I bought a Sony Android TV recently, and am not very satisfied with the remote. IR being IR, there are delays between a button-press and the relevant action on the screen.
On the other hand, the Sony remote app for Android is much more responsive, but using an app on a smartphone (unlock, find and start app, look at screen to click correct button) is a lot more cumbersome than using a physical remote (pick remote, feel and find button, press).
Now basic universal remotes are quite cheap, and I thought it shouldn't be too hard hack a regular infrared remote to divert the signals being sent to the IR transmitter, to an Arduino instead, where I could read the incoming signals, and then send them out over wifi like the Android app does. If the prototype works, I could switch to an Arduino Nano or Pro Mini to make the resulting remote a lot more compact, with potentially its own Lithium battery (assuming 2 AA cells are no longer sufficient).
So my questions are:
- Is the Arduino a good choice for such a project, or do I need a more powerful board, like say the Raspberry Pi?
- Would this be easier/simpler using Bluetooth?
- Has this been done before?
- Am I missing important pieces in my design (other than a Wifi module)
- Am I on the right track?
Apologies if this is the wrong forum for such a question.