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I have a home theater using windows 7 with windows media center, and media browser. At the moment I'm using a wireless mouse and keyboard to control it. I'm thinking of buying a PC remote control such as the Sanoxy remote.

My question is, will this remote be able to replace the mouse & keyboard for daily use? This means selecting a user (no password), launching the media browser (can this be configured to launch on start in Windows 7?), and of course selecting a video and playing it.

One more thing - I'm using BSPlayer to watch the movies.

Does anyone have experience with these that they can share and explain how to get them to work together?

Thanks

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You might consider a remote like a Harmony Remote or Windows Media Center remote (here's a good example http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880101007) that can control your PC in addition to controlling your TV.

I would also highly recommend utilizing something like XBMC or Plex for managing your media, extremely awesome way to interface and navigate the media. I have my home computer setup to autostart Plex and I can control Plex directly from an app on my phone and actually use it simultaneously while my kids are on the computer. Alternatively, with Plex I can also stream media over my network to my mobile devices WHILE the kids are watching movies and my wife is on Facebook ;-)

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  • Thanks. Do you know if logging in to windows 7 (selecting a user from the login screen) is possible using this?
    – tbkn23
    Dec 5, 2013 at 15:44
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    These remotes will have arrows and the equivalent of an "Enter" button so yes. If you have an Android I would highly recommend Unified Remote which can not only control your mouse and keyboard but also has a nifty navigation controls remote (sdrv.ms/1kjrNmk). The advantage to these smart phone remotes is it can be on everyone's phones and you don't have to worry about "finding the remote" :-)
    – Dailen
    Dec 6, 2013 at 15:52
  • So I tried the android app, it seems to work well for WMC, but not so much for BSPlayer, and not at all for the log in screen. It only started working after I logged in. Any idea if it can be configured to work in those as well?
    – tbkn23
    Dec 7, 2013 at 20:52
  • Gotcha, I know a way to fix that. Do you know if you're running Windows 32bit or 64bit?
    – Dailen
    Dec 9, 2013 at 15:30
  • I'm using windows 7 64 bit.
    – tbkn23
    Dec 9, 2013 at 16:56
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This is a very opinionated question it seems, but I did a little research on this because I was curious about it. I found a thread here that goes into detail about the different kind of remotes and media centers for a HTPC.

There are mentions of universal remotes vs your Sanoxy and it says the Sanoxy will not be able to control the TV so you'll still need two remotes. There are also some downloads for phones or iPads if that's an option for you. There is no mention of BSPlayer, but they do mention VLC and XBMC.

So to answer your question, I don't think it can take the place of the keyboard. You can program shortcuts and macros with it, but not use a full keyboard unless you display one on the screen and use the mouse to hit each key. There are also known issues with trying to use the mouse to wake up a computer from sleep. It can put your computer to sleep, but you'll have to go press a different control or button to wake it.

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  • How is it opinionated? I asked if some very specific actions using very specific software were possible to do with a remote control, and if anyone has examples of successfully using a remote control for these actions... I didn't ask anything like "Which remote is the best". Anyway, thanks for the link, I'll read it. I'm not trying to replace the keyboard, only doing some very specific actions (none require keyboard).
    – tbkn23
    Dec 5, 2013 at 15:43
  • I didn't mean to offend. It's just in my eyes it appears that instead of having an direct issue, it's an open question. You asked "does it work" instead of "I did this and it doesn't work, why". Instead of a direct answer you've gotten two recommendations which are sometimes opinions.
    – Grant
    Dec 5, 2013 at 16:06
  • Not offended, I just disagree with your statement that this question is subjective. I've read the site FAQ again and this question adheres to all the guidelines. It has very precise answers that can be supported by examples.
    – tbkn23
    Dec 5, 2013 at 17:39

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