Does anyone know of a Universial remote what will control a WDTV player?

[Metspitzer]

Does anyone know of a Universal remote what will control a WDTV
player? I have a Charter HD box on my main TV. It only had one
control code for Western Digital. Believe it or not, it will control
part of the WDTV. The sad thing is that it does not function as the
select/ok button. I never got far enough to see if the FF or rewind
buttons work because the remote will not select a movie. The arrow
keys work, but that is about it.

On a positive note, Charter's universal remote has a master on/off
which will turn of the TV, DVD player, WDTV and the cable box with one
stroke. That is useful.

 

[Flasherly]

Does anyone know of a Universal remote what will control a WDTV
player? I have a Charter HD box on my main TV. It only had one
control code for Western Digital. Believe it or not, it will control
part of the WDTV. The sad thing is that it does not function as the
select/ok button. I never got far enough to see if the FF or rewind
buttons work because the remote will not select a movie. The arrow
keys work, but that is about it.

On a positive note, Charter's universal remote has a master on/off
which will turn of the TV, DVD player, WDTV and the cable box with one
stroke. That is useful.

Universals should do it, the "learning" remotes. Backlash is they can
tend to be expensive.

 

[Flasherly]

Universals should do it, the "learning" remotes. Backlash is they can
tend to be expensive.

(Damn reader... cut myself off and hotkeyed it off somehow)...or were
expensive last I looked. Newegg or Amazon to start and see how Ebay's
playing those angles.

 

[Metspitzer]

The Logitech Harmony line has an extensive database of devices, but they
can also learn new codes. So, if you have the original remote, you
should be able to get it to work. Presuming, of course, that the remote
is an IR remote, and not an RF remote.

The Logitech Harmony 300 or 300i is about $30 on Amazon, and can control
up to 4 devices. The next step up is probably the Harmony 650 for $70
that can control 5 devices, and has a color LCD screen. They also have
insanely sophisticated remotes in the $200 range.

I may give one of those 300s a try. I may try their website and see
if it has WDTV on the list. From the WDTV live forum there are not
many (none last time I looked) inexpensive remotes that will control
the WDTV.

 

[Nil]

I may give one of those 300s a try. I may try their website and
see if it has WDTV on the list. From the WDTV live forum there
are not many (none last time I looked) inexpensive remotes that
will control the WDTV.

I can't help but take this opportunity to make my Logitech bitch:

I bought a Harmony remote a few years ago, costing about $100 at that
time. It had a 1-year warranty. About 11 3/4 months later two or three
of the buttons started to fail, including the big main "OK" button,
which made the thing unusable. It took me a week or two before I had a
chance to take a close look at it and give it a good cleaning to make
sure there wasn't something making the buttons physically stick. Turns
out there wasn't, and they're sealed with a rubber covering, so that
wouldn't have been likely anyway. So, it now being about 1 year + 1
week since I had bought it, I called Logitech to try to get it repaired
or replaced under warranty. My argument was that it hadn't been abused,
that it shouldn't have failed like that no matter how old it was, and
that the failure had started before the warranty was out. They would
have none of it, and were pretty nasty about it. I decided then that I
would not buy any more of their remote control products. I still resent
spending $100 on something that didn't even last a year.

Also, a friend of mine has two Harmony remotes, more expensive models
than mine and older. One of them is dead, and the other has problems.
My conclusion is that they are not reliable.

 

[Robin Bignall]

I can't help but take this opportunity to make my Logitech bitch:

I bought a Harmony remote a few years ago, costing about $100 at that
time. It had a 1-year warranty. About 11 3/4 months later two or three
of the buttons started to fail, including the big main "OK" button,
which made the thing unusable. It took me a week or two before I had a
chance to take a close look at it and give it a good cleaning to make
sure there wasn't something making the buttons physically stick. Turns
out there wasn't, and they're sealed with a rubber covering, so that
wouldn't have been likely anyway. So, it now being about 1 year + 1
week since I had bought it, I called Logitech to try to get it repaired
or replaced under warranty. My argument was that it hadn't been abused,
that it shouldn't have failed like that no matter how old it was, and
that the failure had started before the warranty was out. They would
have none of it, and were pretty nasty about it. I decided then that I
would not buy any more of their remote control products. I still resent
spending $100 on something that didn't even last a year.

Also, a friend of mine has two Harmony remotes, more expensive models
than mine and older. One of them is dead, and the other has problems.
My conclusion is that they are not reliable.

It's a pity you don't live in Britain. I would go after them with our
Sale of Goods Act and fitness for purpose. Most would expect such a
device to last for longer than that and the Act puts the onus on the
retailer.

 

[Nil]

It's a pity you don't live in Britain. I would go after them with
our Sale of Goods Act and fitness for purpose. Most would expect
such a device to last for longer than that and the Act puts the
onus on the retailer.

Seems to me that the expressed warranty absolves them from legal
responsibility. My mistake was thinking that they would own up to some
logical and ethical responsibility.

I also think I gave up too easily. I should have pushed the issue up
higher up the food chain.

 

[Metspitzer]

Seems to me that the expressed warranty absolves them from legal
responsibility. My mistake was thinking that they would own up to some
logical and ethical responsibility.

I also think I gave up too easily. I should have pushed the issue up
higher up the food chain.

I have had several products fail within a few months of the warranty,
and every single company honored the warranty.

 

[Nil]

I have had several products fail within a few months of the
warranty, and every single company honored the warranty.

Me, too, but not Logitech, for me at least, not with the support droids
I dealt with.

 

[RayLopez99]

Does anyone know of a Universal remote what will control a WDTV

player?

Yes, Logitech just released a $300 remote that covers every conceivable contingency. Whether that's worth paying so much money is up to you.

RL

 

[Metspitzer]

Yes, Logitech just released a $300 remote that covers every conceivable contingency. Whether that's worth paying so much money is up to you.

I forgot to include the word "inexpensive"

 

[Michael Black]

I forgot to include the word "inexpensive"

I think it was implied.

I know really expensive remotes exist, I see them in the flyers, but I
suspect for many people they aren't on the agenda. And when you only
mentioned one unit, you are simply looking for a replacement for a lost
remote (or a second remote for the unit) not some full bells and whistles
remote to control a wall of equipment.

Michael

 

[Marten Kemp]

I think it was implied.

I know really expensive remotes exist, I see them in the flyers, but I
suspect for many people they aren't on the agenda. And when you only
mentioned one unit, you are simply looking for a replacement for a lost
remote (or a second remote for the unit) not some full bells and
whistles remote to control a wall of equipment.

Any way to repurpse an old laptop with an IrDA port?

 

[Patrick]

I forgot to include the word "inexpensive"

I bought in 'Poundland' (guess how much I paid) a '10in 1' remote control
(brand='SIGNALEX') and, I haven't even got a TV or anything else to try it
on. The thing gives instruction and various codes for different
manufacturers. Of course, it's a bit of a fiddle, 'cos It didn't even come
with batterys. ):

 

[Patrick]

Any way to repurpse an old laptop with an IrDA port?

Hello!
What does 'repurse' mean?
I myself am wondering what use could me made of the InfraRed things on
PC/Laptops.

 

[Michael Black]

Any way to repurpse an old laptop with an IrDA port?

It's kind of bulky. I think someone mentioned a PDA, they included those
ports and of course were the right size.

There's two issues with universal remotes. Ones is finding one that knows
how to handle your piece of equipment. It's not like all universal
remotes work with everything. The second is that even if the remote works
with your equipment, it may be lacking in fuctions. I have a universal
remote that works with one VCR, but it won't bring up the menu. So I need
the original remote for some operations (which is okay since I still have
the original remote, later found a spare, and I started using the
universal before I'd worn out the original remote).

I think someone mentioned a learning remote, and while I've never used
one, that seems possible. But, they need the original remote to learn
from. Otherwise, they can only deal with equipment there are codes for.

And that becomes the issue with using a laptop or PDA to control things.
The hardware is there, the software is either there or shoulfn't be too
easy to make, but you need information about the remote it's replacing.
It's not that the remotes use much variation on their subcarrier
frequency, but that the code being sent for each button varies, and if
you don't have the information, you are stuck with justing trying endless
combinations. The manufacturers of universal remotes try to be
comprehensive, but a more recent device won't be covered, and probably
some lesser devices may be lost. If you are using software, either the
writer of the software has to try endless remotes to build up the piece of
equipment it is compatible with, or rely on users to help out, or not be
comprehensive.

Michael

 

[Michael Black]

Hello!
What does 'repurse' mean?

Not "repurse" but "repurpose". He missed an "o". Repurpose, as in reuse.

Michael

 

[Metspitzer]

Does anyone know of a Universal remote what will control a WDTV
player? I have a Charter HD box on my main TV. It only had one
control code for Western Digital. Believe it or not, it will control
part of the WDTV. The sad thing is that it does not function as the
select/ok button. I never got far enough to see if the FF or rewind
buttons work because the remote will not select a movie. The arrow
keys work, but that is about it.

On a positive note, Charter's universal remote has a master on/off
which will turn of the TV, DVD player, WDTV and the cable box with one
stroke. That is useful.

Since this thread has some new interest, I just wanted to add a
thought or two.

Charter's universal remote only has one code for WD (Western Digital).
WD, as far as I know, only has one player that needs a remote, which
is the WDTV player. You would think the chances of a hit would be
around 100%. The code will cause the "aux" to control the WDTV, but
as I have said, the "OK" button does not work. The most important
function is useless. While I can turn the WDTV off and on, and I can
also use the arrow keys to scroll the movie list, but because the "OK"
button doesn't function, I still have to have WDTVs remote.

My HDTV is a 50 Panasonic. I can also set Charter's remote to control
the TV. It will turn the TV off and on. It will also volume up and
down. What it wont' do is change the input from HDMI 1-2-3 so I still
have to have the Panasonic remote to use the TV.

The Charter universal remote does control the DVD player, which is a
good thing because, after moving, I can't put my hands on the DVD
player's remote anyway.

While Charter's universal remote does have lots of features, I still
need 3 out of 4 remotes to control the stuff for the TV in the den.

 

[Flasherly]

It's kind of bulky. I think someone mentioned a PDA, they included those
ports and of course were the right size.

There's two issues with universal remotes. Ones is finding one that knows
how to handle your piece of equipment. It's not like all universal
remotes work with everything. The second is that even if the remote works
with your equipment, it may be lacking in fuctions. I have a universal
remote that works with one VCR, but it won't bring up the menu. So I need
the original remote for some operations (which is okay since I still have
the original remote, later found a spare, and I started using the
universal before I'd worn out the original remote).

I think someone mentioned a learning remote, and while I've never used
one, that seems possible. But, they need the original remote to learn
from. Otherwise, they can only deal with equipment there are codes for.

And that becomes the issue with using a laptop or PDA to control things.
The hardware is there, the software is either there or shoulfn't be too
easy to make, but you need information about the remote it's replacing.
It's not that the remotes use much variation on their subcarrier
frequency, but that the code being sent for each button varies, and if
you don't have the information, you are stuck with justing trying endless
combinations. The manufacturers of universal remotes try to be
comprehensive, but a more recent device won't be covered, and probably
some lesser devices may be lost. If you are using software, either the
writer of the software has to try endless remotes to build up the piece of
equipment it is compatible with, or rely on users to help out, or not be
comprehensive.

Michael

Hit & miss w/ UR. Picked up one from Big Lots for an AC unit.
Basically going out of a subset of predefinitions, quite an array,
actually, for one that'll potentially match a perfunctorily or
workable parameters. For under $5, I was lucky, but still wouldn't
want to walk across the room to shave a degree or two, and, if that's
at best to be expected for a $50 unit, the math all too quickly turns
reductive. Probably best to purchase such things with an eye to an
easy return policy.

 

[Marten Kemp]

Hello!
What does 'repurse' mean?
I myself am wondering what use could me made of the InfraRed things on
PC/Laptops.

c/repurse/re-purpose/