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[Knightrider]

Has anyone else seen the UR41A Beer buddy Remote? It controls your TV, opens your beer and feature a corkscrew. I just saw one on ebay.

[Brian H]

I don't ever remember a UR41A "TV Buddy" ever being offered by X10.

I found a web page showing it and it had a link to its manual.
https://programaremote.com/x-10/ur41a

[dhouston]

I don't ever remember a UR41A "TV Buddy" ever being offered by X10.

They offered it several years ago - about the time their webpages became R-rated.

IIRC, that was also about the time IBM, RCA, Magnavox, et al abandoned ship.

[Tuicemen]

Has anyone else seen the UR41A Beer buddy Remote? It controls your TV, opens your beer and feature a corkscrew. I just saw one on ebay.

Yep, I have one somewhere, I believe I got it with my cam anywhere order when X10 first introduced their wired cameras.

[HA Dave]

Hard to believe.

I've recently bought a couple different remotes. One is another Harmony (that programs via the Internet with a DL to the remote). And then a Griffin device (no longer in production) for super cheap via amazon... that works via an app on my iPhone. BOTH are X10 capable... using the IR device.

[toasterking]

I'm using a Boston Acoustics/Philips TSU501, which is similar to a Philips ProntoNEO TSU500 with extra hard buttons, a tilt sensor, RF extendability, and a nicer shape and feel.  To control my X10 devices, it sends RF to a Philips RFX6500 RF extender (via an antenna in the attic) which converts it to IR, which goes to an IR543 into which I've installed the Laser IRAH kit for all-housecode control (so it's now an IR543AH).  I had to do some binary-level hacking to get the extra IRAH house codes into my remote since I couldn't find them for the TSU500/TSU501 formats.  It was worth it because I now have a very customizable remote with a touchscreen and lots of hard buttons controlling all my X10 devices as well as nearly every other device in my house.

This is another example of how, with a little bit of work, X10 is compatible with everything! 

[Knightrider]

This is another example of how, with a little bit of work, X10 is compatible with everything! 

Just a little. 

[toasterking]

Just a little. 

The RF extender part wasn't actually necessary, but who wants to operate their X10 devices from only one/some rooms via line-of-sight?
I select the X10 device to control from menus on the remote, but what I'd really like to achieve is to be able to just point the remote at the light fixture or appliance I want to control and press the keys for ON, OFF, DIM, or BRIGHT. It would require a more sophisticated control system for sure.

[toasterking]

Just a little. 

Now that I think about it, this remote can actually control a plain ol' IR543 almost out of the box with no funny business required; just download a configuration file from http://www.remotecentral.com and you can send unit and command codes to an IR543 via infrared.  I just wasn't satisfied enough with the stock behavior.  Line-of-sight and a single house code is boring. 

[HA Dave]

A good remote control (one that works the way you want) is a good find... and worth a little () effort.

I recently setup a 120" fixed screen Home Theater (for friends) with all the normal equipment in a closet.

I am using a Griffin Beacon and an ipod to control the theater (also an iPhone). But the problem is kids tend to forget to set the ipod back on the charging station. Harmony makes a similar device that works via the home wifi instead of Bluetooth. I've been trying to get a satisfactory remote to work as an additional remote.... to avoid a table full on remotes laying around. Meanwhile... testing other remotes has increased my own remote collection.

I am hooked on working everything through my phone. I purchased myself a Griffin Beacon and use my old iPhone as my home theater remote now (with my current phone as a back-up). PLUS I still use my old Harmony-Logitech and the IR543 (I have a spare one of those too). The new Harmony remote I am using on the upstairs TV setup only.    

[toasterking]

I had not heard of the Griffin Beacon before but it looks interesting.  However, the first couple of links returned by Google suggest that it is also discontinued.   

[HA Dave]

I had not heard of the Griffin Beacon before but it looks interesting.  However, the first couple of links returned by Google suggest that it is also discontinued.   

Yes. But the app is still in apples store (a free DL). Once the app is no longer available... it won't be updateable (new devises won't be able to be added). So it is a $10 remote with a huge on-line library of codes. But... I don't know how long it will last.

I had a similar device. But when I got a new phone (iPhone 6SE)... I couldn't DL the app (even from the cloud).

Harmony-Logitech has a wifi device that works well (I had used one on another theater I built). Harmony-Logitech are fine remotes... but not the cheapest.

So there we are with some of the new app/cloud based products. Like [with] the X10 servers... things can end over-night. I don't have the answer to the new disposability of products.... home automation related or otherwise. 

[toasterking]

Good point about the cloud dependency.  Philips abandoned the advanced remote control market years ago and I don't see nearly as many contributions on http://www.remotecentral.com for the platform as I used to, but it has a learning function which means it's not dependent on any code database to be maintained.  As long as new equipment continues to come with a remote that uses digitally encoded pulses of infrared light with the common range of carrier frequencies, the way they have been making them since the early 1980s, I could theoretically keep using this remote forever with not a cloud in sight.  (Even that is changing now that some equipment comes with a Bluetooth remote.)  The same is true of most universal remotes with the same learning function.  The Griffin Beacon also claims to have a learning function, so the same could be true of it.  On most Android distributions (and on the recently-deceased BlackBerry 10), you can sideload Android apps without an app store like Google Play or Amazon App Store as long as you have the APK package file, although the app may not continue working in all future OS versions.  iOS is a different story; it needs to be jailbroken to sideload apps without the store.  But by the time you have to start using older phone hardware to run an older OS to keep this old app working, you've pretty much locked yourself into using abandoned hardware and software like I have.

[HA Dave]

Good point about the cloud dependency....... As long as new equipment continues to come with a remote that uses digitally encoded pulses of infrared light with the common range of carrier frequencies,......  (Even that is changing now that some equipment comes with a Bluetooth remote.)  ....

Yep my Apple TV (streaming device) remote even has a built-in microphone so I can tell it what to search for (which is a Wi-Fi/cloud assist function). And... of course... both my Apple TV and my Roku have apps that I have downloaded on my phone (so my phone can remote control them as well). I am retired... and still I don't have enough time to fully enjoy all the streaming content available.

It would seem that the choices in both entertainment content... as well as ways to display and control the content is becoming near endless. As well as endlessly changing. Whatever choices we make today may seem questionable tomorrow.

[dhouston]

I was impressed with this...
https://www.ray.co/ray-super-remote/tech
when it was introduced and I posted about it here as well as at RemoteCentral. It's Android based, has IR, WiFi and Bluetooth plus they told me an API was planned.

However, while it can learn IR codes, it cannot import CCF files and they told me they've no plans to add that capability. Teaching it even standard IR543 X10 IR codes would be a PITA and, AFAIK, there is no remote control that can send all of the IR543AH codes.