The RedEye app can use the RedEye Mini IR emitter. So if you use the Re app for iPhone or iPad from NewKinetix, for instance, you must use the NewKinetix-supplied IR dongle. The main drawback of this approach is the lack of a universal IR blaster for mobile devices most dongle-based IR emitters are proprietary to a particular app.
You need some kind of external device to transmit IR signals for most smartphone universal remotes, that device comes in the form of a dongle that connects to the phone. Smartphones, however, don't have built-in IR emitters.
#PC REMOTE RECEIVER PS3#
Controlling a PS3 with a universal IR remote requires an adapter, such as the PS3IR. This fact has caused great heartburn among PlayStation 3 owners who use their game consoles as Blu-ray players, because the PS3 is controlled via Bluetooth. Although a few devices use radio, and there's a movement toward control over HDMI (allowing for a single master device), the actual remotes are simple IR emitters. Most modern AV devices still use remote controls that employ infrared light beams. And now that Windows Phone 7 is a reality, we'll likely see more of these types of apps on that mobile platform, as well.īefore I talk about apps, however, I need to discuss one key aspect of home AV gear: infrared technology.
#PC REMOTE RECEIVER FOR ANDROID#
Similar apps exist for Android and even BlackBerry. However, there is a catch: Almost all of these apps are proprietary, because they need some form of external hardware. If you fire up iTunes and search for "universal remote," you'll find a number of applications that permit you to control your home theater gear with the iPhone. I experimented with some of these early apps, but they were more frustrating than useful.
As for volume control, macros would again help, but creating them was often tedious work. But if you wanted to watch DVD movies, you'd then have to switch to the DVD player to control that. Most apps would let you set up macros so that you could daisy-chain commands to, say, turn on all your devices. They were all a little clunky, though, and most of the versions I've seen took what I'd describe as a traditional, device-centric approach: Users had to turn on each device individually, and then control the devices independently. Back in the early days, when smartphones used Windows Mobile, various remote control apps surfaced. Using your smartphone as a universal remote isn't a new idea it has been around almost as long as smartphones have. Finally, I'll provide a couple of real-world examples, one for using the iPhone as a universal remote, and the other for using an iPad to control a DVR remotely.
After that, I'll discuss remote remote control. Then I'll briefly explore the world of home automation. In this article, I'll first look at using a smartphone or iPad as a standard universal remote control.
#PC REMOTE RECEIVER TV#
Today's universal remote controls particularly emphasize the remote concept-in some cases, allowing you to control your TV viewing from any location. If you had a ton of money, you might throw a few thousand dollars at dedicated home automation gear, such as equipment from Crestron, and get whole house control. A universal remote used to be a device that controlled your AV rack. What's cool is that smartphones and tablets are redefining the remote control.