Can't get my IR receiver to work

[Plecto]

Hi. I'm planning on using a universal remote for WMC, but I can't get my USB IR receiver to work. The receiver lids a red light when I push a button on any remote and it comes up as a HID mouse in the devide manager, but neither HID or Girder manages to respond to the buttons beeing pushed. In both programs it sais "press any button on the remote to continue", but nothing happens. What's wrong?

 

[seekermeister]

Since it is IR, have you insured that the receiver is pointed in a direction that is within the angle of operation? I know next to nothing about this kind of remote, so I don't have much to offer. Hopefully, someone else will, but if not, you might consider replacing it with an RF remote...like Lenovo's.

 

[Plecto]

Well, a rf remote isnt that good for me sinse none of my other equipment can recieve rf.

I'm holding the remote about an inch from the receiver and as I said, the receiver does glow when I pushing buttons so it is responding to the signals.

 

[seekermeister]

I don't understand your first comment...are you using the same remote on multiple pieces of equipment? If that is the case, it would seem that you could move it to one of those other units, and if it didn't work there, it would confirm whether the remote or receiver is defective.

EDIT: It would give a clearer picture for someone to help, if you specified the particular remote that you are using.

 

[Plecto]

Well, I've tried three different remotes now, the one for my tv, the one for my dvd player and the universial remote (a sunwave SRC-3000).

 

[seekermeister]

You have tried them where? Obviously, not just any remote is going to work on a Computer, it has to be designed for that task. It is unclear to me, but it appears that the Sunwave is, with an optional USB cable, which I can only assume is what you are referring to as the receiver. If you really expect to get help with your problem, you are going to have to provide a full clear picture of exactly what you have done, and how (without making anyone pull it out of you, piece by piece). Unless you are very fortunate, and someone here has exactly the same remote that you do steps forward, all that anyone can do now, with the vagueness of your question is to make guesses based on assumptions, which is most likely to waste your time.

 

[Plecto]

I'm sorry if I was vague, I didn't think that there was that many IR receivers for computers and I was under the impression that these receivers could interpret the IR signals from any remote so that the kind of remote I was using didn't matter.

The receiver dosn't have a manufacture written on it, but it sais "Model IR605A", it's a little USB dongle.

 

[seekermeister]

It appears that the brand of that receiver is Rosewill, which doesn't inspire any confidence in me, because that is a line of products from Newegg, which I never had much luck with. However, to verify that, check out this manual to insure that we are talking about the same thing:

http://www.aimpro21.com/driver/DM/manual/BM-RC125605606-FFL7.pdf

 

[Ponmayilal]

Remotes for PCs is a different kind of animal. Normally these are designed to be used with specific IR Receivers/RF receivers. You may not be able to use any "Universal Remote" with any IR Receiver of your choice. There is no "Universal" IR receiver as far as I understand. ( And you have not mentioned which IR receiver you are using.)

Most remotes for PCs use the Microsoft IR Receiver known as ehome infrared receivers. (MS itself no longer manufactures these but other manufacturers rolling out HTPCs use this design in the IR receivers supplied by them.) You may get MCE remotes and IR receivers from DELL, HP ..... and host of other manufacturers. You may also get remotes manufactured by others that specifically work with these ehome infrared receivers. Logitech Harmony for one. Some remotes like the EZ Commander come with their own IR receivers.

You may google search for MCE remotes and IR receivers. Amazon has got many.

To get you started just go through this article on 10 media remotes.( This is quite old and not updated. Use it for informational purpose only and then do your own research . )

EDIT: All that said, my own experience is that the MCE remotes and IR Receivers is a jungle where one can easily be lost. Reason why I shifted to the more consistent and reliable EZ Commander Remote (IR) and Lenovo Multimedia Remote with keyboard N5901 (RF) - both the best IMO. As always, both have certain limitations, but won't break your heart.

 

[Plecto]

It appears that the brand of that receiver is Rosewill, which doesn't inspire any confidence in me, because that is a line of products from Newegg, which I never had much luck with. However, to verify that, check out this manual to insure that we are talking about the same thing:

http://www.aimpro21.com/driver/DM/ma...05606-FFL7.pdf

Yes, it seems that we are talking about the same thing.

There is no "Universal" IR receiver as far as I understand.

This is a little off-topic I guess but it makes me curious Infrared signals is electromagnetic waves from 0.7 to 300 micrometers, why would it be a stretch for a manufacturer to make a usb receiver which could pick up all of these wavelengths? Would it be far more expencive?

So the problem here is probably that my receiver and remotes are compatible? Would the easiest solution be to just buy a WMC remote (Amazon.com: Windows 7 Vista XP Media Center MCE PC Remote Control and Infrared Receiver for Home, Premium and Ultimate Edition: Electronics) or would I risk my USB receiver not beeing able to interpret the signals from this one either?

 

[seekermeister]

I'm not certain of the best solution, but I would be more inclined to replace the receiver, instead of the remote. That is because of my bias against that brand that I mentioned previously. However, that decision would be weighed on how important it is to you, that you retain the universal aspect of the operations. Knowing myself, I would probably keep the receiver and universal remote for all of the other devices it controls, and get a specific RF remote for the PC. I very recently bought one for myself, and I ended up choosing the Lenovo, but a close second runner was the EZ Commander, which is IR, and has software available to map it to various media players, rather than just WMP/MCE. I have no idea of how the EZ Commander would work with the Rosewill, but it has it's own receiver anyway. Of course, using that would break your universal operations preference.

EDIT: Something that you said earlier in the thread puzzles me...that the receiver lights up when you enter something on the remote. I have seen remotes that have a light on them, which operates to indicate certain functions, but not a receiver. When I looked at the photo of the receiver, I saw a large red window, which I assume is the eye that receives signals, but nothing that looked like a light. Where is it, and what is it for? If it lights every time that you press a key on the remote, that blinking would really annoy me.

 

[seekermeister]

Remotes for PCs is a different kind of animal. Normally these are designed to be used with specific IR Receivers/RF receivers. You may not be able to use any "Universal Remote" with any IR Receiver of your choice. There is no "Universal" IR receiver as far as I understand. ( And you have not mentioned which IR receiver you are using.)

Most remotes for PCs use the Microsoft IR Receiver known as ehome infrared receivers. (MS itself no longer manufactures these but other manufacturers rolling out HTPCs use this design in the IR receivers supplied by them.) You may get MCE remotes and IR receivers from DELL, HP ..... and host of other manufacturers. You may also get remotes manufactured by others that specifically work with these ehome infrared receivers. Logitech Harmony for one. Some remotes like the EZ Commander come with their own IR receivers.

You may google search for MCE remotes and IR receivers. Amazon has got many.

To get you started just go through this article on 10 media remotes.( This is quite old and not updated. Use it for informational purpose only and then do your own research . )

EDIT: All that said, my own experience is that the MCE remotes and IR Receivers is a jungle where one can easily be lost. Reason why I shifted to the more consistent and reliable EZ Commander Remote (IR) and Lenovo Multimedia Remote with keyboard N5901 (RF) - both the best IMO. As always, both have certain limitations, but won't break your heart.

Regarding your statement that there is no universal IR remote, when I Google that, I certainly get a lot of returns that seem to indicate that there is. Are all of those misleading?

 

[Ponmayilal]

If you decide to buy an MCE remote, better buy it with the IR receiver. Most are sold together. Your current IR receiver may or may not be compatible with MCE remote. The IR receiver is designed to decipher the coded signals from a particular remote.(And different remotes send different IR signals (codes) for the same function. )

 

[Ponmayilal]

Regarding your statement that there is no universal IR remote, when I Google that, I certainly get a lot of returns that seem to indicate that there is. Are all of those misleading?

I said no Universal IR receivers .

As far as the so called universal remotes are concerned - in a more simplistic way - there are two approaches.

1. You teach the remote what codes it should send to emulate a specific remote.(keeping the IR receiver the same.) Example: Logitech Harmony Remote. If I want it to emulate the MCE Remote, I order so through a software in my PC which is passed on to a Logitech server online, which in turn pumps in the codes for the MCE remote to the Harmony connected to my PC and teaches it to send those codes to the ehome infrared receiver. These codes are then retained by Harmony. Given the command , my Harmony remote will send out the codes as if it were an MCE remote.

2. The Remote always sends the same commands. It is not of the learning type. A mapping software in the PC translates these commands received by the IR Receiver specific to this remote appropriately for the specific media software/player that you have invoked on your computer. Example: EZ commander remote/IR Receiver/EZ input software.

I am not here to deliver a lecture.

My 300th Post. Thank you seekermeister.

 

[seekermeister]

I intended to type receiver, but somehow it came out as remote. Yet, as far as the lack of a universal receiver, it appears that this is one:

Universal - RF Receiver Base Station - MRF-100 Expander

I have no idea of whether it is any good, or operates in the fashion that it appears to. As far as lectures go, that entirely depends on how you choose to respond, I only asked a question.

 

[Ponmayilal]

In a sense, you can call the second type I mentioned in my previous post as a Universal IR receiver. But they always operate in conjunction with a software on the PC. I have also read about many such software such as Girder etc., longtime back and my head only twirls. Personally I would not call them Universal inasmuch as they are not contained in a single unit as in a Universal remote where you teach once and then it is all by itself. So far I have not come across someone who says I have a Universal IR receiver on my PC and I use my LG TV remote to control all functions in my PC. There may be geeks but not ordinary users.
I only made the lecture comment in a lighter vein to make it light. Just as you were woken up by the Fedex guy, I was delayed hitting the sack. Time up. (Anyway the cycle will change 10 days from now when I land in U.S.A on a 100+ days visit)

 

[seekermeister]

Yes. I did look for a mention as to whether it would work on a PC, but found none, one way or the other. I guess one would have to inquire about that, if they were interested.

That is a fairly long visit. I hope that you enjoy your stay here.

 

[Plecto]

Well thank you for the responses. I have noe bought a MCE remote (with a receiver) off amazon so these two shoud work together. Using my universal remote is no must, but I could try to teach the universial remote the commands from the MCE remote when I get it

 

[Ponmayilal]

I am just curious to know exactly which one you bought from amazon.com (the link). Also do report your impressions on using it when you do receive it and put it into operation. Specifically I would be interested to know whether you are able to put your PC into sleep and wake it up without any problems since this was the one that put me off (with Vista).

Also let us know whether you could successfully teach your Universal remote.( So far I have not come across any report on it - may be because I never followed it up after giving up on it. )

 

[Plecto]

I will

Heres the link to the remote: Amazon.com: Windows 7 Vista XP Media Center MCE PC Remote Control and Infrared Receiver for Home, Premium and Ultimate Edition: Electronics