[nmglug] a couple of a/v questions: video remote control, and audio flexibility

[Mark Galassi]

    Sam> I've been a little too lazy to actually get to the point of
    Sam> having a working remote for my MythTV install. But the issue
    Sam> has been on my radar for over a year so here's a couple points
    Sam> to note:

Sam, thanks for your notes.  I am hampered by the fact that I have never
owned a TV, and have barely ever dabbled in remotes.  This is mostly for
controlling audio (and also pausing/ff/rew) when watching movie files
with xine, but I'd love to control the audio on music, which I use much
more often.  I have no interest in TV applications, although I guess the
remote control is the same.

So my real problem with the http://www.lirc.org/ web site is that they
talk about infra red receivers and remotes as if they were separate
things, but I want both the usb dongle and the actual remote control and
I was hoping to not have to study the issue.

Or are they saying that I could just use any old stereo remote and
program the computer to respond to it?  I guess I'd prefer to buy a
pair, but the web site confuses me -- I think they assume that everyone
knows what remotes are IR and which are not.  I know how to model the
passage of infra-red radiation through matter, but not how to tell if a
remote that's floating is IR or something else.

Finally: there are way too many supported ones and I feel lost.  I'd
love for someone to tell me "just get this cheap one", kind of how
linuxprinting.org works: I don't feel lost on that site.