Dear experts,

having a soundridge M2000 fed by a NAS (DNS 323) with firefly, I´d like to do the switching with only one device:
1. controlling M2000 mostly by presets an browsing in "artists"
2. controlling the volume and the on/off switching of the AMP

Would you recommend a programmable remote control
or
rather a kind of mini-PC (PDA with wlan?) for controlling the soundbridge and for controlling the AMP via something like a of wlan-to-IR transformer ?javascript:emoticon(':roll:')
Rolling Eyes

Thanks a lot , fbee

fbee wrote:

Dear experts,

having a soundridge M2000 fed by a NAS (DNS 323) with firefly, I´d like to do the switching with only one device:
1. controlling M2000 mostly by presets an browsing in "artists"
2. controlling the volume and the on/off switching of the AMP

Would you recommend a programmable remote control
or
rather a kind of mini-PC (PDA with wlan?) for controlling the soundbridge and for controlling the AMP via something like a of wlan-to-IR transformer ?javascript:emoticon(':roll:')
Rolling Eyes

Thanks a lot , fbee

I would buy a Harmony remote from Logitech. These were first made in Canada by a company called Harmony, then Logitech bought them out.
I have a Harmony 880 and love it. There is a very reasonable one called a Harmony 550. The 550 only has four 'soft buttons" verse the eight on the 880 or others, but it's a very good deal. They are so simple to use, because you just choose an "activity" (e.g. Watch TV, Listen to Roku, etc) and by pressing that one button, the remote takes care of everything!
Then you can customize the soft buttons after the activity launches, something like
1. Artists
2. Media server
3. Amp toggle
4. iRadio
Even though there are only four soft buttons, there are serveral banks of them that you can scroll thru with the left/right arrow buttons that are under the LCD display and you can use the number buttons for presets too. Also the other buttons don't have to do that they say, its totally customizable via the Harmony setup tool. You could make the button with the "play" icon be a once stop button turning on the Roku, and selecting a certain play list from the Roku's preset.
I have one harmony that is dedicated for my bedroom Roku and never turn it off (in other words, it's always on the soundbridge activity). To turn off the Roku, I use the "*" button, in that way, I can always be one button press away from anything. ALso, the other buttons do what they say too, the Menu button on the Harmony pulles up the Menu on the Roku and the info does info and exit is exit and so on...

Hope this helps, Matt
I types this very fast, so let me know if I need to expand on anything to make better sense!

EDIT: You can control your M2000 with a Nintendo DS (with internet browser module). In order to use a PDA, it has to have Wi-Fi and those cost more then the Sub $100 Harmony.

They are so simple to use, because you just choose an "activity" (e.g. Watch TV, Listen to Roku, etc) and by pressing that one button, the remote takes care of everything!

So, does that really work for you? I've had the problem that because the remote can't tell what state the various devices are in it can't really know what's going to happen when it tries to configure everything. This is especially true when trying to turn a group of devices on and off because most of them use the same signal for both "on" and "off" so they just toggle their current state instead of doing nothing if they are already in the desired state.

obvioustroll wrote:

They are so simple to use, because you just choose an "activity" (e.g. Watch TV, Listen to Roku, etc) and by pressing that one button, the remote takes care of everything!

So, does that really work for you? I've had the problem that because the remote can't tell what state the various devices are in it can't really know what's going to happen when it tries to configure everything. This is especially true when trying to turn a group of devices on and off because most of them use the same signal for both "on" and "off" so they just toggle their current state instead of doing nothing if they are already in the desired state.

I've had to resolve this issue several times, by adding pauses to the commands so the devices have a chance to get caught up.

Thanks for the replies,

meanwhile, my attention has focussed to

the Logitech 785 with charging dock €125
the Logitech 895 with additional RF capabilities, €250
the Philips RU 960 with programmable touchscreen, but very expensive, over 400€.
the Asus or HP PDAs with WLAN and Visual for 200-300€, the only remote controlled possibility for a 2-way communication with the music collection on the NAS? Then, there´s still the missing link of not beeing able to control the AMP on/off,channel,volume.

I don´t know what you think, but for me the ideal interface to control the soundbridge with Amp and library could look like an iPod (or Sonos controller) . The reasons for me not to buy the Sonos were the missing possibility for AMP-volume control and the price.

Maybe this is still a market where we have to wait for affordable, universal audiophile multiroom solutions to store your music collection on a HD.

Frank

obvioustroll wrote:

They are so simple to use, because you just choose an "activity" (e.g. Watch TV, Listen to Roku, etc) and by pressing that one button, the remote takes care of everything!

So, does that really work for you? I've had the problem that because the remote can't tell what state the various devices are in it can't really know what's going to happen when it tries to configure everything. This is especially true when trying to turn a group of devices on and off because most of them use the same signal for both "on" and "off" so they just toggle their current state instead of doing nothing if they are already in the desired state.

Yes, and works great! Some ideas...
Make sure the commands being sent are true 'on' (for start activity) and 'off' (for when your done) and not a 'power toggle'. Plus you can make it were nothing turns off untill you hit the "off" button on the remote. So if you go from one activity to another (like Watch TV to Watch DVD), then stuff will stay on.

Worse comes to worse, call their tech support, last I knew, it was still in the good ole US of A and they will even log in as you and set it up (if you ask) and all you need to do it unpload to the remote.

fbee wrote:

wlan-to-IR transformer

is there such a thing on the market? it would be great to be able to turn on the entertainment system right before entering the house using a wifi device via a web browser like the ipod touch.

I now found

http://www.kindermann.de/e135/e139/e423 ... x_eng.html
and
http://www.globalcache.com/products/gc-index.html

rgds fbee

thanks. but now that i had more time to think about it, i'm envisioning a philips pronto (or any other remote... harmony, etc) with wifi connectivity that can be controlled via a web browser.