Infrared usb

[chapm4]

putting in new home theater. Universal Remote MX-880 http://universalremote.com
and a Universal Remote MRF-350 rf box that has infrared sensors for equipment (projector, amp, screen, etc). Question is...how to get the htpc to connect. Do I use a MCE remote and usb ir or is there just a usb to ir dongle that anyone is using with Boxee?

[jalyst]

That's exactly what I'm about to work out soon...
I'm getting a MX-980, but without one of their RF/IR transceivers.

So I need some way to add IR reception to my Myth/XBMC/Boxee Front-end.
Preferably internally but a USB adapter will suffice.

I imagine both the 880 and 980 just use some standard form of CIR
So receivers should be readily available...

[Melloware]

Well I can recommend one that is cost effective and widely supported called USB-UIRT.

http://www.usbuirt.com/overview.htm

It is about 50$ USD but it works great and has a wide IR spectrum band. Then you could use your Universal MX and our software Intelliremote which already has a Boxee profile to simply learn the commands from your MX through the USB-UIRT to control Boxee!

We also support these other brands but I prefer the USB-UIRT for its simplicity and cost.

# Keene IRAnywhere KIRA http://www.keene.co.uk
# RedRat UIRT www.redrat.co.uk

But check them all out and decide which one best fits your own needs.

[jalyst]

But isn't usb-uirt a transceiver, not just a receiver?
Why pay for a transceiver when all that's needed is a receiver.

[Melloware]

No, you can use it as a receiver to receive pretty much any IR remote in the 20-60KHz which is pretty much every consumer remote in the world. I use it with a Logitech Harmony 880 to control my HTPC.

And it also has IR blasting capabilities so you could map something from say our Iphone/iPod Touch client to blast IR to turn your TV or AVReceiver on etc.

So it is both a receiver and transmitter of IR. Great value for $50. I don't get any kickbacks from USB-UIRT I just recommend it because I own one and use it and it performs perfectly.

[jalyst]

Yeah but what if you only want a plain old receiver, pref. something that just slots internally into a case?

I know of all the good transceivers, I researched heavily for months, IRTrans are also very good.
The hardware is pricey for what you get, but the software & support is very good.
I'll want a sophisticated transceiver when I get more into HA, but for this specific application one only needs a simple receiver.

[Melloware]

yeah but what if you only want a plain old receiver, pref. something that just slots internally into a case?

Oh you want an INTERNAL IR receiver? I don't know much about those I think IRTrans make some but only that are custom built for the cases they supply. I don't think you can retrofit one into any old case.

I didn't realize that was a requirement, I thought you were just looking for an IR Receiver to use with your Universal MX.