[mythtv-users] "Ultimate" MythTV remote setup?

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Aug 9, 2007, at 12:31 PM, Ryan Steffes wrote:

> For my wife, it wasn't so much a matter of a fancy remote as it was
> fully using the features of the cheap All in Wonder type remote I
> have, and creatively mapping the keys.  The most important feature I
> found in a remote is the ability to map functions from one component
> to another component (ie, my volume keys in "PVR" mode send the
> stereo's volume controls).  That also lets you use the normally unused
> keys for additional functions.

I went from one of these...

> I'm just throwing that out to point out that going more expensive
> isn't necessarily the only way if you creatively configure it for the
> specific tasks you want to be able to accomplish easily.  My
> particular remote is a fairly basic universal remote purchased at
> Target (I'm sorry, I don't have the exact model number and brand
> handy!) for about 20 bucks.

To a Harmony 880. The best thing I like about the Harmony is the  
global Power Off button. When I hit it, it powers off whatever  
devices were on (it knows what to turn on when watching myth,  
listening to streamed music, listening to vinyl, watching a bluray  
movie, etc.) and brings myth to the main menu. I had finally taught  
everyone in the house to power everything off individually, but they  
ALWAYS left Myth on the Watch Recordings screen with video thumbnails  
playing - which meant streaming video from my backend the entire time  
the system was "off". Power off/auto main menu has solved a lot of  
network/CPU utilization issues for me.

I also like my Watch Recordings action which powers on the right  
stuff, sets the receiver to the right input, sets the TV to the right  
input and jumps right to the Watch Recordings screen because my  
daughter had an issue with seeing "Watch TV" and thinking, "Yeah,  
that's what I want to do" when she really wanted "Media Library- 
 >Watch Recordings."

It was expensive and took a couple of days to iron stuff out, but  
well worth the end result.