BluWave Infrared Remote

Customer Ratings:
List Price: Price Unavailable
Sale Price: $18.99
Today's Bonus:

After having used a Harmony 676 to control all my devices, I was not happy when I needed to use the PS3 controller to control Blu Ray movie watching.

This remote's dongle does the job in letting my Harmony 676 control the PS3. There was one problem that almost led me to return the remote however, and I wanted to mention the solution here.

Problem (for Harmony remotes):

On the PS3 XMB (Cross Media Bar), the directional buttons would move the selection several spots for each key press. I read several posts and tried teaching & re-teaching the Harmony. I tried teaching using the "Raw" IR learning but that would slow down the response from the PS3 to each key press.

Solution:

Within the Harmony program, go to Devices->PS3 and select "troubleshoot" under device options.

Select "Show me more problems" (last choice).

Then select the choice "PS3 doesn't appear to receive every command correctly," and the select "The device responds too much to some commands (for example, volume up increases the volume too quickly)."

In the screen with the radio buttons, select '0'.

Save & update the remote and everything the directional buttons will work perfectly.

Click Here to Read More Reviews >>

The Playstation 3 uses RF (bluetooth) for its wireless remotes. This is great for a game remote, but less convenient for a BluRay player remote, since it makes it incompatible with universal remotes, which communicate using infrared (IR). Sony sells a DVD-style remote, but it also works by RF. Unlike the XBox 360, which uses RF for its controllers but includes an IR port for DVD player style remotes, the PS3 has no IR sensor at all.

However, there is a workaround, because the PS3 also supports wired controllers via its USB ports (which is also how you recharge the controllers). Nyko has cleverly taken advantage of this by producing an IR remote that emulates the USB wired controller. You simply plug a USB dongle with an IR sensor into one of the USB ports, and then you can use the Nyko IR remote--or a Harmony remote, if you teach it the commands from the Nyko.

This works quite well. There are some inherent limitations, however. In particular, this approach means that the Nyko remote is only able to support the commands that you can execute with the PS3 controller, and does not provide some of the additional commands available on the PS3 bluetooth remote. So no power key, angle key, or eject key. But it does emulate all of the digital controls of the PS3 controller (i.e. everything but the analog sticks), which makes it fine for controlling the player. I don't mind the lack of a power control as I leave my PS3 on all the time anyway, since it isn't noisy like the XBox 360, and I have set it to donate unused computing power to the Folding@home scientific project. And if I'm going to eject a disk, I have to walk over to get it anyway, so I might as well push the button on the PS3.

I had good success teaching the Nyko's IR commands to a Harmony universal remote. This mostly went well, although the square command seems to be difficult to learn properly, and took a couple of dozen takes to get it right.

Buy BluWave Infrared Remote Now

If you are simply buying a remote for your PS3 to play Bluray disk do not buy this remote. Buy the authentic bluetooth remote that Sony makes and it's control is superior and flawless. This remote's advantage is you can use the USB dongle included to make your PS3 accept commands from a universal remote control such as Harmony.

So if you want a remote to control your Bluray watching, but you insist on using your universal remote for everything this is the ticket. (one remote to control everything) Just attach the USB dongle to your PS3, and then learn the commands from the Blu Wave remote to your Harmony or other universal remote and you're good to go.

Edit 09/04/2008: While I did love how the Blu Wave remote allowed me to use my universal remote it is not without its problems and limitations. It cannot turn on/off the PS3, and often it sends commands twice when browsing through the menus which can be very frustrating. I've now upgraded to the PS3IR-PRO which is a little black box that takes the IR commands from your remote and resends them out via Bluetooth exactly like the official Sony remote commands. This makes usage flawless and you also get all 51 buttons on the official Sony Bluetooth remote, I love it. It also allows you to turn on and off the PS3 with one button that can be programmed into your universal remote. It does cost approximately $100, but its a far superior product. Ultimately your choice depends on your specific needs.

Read Best Reviews of BluWave Infrared Remote Here

I recently purchased this product to allow me to control my PS3 for DVD playback using my Harmony remote (model 880). Many others have also purchased the Blu-Wave for the same purpose, but it appears as most have programmed their Harmony by having it "learn" the Blu-Wave's remote codes. I found a much easier way to get the Harmony remotes programmed.

Just add a new device "Game Console (with DVD)". Select the Manufacture of Nyko and enter "Blu-Wave" as the Model (they actually give you an example of what to enter for Model and that is the model they use for their example). Complete adding the device, with no other changes. Then update or create the "Watch a DVD" activity and specify the new device as your DVD player. I found that I had to tweak some of the button settings, but most of button were set correctly.

As others have stated, I wish Nyko had provided some of the other buttons that appear on the Sony remote (Eject, Angles, ...) and at least a way to turn off the PS3 (like the PS button).

Want BluWave Infrared Remote Discount?

Thanks to the following tips from other Reviewers, it works like a champ. Like many others, I am using it with a Harmony 880 and I don't care if I can't turn the power on or off. You have to get up to get the disc anyway so who cares. But the command where I ask one of my kids to please get the disk and put it away seems to not work very well:)

To Eject a disk;

Press 'Stop' to stop the movie and get back to the main menu. I think you need to press the 'O' button and then 'yes' after stopping the movie. You should be at the location where the DVD icon is highlighted. Press the triangle button and an eject disk command will appear to the right of the screen. Select this and it will eject. So you could probably get it to work by programming a macro button. But this is not a big deal to me since I want to get the disk and just press the button on the PS3.

Very Helpful Tip #1 from a previous reviewer:

Just add a new device "Game Console (with DVD)". Select the Manufacture of Nyko and enter "Blu-Wave" as the Model (they actually give you an example of what to enter for Model and that is the model they use for their example). Complete adding the device, with no other changes. Then update or create the "Watch a DVD" activity and specify the new device as your DVD player. I found that I had to tweak some of the button settings, but most of button were set correctly.

Very Helpful Tip #2 from a previous reviewer:

Problem (for Harmony remotes):

On the PS3 XMB (Cross Media Bar), the directional buttons would move the selection several spots for each key press. I read several posts and tried teaching & re-teaching the Harmony. I tried teaching using the "Raw" IR learning but that would slow down the response from the PS3 to each key press.

Solution:

Within the Harmony program, go to Devices->PS3 and select "troubleshoot" under device options.

Select "Show me more problems" (last choice).

Then select the choice "PS3 doesn't appear to receive every command correctly," and the select "The device responds too much to some commands (for example, volume up increases the volume too quickly)."

In the screen with the radio buttons, select '0'.

Save & update the remote and everything the directional buttons will work perfectly.

Both were very helpful to me. Thanks!