by suttonb1
Does anyone read this anymore? Certainly most of you have some sort of remote...

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 12:35 pm
by scott_lampe
If you can find an old xbox 360 remote, it has a WMC button on it too. Get an IR receiver and you can also get programs that can remap the buttons on the remote.
I actually got a USB IR receiver and blaster and just remapped some buttons on my tv remote (it had buttons for a DVD player as well).
Also had a harmony which worked well. A Samsung galaxy note 4 has an IR blaster on it so I used that for a while too.
I had been using WMC since XP days but gave up a year or so ago and just use plex now.
I still drop in here to see if anything has gotten better every now and then.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk


Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 12:12 pm
by jachin99
If you setup eventghost you can use almost anything as a remote but to answer the OP, that really depends on what feels comfortable to each individual user but you could use a web browser, an app like unified remote, an xbox controller, any ebay remote, etc. You just have to find what you like and remap the keys to your desired functions.

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 4:58 pm
by suttonb1
Was hoping for physical remote recommendations. Like I said, the Harmony 350 is a great remote for WMC, specifically because it has all required buttons (LiveTV, DVR, WMC button, etc). Was hoping for alternatives similar to it.

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:10 pm
by Slinkynose
I have been using the Inteset INT-422 for several years. It comes pre-programmed for WMC, it is learning and can do macros. I have 4 of them around the house that control totally different HW (Receivers, TVs, XBOX360, WMC, etc) and they are all set up to behave the same. The WAF is very high as it all works the same to her. It also looks very similar to a Cable company remote, so it is familiar and not scary with a screen or whatnot. They are pretty cheap, but you do need an IR receiver for your PC.

http://universalremotes.net/

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Thu May 02, 2019 1:01 am
by jachin99
You might be able to use something like this https://www.amazon.com/Talon-Media-Remo ... B01GOK34SO but I bet you will still need something like EventGhost to translate the the signal from remote to emulated keystrokes or web commands into WMC. The remote itself MIGHT be programmable.

Edit: Here is a review of the remote https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-tal ... ote-review It looks like it might communicate via RF like a regular XB1 controller. Eventghost has a plugin for receiving remote input from a regular XB1 controller provided you have the dongle. There is also this which might work natively with your PC https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360 ... dia-remote

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 7:23 pm
by chir
Did you consider HDMI-CEC instead?
Essentially, you could be using your existing TV remote to control WMC.
This would require a cheapo HDMICEC-USB adapter.

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:51 pm
by mdavej
kennyken wrote: Sun Feb 10, 2019 9:57 pm
mdavej wrote: Sat Feb 09, 2019 8:20 pm Any MCE or Ortek with "the green button" will launch WMC, as will any universal with MCE codes (like Harmony). Of course, you need an IR dongle to go with it. So may as well buy a cheap MCE remote anyway. Your Harmony won't work without a dongle. Just avoid those ultra-cheap (<$8) Chinese ones. Stick with Rosewill or something similar. Or, for ultimate flexibility, get an FLIRC and use any remote codes you want.

As mentioned earlier, there are many phone based remote apps that work over wifi and do full qwerty and mouse for free. HippoRemote is the best of these, IMO. For a universal remote option, theHomeRemote plus MCE Controller works great.
http://www.kindel.com/products/mcecontroller/
For the Kindel link apologies Dave what is that for? Is it used for configuring remotes to use Media Center?
Sorry for the late reply. I don't visit this forum very often. The link is for the MCE Controller TCP server that works in conjunction with theHomeRemote or other solution that uses TCP (control via wifi or LAN) not IR.

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:53 pm
by mdavej
chir wrote: Mon May 27, 2019 7:23 pm Did you consider HDMI-CEC instead?
Essentially, you could be using your existing TV remote to control WMC.
This would require a cheapo HDMICEC-USB adapter.
Does CEC support all the commands that WMC needs, like the all important Green Button? In my experience CEC is limited to basic transport/menu control plus power and volume. Not a great fit IMO.

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:56 pm
by mdavej
Slinkynose wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:10 pm I have been using the Inteset INT-422 for several years. It comes pre-programmed for WMC, it is learning and can do macros. I have 4 of them around the house that control totally different HW (Receivers, TVs, XBOX360, WMC, etc) and they are all set up to behave the same. The WAF is very high as it all works the same to her. It also looks very similar to a Cable company remote, so it is familiar and not scary with a screen or whatnot. They are pretty cheap, but you do need an IR receiver for your PC.

http://universalremotes.net/
The Inteset is my top pick as well. It's also a JP1 remote, so you can make it sing and dance like a much more expensive Harmony if you want:
http://www.hifi-remote.com/wiki/index.p ... IR_Version
http://www.hifi-remote.com/wiki/index.p ... s_(an_FAQ)

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2019 4:06 pm
by mdavej
jachin99 wrote: Thu May 02, 2019 1:01 am You might be able to use something like this https://www.amazon.com/Talon-Media-Remo ... B01GOK34SO but I bet you will still need something like EventGhost to translate the the signal from remote to emulated keystrokes or web commands into WMC. The remote itself MIGHT be programmable.

Edit: Here is a review of the remote https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-tal ... ote-review It looks like it might communicate via RF like a regular XB1 controller. Eventghost has a plugin for receiving remote input from a regular XB1 controller provided you have the dongle. There is also this which might work natively with your PC https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360 ... dia-remote
I think you should avoid Xbox One remotes. Xbox One codes are not compatible with WMC. You'd have a pretty remote for sure, but it won't control WMC without an FLIRC dongle and some extra programming.

Just get any flavor of an Xbox 360 Remote. It uses exactly the same IR codes as WMC. So no jumping through hoops with EventGhost and what not. Any MCE dongle will work fine with WMC as I stated earlier.

Better yet, get the Inteset which is FAR more programmable (macros, activities, etc.).

Re: No nonsense WMC remote for Windows 10?

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 5:26 pm
by chir
mdavej wrote: Sun Jun 02, 2019 3:53 pm Does CEC support all the commands that WMC needs, like the all important Green Button? In my experience CEC is limited to basic transport/menu control plus power and volume. Not a great fit IMO.
Absolutely, I have been using it myself with MCE for years. I configured specificallky the green CEC button to do exactly what you want, and even the red CEC button to act as REC.
Working fine with LG tvs and with samsung tvs.