Remote control reciever

Gerry · 13-12-2001 6:19pm #1

I'm thinking of building a remote control reciever for me pc, so I can control winamp, and dvd's etc.

I have details on how to do it, from www.tweakhardware.com

Just wondering has anyone here built such a device, any thoughts or comments welcome.

po0k · 16-12-2001 12:22am

Yeah, that looks pretty damn l33t. Could think of a few other uses for it too besides winamp (though I must admit that'd be the main use)...DVDs mainly, web browsing possibly

That GeForce to Quadro mod looks 'interesting' to say the least.
Fiddly, but tempting.
Saw it before a while back. Never gota improved feature list though....

_CreeD_ · 16-12-2001 5:27pm

Off topic a little: AFAIK there was a software hack for the GF-2 -> Quadro aswell. The only advantage is in Geometry processing, it accelerates a few features more commonly found in the likes of CAD packages.

Lump · 17-12-2001 1:17am

www.computer-shopper.co.uk (or what ever the address is) had stuff about networking everything in you house, have a section on remote control units, you might be able to get stuff from there web site maybe?

John

Gerry · 17-12-2001 9:28am

Nah, I won't be going for an off the shelf solution, building it myself will only cost a couple of quid.

po0k · 17-12-2001 12:30pm

CREED, I have AutoCAD 2K at home.
Also, CAD is Dead. Long Live ProEngineer!

JohnBoy · 17-12-2001 7:01pm

I have a wintv card in my pc, and it has one of those remote app thingies, it's great fun

fully programmable, seems to pick up on an app name and uses it's confiig then.

theoretically you could play quake on it (why i don't know).

po0k · 19-12-2001 7:10pm

Is SVideo that much better then SCART?

Is there any difference?

I'd use composite at the drop of a hat if i had TV out. (our TV will take SCART, SVideo, RF, Comp - maybe the new one wil take VGA)

Gerry · 21-01-2002 1:51am

as an update, I soldered it together tonight, and it works perfectly. For anyone wanting to do it, the peats reciever component works fine, they just changed the pinout from the vishay part used in the schematics you will find on the net.

Winlirc decodes the signals, I have a program called girder to do just about any windows function. Its absolutely class, you can switch off the monitor with the remote, put the machine on standby, launch programs, control mouse and keyboard. Also got a plugin for winamp

The only bitch is that my hifi remote won't work, had to use a different one.

Gavin · 21-01-2002 9:16am

this sounds good.. I'll have to go looking into it.

Gav

Gavin · 21-01-2002 1:19pm

hey gerry,

how much did the seperate pieces cost ? Did you get everything from peats ? It is easy to sort out a case for the reciever like the last few pics ?

I'm handy enough with a soldering iron, but fairly **** as regards basic electronics. ie if there is a diagram with pin to pin connections i can make it.. Do i need to be intelligent ?

Gav

po0k · 21-01-2002 4:38pm

That would actually be damn handy in my room for the MP3s and shutting down the system.

Must look into it again

Gerry · 21-01-2002 4:50pm

got all the parts from peats. I got a serial port hood, which doesn't fit the parts, you'll have to find some other casing for it.
well actually it would fit if I had cut out all pins short.

Theres a nice diagram on and step by step instructions on www.tweakhardware.com

http://www.tweakhardware.com/guide/remote/

Its not difficult to solder it, more difficult would be to make a neat job of it. I was in a severe rush, so its a bit messy.

Gavin · 22-01-2002 8:41am

Cheers for the reply. one more thing.. how much were the bit's and pieces ?

Thanks,
Gav

Gerry · 22-01-2002 9:07am

about 3 or 4 quid I think.

po0k · 22-01-2002 9:54am

I was looking at www.winamp.com too for serial port plugins.
I'd imagine there are a few for DivX stuff too?
/me gets out teh soldering iron
*use resin core solder - not acid core - for electrical connections

Gerry · 22-01-2002 3:37pm

right, sorry I did leave out the software side of things.

A program called winlirc is the "driver" layer. It reads the incoming data from the serial port, once you have programmed it for your remote control, it sets up a server on the machine, and when a button is pressed, it decodes the info coming from the serial port, and decides which button has been pressed, this info is passed to whatever program wants it.

The winamp plugin I'm using is from the page I got winlirc,
http://winlirc.sourceforge.net

It connects to winlirc and recieves the messages.

Another excellent program called girder, www.girder.nl offers loads of cool stuff to do with the remote, pretty much anything you can think of.
To use it with the cheapo reciever, you get the winlirc plugin for girder, and it will interact with winlirc.

po0k · 23-01-2002 11:27am

Will those swanky 'All-in-One' remotes work?

I might have some old TV remotes lying about........

This gets more interesting by the day

Gavin · 25-01-2002 6:15pm

no success !

After going into peats with my list of things needed, the guy had everything except the infrared reciever and the diode. I asked did he have any at all ( recievers's) and he said no...

obviously enough he was wrong... but anyway, i trudged over to maplins to be met by some snotty git, eager to show me how little i knew about electronics. After telling me that he didn't have any ir recievers either i gave up and went home pissed off.

Next bet is various colleges engineering departments.

Gav

Gerry · 25-01-2002 7:30pm

http://www.peats.ie/cgi-bin/shop/db.cgi?view=1&id=2068&type=6&sid=101446x0

maybe print that out and hand it to the dumbass in peats

The pinout on it looks like this:

Its the exact same pinout, they just number em differently

po0k · 25-01-2002 8:29pm

Any chance you have a larger one Gerry?

Tis a bit hard to read

Remote control reciever

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