PC Remote Controller

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mephistofun

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#10462 23-Nov-2006 15:25

Greetings. I seem to be one of the few people who actually uses his PC in his living room.
I have been searching everywhere to find a suitable controlling device for my PC. This device would
be compact and handheld yet provide 100% of the functionality of a mouse and keyboard.

I want to be sitting on my couch loading up VLC player or browsing the web without ever
having to reach for a keyboard.

All the handheld remotes I ever see only have basic "media key" functions.
Even the fancy yet unwieldy remote keyboard/mouse combos are completely inadequate because they
only allow for a 6 foot range. My living room is much larger than that.

Today I found this thing:

http://www.reviewsonline.com/articles/986448301.htm

This UniCon thing looks incredible! It's too bad this article is over five years old and I can't find any
information about this thing anywhere. Has anyone here ever heard of it?
I am led to believe it originated in Korea because of this poorly designed page I googled:

http://www.ectrade.com/bin/sample/s...preview=ok&language=en

Google seems to show nothing else relevant to this device. The manufacturer is probably now defunct.
It doesn't seem very likely that I will ever be able to find one of these.. :(

Does anyone know of a remote PC Controller that is even remotely (no pun intended)
close to what this UniCon thing is capable of?

[Moderator edit (bradstewart): Hyperlinked]

tonyhughes

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#53394 23-Nov-2006 16:55

i have a Sony Ericsson v600i, and a laptop with bluetooth. Out of the box, I just pair the device with the laptop, and have full desktop control with cursor movement using the phones joystick, and left and right clicking, windows key, escape key, cursor up/down/left/right (same function as arrow keys).

Does some of what you might be looking for. I use it as a powerpoint presenter (it has a PP specific set of controls too)

mephistofun

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#53423 23-Nov-2006 21:02

That seems pretty cool. What kind of range does bluetooth give you? Maybe I should be looking for bluetooth
devices instead of IR or RF. I guess what it boils down to is that I need something that works consistently over
a range greater than six feet. My wireless mouse uses RF and is rated for 6 feet and works at 10 feet but only when
it has brand new batteries in it. The batteries quickly lose strength and I have to move closer just for it to work.

freitasm

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#53424 23-Nov-2006 21:12

Bluetooth will provide you about 10m (30 ft) although a version for 100m is available (but not for mobile phones).

lchiu7

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#53432 23-Nov-2006 22:06

I have a Hauppauge PVR250 card in my PVR in the living room. It has a IR sensor as part of the deal. I use Girder to control the PC by installing a plugin for Girder that recognises the Hauppauge IR sensor. So I can point my remote at the sensor and control the PC - like start up gbpvr, cursor up/down/left/right Enter/Esc etc. Works pretty well.

Another solution is to use Girder with the USB-UIRT which is a device that connects as one would think via USB to a PC and has a IR sensor/emitter on it.

A bit of setup was required but now it works seamlessly

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Mark

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#53486 24-Nov-2006 12:43

Have you thought about the Microsoft Media Centre Keyboard ? http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=038

It's actually a fairly nice bit of kit, not too huge but offers everything you'd need to run the PC from your lap on the sofa. Can;t see any reason as to why it wouldn't work with Windows XP (but better check :-)

Regards.

mephistofun

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#53519 24-Nov-2006 15:23

Thanks thats a good suggestion, I've been looking at that one. Only thing is they don't include the IR receiver with it.
You either have to have a Media Center PC already or you have to buy a separate Microsoft remote that inlcudes the receiver.
Sounds like a money-grab if you ask me.. On their website they also claim that it REQUIRES Windows XP Media Center 2005 and
you need some kind of special patch from Windows Update to use it. WTF its only a keyboard it should just work.

However it does look like a very nice keyboard and I think this is the one I will purchase. I'll just have to find a way to make
it work UNLESS I can find something like it that is Non-Microsoft.

I think the Alphagrip (http://alphagrips.com/) looks promising and unique but they don't make a wireless version of it yet.