Remote Control

Nate75 · 18 Mar 2011 at 07:40

Hi.

I've got a home network setup and what I tend to do is connect the missus' laptop up to my big screen to watch AVI's etc.

All the cabling is nicely put away out of site and it's simply a job of connecting up.

Quick question.

Is or are there any remote controls available that let you control the functions of VLC or Media Player etc?

Thanks.

redfist · 19 Mar 2011 at 09:54

I have a similar set up and use a wireless keyboard & mouse. not sure if thats what your looking for though

paradisiac · 19 Mar 2011 at 10:14

have seen a fair few MCE remotes, do these really only work on MCE?

Liquid · 19 Mar 2011 at 10:15

There is loads of kit around, just google it. Media keyboards with built in mice, media remotes, pc remote etc.

I had a speedlink usb remote before and it worked great, even had a button to turn the remote into a virtual mouse.

paradisiac · 19 Mar 2011 at 10:19

Liquid said:
There is loads of kit around, just google it. Media keyboards with built in mice, media remotes, pc remote etc.

I had a speedlink usb remote before and it worked great, even had a button to turn the remote into a virtual mouse.

so something like this would work with apps other then MCE?

Liquid · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:09

paradisiac said:
so something like this would work with apps other then MCE?

Not sure tbh, it does seem media center focused.

This is the one to go for though, I found it really good. Grab the manual and the functions of the remote are nicely detailed. Same money too

Tealc · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:15

I use an iPod Touch to control VLC Player. There's a little app called VLC Remote that interacts via wifi to choose files, play, stop etc.

I also use a PC remote I picked up off the auction site for a couple of quid that used IR to communicate and allows full use of WMP, WMC and mouse control. It's a bit of a fiddle to choose files in windows but it works ok for everything else.

paradisiac · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:25

Tealc said:
I use an iPod Touch to control VLC Player. There's a little app called VLC Remote that interacts via wifi to choose files, play, stop etc.

I also use a PC remote I picked up off the auction site for a couple of quid that used IR to communicate and allows full use of WMP, WMC and mouse control. It's a bit of a fiddle to choose files in windows but it works ok for everything else.

for now i use my IPhone with ASRocks AIWI software than makes it a mouse, but it is a tad fiddly. is the VLC one free?

Tealc · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:37

paradisiac said:
is the VLC one free?

No it's not, but it's only £2.99. I've been using it for around 9 months now. There are some free remote control apps available though for WMC I think. I tried a couple out but didn't like them so much and they need extra server applications running on the PC for each one, whereas the VLC one just uses the Bonjour service which is running anyway if you use iTunes.

paradisiac · 19 Mar 2011 at 15:05

hmmm.................just did a VLC Remote search on my iphone and it was a free download

will give it a bash.