MCE Remote Recommendation ?

[Mike88]

I recently started using WMC & wanted a “real” MCE remote in order to familiarize myself with all the function & what can be done.

I bought a Rosewill RRC-126 from Newegg which was on sale & looked neat & trim. Problem is it’s too narrow & the buttons are close & small.

I saw the Rosewell RHRC-11001, but the specs show it the same size, even though it looks wider.

The Adesso ARC-1100 looks like it would be more ergonometric in the hand. Is this a worthwhile MCE remote? Are there any suggestions or recommendations?

[barnabas1969]

If your IR receiver works, I recommend using a programmable remote control.

I use the Acoustic Research AR-RX18G. Many others here use a Harmony remote of one model or another.

[deihmos]

Harmony remote is the way to go IMO. They have some really cheap models that work well with WMC and can be easily customized to do a lot more than the regular remotes.

[newfiend]

+1 for Harmony Remotes..Have a Harmony One Myself.. best MC remote I have found so far. I also recommend the Lenovo N5902, nice for when you need a quick keyboard entry or mouse functionality from the couch.
newfiend~

[Mike88]

I do have a Harmony 550 but do not find it easy to use if I do a lot of programming with my Dish DVR for example. Also the volume buttons are small hard plastic & it's difficult to feel the difference between the two. I just can't plop my thumb down on them & easily adjust the volume. What I really need is a higher end Harmony.

But in the meantime I would like an inexpensive dedicated MCE remote in order to learn my around WMC. For example my Harmony does not have buttons for Live TV, More, Pictures, etc. If it wasn't for the MCE remote I would not have known these buttons even existed.

[newfiend]

Problem is there aren't really any "good" current remotes. I had had a slew of them. The best remotes I have found are the Harmony remotes. The Harmony One is great and you can program the screen on the top with just about any button on the MS remotes you can think of.. Live TV, Pictures etc..
Here is a link to an XMBC site that has a lot of info on MC remotes,. http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Re ... te_Control

I have used a Logitech Harmony 300 and One remote, a Gyration Remote for MC, The Lenovo N5902, a Mediagate GP-IR02BK etc.. The Harmony One has been the best of them all... but I also have multiple hardware pieces to control as well.. TV, HTPC, AVR... it just works the best with all the pieces to the puzzle if you will.. (at least for me).
newfiend~

[barnabas1969]

I agree with newfiend that there aren't any good MCE remotes. They all have some serious flaws.

The remote I mentioned above is the one I've been using for about 3 years. It has just the right combination of hard buttons and touch screen buttons. With the touch screen, you can define up to 30 additional buttons per device. Each "page" on the screen has 6 buttons, and you can have 5 "pages". You use your thumb to swipe left and right through the pages. I put my most frequently-used buttons on the first, second, and last pages. That way, my most frequently-used buttons are on page 1, and the next most-frequently-used ones are just one swipe to the left or right.

For example, on my first page for Media Center, I have buttons that take me to the Netflix plugin, the Hulu Desktop plugin, Closed Captions, Live TV, Power ON, and Power OFF.

In fact, I like it so much that I just bought another one tonight for the bedroom. I paid less than $50 for it on ebay. There is one here on Amazon for $52.99 plus $5.99 shipping.

The ONLY thing that my remote doesn't do, that a Harmony does, is power state tracking. This is not an issue for me since all of my devices have separate ON and OFF commands. But, even when I had some devices with ON/OFF toggle commands, it worked just fine for me.

[Mike88]

I too have multiple components & use the Harmony to turn on whichever function I want. I usually watch Dish and it's remote is a lot easier to use than my old Harmony 550. It just fits the hand a lot better, and it will control the A/V receiver's volume & mute. So once I turn on whatever I want with one touch of the Harmony, and presuming I'm going to watch Dish, I set it aside & use the Dish remote.

As mentioned, on the 550 the volume, & channel up/down, are small hard plastic buttons which are smooth & blend in with their surroundings which makes it difficult to feel which button your finger is on. I'll have to look at some new Harmony's.

[barnabas1969]

The AR-RX18G has great button size and placement. I only have to look at the remote when I'm pressing touch-screen buttons or the number keys (0-9). You can't beat it for $50.00. I think I paid $129 for my first one... and it was a better deal than the Harmony One, even at $129.

[bobbob]

I've been using a Harmony One for 3 years now, while i've changed virtually everything else in my HTPC setup this has been untouchable from day 1

[barnabas1969]

I'd say that the AR-RX18G is a direct competitor for the Harmony One. The choice comes down to price, and power state tracking.

Here's the Harmony One ($125 or less):

Here's the AR-RX18G ($70 or less):

ar-rx18g-2.png (23.41 KiB) Viewed 4345 times

[Boo]

+1 for Harmony Remotes..Have a Harmony One Myself.. best MC remote I have found so far. I also recommend the Lenovo N5902, nice for when you need a quick keyboard entry or mouse functionality from the couch.
newfiend~

Can these remotes put the PC into standby and take it back out ? My old MS Remote is getting a bit flakey in its old age and I tried using the remote from Haupauge that came with the TV card but it cannot put the PC into standby or take it out. I could spend more money but would not be happy to have to walk to the PC every time to switch it on.

Thanks,

Boo

[adam1991]

I think the choice comes down to, IE or no IE?

Requiring ActiveX is a problem for me, especially when I know for a fact that others--Harmony--can do it in a generic web browser.

[Boo]

I'd say that the AR-RX18G is a direct competitor for the Harmony One.

Do either of those act as a Windows mouse ? I occasionally find it would be very useful to have a mouse to hand when using MCE and would be interested to knaow if there are any remotes out there that have this facility ?

Boo

[barnabas1969]

@adam1991: While I prefer not to use IE, we are all running Windows, so we all have IE. ActiveX isn't that big of a deal.

@boo: You will use these programmable remotes with your IR receiver. If you IR receiver is capable of waking the computer, then Yes, these remotes will wake your computer.

Also, I have mine programmed to emulate a remote that I purchased on Amazon for $8.00. That remote has mouse functionality, so yes, my remote can emulate a mouse.... but... you need an IR receiver that can accept those mouse commands... and you'll need the original remote with mouse functionality so that the programmable remote can learn those IR commands.

[Ack]

I'd say that the AR-RX18G is a direct competitor for the Harmony One.

Do either of those act as a Windows mouse ? I occasionally find it would be very useful to have a mouse to hand when using MCE and would be interested to knaow if there are any remotes out there that have this facility ?

Boo

I'm happy with the Adesso remote; ARC 1100 I think but not 100% sure on that model number. Here's a link I grabbed from Amazon real quick for reference. I'm pretty sure you can get it for around $15.00 if you look around.

http://www.amazon.com/Adesso-Media-Cent ... mce+remote

Very simple remote; no extras at all. But it does the simple mouse stuff I want to do. I'm using on both a 32 bit and 64 bit Windows 7 MCE.

[adam1991]

While we're all using Windows for 7MC, I use mine *solely* as a DVR--and do everything I can *not* to put any other tasks on it.

And that includes things like this.

[Mike88]

I'm missing something here. What requires Active X and/or IE?

[barnabas1969]

The AR-RX18G remote is programmed through IE, and it requires ActiveX to program the remote. My Media Center box is solely used for Media Center too. I use my laptop to program the remote. I prefer to use Chrome as my primary browser, but there are some things on the Internet (and my employer's intranet) that require IE. This remote is one of them. No biggie.

[Ack]

While we're all using Windows for 7MC, I use mine *solely* as a DVR--and do everything I can *not* to put any other tasks on it.

And that includes things like this.

I was just point out that it works with both 32 and 64 bit in case he had a question on that.
I use mine only for a DVR also. The only time a mouse comes in handy is when I'm doing maintenance tasks such as an image backup and this remote works OK for that kind of stuff.
If I did a lot more, I think I'd want a full mouse/keyboard combo.