Control your Windows Media Center PC without a remote control

Filed under: Video, Windows, Commercial, Freeware

Control your Windows Media Center PC without a remote control

by Brad Linder Feb 4th 2008

If you have Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate editions, you've got Windows Media Center. The software makes it easier to watch movies, listen to music, access online media, or even watch and record live TV (if your PC has a TV tuner) without holding your nose six inches from your computer display. In fact, Windows Media Center works best when your PC is plugged into your television set, not a traditional monitor.

But what if you didn't buy your computer to use in the living room, but would would still like to take advantage of the so-called "10 foot interface?" You could go out and buy a media center remote control. But if you've got a laptop PC or Windows Mobile PDA and a home network, there's really no need.

Home Theater PC makers Niveus have released two applications that let you control your media center PC from the comfort or your couch. The company's Pocket Remote software runs on Windows Mobile devices and lets you use a virtual on-screen remote control to access any Vista machine on your home network. You can play music, videos, DVDs, or anything else this way. If you don't like the virtual remote, you can also browse, search, and control playback of your music library directly from your phone or PDA. The Pocket Remote software is free while in beta, but will only work for 10 days.

Niveus has also just released its Media Center Companion Basic software. Like the Pocket Remote software, Media Center Companion comes in two parts: a server that you install on a Vista machine and a client that you can install on any PC running Windows XP or Vista. It's ideal for laptops or UMPCs.

Media Center Companion Basic lets you access your music and pictures remotely. And using the on-screen remote you can completely control your Windows Media Center PC. The free software is a stripped down version of Niveus's full Media Center Companion software which also lets you access media center extender devices and control television playback and recording. The full version of Media Center Companion is only compatible with Niveus-branded computers.

[via Chris Lanier]

Tags: media-center-companion, niveus, vista, windows-media-center, windows-vista

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

x20mar said 9:39AM on 2-04-2008

Or just do what I did, bluetooth your phone to the PC and use that to control the media center

James said 10:48AM on 2-04-2008

Or (while we're at it), just play your Media Center stuff via your Xbox 360 (surely you have one, no?) and get a used remote at Gamestop for 10 bucks.

Oh, we're talking about the hard way? =-)

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters