Windows 7: xbox 360 controller as remote for MCE

Hello, I have a wireless xbox 360 controller that I would like to use as a remote for windows media center since i seldom play and use it for games it might be useful as a remote instead..

I have pinnacle gaming profile but the default windows profile doesn't really give the controller justice, no ffw, the analog buttons do nothing and i have absolutely no idea how to program it.



there doesn't seem the be a downloadable profile on their forum either.

Is there a way to get it to work as a remote controller easy enough for me or my girlfriend to use? i was thinking of getting an HTPC.

if you are in uk and have xbox live ,
Game (shop) have deal if you buy xbox remote you get xbox live points also and for a while they were selling the remotes for £15 ,the same price as live points ,so in effect the remote was free i think that the remote will work with pc. worth googling to find out i reckon

found this interesting page
Using Xbox 360 IR remote with Vista Media Center | Redmond Pie

Over a year into the official release of Windows 7, with versions of Media Center existing long before that, and versions of the XBox being out for even longer, I'm am shocked to read the above. No one knows of a way to get the Xbox 360 controller to work within 7MC? All I really need is up down enter and backspace (though more function would be nice). Anyone out there using a 360 controller in 7MC? How do you get it to work? Why isn't this an out of the box function.

probably because the controller is for gaming. people usually use a Media Center remote for WMC.

But you can use an Xbox as an 7MC extender, and I assume you can control it via the Xbox controller... there already exists some sort of compatibility between Xbox and 7MC, and you can plug an Xbox controller into a PC and get Windows drivers for it... seems really weird that there is simply no way to do this... but after some research, it seems like it may be possible with a 3rd party application that can remap the controller keys to correspond with keyboard keys... but still, no out of the box (or some sort of official compatibility) between the two is shocking. Is there anyone that done this, even a 3rd party route, that could report back on it? Thanks!