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View Full Version : Bluetooth Remote Control?????


Jolard
01-06-2004, 01:16 AM
Ok, I have recently purchased a Bluetooth dongle, and I have it set up, pared and working. It is wonderful!!! I watch a lot of tv shows and movies on my PC, which I have permanently connected to my TV. Of course in order to select files, pause, play, control volume etc, it is all on the PC, and not on the TV. I have tried pc ir remotes, and I have been less than happy with the flexibility and usefulness.

So here is what I want. Is there an application out there that uses the bluetooth connection instead of an ir connection for remote control of a PC? I can't use my PPC with my PC's ir receiver, since I have a 1945 and it is not commercial grade ir. What I would like is a user configurable bluetooth remote application.

I can see this working in two ways. One would be a simple remote control application, that uses templates to control different applications running on the desktop, such as Media Player or Zoom Player. The other option would be a full PC controller, such as PC Anywhere but for PPC. So I can actually see the desktop on my PPC (obviously with lots of scrolling) so I can select files, hit play and pause etc etc.

Any suggestions?? I appreciate the help.

Jolard
01-06-2004, 11:41 PM
Well it looks like no-one had any good ideas, but thanks to those who viewed the post.

I am going to try VNC. To give props where they are due, I first saw a post about it here on Brighthand (http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=71ce30701750d927f152925f4fbb52d1&threadid=97786) where someone was basically asking the same question as me.

Then I came back here, and saw this post (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22575) which gave some more good info about this app.

For those of you who may be interested, this program basically lets you see and control the PC remotely from any other PC, including Posket PC's using a customized version of the viewer software. Apparently you can connect through Bluetooth to your home network, and then should be able to see the desktop and control the pc from you ppc. For me of course, this will mostly be valuable so I can use my Pocket PC as a remote control through bluetooth for viewing tv shows and movies that are being displayed on my tv but played on my pc.

I will let everyone know how it goes.

Here are links to the vnc apps, the first for the standard apps, and the second for the customized viewer for ppc.

http://www.realvnc.com/download.html
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~midgley/wince/vnc.html

Jolard
01-07-2004, 12:30 AM
Hehehe, I am basically simply conversing with myself.

But I found another interesting option. This is a piece of software called PebblesPC http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~pebbles/index.html that includes a program called RemoteCmd which allows you to use your pocket pc as a keyboard and cursor interface, which would be perfect for my controlling my pc while watching the cursor on the tv. Hmm. I will check it out and let you all know how it looks too!

Kowalski
01-07-2004, 10:21 AM
thaks for the valuable information. this was what im looking for. and this is what the forums for. to share information.

Jolard
01-08-2004, 03:08 AM
Ok, here are the results. I tested both applications, and both work just fine, although I think I like vnc better. The main reason was that the pebbles app only really allowed you to view the full screen at one time, fully zoomed out. At that resolution it was very hard to hit small buttons on the pocket pc screen. You could zoom in, however it was not scrollable, so you couldn't actually use anything on your screen except for the top left hand corner.

Pebbles also refreshed the screen a lot slower and had errors doing that quite often. However vnc refreshed quickly, had scrollable zoomed window, so you can actually read and see and still get to every part of the desktop. It was fast and never crashed.

Anyway, it works exactly as I was hoping it would. I am able to sit on my couch holding my ppc connected to my pc by bluetooth. My PC is connected to my tv as the display and to my stereo for sound. So I am able to pause, play, select files, scroll through my playlists etc etc, and it works great. I finally can access the full functionality of my pc from my couch while watching on the tv and listening through my stereo. Very cool.

jin14
02-20-2004, 05:55 PM
Logitech makes a bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo. What's interesting is that the number pad is seperate from the keyboard. The number pad actually has a display and you can control your windows media player with it wirelessly. I know you want to use your PPC for this but I'm just throwing this out there.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,crid=1,contentid=7321

DimensionZero
02-20-2004, 06:06 PM
I'm curious, there was a post a few days back for Vinyl which is REALLY COOL! It only does MP3s and stuff but at least it's free =)

There are however alternatives which cost a bit of money but do video as well...

I've not tried any of these others yet, but am planning to after I get my wifi card for the 2210...

Cinemar DVDLobby & MusicLobby (http://www.cinemaronline.com/)
Pocketwerks Vinyl Player (http://www.pocketwerks.com/)
Xlobby (http://www.xlobby.com/)

If anyone else has another program to suggest please do so, I'd like to get a computer setup eventually for videos and stuff and this would be very cool!