Messages

1

Users / Re: Sky remote through USBUIRT control

« on: March 14, 2008, 04:38:41 pm »

Yes it is a good idea, but no one has done it - off the shelf - presumably because of the vast array of remotes, and things for them to control. It would be easy if it were one style of remote and one piece of equipment
 
HomeVision Pro that we sell would easily do it, but is very expensive. I don't know of anything else that could though
 
Mike

2

Users / Sky remote through USBUIRT control

« on: March 13, 2008, 11:11:50 pm »

I feel a bit stupid asking this, but I think it could be a good idea ...

For wife-proof simplicity, I'm wondering how much control you could gain by bastardising codes from a Sky+ remote to use LinuxMCE  (no RF, just through IR)

Imagine...
I'm watching & controlling Sky as normal by relaying the IR signals to the Sky box in a media rack.

I press TV on the remote and I have a different set of IR signals - could (in theory) you map these to :

Select button ....... Start/Menu
         Backup ....... Cancel
4, 2, 6, 8 / 0  ....... Left, Up, Right, Down
                 5 ....... OK

Can't think of any other basic functions now, but I have codes for i, text, help, play, red/green/yellow/blue buttons and any un-used number keys + any buttons in 'Sky' mode that I don't use which could be converted and relayed as something else.

Say I press volume up and it controls the TV volume by IR as normal, but also converting and 'blasting' this into an IR code (via the PC) to contol the volume on an AV amp


I expect an RF with gyro remote would be much simpler and quicker, but for now, for the very scaled down functionality in LinuxMCE that I'd be using could it be done ?  Maybe ? ... No ??

3

Users / Re: Can I do this .... ?

« on: February 26, 2008, 02:25:52 pm »

Interesting....

what control do you have over the RX-V1500 ?

I wanted to try and steer clear of any settings for the amp/speakers because you'd invariably (in my experience anyway) turn the volume up to play something through the PC, and then switch to another source and deafen yourself ... or bust your speakers.

Can you pre-set levels so that it adjusts the volume for each source ?  or display the volume on-screen ?


I don't really know why I'm getting so worked up about the volume controls - I guess it's simply because once the amp's out of view you never really know what it's upto 

4

Users / Re: Can I do this .... ?

« on: February 25, 2008, 11:18:59 pm »

A couple of photos to illustrate the issue -

TV 2 weeks ago - note DVD Changer, amp/subwoofer, Wii, XBox, digisender to relay IR commands to Sky and DVD/HDD recorder under the sofa


Phase 1 - TV now wall mounted and I'm controlling everything via the digisender - TV speakers only and still a lot of remotes lying around though 

5

Users / Can I do this .... ?

« on: February 25, 2008, 10:45:36 pm »

Sorry, I was really hoping I could find the answers to this but just seem to be going round in circles.

I've been sketching diagrams of how to connect up all my AV equipment ever since I got a new Panasonic TH50PZ70 plasma a few weeks ago and realised my Nintendo Wii looks terrible on it. I bought a component cable, but the TV only has 1 component input ... and I need it for the XBox too.

I looked at some AV amps which could be (partially) controlled using the same remote as the TV over HDMI, but they're expensive and still don't do everything I need.

I have/had an iPronto tablet remote, but the screen's lost it's touch-screenyness so is effectively knackered.


The all-in-one solution I think I'm after would go something like this -

HTPC video
Component (480p) input for the Wii
S-Video or similar for Sky+
Switching to change the TV from PC to Component when the XBox is on (got this idea from the setup video)

HTPC audio
Phono input for Wii
5.1 optical input for Sky+
5.1 optical input for XBox 360

Optical/Coax into an AV amp for centre & rear speakers and front phono out to the plasma (using the TV as an amplifier for the inbuilt speakers)
I want to set the TV and amp volumes and using the 'PC to control the output volume for all sources and so as to keep the volume level display overlay from the PC ..... if this is possible ??

The only piece of equipment on show should be the TV and a media centre remote ... and a Wii & XBox control pad - everything else would be going in racks/cabinets

I think this would also mean replacing my DVD changer with a Sony firewire DVD changer (or just record all my discs to HDD)

If I could get an external BluRay/HDDVD drive in the future I'd like to mount it behind the Plasma so I could play rented discs without having to go to the PC


Could I operate everything with one LinuxMC remote ?  and/or an XDA phone/touchpanel with bluetooth ?



I don't really know where to start with hardware, but more worryingly have no idea how much of this would be possible and what it might cost ??


I realise there's a lot or reading here so thanks for sticking with it, and any help would be greatly appreciated