Remote control reviews

This is a (probably futile) attempt to keep up with the vast range of MCE remotes out there, and give some indication of how well they work with XBMC.

If you are adding a review please try to be as detailed as possible about the remote. For example:


 * What operating systems and versions of XBMC have you tested on
 * Does the remote send keystrokes or is it MS compatible?
 * If it's MS compatible have you tested reconfiguring it using the registry and did this work?

The article groups the Microsoft compatible (also known as eHome or RC6) remotes together first, as these are most configurable when you're using them with XBMC. Other than this there's no significance to the order of the reviews.

= eHome/RC remotes =

The remotes in this section all use the Microsoft eHome driver on Windows. See Using a Microsoft remote control in Windows for details. This type of remote is supported out of the box by XBMC Live.

eHome remotes are generally more expensive than the non-eHome remotes, but they are highly configurable and work very well with XBMC. Many universal handsets, for example the Harmony remotes, have emulation for eHome/RC6 handsets built in so they will work with an eHome IR receiver.

Note that Microsoft has modified the programming and device specification for remote controls several times. For example, in Vista, the Port Driver/Class Driver Model was added. This means that there may be some transceivers which may not function fully, if at all, on systems prior to Vista. For the curious (or bored) there is a specification for the Windows Media Center remote.

= Non eHome/RC remotes =

These remotes usually work by emulating a keyboard, that is when you press a button on the remote XBMC receives a key press just as if a key had been pressed on the keyboard. Most of the remotes emulate multimedia keyboards or send Windows Media Center keyboard shortcuts like ctrl-shift-P for Play.

XBMC has all the required keyboard mappings for these remotes so they should work out of the box. However they usually cannot be configured so they have some limitations. For example, on Windows the green button will start Windows Media Center and this can't be changed without considerable messing around.

These remotes will work with XBMCLive as long as Ubuntu recognises them as a keyboard, which isn't always the case.