1. 

   C. Watson
   March 16th, 2010 - 19:36

   Got a Logitech Harmony universal remote? Want to control your home theater pc with it along with everything else in your living room? Then this is the remote you want. I actually only needed the IR adapter and i was able to control my pc with the Logitech Harmony 880. I tried the remote pictured here and it works perfectly but i didn’t need it. If you want a cheap IR to control your HTPC then here is a good solution. Oh and to program the Harmony to work with it you’ll need the model name and number which is: Chinavision CVSB-983
   Rating: 5 / 5
2. 

   Robin E. Stein
   March 16th, 2010 - 21:40

   This little gizmo is just beautiful for what I bought it for. See, over time, it has come to the point that almost none of the shows that I like seem to air when I’m home (or awake) so, I’ve taken to watching them online on my laptop. Add in that one of the few things I can afford is a subscription to NetFlix and well, hooking into my television only took a couple of cables for very little $$ so there ya go. The only problem was trying to pause when I had to get up or the phone rang.

   Now, I suppose that I could have gone the Bluetooth adapter route but, frankly, without a coffee table what was I going to run it on? My leg? And since those presentation remotes are designed for Power Point, I wasn’t sure that any of them would work for what I needed; which was basically a mouse in a remote form.

   Enter this little remote which, seemed a little too good to be true given the price and all, but despite my misgivings- this thing really does work. Seriously, all I have to do is hook up my lappy and turn him on for the night. I can even switch the displays using the remote from my couch and even turn it off at the end of the evening without ever having to cross the room- so he’s back to normal and ready for work the next morning without any extra fuss.

   The unit itself comes in a small box with the remote, the IR USB adaptor, a slip of paper for the instructions and that’s it. The English in the instructions is- well, horrid, but understandable. (It’s a remote so, there’s really not a lot to explain anyway). As always, the most valuable bit of information in them is the button chart, particularly since there were a couple that aren’t necessarily standard; such as the window drag button (which, not only works just fine but is also a very clever and very useful feature for getting the display windows out of my way on the desktop but keeping them open for switching back later).

   Unfortunately, as is true for all remotes- there are, however, those couple of buttons that really do nothing for me. Again, just like all of the others, I think it’s either due to my system (much as I love my lappy, he’s an el cheapo containing no bells and/or whistles of any sort), or due to my lack of knowledge (one or two clever tricks does not an expert make).

   Still, this thing is clever, perfect for me and just what I needed to tell those idiots at scheduling that they can finally take a flying leap because, once again, I can watch my tv shows on my tv without having to dive across the room every time Nature or just the mother-in-law decides to call.
   Rating: 5 / 5
3. 

   Amazonian
   March 16th, 2010 - 22:52

   This little gem works great and can be used with about any learning universal remote, including harmony (so long as you teach it the commands). There’s also a JP1 upgrade for it if you’re so inclined (no-name USB PC remote). I’m mainly writing to unlock the mystery of the A, B, C, D hotkeys. The instructions say that each can send any of 3 key combinations. A, for example, sends Ctrl+Alt+A, Ctrl+Alt+1 or Ctrl+Alt+F1. I couldn’t figure out how to tell it which of those 3 to send. Well the fact is that each button sends all 3 hotkeys at once. For example, pressing A sends Ctrl+Alt+A, Ctrl+Alt+1 and Ctrl+Alt+F1 all at the same time. So they’re basically giving you a choice of keys, but you wouldn’t ever use more than 1 in each group of 3. I did a little experiment and made 3 different shortcuts using Ctrl+Alt+A, 1 and F1, and they all opened at the same time from just a single press of the A key.
   Rating: 5 / 5
4. 

   N. J. Matthew
   March 17th, 2010 - 00:53

   I purchased this remote through Amazon.com last month after I found that it had received excellent reviews. I had hoped to use it as a good, reliable remote for my media center running Boxee. However, I’m disappointed with it’s performance and wish I could return or sell it.

   To be fair, it has good qualities:
   
   1) The mouse feature is nice, and works reliably.
   
   2) The IR connects reliably to the computer and works easily from the couch.
   
   3) Keys are mostly programmable to XP shortcuts.

   But, these good qualities are easily outweighed by the negatives:
   
   A) The remote ships without any branding, and thus does not come with any customer service, website, or online forums for assistance. To make this clear: this is not made by Sony, and frankly, I don’t know WHO makes it.
   
   B) The instruction manual is written in very poor English. It’s almost humorous if it didn’t show how much thought they had put into this product.
   
   C) The remote frequently sends the wrong signal to the computer, resulting in the computer confusing the “VOLUME UP” key with the “SHUT DOWN” key. It’s a really, really obnoxious feature.
   
   D) Batteries easily fall out of remote.
   
   E) Keys are awkward, and are very easy to mistakenly press the wrong key. Want to scroll to the right? Sure, just don’t press the “reveal desktop” key placed immediately below it.

   It’s a good remote for those who are on the cheep. But if you’re looking to use your media center and not accidentally turn it off when turning up the volume, this isn’t the remote for you.
   Rating: 2 / 5
5. 

   RY
   March 17th, 2010 - 03:11

   Bought this remote from Xbay. From the other reviews, I was thinking it would let me use the IR receiver with MCE commande from my Harmony 550 to run my HTPC. A couple of warnings. First, every MCE command set available from Harmony won’t run my HTPC at all through the IR receiver I got with this remote. I know there are lots of folks using the MCE command set with the Harmony 550 to run their HTPC through Windows Media Center. I can’t specifically place the blame, but I strongly suspect a problem with this IR reciever. So I went to teach the Harmony and get this, there is no “record” button on this remote. NO RECORD BUTTON?? What’s up with that? The picture on Amazon just isn’t good enough to show you the details of every transport button. Or lack thereof.

   OTOH, anyone looking to use this as a wireless mouse should be pretty happy. There is a large joystick button at the top of the remote that works pretty well for what it is. “L”, “Mouse Click” and “R” buttons are below the joystick to take the place of mouse buttons. The colored buttons at the top of the remote do things like spawn web browsers, etc. So as a virtual mouse, I guess it’s decent.

   So, bottom line, if you’re just looking for a wireless handheld mouse/input device, this will work. If you’re looking for a truly compliant WMC/MCE remote, look elsewhere.
   Rating: 3 / 5

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