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Introduction
Have you every wished you could add a remote control to your HTPC without actually having another remote to use (and lose)? With the Firefly Mini and a Universal Learning Remote control, you can do just that. There are a number of very inexpensive remote controls that have learning capacity that will allow you to integrate all of your Infrared Remote Controls into a single unit. For this article, I chose one that I already had, the Sony RM-VL700S, a $25 5-Device learning remote. I pulled up a PDF of the long since misplaced manual from sony.com.

The Training Process
The training process on the Sony Remote (and most others) is very straightforward. First, set the two remotes with their IR eyes facing each other about 1�-2� apart. By holding the “Set� button on the Sony to enter programming and then the component button (I chose CBL/SAT) it was ready to train. Making a quick mental game plan of how you want to match the buttons up and what order you will do them in as to not forget one. Then, start by pressing the button on the Learning Remote that you want to train first. When it flashes to indicate it’s ready, hold down the corresponding button on the Firefly Mini until the training light goes off. It’s key to train the full cycle, not just press and release the button quickly on the Mini. Rinse and repeat for all of the buttons on the learning remote and then finish the process by ending the training, in this case, pressing the “Set� button once more.

Problems and Pitfalls
In the process of doing this, I ran into a few pitfalls you will want to avoid.

- The Buttons on the new remote didn’t exactly match up with the buttons on the Mini. Other than having to give up FF and RR so I could have Skip Forward and Skip Back, all I had to do was be a little creative in naming.

Firefly Mini Button = Sony Button
Last = Recall
Firefly Button = TV/Video
Option = Display
Close = Sleep
Exit = Menu

- As mentioned above the Learning Remote must learn the full code from the Mini, not just a burst. This means you must hold the button on the Mini until the Learning Remote indicates it learned the code (5-10 seconds in some cases).
- Your mileage may very, but the distance between the remotes that worked for me was about 2�. You may need to experiment with the distance to get proper learning.
- On the Sony Remote I chose, once a button was learned, it couldn’t be retrained without first clearing it out. This process took me a minute to figure out. I wish I had avoided all of that nonsense by training right in the first place.
- When training, since the remote are facing each other, the left and right are reversed. Make sure to not train the right button to go left or vice versa.

Other Options
The Sony remote used in this article (picked up a few months ago at Fry’s) is only one of many options. Just looking quickly on the web I saw the Phillips PM625S for $20 and the Zenith ZN5DSS for $23. While I haven’t used them myself, they both advertise the “learning� capacity needed to be trained by a Firefly Mini.

Conclusion
Integrating the Firefly Mini into your “all in one� remote really helps clean up the clutter and make it easier to use all of your devices. The particular remote I chose actually had a slightly better range than the (already good distance) Firefly Mini and really makes my HTPC setup work well.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 7th, 2006 at 2:18 pm by zack and is filed under Articles, Firefly remotes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.