Forgive my ignorance.. I'm a recovering mac user.

A good friend is handing down his Logitech Harmony 680 to me and i'm thinking i can use this universal remote to control my new pc in media-center mode or whatever it's called. Let me know if this isnt' how it works.

So what IR or RF receiver should i buy (preferably from newegg) in my new pc to let me use my snazzy old remote to bip through the menus in MCE. I'd like to avoid having anything dangling or external.

i'm also not sure if i need IR or RF - i think some Harmony remotes do both and depending on how quiet the new pc is i may still keep it in the closet.

thanks and sorry for being so clueless - i tried to search first =)

You can buy the MCE remote combo and toss away the remote. The IR receiver will work with MCE, obviously, and other front ends can be configured to use it as well. RF Receivers are expensive and usually used for things that can't be line-of-sight or too expensive to use a lot of repeaters. Stick with IR.

PCAlchemy has others as well. You can also get one with a built-in VFD if you like a toy to tinker with. Soundgraph, IMON, and IRTrans all have VFD/IR combos. The first two will easily fit in a 5.25" bay, while the IRTrans would have to be modded into a 5.25" blank slot cover.

The OrigenAE/Zalman HTPC cases that have VFDs use IRTrans; the Antec's use Soundgraph (I believe), and Silverstone uses IMON.

HTPCNews.com has a lot of info on this stuff, as well as MissingRemote.com and AVSForum.com (Home Theater Computers section).

but.. no.
i mean.. the newegg links all state that the MCE remote is not a universal but only works with the htpc.

i think the 680 is fancier and will do more but that i just need a receiver for it, right?

seems a shame to backstep in general.. and in particular (sorry, i know this is dead obvious) the goal is to have one remote only for cablebox/htpc.

thanks for the tip tho.

oh, and i won't have a free 5.25" bay on my Antec tower so no install like that will be internal for me at least.

oh.. i'm sorry..
you were saying i should buy the MCE combo and then use the 680 with the reciever part of it instead of the included remote!

i get it now.

good option.. very sensible, i'll likely order that today.

thanks and sorry for the confusion.

Yes, you should do that. I'm using a Harmony 520 to control my MCE compatible IR receiver (IRTrans) and it works great!

Even the wife (to be) likes it.