Between several issues, I had quite a time getting my Windows Media Center to work the was I think it should (seamlessly). I will start off by talking about the remote bundle itself and then move on to my issues and how the remote played into those issues.
First, the remote is made well. I did notice, as mentioned in other reviews, that it lacks the weight that one is used to when dealing with a typical remote. However, this is a minor detail and not something that will bother the average user. It has a multitude of buttons that allow you to completely control WMC with the remote. Yes, yes, it is not programmable to control your TV, etc. I already have 5 remotes sitting beside of my couch and what is one more? I know what each one controls and believe it or not, I am able to remember how to use each one separately to control what it was manufactured for. If you are really worried about controlling your entire house with one remote then you have some form of OCD (I have other forms of OCD, so I'm not putting you down, this is just not one of the forms I posses).
Next, the receiver; there isn't much to say about it. The USB cable that comes with it is short. Big deal; it uses Micro-USB (as if you don't have a longer one laying around your house from an old cell phone or something). The receiver is small and unobtrusive. I wouldn't even be able to notice it if I wasn't the one who placed it. Vista and 7 recognize it and immediately install the drivers. With some tweaking, it will work with XP; google it. It comes with some double stick tape. It picks up extremely well. The IR blaster works great (if your cable box doesn't suck (see below)).
OK, so that's that. Now I feel like I should let potential buyers know about the problems I have ran into with getting my WMC to work right. The reason I want to do this is because I have learned a lot about what I needed to do to get my setup to work by reading others' reviews. If I can help one person figure out their next step then I will have succeeded. Issues I ran into and how I fixed them:
1.) Comcast hates me and will do whatever they can to make me use their equipment.
I was using a splitter for my cable in the living room: one cable going to my STB, one to the TV tuner card in my computer. Now Comcast has decided that they are going all digital which effectively renders my WMC completely useless. My TV tuner does have a digital tuner built in, but that would only let me recieve QAM channels through the cable (major networks only). You now need a Digital Transport Adapter to use an analog TV or other device with Comcast. I could rant for hours about this and how it's 2011 and they should have designed their upgrade around the fact that TVs these days already have digital tuners built in. That's neither here nor there. Anyway, the DTAs are free so you will now need one for your WMC.
ANSWER: You just need to use the IR blaster supplied with this remote to control the DTA. I would love to have went this route but luckily I had other issues that disallowed me from doing so (see issue number 3).
2.) Comcast's equipment also hates me.
I am using a Cisco RNG150 HD set top box without DVR (why would I pay for DVR when I have WMC, right?) The box does it's job, barely. I am running component video cables to my HDTV and a s-video cable to carry the video to my computer (again see issue number 3 for the explanation of the s-video). I plugged the IR blaster into the remote receiver and placed it in front of my STB. Nothing. I found that if I held the blaster on the face of the STB, right at the IR sensor pointing in exactly the right direction it would pick up about 25% of the commands sent from WMC through the blaster. Obviously unacceptable. So I did the unmentionable and took the STB apart and mounted the IR blaster DIRECTLY ON AND TOUCHING the remote sensor for the STB. That got us up to about 80% of the commands being received by the STB, even on the "slow" setting in WMC. Still unacceptable. However, and let me make this clear, it is not a problem with the blaster itself, it is the Cisco RNG150. I have been through three of these for various reasons, but all three of them had a problem receiving the signal from the remote THAT CAME WITH IT. Yes, I said it, it is a cheap, crap box.
ANSWER: Go to your Comcast office (or whoever your cable provider is if you run into this problem) and get an external remote sensor. I told them it was having problems picking up the remote and they gave me the external sensor that was made for the DTA mentioned above. It plugs into the back of the RNG150 and works ten times better than the remote sensor built into the box. I taped the external remote sensor to the IR blaster that came with the remote and threw them back into the mess of wires. 100% reception of commands sent from WMC get received by the STB now. Great success!
3.) My Hauppauge 1199 WinTV HVR-1600 gave out way before it should have and has other shortcomings (see my separate review on that).
I got this tuner card in December of 2007. Worked perfect hooked straight to my cable. In about November of 2010, I started noticing a little bit if picture degradation at the top of the screen. By January of 2011, nothing but static. I tried everything that I could find on the web (since Hauppauge's support team seems to be run by a few middle school kids) to no avail. Seems the tuner on the card just gave out. Not a problem right? There is an s-video input on the card which obviously does not require use of the busted tuner. I run an s-video cable from the STB to the tuner card and got great video in WMC. Then, when I get to the part of WMC TV signal setup, it says no IR transceiver detected. That's odd, because the Hauppauge 1199 came with one and it's plugged in. Well with some browsing, it turns out that the blaster that came with the card doesn't work with WMC. That sort of invalidates their statement that the card is fully compatible with WMC and makes me no longer trust or believe anything Hauppauge says.
ANSWER: I bought the Noah Company MediaGate GP-IR02BK Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate MCE Remote Control, 2 Channel IR (Black). Finally I am satisfied.
By the way, don't take your set top box apart. It is wrong and bad and you could shock yourself. I found that they best way to receive a shock is to leave it plugged in and accidentally shove a few fingers into the 5 by 5 inch area where the 120 volts are nice and concentrated. I don't recommend this either, as it is fairly tingly and uncomfortable.
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Does the job
Pros:- No fuss setup- Includes additional IR blasterCons:- Some of the buttons are too small- Button labels are hard to read and text on the remote is hard to read- Not programmable- Not backlitBought this remote to control my Windows 7 Media Center. Works like a champ. No fuss setup. I simply pluggd the included USB IR receiver and Windows installed it automatically. No problems using it to control Windows Media center. The packaging includes one external IR blaster so that windows can control an external device like a cable box.The problems I have with this remote is it is vey hard to read the leables for the button and the direct mode buttons at the top are hard to read as well. It is a little like for my taste and I wish the unit was backlit. I was hoping to be able to put my TV remote away and just us this one, but it is not programable. The instructions say "if available." Therefore I still need to use my TV remote to turn the TV on and off and to control the TV volume. All in all it does the job of controlling Windows Media center.
