IR vs RF Remotes

[makryger]

I had a brief foray into the world of IR remotes, after having to find a replacement for my previous remote of multiple years. I just thought I would throw my support behind RF remotes again, after experiencing both. My RF remote is just so much more responsive to my keypresses. Not only does it not require line of site, but the delay with IR is much more than with RF. When I am skipping through commercials with an RF remote- it is <click,click click click> and I am there. With the IR remote it is <click- pause- click - pause- click - pause- click>. I also don't have an unsightly flashing IR receiver sitting out in the opening to ruin my minimalist htpc set up. I use the gyration remote, which has the added benefit of a built in mouse, which has become such a useful feature for me. The other IR remote I've heard of is the Keyspan. They aren't as cheap as some of the IR remotes you can get from rosewill or others, but they are much less expensive than most harmony remotes.

I can understand the allure of the harmony remote, but having to deal with IR all the time would be a pain, imo. The strange thing is that Logitech already has the components necessary to make a great remote- they have the harmony baseline, the wireless technology, hardware and dongles from their mice and keyboards, and the gyroscope controls of their air mouse. If only they could combine all of these together. (Yes, I know, logitech has an RF capability for blasting, but going from Remote>RF>IR Blaster>IR Receiver>HTPC is not the same as Remote>RF>HTPC using an RF dongle.

[newfiend]

Logitech is supposed to be revamping their remotes.. I am hoping (and praying) they will make something like you describe.. A better replacement for the Gyration remotes. I love my harmony one but you are correct that the RF Gyration remote just works better and is more accurate. Plus as you said the mouse functionality is a great added feature! Here is to hoping it comes to fruition.

Sent from my SGH-i937 using Board Express

[holidayboy]

+1 for the RF Gyration remote, I love mine.

[bobbob]

how do you turn the tv on / off with and rf remote?

[holidayboy]

The Gyration has IR capability as well as RF, it has modes for TV, PC and others. The non PC modes use IR signals.

[makryger]

Rob is correct. Although in my case, my PC sends out an RS-232 signal to my TV to turn on and off, as well as an IR signal through an IR blaster to my audio receiver to turn on and off.

[bobbob]

yeah i forget about the rs 232 and hdmi cec is it? thing is i want one remote for all so i need it to control tv, avr and HTPC (i think both tv and avr are rs-232 compatible, tv is definitely hdmi-cec or Anynet i think) and ideally through a macro. i may look at rs-232 but the harmony one still does the trick for me