Great new option for Media Center Remote

[Jynxed]

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to share some good news. I have been using Sage for a long time. I've always used the official Microsoft Media Center remote with for SageTV. Once they got discontinued I had to turn to Ebay for replacements. Sadly they aren't even available there anymore.

I saw Microsoft recently released a new media remote for Xbox 360 for only $19.99. It had a good layout so I bought one.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._AA1300_.jpg

I just wanted to report to everyone it works great. It has a programmable TV power button, volume, and mute button.

I've set it up using both a USB-UIRT and a Microsoft IR receiver. You do have to set it up using Eventghost. More good news is that Evenghost has a plug ins for everything including all Sage commands.

[BobbyDing]

That looks very clean (uncluttered), which is nice. I like that it can also control the TV like the Sage remotes. But I don't see a STOP button for stopping playback. I suppose you could program eventghost to use one of the colored buttons???

Bobby

[Jynxed]

Originally Posted by BobbyDing

That looks very clean (uncluttered), which is nice. I like that it can also control the TV like the Sage remotes. But I don't see a STOP button for stopping playback. I suppose you could program eventghost to use one of the colored buttons???

Bobby

You bring a good point. I did forget about the downsides I've ran into. You are correct there is no stop button. You can program eventghost so any button can be a stop button. Personally I have found the loss of a stop button to be not that big of a deal.

Also, since the pause/play is the same button you lose the frame by frame functionality when pressing pause repeatedly. I originally tied the "green button / home" action to the large Xbox button at the top. I felt it was too far away to use on a regular basis so I moved the home functionally to the menu button. My info button is tied into the "details" sage shortcut so it brings up every menu option depending on what's on the screen.

Also, the yellow button and red button don't send unique IR codes. The yellow button mirrors the guide button IR code and the red button mirrors the back button code. However, the blue and green buttons have their own unique IR codes so they can be programed to custom actions. I currently have blue mapped to "watched" and green to "stop."

The only other issue I ran into is that I never use "live tv" so that is mapped to SageTV recordings.

[drewg]

Originally Posted by Jynxed

I've set it up using both a USB-UIRT and a Microsoft IR receiver. .

Where do you get an MS IR receiver these days? I bought the cheapest "media center" remote I could find, hoping to get an MS IR receiver & throw the remote away (using a Harmony), but the #$%$# thing was really just a wireless "keyboard", and not a true Media Center remote.

Thanks,

Drew

[rrhorer]

Just do a Google search or search on Amazon for media center remote. On Amazon, I found the following with two IR blasters (at $31.72):

Mediagate - Windows Vista Certified Media Center MCE Remote Control w/ 2 Channel IR Emitter and Infrared Receiver for Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate

[Jynxed]

Originally Posted by drewg

Where do you get an MS IR receiver these days? I bought the cheapest "media center" remote I could find, hoping to get an MS IR receiver & throw the remote away (using a Harmony), but the #$%$# thing was really just a wireless "keyboard", and not a true Media Center remote.

Thanks,

Drew

I've been able to use a few different types of IR receivers. It's been my experience that you can always tell them to use the Microsoft driver. If I had to buy another one right now I would buy a HP IR receiver. When installing it you choose the driver manually and select the driver for a Microsoft Ehome receiver.

Here is one for $13

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Remote-rece...439972&sr=8-10

[panteragstk]

I just wish Gyration would have kept making their MCE remote. RF with an airmouse. Works great, but my down button is slowly dying. I got another from a friend that wasn't using it, but they are next to impossible to find now.

[Owen Brent]

I just bought a Harmony 300 remote to try to clear up some clutter on the coffee table and to help with the WAF. I was thinking of the Harmony One or the harmony 700 but these are overkill (for me) and may make things worse with regards to the wife approval factor. Only $24 at The Source (Canada) for the Harmony 300. If you only have 4 things to control this may be a good option for you. There are more than enough buttons to ensure that all the functions of the original SageTV remote can be programmed.

[jlmdxtv]

If you got a dog that chews ups everything like do, then build yourself a stockpile of ATI Remote Wonders off of eBay for about $10-$15 each when they appear.

They are RF, can be controlled by EventGhost, and drivers can be had for XP/Vista (the Vista drivers work in Windows 7 and 8). They have built in mappings for SageTV, winamp, and lots of other programs -- plus you can add your own.

john