[Swansea Hackspace] Minimal and bespoke TV remote control

[Richard Morgan]

A family member is elderly and struggles with the need to use the TV REMOTE
to change the source and then the SKY REMOTE to manage the channels -
having a single remote covering all her needs would be great.

I would be interested in using this.

Thanks Gerrit

On Fri, 19 Jun 2015 at 17:07 Emyr Morris <em at preseli.com> wrote:

> great project! Love it
>
> On 19 June 2015 at 16:58, Gerrit Niezen <gerrit.niezen at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> *The problem*
>> I have three different remote controls that I use to control my TV, Tivo
>> and NowTV, and I only use a few buttons on each one of these remotes. What
>> I would like is a minimal, customisable remote control that can replace the
>> other three for most tasks.
>>
>> *Existing solutions*
>> Universal remotes are cheap but mostly crap and have too many buttons.
>> The Logitech Harmony remotes seem the easiest to use, but they're in the
>> £100 range and still have a lot of buttons.
>>
>> *My suggested solution*
>> An open-source hardware remote where you can customise the buttons
>> depending on your needs, for example by milling your own based on a button
>> template. The remote should be easy to program, by pointing existing
>> remotes at infrared receiver on the custom remote.
>>
>> *Possible improvements*
>> - LEDs inside buttons that light up when they can be used (that is,
>> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161666687066). For example, if I'm in TV mode,
>> the "back" button isn't going to work, but the up/down buttons should light
>> up so that I can change channels.
>> - Using bamboo for the enclosure - a piece of 50cm-wide bamboo can be
>> halved to make a semi-circular shape that fits in your hand.
>>
>> *What I've done so far*
>> - Got the infrared diode and receiver working on an Arduino
>> - Recorded infrared signals from my three different remotes and
>> successfully sent them again
>> - Cut some bamboo to see if the shape will work
>> - Drew some crude pictures of what it will look like (attached)
>>
>> *Next steps*
>> - Is anyone at Swansea Hackspace interested in helping me develop this
>> further?
>> - Would anyone be interested in buying one of these if we make more than
>> one?
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Gerrit
>>
>>
>> ​
>> ​
>>
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>> http://swansea.hackspace.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hackspace
>>
>>
>
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