Logitech Harmony

IR-WiFi bridge to change the tv Channels through your phone:

I remember similar project in the internet of things book with FEZ connect and FEZ Panda II. lol

Too much to pay to just simply do what your remote does… what does all the extra surface area of an Ipad give you besides the same functionality of the original remote? a clunkier object on your lap as you watch tv and i dont know about you guys but i NEVER look at my remote when doing anything , i pretty much have it all figured out, this would require having to look down at the device, furthermore i can simply touch and navigate my remote by simply touching and feeling where the buttons are i get a pretty good idea of what i am about to press. NOW if this could stream the TV video to your ipad thus enabling you to watch tv from, lets say the porch , that would be awsome, not that i own an ipod anyways. fruther more like the poster said this could easily be done with a uC and an IR transmitter, infact i made a remote for my pc from an old VCR remote i found in the garage. all i would need is to make an Android app and all would cost me nothing then a few hours.

Interesting…but, way over priced. However, if I have another Harmony 900 die this year I’ll be looking to build a Wi-Fi to IR bridge. The market is seriously lacking a suitable alternative RF remote than the Harmony 900 for a similar price. Has anyone built this already?

I have delegated a smilar project to a student during his summer practices in our company. The goal was to control devices that have a IR interface thru Ethernet. The result is a FEZ Domino + custom IR & WIZ810MJ shield. The device is capable of learning IR codes and saving them on MicroSD card. It has a web interface that enables the user to send a code using 1 of 8 available IR channels.

Right now we are tryind to make an end device based on this prototype. It will be a custom board with USBizi 100, W5100, MicroSD slot, IR LED connectors, MicroUSB connector, IR receiver. In next version we will consider using PoE or WiFi to make it more usefull for home users (it was designed for industrial).

Gralin, that sounds like what I would need.

Why the IR receiver? Just for learning or is there another purpose?

Do many home users have PoE in the home? I’ve been thinking it would be a good idea but it seems rather cost prohibitive considering how much value I would really get from it. WiFi is a must though. However, a WiFi extender could suit this need.

Only for learning.

PoE was actualy considered for the industrial part. I agree that home users wouldn’t benefit from that. As it might be fun for a geek to control tv using your phone or laptop I don’t think a normal user would want that anyway :wink: But thats only my commercial point of view. Good point about WiFi, the result would be more expensive but doesn’t require hardware changes.

I think It will be interesting to have an article on hackaday.com on how to make you own Logitec Harmony using FEZ Ultimate kit. I wish I had the time to do it. ;D

Yea. Actually, what I would love to see is an OH project start up for a universal remote (based on NETMF of course). There is a serious gap in vendor support in this area that I think would be ideal as an OH project. It sounds like Gralin has already made some progress. Maybe he’ll document and post someday :wink:

OH = open hardware?

Yes

Here are some photos of a new prototype of the board i mentioned some time ago.

And the other side.

@ GHI: Stop putting idea’s like this in my head!

I have some IR enabled devices in a closet that could use a Ethernet2IR bridge, but never thought of using a FEZ board (Gadgeteer in my case) for this. That “projects I want to build” list in my head is growing out of control!

Luckily there’s is no IR transmitter Gadgeteer Module available jet! :wink:

Just to be sure, you have seen this right? :slight_smile: http://tinyclr.com/forum/21/5554/

[quote]Just to be sure, you have seen this right? http://tinyclr.com/forum/21/5554/
[/quote]

I was referring to that IR module with “… jet! ;)”

;D

@ Gralin - Your timing is impeccable:

Hardware now available (limited quantities)
http://www.tinyclr.com/forum/21/5902/

And if you’d like to influence or help with development of the driver/API:
http://www.tinyclr.com/forum/21/5903/

BTW - I’m in essential agreement EddiaA that paying extra to use something that requires looking at a screen is of limited interest. I have the Logitech Harmony 880 (or 890, I forget which), and part of what makes it work well is that once it’s programmed, I don’t have to think about which buttons to press, or look at the remote. The version that I have works with both IR and RF, and included an RF repeater which is very similar to the Harmony Link, absent the ability to use other devices.

Honestly, I just don’t see much that the Harmony Link adds over what I could already do with the RF link (which I don’t use anymore, since the only reason to have it was for components that were behind an opaque door).

It does hint at potentially useful integration with onscreen guides, however, which could actually make something like this useful.

@ devhammer Unfortunately i have started this project before Gadgeteer boards were commonly available and didn’t change the assumptions since. Also this is a board for specific usage. Our company offers a building integration system and what we want is to control all kind of cctv video matrix and recorders without the need to write specific drivers for each. This way we just need to learn codes from each and then control them using simple REST API available in our device. The IR modules will be in a sticker format and have the ability to “stick” to the IR receiver in the recorder (we need to control the many devices located on next to other independently)

@ Gralin

Sorry, I wasn’t entirely clear with my post. I meant that your timing in posting a link to the thread on the development of my module was excellent, since I just got the PCBs and started assembly this weekend, and was already planning to post the link on how folks could get one. :slight_smile:

Totally would not expect you to change horses mid-stream having invested so much time in your solution (impressive, BTW…makes my wee little board look pretty primitive).