Wireless Keyboard - I.R. ONLY (??)

[darren_e]

It used to be pretty darn easy to find a 20-30 dollar I.R. keyboard but now it's almost impossible to find.

Does anyone know of a good place to find an inexpensive I.R. keyboard?

I used to have an old LiteOn SK IR keyboard/mouse combo that I used to program my Sony Remote Commander but it was dropped and no longer works.

[mapleleaf]

BTC made are pretty good ones. U need 2 look for some distributor near u...

[grandpaken]

Originally Posted by darren_e

It used to be pretty darn easy to find a 20-30 dollar I.R. keyboard but now it's almost impossible to find.

Does anyone know of a good place to find an inexpensive I.R. keyboard?

I used to have an old LiteOn SK IR keyboard/mouse combo that I used to program my Sony Remote Commander but it was dropped and no longer works.

You can get the Liteon keyboards on Ebay...I love they layout of the joystick. Do you still have the IR receiver for your keyboard? There's a guy selling lots of 10 new keyboards without the receivers on Ebay. I sent him a message and offered $20 for one keyboard including shipping and he set up a private auction. Once in awhile I'll see a used one for sale with the receiver but not many.

[Fickey]

Office Depot has the Microsoft® Wireless Optical Desktop 1.0, Black on sale for $20 after rebate.
http://www.officedepot.com/textSearc...8464&x=21&y=14

[Joebob]

I bought a IR keyboard from newegg.com and was extremely disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the keyboard worked perfectly. The problem I had was that I couldn't program any of the keystrokes into my IR Remote. See I wanted the full keyboard control when necessary, but I also wanted to setup shortcuts to typical stuff using a remote. That turned into a $60 waste of cash.

[jennyfur]

Originally Posted by Fickey

Office Depot has the Microsoft® Wireless Optical Desktop 1.0, Black on sale for $20 after rebate.
http://www.officedepot.com/textSearc...8464&x=21&y=14

Um, the Microsoft's are RF, not IR.

[kandlg]

I bought the ACK 571 from this website.

http://www.pctekonline.com/keyboard.html

I have been using it about 5 months with a Harmony remote. So far so good.

[Fickey]

Originally Posted by jennyfur

Um, the Microsoft's are RF, not IR.

I got the impression that OP's desire for IR was based on affordability. Regardless, this week Office Depot has the IR Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 700 for $20 through the 22nd.
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?...ular-_-NA-_-NA

[darren_e]

I found a few keyboards as well-

http://directron.com/ and typed in the search "infrared keyboard"

I'm also using the ACK 571 keyboard which is now programmed into my remote and works great.

Thanks for all the help.

[Zaap]

How's the point device on the ACK 571? It looks just like the pointer on my Belkin Media Pilot keyboard (my favorite ever for an HTPC).

I can't stand cheap track-balls on too many wireless keyboards; they always jam and stutter and even stop working in one direction or other no matter how clean you try and keep them.

One of those ACK 571s might make a good replacement for a too big BTC keyboard in our master bedroom if it's as sturdy as it looks, and the IR range is adequate.

[kandlg]

The point device on the 571 is similar to the little nub on most laptops only bigger. I find it easy enough to control after adjusting the sensitivity. Too slow and it takes forever to move it, but too fast and you can't hit anything accurately. The range is great and the connection is solid - no stuttering. It is a little tricky to get my Harmony to learn the signals, but I get it on the first or second try most of the time. I would definitely buy this keyboard again.

Fickey - The main driver for using IR is usually to use it with a universal remote like a Harmony. With IR, any keyboard shortcut can be programmed and used for controlling an HTPC. I have not seen a fully programmable, learning RF remote. Somebody give me a link if I am wrong because I will want one.

[tscales]

Originally Posted by Zaap

How's the point device on the ACK 571? It looks just like the pointer on my Belkin Media Pilot keyboard (my favorite ever for an HTPC).

I can't stand cheap track-balls on too many wireless keyboards; they always jam and stutter and even stop working in one direction or other no matter how clean you try and keep them.

One of those ACK 571s might make a good replacement for a too big BTC keyboard in our master bedroom if it's as sturdy as it looks, and the IR range is adequate.

I agree on the Belkin Media Pilot. Spend the money and do it right. Otherwise you'll end up upgrading later.

Tom

[grandpaken]

Originally Posted by Fickey

I got the impression that OP's desire for IR was based on affordability. Regardless, this week Office Depot has the IR Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 700 for $20 through the 22nd.
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?...ular-_-NA-_-NA

I'm not sure about OP's but I like IR because I can program my Pronto to send keystrokes and mouse commands. You can also interface Girder and other software to automate some operations. For HTPC use I don't wan't a seperate mouse so prefer an integrated joystick with the L/R buttons next to it. Some of the IR keyboards have joysticks on the right side of the keyboard and the mouse buttons on the other so you can't use it with one hand. I need to keep my left hand free to pick up my beer. Many of the RF keyboards are 2.4ghz which can interfere with wireless G networks.

[Harold]

I use an Airboard that is cheap and works well. The primary reason for getting it was to teach the commands to my remote. I had to get help from remote central's website to teach the commands to my Pronto remote. It's a little tricky, but they posted all of the IR sequences and I was able to paste in the ones I needed for the remote. Because of the structure of the IR commands, it's not possible to teach the Pronto directly from the keyboard.

So, if you have a Pronto, you don't really need the Airboard to get the commands into the remote.

[Zaap]

Originally Posted by tscales

I agree on the Belkin Media Pilot. Spend the money and do it right. Otherwise you'll end up upgrading later.

Tom

On further reflection, you're exactly right. I'll just bite the bullet and get another Media Pilot. I'm just too used to the scroll wheel (perfect for BTV channel surfing) and the overall quality. The only thing I never really liked much for an HTPC is the dock, but I'll work around it. When something really gets the job done, stick with it.