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iphone Tv remote

how do you feel about Infrared (Ir)

  • forget infrared its useless

    Votes: 19 30.2%

  • Ir needs more support in OSX

    Votes: 4 6.3%

  • let 3rd party developers deal with it

    Votes: 6 9.5%

  • Ir needs to be put in iphones / ipod touches

    Votes: 15 23.8%

  • i dont care

    Votes: 17 27.0%

  • i own several infrared devices

    Votes: 8 12.7%

  • the only infrared device i own is my TV

    Votes: 14 22.2%
  • Total voters
    63
chickenninja

chickenninja

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 13, 2008
356
21
inside my skull
ya know what burns me is that neither the iphone nor the ipod touch have infrared(Ir) ports for controlling your TV or front-row. And I think I know why. I think its because OSX doesn't have a file exchange manager for infrared, even though past versions of mac OSs and hardware have had support for infrared networking. They have dropped Ir technology Because bluetooth & wifi are a better way to network. I think they wanted to include infrared in the iphone but held back since the current OS couldn't fully utilize the port, and they didn't want to look inferior to Palm's and Microsoft's infrared networking capabilities. all of this means that as it stands a 5 year old palm product can do what an iphone cannot. and that is change the channel. i think apple needs to expand the abilities of its built in Ir ports so they can be back compatible with Ir products such as treos, 3rd party remotes, and Ir wireless keyboards and gaming controllers and also include Ir ports in their mobile products for use with televisions. If they had put the effort into it i could use my Infrared NES controller with an emulator on my mac. now thats what i would call back compatible.
 
I'd pay $100 for this...

A stripped down version of a remote with no buttons but wifi connectivity, it could even be plugged in and not battery operated.

App lets you choose from multiple designs that look like a remote control, lets you remove buttons you dont need, and iphone connects via wifi to it to control tv, stereo, etc.

My cable remote has 61 buttons of which I use 13 plus its a pain to see in the dark, the iphone being lighted would eliminate this as well.
 
aerospace said:
I'd pay $100 for this...

A stripped down version of a remote with no buttons but wifi connectivity, it could even be plugged in and not battery operated.

App lets you choose from multiple designs that look like a remote control, lets you remove buttons you dont need, and iphone connects via wifi to it to control tv, stereo, etc.

My cable remote has 61 buttons of which I use 13 plus its a pain to see in the dark, the iphone being lighted would eliminate this as well.
Click to expand...

witch craft!
 
If the iphone came with IR it would be an easy app to make. Instead we now need the iphone to connect to something with IR to control the TV. It shouldn't be that hard but my electronic skills are not up for it. :p
 
aparently there are infrared adapters for ipods that use the audio jack. you use the device to record Ir signals that are then transformed into audio files, you then play the audio file for the command. and the transmitter encodes it into infrared. but still it should be built in, how can an all in one device turn a blind eye to TV.s
 
Seriously?? I mean really?

There was a cool app I saw on the main page that made your iPhone a touchpad for the Mac but other than that what would you really need it for??

I'm not flaming anybody for making the suggestion. I'll just claim ignorance. But it seems unnecessary to me. :D
 
lostprophet894 said:
Seriously?? I mean really?

There was a cool app I saw on the main page that made your iPhone a touchpad for the Mac but other than that what would you really need it for??

I'm not flaming anybody for making the suggestion. I'll just claim ignorance. But it seems unnecessary to me. :D
Click to expand...

could you elaborate on what your talking about :)
 
If the SDK includes hardware access, I'm sure Belkin or Griffin will have something like this asap. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if they already have something in development.
 
i think people undestestimate the potential of having infrared support in OSX, for instance you could configure your wireless xbox (original) controller to work on yr mac, you could use nintendos Power glove
powerglove.jpg

you could turn you mac into a motion sensor. you could change your tvs input with a keystroke, use your cable box without any remote at all. turn off an annoying tv at a wifi hotspot.
you could emulate Ir codes for whatever remote you own, great if your using your mini as a media center mac. you could use wireless mice, wireless keyboards, without an adapter taking up ports.(more of an issue for some of us than others) Infrared doesnt go through walls making it a very private technology. infrared printers, infrared headphones. its not about whether infrared is a good wireless technology cause frankly it sucks(1-2mbs), its about back compatibility, and using the built in infrared "Port" as a "PORT!" and not just a receiver for a dinky apple remote. a remote that cant even learn. every TV uses Ir, and tv's are a fundamental consumer electronic.
 
Hey guys... i built EXACTLY what was described.. and then stumbled upon this thread.. heres a quick video in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvMdbgTJ_tw

I build it myself in about two weeks as a summer project ( im only a sophomore in high school ) and really had some fun.. id love to hear some response on what you guys think!! heres a video of the more technical side of whats going on right behind the scenes.. but its not TOO in depth. :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdrnQiDcJBI
 
Wtf?

Why are you bitching about IR. Have you ever thought about using your.... let me see... remote that came with your television?
 
I've had several PDA devices with the ability to control my TV. Sony Clies had an especially strong IR transmitter just for this purpose. I set them up and had some fun in a bar once or twice.

In the end I found it easier (tactile function) to use the remote that came with my TV or VSAT.

IR in a device like this is useless.
 
Geckotek said:
I've had several PDA devices with the ability to control my TV. Sony Clies had an especially strong IR transmitter just for this purpose. I set them up and had some fun in a bar once or twice.

In the end I found it easier (tactile function) to use the remote that came with my TV or VSAT.

IR in a device like this is useless.
Click to expand...

My HP iPAQ had a remote app and I thought it was pretty cool. It was nice to be able to easily switch screens for different functions/tasks. But in the end I typically just used the regular remote. The PDA remote was like a cool novelty which quickly wore off.
 
grammar/spelling headaches aside, I don't really see a need to use my phone as a remote for my TV. As others have said, you already have a dedicated remote for your TV, and keeping the phone on and active while I'm watching TV for potentially a few hours just doesn't seem like a good idea. (Commercial break, have to grab the phone, unlock, open Remote App, wait to connect, hit mute vs. commercial break, grab TV remote, hit mute).
 
so for me it's pretty simple. here are some reasons why i prefer the iphone over my regular remote

1. iphone can add supported for unlimited amount of devices to control. my regular remote tops out at 5. i have more than 5 devices in one room alone.

2. my phone is always on and active so i don't worry about that statement. i just slide it and open the app to the device. takes about as long as it takes for me to grab my real remote.

3. there is no wait to connect. i am already connected to wifi. the connection to the box is when i actually send a command in our app so it is actually faster than my regular remote because i don't have to worry about how i point the remote or if the batteries are low my remote doesn't send strong enough signals.

4. i can control things other than typical a/v devices via IR. for instance i control my lighting.

5. i can control other devices besides IR. for instance our unit has relays on it so you could control say your garage door, regular doors, etc. it also has a GPIO interface so you could use sound input to set off something like when you start a dvd automatically turn on your receiver, turn on your tv, switch to hdmi input 1, etc.

6. macros - you can make pretty much endless macros of steps to do things with 1 click.

7. no line of sight issues like i stated above. what if i am bbq in the backyard and want to listen to/control my stereo for outside? with a regular remote i have to go back into the house and go to the room where the stereo is to control it. with my app i do it right from outside.

8. local and remote access - maybe i want to turn on a light or open my garage door as i am pulling up to my home in my car.

the list goes on and on.
 
New Universal Remote IR product for the iPhone

Check out this Universal Remote IR product for the iPhone/ iPodTouch that just started shipping: http://bit.ly/iphone-ir

$70 and lets you define "rooms" of equipment in your house.
Then you can walk into a room and start controlling all the gear there.
Swift.
 
Yeh I don't find anything particularly useful for it, but I recognize that there are people out there with disabilities that could really use some of the applications that would use IR. What seems like a luxury to most of us is a daily need for some people. I think IR could make some a comeback in respect to accessibility apps.
 
kainjow said:
If the SDK includes hardware access, I'm sure Belkin or Griffin will have something like this asap. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if they already have something in development.
Click to expand...

But it'll only work 4 times, then throw up messages about how it wasn't designed for your device until it shorts out a couple pins and fries it. :D

Older Windows Mobile devices did have IR ports and there was the constant low level complaining about why it couldn't be used to control a TV and whatnot. Once in a while some enterprising (bored) developer would write an app that bypassed the drivers (since it's not consumer IR, using the standard IR SDK wouldn't work). For about 20 minutes everyone was overjoyed and then when the novelty wore off and people realized that you had to be so close to the device that you may as well just do it manually, that was that. So will go this, I'm sure, except maybe it won't be the distance but battery life.
 
syner said:
so for me it's pretty simple. here are some reasons why i prefer the iphone over my regular remote

iphone can add supported for unlimited amount of devices to control. my regular remote tops out at 5. i have more than 5 devices in one room alone.
Click to expand...

Exactly ^^ And I don't want some add-on contraption. I would just like to press a remote icon and start controlling. I have 6 pieces of equipment for my entertainment center. It sure would beat paying over $100 for a logitech remote.
 
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