UMPC as a remote for your VMC and Home Theatre Equipment....

[jdmagoo]

Just want to gage if anyone is using a UMPC among otherthings as a remote for there VMC and Home theatre equipment. If so, can you describe your setup, ie
- Make/model of your UMPC
- Software using to control VMC
- Software to control your IR enabled home theatre equipment (Girder and Netremote come to mind)

Also, can you describe if your happy with your setup, Would you do it again or things you would do differently?

Im thinking about my next toy and have thought of installing C-Bus throughout the house so the idea of been able to control everything through a UMPC including HT and VMC would be great.


Thanks for your responses.

James

[farbs]

Hi,
I have been a user of Net remote and Girder for a while now and would Highly recomend it.
The amount of stuff you can do is limited by your time and skills.
I have a umpc and the interface I have created looks great, and connected via wifi, is instenaneous. Only downside to the umpc is cost and battery life. The battery life sucks actually.
I'e gone back to a pocket PC. Smaller but it works well.
Also doing 4 zone audio, and C-bus while being nice, was waaay to expensive so am doing X10.
Good luck with it all but give that software a serious look, it can do what you want.

[Auldar]

If you use WebGuide4, you can use any device with a browser as a remote

It's very cool..

[pantonious]

so Farbs, does Net remote let you control Media Centre? How well does it work?

Did you need girder for Media Centre?

Im setting up a little FSSF (F***ing Small Form Factor ) PC to run my Imation Disk Stacker...i might be able to get this running on it aswell...I will be getting a ~7-8" touch screen to run the computer.

[farbs]

Yep, Net remote does control Media centre and quite well too!!
Even comes with a skin specifically for it. I started using Girder for other things like tcontroling eqipment, via IR and RS232. Also net remote come with a designer so you can pretty much make it look like you want.

[jdmagoo]

So Farbs, with netremote, does it have two way communication with VMC. For example, whilst playing music, i can see the album art and progress of the song with my UMPC? Same same for movies etc.
Would be great for zones or outdoor speaker use.


Also, farbs would you be able to post some screenshots of your system ....Please

Thanks for the replys.

[jdmagoo]

I also found this software, havent installed it yet as still deciding on which UMPC to get but looks interesting: http://www.autonomichome.com/
Not sure how well it works with IR control though

[pantonious]

Originally Posted by farbs

Yep, Net remote does control Media centre and quite well too!!
Even comes with a skin specifically for it. I started using Girder for other things like tcontroling eqipment, via IR and RS232. Also net remote come with a designer so you can pretty much make it look like you want.

Yea, i started having a play last night...i found the "SEND MCE BUTTON" function...made a quick one to test with...i just need to design it properly..most of them are grey square buttons, hehe.

Originally Posted by jdmagoo

So Farbs, with netremote, does it have two way communication with VMC. For example, whilst playing music, i can see the album art and progress of the song with my UMPC? Same same for movies etc.
Would be great for zones or outdoor speaker use.

Also, farbs would you be able to post some screenshots of your system ....Please

Thanks for the replys.

yea, you can get current track and stuff showing on it...using the default skin i played some music and it shows that sorta stuff, then i changed my HTPC to TV and it got my guide data too!

but will have to work out how to get that into my remote im making!

and that autonomic controls looks interesting...but also looks like its all command line based control...

[jdmagoo]

Originally Posted by farbs

Yep, Net remote does control Media centre and quite well too!!
Even comes with a skin specifically for it. I started using Girder for other things like tcontroling eqipment, via IR and RS232. Also net remote come with a designer so you can pretty much make it look like you want.

Hey mate can you point out where to download the MCE skin - ive looked everywhere and cant fnd it.

Cheers

[farbs]

Originally Posted by jdmagoo

Hey mate can you point out where to download the MCE skin - ive looked everywhere and cant fnd it.

Cheers

When you install the Net remote package it auto installs about 4 different skins to your documents folder. There you should see somethong like mce_480x640 or mce 1024x768. That's them. To change a skin open Net remote go to file open and go to to your documents and it should be there. Good luck!!

[jdmagoo]

Thanks for the replys, have findly got it working with the mce skin. Net remote is basically what im after but not at the moment. Considering all options at the moment including controlling the VMC rig with a UMPC, i guess i like the idea of having a touch screen remote that can also control X10 hardware or even C-Bus stuff. Havent decided which yet still exploring.

In the interim, the beta release of version2 of ngRC has been released which works perfectly with media centre.

check it out:

http://www.olphro.de/wordpress/news/