The Playstation 3 uses RF (Bluetooth) for its wireless remotes. This is great for a game controller, but less convenient for a BluRay player remote, since it makes it incompatible with universal IR remotes including Harmony. Sony sells a DVD-style remote, but it also works by RF. In contrast to the XBox 360, which uses RF for its controllers but includes an IR port to support IR remotes for its DVD player, 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 taken advantage of this by producing an IR remote that emulates the USB wired controller, the Nyko Blu Wave remote. It comes with a USB dongle with an IR sensor that you 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 limitations, as it only supports the commands that you can execute with the PS3 controller, and not some of the additional commands available on the PS3 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.

Of course, I first had to teach all of the Nyko's commands to the Harmony. This mostly went quickly, with the exception of the square command, which for some reason seems to be difficult for the Harmony to learn properly--it took a couple of dozen takes to get it right. I can now control video play from my Harmony 360 remote, as well as move around the PS3's other menus and activities.