bjdraw:Well you have to admit that most people use a remote to control a device that is in the same room.
I'm alsmost scared to ask how you'd plan to use a remote to control something in another room, not to mention BT does work all the way across my house. (not a big house though)
That reminds me a something I find very odd. My BT headset doesn't work that well if it's on the oposite side of my body as my phone, but I can leave my phone in my office and walk around my house just fine -- it is a one story though.
Either way, I'd much rather pair a BT device with my VMC, then to have to enter in a 25 character alpha-numeric WPA key into a remote.
Well, for example, currently I use an RF remote to control MCE from my living room (with MCE machine in basement). I've been doing it this way for a couple of years an d it works very very well. I have an RF remote from Universal Remote (MX-850 model) with a little base station in the basement that takes in the RF signal and converts it to IR for the MCE box and receiver (and cable box, etc).
However, if you don't think wifi is a good solution for this sort of thing then I'd suggest looking at the "Remote" app that Apple released recently for the iPhone/Touch. It's wifi and it works flawlessly (I've been using it with two Airport Expresses).
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I'd love to have this sort of thing for MCE. Frankly, it's kind of crazy that the technology for this exists in Windows (Sideshow) and it's been sitting around virtually unused by anyone for two years. Nice to see it coming together finally, but two years later? By the way, MSFT already has it's own wireless device with ideal media controls (Zune) that doesn't support Sideshow. That sucks.
Man, wouldn't it be nice for the various companies inside MSFT to come together and act like one? You know, maybe solve the ridiculous media library organization issue in MCE (that people seem to blame on WMP), or I don't know, add podcast support to MCE like it exists in Zune? Or maybe pick a *single* media player between WMP and Zune? Or, heh, add some of the Xbox360 dashboard features that don't exist in extender mode? It's shocking how unintegrated these are.
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Wow, sorry, that was an unexpected rant! My apologies!!!
Back on topic: To each his own I guess. But with an effective range of 30 feet, I just don't think Bluetooth is adequate for a sideshow MCE control app (at least for my usage). I don't know, isn't the whole point of Sideshow to control the system when you're *not* sitting in front of the TV?
Aaron