IR Remote for NON mce HTPC

[Fishman Tx]

Howdy all !!

First timer here. I am building my 1st HTPC and need advice on a non-MCE remote control for Mediaportal. I am starting with the bare minimums and , initially, this will be strictly a jukebox for pix, music, and DivX video. I'll add the TV card and all that later as I go along. I'm using XP Pro with a Biostar mobo and an ATI Radeon 9000 series AGP 8x video card w/S-video, DVI, and VGA outs on a 32" CRT.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Thx!
Fish

[exponent2]

If you use this then you can use any remote with it and it can do a lot of othter things like control set top boxes. You can get more information on it here

www.usbuirt.com

[and-81]

I don't want to second guess you, but just out of curiousity, why "non-mce remote" ? Do you mean, not the Microsoft MCE remote?

I know some people don't like it, and it's not the be-all and end-all but it does represent the best value for money, better than the usb-uirt I believe.

Just curious.

[Fishman Tx]

I'm not familiar enough with the MCE remote, tho my intent was an inquiry about a remote that doesn't require MCE. ;op

[Paranoid Delusion]

MCE remote works with xp, if that's your concern.

[firemaker]

I got my MCE reciever and remote for less than 6 bucks and about 5 bucks shipping on ebay. a few years ago. it's the old version but works flawlessly with MCE and Mediaportal, I even tried it with Meedio (before I found Mediaportal) with usable results but not as nice as MCE and/or Mediaportal with MPtray for the green button.
oO(I Liked the flexibility of Meedio but it was never stable enough in my experience)
I have read somewhere about installing the MCE Remote stuff on XP without MCE but if you leave it pluged in during windows install it will have whatever magic it is you need when you boot the first time.
Worth mentioning is a issue with avermedia's Ultra MCE 1500 and the avermedia TV application (not the drivers) if you try to install the tv viewing application when you have the MCE Remote installed you will get a error stating that the application is not compatable with MCE and refuse to let you install it. you don't need the application with Mediaporta but if you want it anyway the faq on the avermedia site for ultra mce 1500 has instructions to deal with that, it involves deleteing a reg file. I did this on a partition with XP but don't do it on MCE. (triple booting plus grub here) which reminds me, Mythdora now automaticly supports the MCE remote too but sadly, despite claims that it does, the avermedia 150 and the ultra mce 1500 are still not supported. anyone knowing a way to use one of those cards please post how or a link to where to find out how.
I agree that the MCE remote intergration with media portal is flawless. not required but the burning-ze-road's project for getting seriously advanced with the MCE remote for advanced options and using the blaster is fantastic too.
Hey, if you see this burning-ze-road or whatever name you use over here in this forum, whats say you send me five cents when I mention your my hero? that makes the total ten cents now. just think of all the fame a dime will get ya.
I love you too Frodo