PDD: A TiVo is one of those hard-drive video recorders, like ReplayTV. http://www.tivo.com -- allows all sorts of real-time TV functions.

PDD
I have been using the PALM PILOT as a search engine for my cd changer for quite some time now.It works great.
Check out a post I made on this subject on a thread over in the PRONTO forum under the name BEST CD CHANGER PRONTO PILOT COMPUTER?

This is an addendum to my previous post which included this comment:

"Anybody get Peter's ORDektop beta yet? I did. Looks promising, but needs quite a bit of work to come anywhere near ProntoEdit. Mind you, I've only spent about 10 minutes with it so far."

I wrote this in response to an email from Peter. Please read:

EMAIL - "Peter: My intent was really to let people know that it is only .2 beta and better things are to come. I was also thinking that your product is limited by the restraints of OmniRemote, but that I can see that Pacificneotek, if they do things right, can have a much better product in version two, including your own bitmaps, etc. My assumptions included that your program would evolve there too, and that the OmniRemote/ORD combination would become much more than it is right now."

I hope this helps to rectify what seemed like a negative comment. I think the idea of having Peter's program is great and have bought two Pilot Pro's to test it on.

-Greg

Ok...

Here goes...I had an old Palm 5000 upgraded to 3.0 OS and IR laying around and tried OmniRemote after having to send my OFA 8080 back to be reprogrammed twice now. (Its a long story, but if you have them upgrade your 8080, DO NOT do a MFG reset if you can help it, as it erases the upgrade too!!!)

Anyway, since I also have a Palm V, I set it up on both. The performance on the Pilot 5000 is EXCELLENT, while the Palm V is terrible.

Since my Pilot 5000 doesn't have a backlight, I picked up a 1M Palm Professional on Ebay for $75 and am going to put my IR 2M upgrade in it. This is all much cheaper than a $400 Pronto...

Tod,
To program TiVo on OmniRemote, you need to set the carrier frequency to 37.5KHz. The default 39.2KHz simply won't work with the TiVo.

I currently have my Pilot 5000 running a Toshiba TW40H80 widescreen TV, TiVo, Toshiba DVD, Echostar 5000 Sat Receiver, and Aiwa AV-DV75 Dolby Receiver. All works great!! 2 screens per device.

All in all, this is a much more cost effective solution for me than a Pronto. If you ask me, based upon the technology involved in producing such items, the Pronto is WAAAY overpriced...

Anyway...just my 2 cents...

Barry

DanK,

I thought I'd post your experiences with the CD changer and the Palm. Sounds like a great way to have all your CD's databased in the Palm!

Response by Dan K. on 10/29/99 23:52.38

The Palm Pilot works quite well in this area.
What I have done is entered the names of the disc and each track into memo files on the Pilot.
Each disc is a separate memo entry,with each track for that disc listed in that memo entry.
I also enter the number that the disc ocupies in my 200 disc changer.
Using the the find feature you can locate any track in the 200 discs by writing a few letters of the track you are looking for.
The disc and track number are listed so with one press of a hard button to change the application back to the OMNI REMOTE portion of the PILOT you can program your cd player to play the track or disc you have just located.
Entering the information goes pretty well using the computer keyboard and then HOT SYNCING the information to the Pilot.
Another nice feature is that with a click of a button the disc titles will be listed in alphabetical order.
You also have the ability to print out the list.

To avoid having to enter all the CD track info by hand, take a look at QuintessentialCD ([Link: quinnware.com]) -- shareware ($10 reg fee).

Insert a CD into your computer, and it queries a web database (CDDB) and returns a detailed list of each track on the CD, which you then can export as a delimited text file, and import into your Palm. (I'm using v. 1.27, not as slick as the new v. 2.0, but very easy to use).

Hey guys! Peter is working hard on ORDesktop. It looks to be a great program. We can share PDBs (CCFs in Pronto language) with each other and with the support shown in this thread, which is getting quite big, we might be able to convince Daniel to put up a PDB files area for us.

He has a lot planned for the program in later releases and I'm sure OR 2.0 will be great. How bout on a color Palm?

Ciao!

I am disappointed to see so may rediculous arguments against using the Palm for a remote. It's sad. The Palm is an incredibly useful computer that can be programmed to do ANYTHING that these universal remotes can do. That's a fact. Sure, it's IR power level is a problem. I have no ansewr to that problem. I just shake my head in disgust as I read all these lame excuses like "let's see a Palm us CCF File", etc. Simply rediculous. Oh, and "do you really want your strangers in your finances?". Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. How about "I always have my Palm with me"? Will you have your Pronto with you at work, too? Why would you take your Palm Universal Remote, then? Geez, people. If you don't want to use the Palm as a remote, then DON'T. But PLEASE don't clog up these threads so that people like myself, looking for REAL SOLUTIONS and positive attitudes can't sift through the rediculous self-serving rants to find the real meat.

Becky,

Thanks! Another great tip! Please continue to share your insights and findings with us. They are much appreciated and of value!

GregoriousM,
You seem to be the scholar on the beta ORdesktop. Keep us informed with your progress. This slick interface will bring a much needed GUI to the PC for the Omniremote.

PDD: Thanks! It is a simple program to use, as is OmniRemote. I have found no bugs so far. Don't you love how easy it is to learn keys on on OR?!!!

Becky: I could kiss you for pointing out QuintessentialCD. The newest version doesn't have the Export to text plugin available yet, but hopefully soon. I registered my copy an hour after I downloaded it. I was shocked out of my mind when I inserted some of my religious Cd's and the website even had the CD Names/Tracks for those! WOW!!! When the Export to text is finished, I will be exporting all of my CD info to my Palm and using OmniRemote as my touchscreen remote and ORDesktop as my configuration program.

I still can't decide whether I prefer touchscreen or button remotes (I have the 15-1994), but it is fun working out configurations and solving problems!

Thanks guys/gals!

P.S. Big kiss for Becky!!! LOL

My main question is.. can the Palm control X10 devices?

If so what hardware addons are needed.

Please send copy of reply via email!

--David

david,

The Palm cannot directly control x10 devices since it does not emit an RF frequency. However, as with any other remote, you can buy equipment for the Palm to do just that. Check out www.smarthome.com They should have information on x10 devices.

What you'd be looking for is the IR-543 IR-to-X10 transcever, sold as model "4040" on smarthome. You'll also need an IR X-10 remote to learn the IR codes off of.

I would like to setup my Palm Pilot Professional as a remote. What additional hardware do I need?

I thought someone said something about the RF converter.

Does anyone know if you can do two way IR transmission? My CD-Player can send the CD text to my cd remote so it would be nice if I could have this feature in the plam pilot also.

I have been evaluating OmniRemote recently. It works great on my PalmIII, but the range is terrible on my PalmV.

My only real problem now is getting it to work with my Mitsubishi big screen (VS-50703). I contacted pacificneotek who suggested I contact Mitsubishi to find out the frequency of their remote. I contacted Mitsubishi who said that that information is not available, but stated that the design has been the same since 1987.

Does anyone have a solution for me? There was an older post by "Jeff" who experienced the same problem, but his email address is no longer valid.

thanks