HTPC offers several benefits compared to a conventional home theater system. You can store and
easily access a large library of music and video. You can have significantly more control over
DVD playback. It can act as a TIVO or ReplayTV unit. It costs much less too.
To make your HTPC complete, you need to be able to control it from distance.
With Ira-3 you can do that easily.
All you need is a vacant serial port, a special program, and
any remote control. If you have a universal remote, that's fine. You can assign
unused devices on the remote to control your HTPC. Or you can use a remote control
from an old or unused TV,
VCR, or other equipment, and turn it into HTPC remote. Ira is designed to work with
virtually any remote control.
Comparing to Ira-2,
Ira-3 employs an
updated code generating algorithm, has a WOL connector and optionally comes with an additional 56KHz receiver.
This makes Ira-3
compatible with virtually any remote control. In addition to that Ira-3 has
several programmable parameters that can be changed to accomodate the most unusual IR protocols.
Two IR codes can be programmed to trigger WOL line. This allows you to power up your PC
using remote control.
Some of the functions that you can perform remotely with the help of Ira
Pause, Stop, Play your audio, video, or DVD player applications.
Change video resolution
Enable/disable subtitles
Flip pages during your presentation
Shut down your computer and turn it on
Generally, you can execute any command that you can execute with a
keyboard or a mouse. It is only limited by the software that you will choose.
Ira 3 OEM
version is the same device electronically, but comes without a plastic enclosure.
It is intended for installation inside a PC. Click
here
to view mechanical dimensions and layout of the
Ira-3 OEM board.
1.5ft ribbon cable with a 5x2 pin connector is included.
Unlike Ira-2 that had an integrated
serial port cable Ira-3
has a standard RJ45 connector. This makes cabling a lot more flexible.
Many users of
Ira-2 needed a longer cable since they wanted to place
Ira-3 far from the PC. Although
we did provide Ira-2 with 6 or 12 meters long cable, there still was an issue.
It was impossible to pass the cable through
narrow holes due to attached DB-9 connector. Now you can just use standard CAT-5
cable to connect Ira-3
to a PC. Simply plug one end of the cable into Ira-3
and second end of the cable into optionally supplied DB-9 to RJ45 converter. The converter then plugs into the PC's serial port.
Remote Control "modding" Ira-3 can be effectively used to obtain information about protocol and data used by
remote controls. This can be helpful if you are using JP1 tools and want to add support for a new remote.
read more...
Remote Control Extender
Ira-3
can work as an IR input for Tira.
If you connect
Ira-3 and
Tira to the same computer,
you can make them work as in IR extender: the codes received by
Ira-3
will be reproduced by Tira.
This way not only you can control your PC from two rooms, but also control all your other
equipment from two rooms. read more...
Technical Requirements
PC with one free serial port (DB9; if you have a serial port with
DB25 connector, you will need an adapter). Memory and CPU requirements depend on software.
Generally, x486 with 8Mb should be enough.
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