CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[MikeEby]

Great value! One of the best things I've done to my HTPC. For those of you that don't know what an Air Remote does....Think of it as a Wii controller for your PC. Very natural control as a mouse pointer. Remote and gyro air mouse in one. Nice little wireless keyboard with the package too. The WMC remote is backlighted making it perfect for dark theaters.

Mike

[greg_mitch]

Damn...that is a sweet price. I hate the damn rebates though.

It seems I am about 50% on them. Either I forget, get denied, lose something, etc.

[VideoGrabber]

Mike,

thanks for the tip on this! I decided to save 20 bucks, and get just the AirRemote for $35 (after a $40 rebate) without the keyboard. Partly because I already have a wireless RF keyboard I'm happy with.

But mainly because this keyboard doesn't have encryption, and the kbd I have (Logitech) does. While the possibility for someone picking up my RF keyboard transmissions seem fairly remote, I'm not willing to be an ostrich and hope that no one is seeing my text, passwords, etc. (i.e., everything I type) when I'm sitting in the media room.

[VideoGrabber]

While doing some research on this remote, I did read some amusing questions about it. A couple favorites:

1) can I use it to play ball, and if so, how much should I choke up?

2) is this usable in a martial arts competition?

3) if I get 2, can I use them as crutches?

I believe these are references to it's length, which is damn near a foot long.

Beyond the information they have on Amazon, there is/was also some good info and pictures on Newegg and TigerDirect (though it costs more at Newegg, and Tiger is now sold out, so the cool pix are gone). Interestingly enough, Tiger spec'd the dimensions on the remote at 10.75" long (I'll buy that), 2" thick at the thin end (highly doubtful), and 7.5" wide!!! (no freaking way).

Lastly, a similar form of gyro-remote is available on eBay for $25+/-, based on a custom version done for Dell. The problem is that it does NOT come with the receiver, and they're not compatible. When some net folks first figured this out a year or so ago, receiver kits were still available from Dell for 10 or 11 bucks, but that just goes to show how good an option this current (rebated offer) actually is. You get the whole kit, and kaboodle. (And the keyboard too, if you want it.)

[VideoGrabber]

One pic they had on TigerDirect showed a bit more detail than the tiny pictures everywhere else. And it documented the button clusters. I saved a local copy of this, before their web page went away...

(Dang it. I had to convert this to a JPG, because the PNG was a bit over 500k. No error message telling me why my attached pic wasn't showing up. That was fun.)

[VideoGrabber]

One last thing... a video review I found helpful, that others may as well, from the tech guys at com.puter.tv. Also, remote and keyboard review here.

For another perspective (from someone trying to sell you one), Logan at TigerDirect blogs has a video review of the remote, and the keyboard combo you may want to check out.

[VideoGrabber]

One thing that not everyone may realize about these is that they're not IR (though the remote does have IR for non-PC control). They're both RF, need no line of sight, and can work from up to 100' away. That means no pointing at the PC or worrying about obstructions, or even being in the same room. RF remotes always command a premium price, over IR remotes.

[MikeEby]

Tiger Direct has the cheaper Gyro Remote now for $29.99 no rebate, I ordered on for my Living room HTPC... Sorry Kal Amazon doesn't offer this deal yet.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5608195&CatId=358

Mike