Media Center Remotes - Frequency Conflicts?

[tommo]

I am thinking of putting a media center PC in a room close to the living room which already has a media center.

I was a little worried that the 2 remotes would conflict and a leaked signal would for example change the channel etc in the next room

[CyberSimian]

I am thinking of putting a media center PC in a room close to the living room which already has a media center. I was a little worried that the 2 remotes would conflict and a leaked signal would for example change the channel etc in the next room

Are the remote controls radio frequency (RF) or infra red (IR)?

If both are RF, each might be powerful enough to operate the HTPC in the other room.

If both are IR, each might operate the HTPC in the other room if you have an "open plan" arrangement (e.g. no doors between rooms). But this will also depend on how powerful the IR remote controls are. My IR remote control (an MX-850) is so powerful that I can point it in any direction (even directly away from the IR receiver) and it will still operate the HTPC.

The obvious solution is to use an RF remote control for one HTPC, and an IR remote control for the other. Alternatively, item (4) on the following page gives some details on how to set up the HTPCs to use different code sets; however, this pre-supposes that the remote controls can be set up to transmit different code sets:

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/ ... ter-614592

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[mdavej]

Get an Ortek VRC-1100 for one of them. They use a different protocol than MCE (Ortek instead of RC-6) and will not interfere. Ortek is also better than most MCE remotes I've seen since it also has a mouse.

[barnabas1969]

There are registry settings to change the "ID" of Media Center so that it uses a different IR command set. You then also need to program your 2nd remote to use a different IR command set. I believe there are 8 different IR command sets, so you could have 8 MCE machines in the same room.

[tommo]

thanks guys

barnabas, that sounds like what i want, however I can't find any mention of it on the interweb.

[barnabas1969]

thanks guys

barnabas, that sounds like what i want, however I can't find any mention of it on the interweb.

Take a look at this link. You'll be interested in #4. The instructions tell you how to change the code set on an original Media Center remote and also what registry keys to change. If you have a programmable remote, you'll need to find the settings in your remote control software to change the code set. I know that my remote (AR-RX18G) has separate sets of IR commands for all the different code sets.

[sixgun]

I just tried setting one of my MCE Remotes to ID #8 and it worked as far as normal keys are concerned. The re-programmed remote cannot operate the menu on another HTPC, but the thing I would *really* like to stop is both HTPCs being powered on when I only meant to power one on.

Is this possible?

[barnabas1969]

I just tried setting one of my MCE Remotes to ID #8 and it worked as far as normal keys are concerned. The re-programmed remote cannot operate the menu on another HTPC, but the thing I would *really* like to stop is both HTPCs being powered on when I only meant to power one on.

Is this possible?

No, I don't think so. When the IR receiver is "wake armed", it will wake for any Media Center remote. It cannot be programmed to be "wake armed" for only one CodeSet.

[sixgun]

That's a real shame, as I really like the MCE remote. I am constantly having to power off PCs that have been woken up

[barnabas1969]

That's a real shame, as I really like the MCE remote. I am constantly having to power off PCs that have been woken up

Why not just let them go back to sleep on their own? Set the sleep timeout to 30 minutes and be done with it.

[mdavej]

+1

My sleep timeout is actually 3 minutes. If I need it to stay awake, say to watch a video outside of WMC, I just run DontSleep which I have set for 2.5 hrs.

[barnabas1969]

MCE Standby Tool has options to keep the PC awake only when Media Center is the foreground and/or fullscreen app. You can even add other programs to the registry settings for MST, and those will keep the PC awake anytime they are running too.