Advice needed on foobar + remote control

2011-03-25 03:35:30

Hi,

First and foremost, I'm a big noob and just would really appreciate any advice from the community of Hydrogen Audio. 
I have conducted a search regarding my topic and they really seemed dated.
I have a PC where I store all my music and play with Foobar200. I was wondering if it was possible to control Foobar2000 with any IR remotes?

More specifically, I was wondering about this one here:



It's perfect for me because I cook/mix cocktails/swiffer and do a bunch of stuff around my condo. And it's not big/bulky, but more streamlined and simple.

I would really need some advice/insight on:
1) Would it be possible for the remote to control foobar? (It uses a 38khz infrared frequency as far as I know)
2) Would I need some sort of program? or do you think the global hot keys would work?
3) As far as I know, I would need an IR receiver of some sort for my PC. Are there ones that go inside my case? instead of sticking out from a USB port?
4) Does anybody have similar computer setups or use IR remotes for PCs?

Thanks in advance for any comments/assistance.

Advice needed on foobar + remote control

Reply #1 – 2011-03-25 05:09:29

If that remote goes with an Apple TV, your best bet is to use an iPod Touch or iPhone and the Remote App to stream music to your stereo. It's really slick. You can stream either from the Touch or iPhone to the Apple TV, or you can use the device as the remote to control iTunes and stream your PC's iTunes library to the Apple TV. Either way, you use the device's 1' interface to select music and control playback, and you don't even need to have the Apple TV hooked up to a TV (though you do need that for configuration changes, updates, etc, and there sadly is no web interface to the Apple TV). Nor do you need to confer with your PC beyond ensuring that iTunes is running if you're choosing to stream from iTunes. For large libraries, it beats the heck out of using the 10' interface of the AppleTV itself, or Windows Media Center, etc. I'm not aware of anything like this for foobar2000, which is a great player for many other reasons. That said, I just searched the Apple App Store, and there is something called "MonkeyMote 4" which purports to do this, but I can't help but believe it would be more satisfactory just to move to iTunes and use foobar as a backup and one-off player (for double-clicking music in Windows Explorer) and for its plugins like bit comparison, ABX, etc, which is what I've done.

As for using the Apple remote with an IR receiver, I just tried it on my HTPC, and nothing happens. OTOH, my Media Center remote can control foobar2000 pretty decently, though you have to be careful not to press the wrong button and start Media Center. But play, pause, FF, REW, next/previous track, seem to work, even when foobar2000 does not have the focus. Of course, you'll always have to return to your PC to select the music to play, which is definitely inferior to what I described above. So, if this is still what you're set on doing, you might search eBay or Newegg or Amazon for "media center remote" and get one that comes with a USB IR receiver. Should be < $30.

Advice needed on foobar + remote control

Reply #2 – 2011-03-25 06:01:42

@TheGomdoRi: Try this - http://dp.nonoo.hu/projects/foo_ir2/

Advice needed on foobar + remote control

Reply #3 – 2011-03-29 00:39:46

Thanks for all your replies, I'm pretty determined in trying to make this work lol. I'll try out all the methods!

Best regards,
TheGomdoRi

Advice needed on foobar + remote control

Reply #4 – 2011-03-29 02:48:01

I think the easiest is to use a Media Center certified remote. Those have the widest availability and highest compatibility. That Apple remote might not work with some or all receivers that use Windows.

Advice needed on foobar + remote control

Reply #5 – 2011-03-29 04:14:12

FWIW, my Apple remote controlled fb2k quite nicely (play/pause/track skip) via the IR receiver built in to my Mac Mini when running Windows XP via Bootcamp.

I have since moved to an iTunes/Airport Express/Remote app setup...and wonder how I lived without it.

Advice needed on foobar + remote control

Reply #6 – 2011-03-29 08:14:17

I should have said "that don't use Mac hardware" instead of "that use Windows". I don't think it will work with MC IR receivers, which are the most available ones for non-Apple hardware.