Easiest Hack Ever: Use Your Harmony Remote on Your PS3
Universal remotes are a great way to consolidate your home theater, sure. But Playstation 3 owners have been grumbling awhile that the PS3 only uses Bluetooth remotes--there's no IR sensor on the machine. There have been some stopgap PS3 IR remotes like the Nyko Blu Wave, but while the product works fine, it's not really a solution for universal remote owners because...well, it's another remote.
But wait--the Nyko Blu Wave has a USB adapter for IR signals, right? Lots of universal remotes have "learning" functions, right? (A "learning" remote is one that you can program commands from another remote into.) So if you've dropped the moolah on, say, a Logitech Harmony remote, you can spend less than $20 on a Nyko, teach the Harmony the Nyko's commands, and then use the Nyko's USB adapter to transmit the Harmony's commands to the PS3. And voila--you're using your Harmony (or whatever universal remote you have) to watch Blu-Ray discs and even browse the web.
It's not a 100% perfect solution only because you can't power the PS3 on and off with the remote, since the Nyko IR remote doesn't have a power on/off command. The Sony Bluetooth remote does of course, but it's Bluetooth so you can't teach it to your remote. Still, as far as compromises go it's a great solution if you've got a PS3 and a universal remote and desperately wished they could play together. No pun intended.
holdjer on September 16, 2011 at 02:46 PM
hi