Do I need IR receiver or emitter or both?

[tcman50]

my components: samsung 52" hdtv, pioneer hdmi switching receiver, xbox360, personal built pc for running windows media center and/or xbmc software, haupaugge hvr-2250 tv card (to be moved to another computer)

I am about to get a universal remote, looking at the harmony 650, my question is if I take the haupaugge tv card out of the pc, what do i need to be able to control the pc then with the universal remote?

Do I need a usb IR receiver plugged into the pc and then an IR emitter plugged into it stationed at the PC, then point the universal remote at the IR emitter for pc on/off?

Do all IR receivers and/or IR emitters work with all universal remotes?

The reason for moving the tv tuner to my upstairs computer is just for convience, I will then share the tv recordings folder over my wired 1GB network and then watch the shows on the downstairs PC via either Windows Media Center or XBMC software.

thanks

[newfiend]

Look for a Microsoft RC6 IR Receiver.. You may find one of the HP or DELL versions on eBay cheap enough and they work great. Plug it into a USB port and away you go.
If all you need to control is the PC on and off (or sleep/wake) as well as controlling WMC then that should do it.
The IR emitter would be for controlling a seperate STB or other device to tune a channel etc..
newfiend~

[mdavej]

Realize that an emitter can't receive any signals, so you don't need one of those, as the previous poster said. But since your PC is in a different room from your TV (not line of sight), you do need something to get an IR signal from one room to the other. That can be accomplished many ways like repeaters, extenders or RF. You could even skip IR altogether and control your PC via wifi.

If you use WMC, how are you going to get the audio/video from your PC to your TV? If you use an extender like xbox or Echo, you don't need any IR control of your PC. If you use some other a/v distribution method, you could use IR or wifi. In the case of wifi, you wouldn't use your harmony remote for WMC control at all.

To answer your other question, no, all receivers do not work with all universals. Some universals don't have codes built in and some can't learn. Also, some of the cheap Chinese receivers have non-standard protocols that are extremely difficult for any remote to learn.

[newfiend]

I think we need a little more info on where your PC(s) are and what one will be doing the recording etc. to give a definitive answer to your questions. If the Tuner is moved into an Upstairs PC to handle all the recordings, using your Xbox in Extender mode downstairs would work for you except for XBMC..

I guess we just need to know what your plans are and why your moving the tuner..
newfiend~

[tcman50]

moving tv tuner to upstairs pc because thats where i do most of my computing and thats the computer thats on 24/7 in my house, dont want another computer on 24/7, electric bill gets expensive.

Got it, no ir emitter needed, just the receiver. actually most wmc remotes also work with xbmc, i have a cheap wmc remote on order with a ir receiver.

After i move my tv tuner card upstairs, i will then get the wmc remote w/ir receiver working with the downstairs pc, controlling both wmc and xbmc, once that is down, i will then simply learn the wmc remote to my universal remote that I am getting just like i will learn all my other remotes to the universal remote as well.

thanks