Controlling IR Devices via iPad

[RBFC]

Does anyone have any experience with this:

http://thinkflood.com/products/redeye/

Lee

[Mark Seaton]

Does anyone have any experience with this:

http://thinkflood.com/products/redeye/

Lee

Hi Lee,

I hadn't looked closely at the Red Eye system too much before, but it does look like a iPad/iTouch savy alternate to a Harmony remote. One concern would be that the station appears to be the blaster, so it would have to be placed in a line of sight position to all of the gear. In a 2ch system this might not be a problem. In a home theater it is more likely to be an issue. If the line of sight to the station and doing all of the button setup on the iPad isn't an issue, I'd say it looks like a well packaged option.

With full disclaimer that I'm friend's with one of the co-founders (Itai), I would also suggest checking out the iRule application. With the hardware it should be similar or lesser cost, where they also have many features being added in the future. All control commands work over your network and either connect directly to components with control over Ethernet port, or a network device (wired or wireless) is added which can provide IR and RS-232 options. You configure the system in any web browser, and never download any software, just sync to the network through your account once you're done.

[mat]

Hi,

You may want to look at http://www.squareconnect.com. We have an iPhone/iPad app and a wifi IR blaster combination. It includes two full device databases including a lot of the hard to find discrete on/off codes. The software can also control Mios home control gateways allowing you to seamless control AV equipment, lights, heating, security etc.

Just to be on the up and up, I am one of the founders of Square Connect, so there is a vested interest <grin>.

[Steve Williams]

welcome to WBF mat

[wgscott]

Does anyone have any experience with this:

http://thinkflood.com/products/redeye/

Lee

I wasted several hours today looking at various options.

Two major advantages I can see for this are

(1) it can run on a PC or Mac (in a web browser) in addition to the usual iPad/iPod/iPhone interface.
(2) Scriptability. It uses a language called Lua, which I had never heard of, but it looks like it has a nice clear syntax that doesn't suck (from the point of view of someone who barely knows how to write python code).

The major disadvantage I can see of the $200 option at least is the emitter thingie. If this used the global cache hardware, I would be all over it.

Of those that do, I looked at iRule and Roomie. Roomie looks rather compelling, but i could find no evidence that either would permit me to do any controlling from a web browser on my laptop, which is one of the goals I have.

So I am in a quandry.

BTW, anyone know of a good audio-quality IR or IP-activated 120V switch?

[audioguy]

BTW, anyone know of a good audio-quality IR or IP-activated 120V switch?

Let me know if u find one? Actually I need an outlet and not a switdh!

[wgscott]

One that I have been using for my DIY amp is this:

http://www.simerec.com/zapper.htm

It works, and doesn't appear to harm the sound quality. The website I bought it off of (linked) looks primitive, and after I paid for it, I waited 4 or 5 weeks for it to arrive. I was about to try to figure out how one deals with MIA issues in pay-pal when it showed up. I need one or two more, but I was kind of hoping for something a little more "mainstream."

[wgscott]

Another thing I am looking at is one of those power strips where turning on and off one device in turn controls the others. Again, I worry about many aspects:


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P1QJXQ

[wgscott]

I wound up buying the RedEye and kind of like it. The ability to do everything via http command is actually quite powerful, so writing a customized control interface is as easy as making a web page. I figured out how to do IP control of my mac mini as well, so I am not limited to the IR remote commands. I did this using the gnu version of netcat, which allows you to create a listening process, and have it hand off incoming commands to a unix shell interpreter. What that means in essence is that anything I can shell script, I can now do by remote control from my laptop's web browser, or via my iPad or iPod touch. Embedding applescript commands in a shell script is fairly straightforward, so it gives me more or less complete control via the interface, so there is very little I need to do with a VNC program.

[Phelonious Ponk]

I wound up buying the RedEye and kind of like it. The ability to do everything via http command is actually quite powerful, so writing a customized control interface is as easy as making a web page. I figured out how to do IP control of my mac mini as well, so I am not limited to the IR remote commands. I did this using the gnu version of netcat, which allows you to create a listening process, and have it hand off incoming commands to a unix shell interpreter. What that means in essence is that anything I can shell script, I can now do by remote control from my laptop's web browser, or via my iPad or iPod touch. Embedding applescript commands in a shell script is fairly straightforward, so it gives me more or less complete control via the interface, so there is very little I need to do with a VNC program.

I know you meant to recommend it, but you just made it sound like it is only appropriate for programmers. There are universal remotes that are just that -- they are not user programmable and require a technician to set up and/or change. Is this one of those?

Tim