Keyspan remote + EyeTV + iTunes

All you need is a mac, some powered speakers, and a screen. Now this is nothing new - people have been doing it with Mac Minis ever since they were released. I prefer a laptop since some things are just easier to do with a keyboard and mouse - and I can do them without stopping playback on the main display.

One thing that was missing was unifying control - by that I mean sitting on my couch, using one remote to do everything without getting up. What point is home entertainment if you can't drive it from your couch?!

There's a bunch of projects that aim to do this, but I wanted something simple. No on-screen menu, just the standard features from a remote.

So I bought the excellent Keyspan Express remote. I would have preferred an RF remote (rather than infra-red), but the affordable RF models have less buttons.

Then the challenge was to use the limited number of buttons to achieve an understandable (to non-technical people) set of functions that would let you do most things.

Over some coming posts I'll explain what actions I chose for what reasons, but the curious can take a look at some applescripts in the mean time.