[eyal8r]

Hey guys-
Running an HTPC on Win 8.1 64-bit on a Panasonic plasma. I previously had XBMC on it- but want to upgrade to Kodi. I am cutting the cable tomorrow so using this SOLELY for all tv/movies here forward. Right now, I'm using a wireless keyboard/mouse- works well, but it's just too cumbersome for my wife/kids. I need a simple remote to control the thing. I don't believe my MB has anykind of built in remote functionality- so it'll probably have to be a USB solution, or one that uses the Logitech keyboard IR already installed.

I've searched the forum, and it seems that most posts are well over a year old when talking about remotes. Is there a solution out there that controls all the basic functions easily, or with very little programming so I can get it setup and running quickly? The wife/kids are NOT HAPPY about the switch only because it's too hard for them to control it as of now.

Essentially, they need to be able to turn on the tv (and/or the HTPC) and pickup the remote to get Hulu or Videos running.

Any suggestions is GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!

[bossanova808]

A basic MCE IR receiver and MCE remote will pretty much work out of the box for most things, but a IR receiver and harmony prorgrammed to mimic a MCE keyboard or remote is much more flexible.

Depending on your motherboards support (power on from S5 via USB), some IR receivers can wake PCs up from that S5 off state (not sleep, S3, but a pretty much completely off state - waking up from sleep is much easier/more normal).

The IR605 receiver does this well
http://www.megabuy.com.au/anyware-rc118i...22895.html

You can get this to a completely acceptable state for wife/kids - my 4 year old can drive it fine!