Hi Guys,
I recently acquired a PC Remote from E-Bay for basic purpose of controlling my PC (Rewind/FF etc) when I connect it to my plasma to run HD movies.
I am plesantly surprised with its capability and thought of writing a review of it so that it might help others who are looking for a PC interface remote.
I did not find any fitting thread to write this so am starting a new thread.
The remote in question is eBay India: USB PC Remote Controller for Media Center XP Control (item 260500968189 end time 03-Dec-2009 16:14:38 IST)
Some interesting bits which impressed me are as follows.
1) It has a single big "mouse" button which can be pressed 360" to move the mouse around (see photo). I tried moving the mouse cursor in circular motion in the screen and am able to do it (not as easily as with a trackpad). It is working very well. Further there is a left click and right click button under the mouse button on the left and right sides which are great too. You can do whatever you can do with a mouse with these three keys alone.
2) There is a "hold/drag" button between the left and right click buttons (see photo). This is used to hold a window for dragging with the mouse. Quite an innovative touch. Pressing this button when pointing the cursor to the top of a window/icon "holds" it. After than you can drag it using the mouse key. Press the drag key again to "drop" it.
3) There are 4 shortcut keys which can be configured to open any four applications. Quite handy. I have configured MPC, VLC, My videos folder etc. They send CTRL+ALT+A, CTRL+ALT+B, CTRL+ALT+C, CTRL+ALT+D respectively for which windows shortcuts for applications should be configured on the computer.
4) This is interesting. The USB IR receiver used to connect to the computer is not just a dongle but has a 2-3 foot chord attached to it. At first I was perplexed and actually annoyed on seeing this until I actually made the setup. This chord is of great help! You can place the laptop 2-3 foot anywhere close to the TV and place the IR receiver close to the TV's own receiver. After that you need not point your remote to the laptop anymore but directly at the TV and laptop picks it up. It is a great idea. Often times I feel like interacting with the Tv itself leaving the laptop at the background.
5) There are a host of useful standard windows buttons listed below.
-Full Screen
-Close active window
-Show Desktop
-Volume up/Down
-Mute
-All media buttons (PREV/NEXT/PLAY/PAUSE/STOP/FF/REWIND)
-My PC
-4 favorite applications buttons
-Numbers 0-9
-Arrows (Left,Right,Up,Down with enter key in the middle)
-Esc
-Backspace
-Shutdown/Sleep/Hybernate (Configurable power key)
Of which, Fav App, Full Screen, Show Desktop, Media Keys, Volume and arrows are great to use with media players. Once done, press the close application key and shutdown key.
Just open media folder (stored as FAV application), use arrow/enter keys to navigate and select movie, press full screen and you are good to go. 2-3 days of experience says it is going to be good.
(Note: Power key can NOT be used to power-on the PC as the USB port itself is shut down when the PC is off. This is trivial but just FYI.)
6) Remote is ergonomic to hold. Range is also good. Tested from 12 feet and it was just fine.
7) Worked out of the box with Windows 7 X64!
-Ves:
To nitpick,
1) No Backlight in the remote. (Not an issue with ppl who have universal remotes)
2) I think the mouse key cannot be mapped to a universal remote. This is not a fault with the remote itself.
How to Configure:
There is absolutely no configuration on the remote side. All keys are standard Windows keys and very few keys (only REW/FF/Shortcut Keys) sends sortcuts.
All of the configuration is done on the computer/laptop side. Eg: If you want to change any default key actions, You need to configure the key mapping in the target application (Or the OS).
I have made some changes to key mappings in Media player classic and it works absolutely fine. The Windows applicationshortcut keys also work fine.
I recommend this remote for anyone looking for a solution.
I recently acquired a PC Remote from E-Bay for basic purpose of controlling my PC (Rewind/FF etc) when I connect it to my plasma to run HD movies.
I am plesantly surprised with its capability and thought of writing a review of it so that it might help others who are looking for a PC interface remote.
I did not find any fitting thread to write this so am starting a new thread.
The remote in question is eBay India: USB PC Remote Controller for Media Center XP Control (item 260500968189 end time 03-Dec-2009 16:14:38 IST)
Some interesting bits which impressed me are as follows.
1) It has a single big "mouse" button which can be pressed 360" to move the mouse around (see photo). I tried moving the mouse cursor in circular motion in the screen and am able to do it (not as easily as with a trackpad). It is working very well. Further there is a left click and right click button under the mouse button on the left and right sides which are great too. You can do whatever you can do with a mouse with these three keys alone.
2) There is a "hold/drag" button between the left and right click buttons (see photo). This is used to hold a window for dragging with the mouse. Quite an innovative touch. Pressing this button when pointing the cursor to the top of a window/icon "holds" it. After than you can drag it using the mouse key. Press the drag key again to "drop" it.
3) There are 4 shortcut keys which can be configured to open any four applications. Quite handy. I have configured MPC, VLC, My videos folder etc. They send CTRL+ALT+A, CTRL+ALT+B, CTRL+ALT+C, CTRL+ALT+D respectively for which windows shortcuts for applications should be configured on the computer.
4) This is interesting. The USB IR receiver used to connect to the computer is not just a dongle but has a 2-3 foot chord attached to it. At first I was perplexed and actually annoyed on seeing this until I actually made the setup. This chord is of great help! You can place the laptop 2-3 foot anywhere close to the TV and place the IR receiver close to the TV's own receiver. After that you need not point your remote to the laptop anymore but directly at the TV and laptop picks it up. It is a great idea. Often times I feel like interacting with the Tv itself leaving the laptop at the background.
5) There are a host of useful standard windows buttons listed below.
-Full Screen
-Close active window
-Show Desktop
-Volume up/Down
-Mute
-All media buttons (PREV/NEXT/PLAY/PAUSE/STOP/FF/REWIND)
-My PC
-4 favorite applications buttons
-Numbers 0-9
-Arrows (Left,Right,Up,Down with enter key in the middle)
-Esc
-Backspace
-Shutdown/Sleep/Hybernate (Configurable power key)
Of which, Fav App, Full Screen, Show Desktop, Media Keys, Volume and arrows are great to use with media players. Once done, press the close application key and shutdown key.
Just open media folder (stored as FAV application), use arrow/enter keys to navigate and select movie, press full screen and you are good to go. 2-3 days of experience says it is going to be good.
(Note: Power key can NOT be used to power-on the PC as the USB port itself is shut down when the PC is off. This is trivial but just FYI.)
6) Remote is ergonomic to hold. Range is also good. Tested from 12 feet and it was just fine.
7) Worked out of the box with Windows 7 X64!
-Ves:
To nitpick,
1) No Backlight in the remote. (Not an issue with ppl who have universal remotes)
2) I think the mouse key cannot be mapped to a universal remote. This is not a fault with the remote itself.
How to Configure:
There is absolutely no configuration on the remote side. All keys are standard Windows keys and very few keys (only REW/FF/Shortcut Keys) sends sortcuts.
All of the configuration is done on the computer/laptop side. Eg: If you want to change any default key actions, You need to configure the key mapping in the target application (Or the OS).
I have made some changes to key mappings in Media player classic and it works absolutely fine. The Windows applicationshortcut keys also work fine.
I recommend this remote for anyone looking for a solution.
Last edited: