Ever since I
got a DVD player for my computer, I was always on the lookout for
ways to improve watching them. This was back in the days of my trusty
Celeron 433, and although playback was mostly fine using software
decoding, I invested in a hardware decoder card to smooth out all
the jitters. With my new silky smooth playback, I realised that
I was missing a major essential - a remote control. The decoder
card had TV outputs built in and so I began watching my DVDs on
my TV. But it gets pretty annoying every time you want to change
scenes or pause to go over to the computer to do it. So I started
looking on the net for alternatives.
First of all,
I came across the IRMan.
This was a simple infra-red (IR) receiver that plugged into your
serial port and decoded incoming IR beams into serial data. It was
supported by plug-ins in both Winamp as well as my DVD decoder software.
Having bought this, I then spent many satisifed months watching
DVDs. But then I started to wonder...
It all started
when I got a Palm m100. There was a nifty little IR port at the
top, but seemingly nothing to do with it. I could use it as a remote
for the TV and that was about it. That and IR Connect 4 with my
friend's m100. With the m100 I didn't get any nifty cradle, just
a serial connector that plugged into the bottom of the Palm. With
my Digicam, Webcam and MP3 cradle, my desk was starting to get pretty
crowded with wires and connectors. I wanted to clear this away -
then it clicked. I had an IR port.
But I didn't
think enough. I had an IR receiver. I needed a transceiver,
something that would both send and receive. With this in mind, I
started searching the net, and it didn't take me long to find something
that fit the bill.
The MobileAction
MA600 InfraRed Transceiver did everything I needed. It plugged
simply into the back of my PC through the serial port, and both
sent and received IR data. It was also guaranteed IrDA standards
compliant, meaning IrDA packets wouldn't get corrupted through serial
flow control. It has no external power supply and measures a svelte
80mm x 42mm x 30mm. The MA600 is marketed as a device for connecting
your phone to your PC but will work specifically as an external
IR port. I bought it from Mobile
Extras in Australia, a mobile phone accessories store, for a
reasonable AUD$78.56 (compared to the IRMan's AUD$70).
So what do you
get for your money? Well, you get the transceiver and a CD with
software for communication between the transceiver and your phone.
It installs drivers to allow the MA600 to be used specifically as
an infra-red port, and thus allows any programs that support IR
ports to work straight away. I cannot stress how simple it is to
use this device. It works exactly the same as onboard IR.
The software
included covers a wide variety of phones and I have tested it with
an 8210, which worked great. It allowed sending of SMSs from your
PC (it is so much easier to type an SMS on a proper keyboard). It
also allowed synchronizing of pretty much all the data on the phone,
and even unlocked some service menus. Uploading of ringtones and
logos was also supported, with a built in ringtone composer, and
a logo editor. (click for larger pictures)
By now I'd completely
forgotten about my Palm, so smitten was I with the cool things I
could now do with mobile phones with infra-red ports. After the
novelty wore off, I began playing with the Palm instead. First off
was the IR hotsync. The regular hotsync is generally fine, and the
IR one certainly isn't any quicker (since it uses a serial port
as well), but the IR is definitely cooler. It certainly freed up
my desk space and meant I could just chuck the Palm down on the
desk and request a hotsync, rather than pull the cable out from
behind the computer and hook it up. It was only a minor inconvenience,
but I definitely hotsync more now than I did before. The other good
thing is (even though I am yet to need it) is that it frees up a
serial port on my computer. I had one taken up by the IRMan device,
and another by the hotsync cable, but I can now use one serial port
for doing both things.
One pretty cool
thing about the MA600 was that I could now actually get my Palm
to interact with my PC. The hotsync connection doesn't allow for
other programs to send application data to the Palm, and so now
I could use stuff on my PC in real time with my Palm. Admittedly
there isn't a hell of a lot of stuff out there at the moment that
supports this, but hey, it's got potential.
So finally,
how did I handle the remote control for my DVDs? Pretty well surprisingly.
Its range wasn't quite up to the IRMan's. It managed only 2 metres
(still far enough for me) compared to the IRMan's theoeretical 10
metres. As well, the angle of sight is 80 degrees for the IRMan,
while the MA600's angle of sight is a 30 degree cone. This means
that the MA600 has a much more narrow receiving angle but picks
up more bounced beams as it is 30 degrees in all directions, compared
to the 80 degrees horizontal of the IRMan. I didn't have a problem
using it with a remote control, however if all you want to use the
IR for is a remote control, you may wish to consider the very slightly
cheaper IRMan.
I should also
mention that most motherboards have an IR header. However there
are a few problems with this. 1: Usually
this allows for an IR port at the back of the PC, which is kind
of annoying. 2: Availability. Where have you ever seen these on sale?
I haven't ever seen them. 3: Easy of use. Sure, the IR header allows faster IR communication,
but this isn't supported by a lot of things (Palm don't support
it for one, only Handspring offer faster syncing), but it is much
easier just plugging *bam* straight into the back of your PC without
anything else to worry about. 4: Well, I would say price, but I haven't seen how much the
headers are as I've never seen them for sale. :)
