[solamnic]

The question is not just the hibernation. The question here is how soon does the remote wake up. in windows its a hit or a miss that the remote will wake up for sure.

eh..the ps3 remote is way too complicated to use for most people in my household anyways..still looking for the perfect remote.

The df10 remote from dx.com works but it's IR and the buttons feel cheap

The IR model does lose pairing when batteries are replaced, even under OpenELEC. The Bluetooth-only version is fine; never loses pairing.

It's much more responsive under OE than it was under Windows in terms of waking up.

My non-technical Mrs has adopted it as her favorite remote - so it can't be too complicated...
(It was designed for turning a PS3 into a bluray player, after all )

But never used in a device besides PS3...

[navigates]

I don't even have a PS3

[disrupted]

I'm using my PS3 Remote on OpenELEC for a couple of months now and I'm really loving it so far. Navigation through menus is far quicker and more precise than with every other IR Remote I have used so far. Furthermore I don't have to point on the receiver at all because of the Bluetooth connection. Unfortunately this drains the batteries much faster than normal IR. But the current release of OE 3.2.3 introduced some improvements for Bluetooth devices like the sleep option when no button is pressed on the remote for a longer period of time. But I'll need to investigate more time to see if this is working as expected and helps to improve battery life.

[navigates]

I'm using my PS3 Remote on OpenELEC for a couple of months now and I'm really loving it so far. Navigation through menus is far quicker and more precise than with every other IR Remote I have used so far. Furthermore I don't have to point on the receiver at all because of the Bluetooth connection. Unfortunately this drains the batteries much faster than normal IR. But the current release of OE 3.2.3 introduced some improvements for Bluetooth devices like the sleep option when no button is pressed on the remote for a longer period of time. But I'll need to investigate more time to see if this is working as expected and helps to improve battery life.

In my case I used the hibernate feature and the remote was working flawlessly. I was so impressed that the hibernate works flawlessly. After about 5 days, the batteries died and I realized that the hibernate bluetooth address on ps3blumote was incorrect. So essentially the hibernate wasn't hibernating anything. Once I fixed the bluetooth address in the application, the remote successfully went into the hibernate mode and there came the problems with loosing the paring until reboot etc. I'm on windows 7

[kreeturez]

I'm using my PS3 Remote on OpenELEC for a couple of months now and I'm really loving it so far. Navigation through menus is far quicker and more precise than with every other IR Remote I have used so far. Furthermore I don't have to point on the receiver at all because of the Bluetooth connection. Unfortunately this drains the batteries much faster than normal IR. But the current release of OE 3.2.3 introduced some improvements for Bluetooth devices like the sleep option when no button is pressed on the remote for a longer period of time. But I'll need to investigate more time to see if this is working as expected and helps to improve battery life.

In my case I used the hibernate feature and the remote was working flawlessly. I was so impressed that the hibernate works flawlessly. After about 5 days, the batteries died and I realized that the hibernate bluetooth address on ps3blumote was incorrect. So essentially the hibernate wasn't hibernating anything. Once I fixed the bluetooth address in the application, the remote successfully went into the hibernate mode and there came the problems with loosing the paring until reboot etc. I'm on windows 7

Had the exact same issue under Win 7, with hibernation (which tools like PS3RemoteSleep achieve by forcing a device disconnect on the remote) would have side effects like you mention: losing pairing (on the Windows side), or just not connecting again when waking up, requiring a reboot.

For that reason I gave up under Windows and just left it connected without hibernation, swapping out rechargeable batteries weekly. Which wasn't the end of the world for me, but a bit inconvenient.

Since moving to OpenELEC though, I've already hit a month (and counting) of battery life with hibernation enabled on two remotes paired to two of my HTPCs. So fortunately, OE seems to have nailed it.

@freem@n: just make sure you've clicked 'Enable Standby' on your PS3 remote in the list of BT remotes for hibernation to occur (I'm sure you have )
It turns out the way OE implements hibernation is that it hibernates attached remotes whenever the screensaver turns on. So no disconnecting in the middle of a movie like before with the time-out-based method! Very nice indeed.

[eyal8r]

Hey guys-
Just so I'm understanding things clearly here... I can use OE and a PS3 remote and not have any issues with the BD Remote, hibernation, etc?

I'm running Frodo on Win 8 now. Are there any CONS to switching over to OE?

Lastly, I have an old version of the BD Remote- many years old. Model # is CECHZR1U (NOT ZRC1U!) I couldn't get it to work. It says it would connect, but I couldn't get it to do anything beyond that. Which version of the remote do I need to buy, and from where? BTW- I'm open to a different remote at this point. I just need this working before my wife/kids kill me for switching out the PS3!

Thanks for the help!

[kreeturez]

Hey guys-
Just so I'm understanding things clearly here... I can use OE and a PS3 remote and not have any issues with the BD Remote, hibernation, etc?

Yes indeed; from OE 3.2.3 onwards, the BD Remote works excellently; hibernation included; out of the box without any further setup. Just click 'Enable Standby' on the list of remotes in OE once you've paired it to turn on hibernation.

First thing's first, though: you mention you're currently using Windows; so perhaps let's investigate that first - you can't just pair the remote - after pairing you need a tool to interpret the remote buttons to Windows events/keyboard presses. EventGhost has already been mentioned; but PS3BluMote (see here) is a bit easier to use since it's designed just for this (though EG is bit more reliable). You can grab my PS3BluMote settings here if you want to try the remote out under Windows first. Used this config happily for quite some time.

Just note that if you enable hibernation, you run the risk of the reconnection issues mentioned above under Windows. (Not a problem under OpenELEC, though). Which brings us to:

Are there any CONS to switching over to OE?

OE is just a light Linux distribution that boots straight into XBMC. So whilst it's very fast and easy to set up (and, of course, supportive of PS3 BD remotes out of the box), there are a few cons:

• You can't run Windows software under it. Obvious, I know - but this may matter to some. The common gripe is Netflix, which requires Windows with IE with Silverlight - that of course won't run under OE. That said, almost all XBMC plugins (HULU, etc) work the same under OE as they do with Windows; and you can still get web browsers - including Flash support - for OE (I use Opera).
  
• It runs on most hardware; but not all. To check, you can actually set up a Live flash-stick (by downloading the latest version of OE, uncompressing it and running 'create_livestick.exe') and booting from the flash disk without even installing anything. This gives you a full OE environment without installing anything so you can see that everything works in order; just note that without an install there's a bit of a performance hit. (If your flash stick is fast, you may not mind - I have one box running permanently like this.)
  

So if the above cons aren't a problem for you, certainly no harm in giving it a shot. I personally love it (and I'm not alone!).

Lastly, I have an old version of the BD Remote- many years old. Model # is CECHZR1U (NOT ZRC1U!) I couldn't get it to work. It says it would connect, but I couldn't get it to do anything beyond that. Which version of the remote do I need to buy, and from where?

This version is fine; in fact it's the one I'd recommend (it's the Bluetooth-Only version; without Infra-Red) since it doesn't loose pairing when you change batteries.

I just need this working before my wife/kids kill me for switching out the PS3!

Haha, I was in the same boat as you once! They're thanking me now, though!

[eyal8r]

Awesome info. I'd like to keep windows running, since I already have it installed and I know it. I'm already using PS3Blumote, but just can't get it to do anything even tho it's showing paired and using pre-configured settings. I'll start another thread on my issues getting PS3mote working- I'd LOVE for that to solve the problems for me.

Thanks for the help!

[asko]

guys there was the motorola nyxboard remote which was out of the box working with xbmc,, i heard it was discontinued.. does anyone know anything about that or something similar

[dpar]

I have been using the NSG-MR5U bluetooth remote for months now. Before that I was using the PS3 Remote (old version). I never had any issues with hibernation or disconnection. I was using PS3mote (the latest experimental version at the time) and Windows 7, worked flawlessly and batteries lasted around a couple of months at a time.

As for the NSG-MR5U, it is awesome. It has the full qwerty keyboard on the back, so you get the regular remote feel, with the keyboard option when you want it. It is recognized as a bluetooth keyboard by windows, so I only had to map the extra buttons using eventghost. Battery life is long, I don't know exactly but I would guess they last around 3 months. The only downside would be that the trackpad doesn't wrk as there is no drive for it for Windows, but this isn't an issue for me as I don't use the trackpad anyways.

Obviously the NSG-MR5U isn't the cheapest remote, but it is definitely worth it.

[leepenny]

guys there was the motorola nyxboard remote which was out of the box working with xbmc,, i heard it was discontinued.. does anyone know anything about that or something similar

Discontinued - yes
Out of the box functionality - somewhat - had to do some tweaking to use sleep command - (keep usb port powered on) - but all keys worked as expected in xbmcbuntu
I havent seen anything close - although havent looked as my nyxboard is going strong - (use it every day for xbmc and the web on my tv)
It will be a sorry day when I have to choose something else which has a media side and a keyboard/mouse side

[verismo]

I have been using the NSG-MR5U bluetooth remote for months now. Before that I was using the PS3 Remote (old version). I never had any issues with hibernation or disconnection. I was using PS3mote (the latest experimental version at the time) and Windows 7, worked flawlessly and batteries lasted around a couple of months at a time.

As for the NSG-MR5U, it is awesome. It has the full qwerty keyboard on the back, so you get the regular remote feel, with the keyboard option when you want it. It is recognized as a bluetooth keyboard by windows, so I only had to map the extra buttons using eventghost. Battery life is long, I don't know exactly but I would guess they last around 3 months. The only downside would be that the trackpad doesn't wrk as there is no drive for it for Windows, but this isn't an issue for me as I don't use the trackpad anyways.

Obviously the NSG-MR5U isn't the cheapest remote, but it is definitely worth it.

can you turn on and off the tv with that remote?

[awp0]

I picked up a PS3 BD remote from Best Buy today (on sale for $15). It works beautifully with my OpenElec Raspi XBMC with a bluetooth dongle. However I can't get it to control my Epson projector. Epson is not listed, but according to the manual it should be able to cycle through remote codes by pressing CLEAR and TV-power simultaneously and then using the Channel+ button to increment upward. However I can't seem to get it into this mode. Has anyone else tried this? Thanks.

This seems like a phenomenal XBMC remote for the money, btw. Very responsive.