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PS3 Bluetooth + universal remotes

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PoweredBySoy

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Messages
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I was pretty excited to pull the trigger on a Logitech Harmony universal remote. I love the idea of having just one remote - and better yet one that you can program macro's into. But after a bit of reading I found out that the Harmony remotes are unable to control the PS3 due to it being Bluetooth only. Sadness consumed me.

Then I was reading about a partial workaround with the Nyko remote that comes with an IR dongle. But this dongle is only able to mimic the PS3 controller - so therefore no power button, and overall very limited controls. Not nearly as versatile as the PS3's Bluetooth remote.

Does anybody know of a good universal remote like the Harmony that's able to properly control the PS3? If they don't make one yet, I have to imagine they're working on it given the popularity of the PS3.
 
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Logitech doesn't seem to have any plans to release a bluetooth one, and the ps3's usb ports don't get power when the system is off, which is why you can't power the system on with the nyko (and also why controllers don't charge while the system is off).

Honestly though, the harmony line is so much better than anything else out there that the nyko dongle is still your best bet, imo. Its a bit of an annoyance, but overall its not all that bad. The other nice thing is that if you ever get a new harmony, all you have to do is plug it in and copy all your settings, since its all saved to your profile and the software is the same for all remotes. So, you could get a 550 for like $50 now, and if they ever release a bluetooth one, you could upgrade to that without much hassle in the future. If you're used to using crappy remotes it will literally be the best $50 you've ever spent on your home theater.
 
Whoa, a friend of mine just directed me to this site here.

http://www.ir2bt.com/

Apparently that little device properly mimics all 51 codes from the Bluetooth remote. Nice! I just put myself on their waiting list for when they get more in stock. The only disadvantage I see is potential drama after Sony updates their firmware - but the owner of ir2bt seems very supportive of his product.

I don't suppose anybody here is currently using one of these.
 
PoweredBySoy,
I have had PS3 for about 9 months and have been searching for a nice way have my Harmony to control all my AV stuff (HDTV, Cable box, amp, xbox360 w/ HD-DVD) as well as the PS3. I also tried to search the net and I came up with nothing that is going to work 100% prefect all of the time. That IR2BT is nice but your exactly right that firmware updates play all sorts of havoc with it. And your also right that the developer is quick to work on issues. However at the end of the day I don't want to wait for some one else to fix issues caused by the updates :(

I was hoping to see some product annoucement about a new Harmony remote that has Bluetooth. I however was tried of waiting and wanted the something that works for now. To that end I got the Nyko as it was the cheapest work around (under $20 shipped from Amazon). Yea I was bummed that it is not able to turn on the PS3. But for now I only use the PS3 to play Blu-Ray movies, and since I had have to walk over to the PS3 and insert the Blu-Ray I felt it was not a deal breaker. Same thing for not being able to eject it remotely either. I do have to walk over to the PS3 anyways to put the Blu-Ray disk back. The fact that is good reviews and is supported by Harmony remote made it a good choice for now. Since I only use the PS3 for Blu-ray I don't see any of the limitations the Nyko has a being that big of a factor. And if Harmony ever does come out with a Bluetooth/IR remote then I am only out $20 (assuming I can not sell it to a friend, ect). I just pulled the trigger so I can report back in a few days after it shows up and I play with it…errr I mean test it :)

As side note for the iphone/touch users, there is a group working a free app that will be able to support and provide remote control of the bluray movie on your iphone/itouch. The app will be released for free but no ETA on it yet. Even though this goes against trying to have all in one control, its still kind of geeky cool :)
 
Jbirney said:
PoweredBySoy,
I was hoping to see some product annoucement about a new Harmony remote that has Bluetooth. I however was tried of waiting and wanted the something that works for now. To that end I got the Nyko as it was the cheapest work around (under $20 shipped from Amazon). Yea I was bummed that it is not able to turn on the PS3. But for now I only use the PS3 to play Blu-Ray movies, and since I had have to walk over to the PS3 and insert the Blu-Ray I felt it was not a deal breaker. Same thing for not being able to eject it remotely either. I do have to walk over to the PS3 anyways to put the Blu-Ray disk back. The fact that is good reviews and is supported by Harmony remote made it a good choice for now. Since I only use the PS3 for Blu-ray I don't see any of the limitations the Nyko has a being that big of a factor. And if Harmony ever does come out with a Bluetooth/IR remote then I am only out $20 (assuming I can not sell it to a friend, ect). I just pulled the trigger so I can report back in a few days after it shows up and I play with it…errr I mean test it :)
Click to expand...

You raise a good point about the need to insert a disc will power the unit on anyways. That would compensate for not having a power button a large part of the time. But I do also use my PS3 for gaming - and I often just leave the game in the machine.....

Anyways, you're correct, there's no 100% solution right now and it sucks. I'm still interested in trying the ir2bt device (if he ever gets any more in stock), but I would love to here your experience with the Nyko dongle. Depending on whether or not you recommend it, I may just go that route instead. Like you say, it's only $20.

Pay close attention to using the directional buttons while navigating the XMB. I hear while using the Nyko dongle it can be overly sensitive - so one press of the Harmony directional pad will register as multiple hits, making navigation a pain.
 
PoweredBySoy said:
You raise a good point about the need to insert a disc will power the unit on anyways. That would compensate for not having a power button a large part of the time. But I do also use my PS3 for gaming - and I often just leave the game in the machine.....

Anyways, you're correct, there's no 100% solution right now and it sucks. I'm still interested in trying the ir2bt device (if he ever gets any more in stock), but I would love to here your experience with the Nyko dongle. Depending on whether or not you recommend it, I may just go that route instead. Like you say, it's only $20.

Pay close attention to using the directional buttons while navigating the XMB. I hear while using the Nyko dongle it can be overly sensitive - so one press of the Harmony directional pad will register as multiple hits, making navigation a pain.
Click to expand...

PoweredBySoy,
I have read about the sensitivity issue and there is already a work around for it. As your setting up the Harmony you can go into an "options" field and tweak some of the timings. This is what is needed to "fix" this issue. I have been using harmony remotes for a few years and love them. Usually you dont have to tweak them but I had an Westy 42 1080p LCD TV that I had to tweak in order to get it to work right. I was really close to getting the IR2BT but the issues with the firmware, not having them in stock and the fact that it was more money was just too much for me at this time. Besides thats why I have a wife and kid for to handle the heavy work of turning on/off the PS3 for me :p But I will try it before and after when navigation of the XMB to see how it works. The nice thing is there are lots of users out there with the Nyko and Harmony so I have info to help when/if I get stuck!!!!!
 
PoweredBySoy said:
You raise a good point about the need to insert a disc will power the unit on anyways. That would compensate for not having a power button a large part of the time. But I do also use my PS3 for gaming - and I often just leave the game in the machine.....
Click to expand...

If you're starting up the ps3 to game, you can just use the controller. Press the ps3 activity button on the logitech and it'll set up your receiver and tv, and the controller turns on the system.
 
PoweredBySoy

just wanted to let you know I got my Nyko Blu-wav and installed it on the PS3. Then spent some time with the Harmony 880 playing around. I mean doing detailed testing :) Here are some things I observed:

1) I removed my current PS3 setup from the Harmony, then re-added but this time instead of using the PS3 by Sony I had to add is as a game console from Nyko.

2)When doing so a lot of the commands did not work, meaning I had the barest functionality. Things like stop, play, skip, menu navigation all were not there. I was able to easily fix this issue by clicking on the assign button. It only took about 5 minutes to assign them all. But feel like I should not have to go through this. Maybe its because I did not set it up right (ie when i did the hardware addition maybe using a Nyko game console was not what I should have done)..


3) After that things worked great. Other than On/OFF, web navigation and Disk eject, I was able to do everything I had wanted to. It worked out great as I could stop/pause/play/fast-forward/skip/ect with blu-ray dvds. Navigation was working as I did not see any issues with it repeating commands (I did check and the 880 was setup as having repetes set to one for the Nyko). I was able to play my media from my NAS and control it with out any issues. About the only thing that did not work well was the web navigation. I think for that you will want to use the PS3 controllers.


So by the end of the weekend I had logged a good 2 hours or so in playing around with the Nyko. And I am happy with it as it is doing everything I had wanted very well. And for under 20 bucks I don't see how this is a bad choice. Yea its not perfect but some day we will get a IR/Bluetooth remote :)
 
Nice, thanks Jb. I was still kind of waiting to see if I hear back from ir2bt - but if the Nyko works well enough I may just go that route anyways. Sounds like it does all the basic navigation and blu-ray commands, which is really all I'm looking for.
 
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