Accuratus Mediaball Pro

[elootos]

Well both my Gyrations are on the blink. The original one now used in the bedroom has died almost completely, and the lounge one looses about a button a week now.

Not made to last, but they are 5years old so that's something.

Would like to replace with a mouse controller one and came across this Accuratus Mediaball Pro (kyb-mediaballpro) which looks pretty natty.

Gonna have to get one to try out me thinks.

[dunks517]

(04-06-2011 12:14 PM)elootos Wrote:  Well both my Gyrations are on the blink. The original one now used in the bedroom has died almost completely, and the lounge one looses about a button a week now.

Not made to last, but they are 5years old so that's something.

Would like to replace with a mouse controller one and came across this which looks pretty natty.

Gonna have to get one to try out me thinks.

I use the My Movies Pro App my iPad to control my media center, whether it is my HTPC or one of the extenders, it identifies all My Movies Servers runners and you can select which one you control.

[elootos]

(04-06-2011 04:01 PM)dunks517 Wrote:  I use the My Movies Pro App my iPad to control my media center, whether it is my HTPC or one of the extenders, it identifies all My Movies Servers runners and you can select which one you control.

I'm guessing using an iPad as a remote is probably one of the most extravagant things you can do in the home

The £60 Mediaball is a bit lighter on the pocket and the mouse control is most important for Youtube/iPlayer... etc etc.

Plus I'm not a major fan of My Movies. Teaming it up with an iOS device would be the thing of my nightmares

[dunks517]

(04-06-2011 04:21 PM)elootos Wrote:  

(04-06-2011 04:01 PM)dunks517 Wrote:  I use the My Movies Pro App my iPad to control my media center, whether it is my HTPC or one of the extenders, it identifies all My Movies Servers runners and you can select which one you control.

I'm guessing using an iPad as a remote is probably one of the most extravagant things you can do in the home

The £60 Mediaball is a bit lighter on the pocket and the mouse control is most important for Youtube/iPlayer... etc etc.

Plus I'm not a major fan of My Movies. Teaming it up with an iOS device would be the thing of my nightmares

You can pick one up quite cheaply at the moment!

[northan]

I love the my movies app, it works well.
But that remote looks good too, simple for the wife and kids.
Who would win in a FIGHTTTTTTTT
Cheers Harry

Seriously I'm sure both would work well side by side because there is always the need to have mouse control.
BTW Dunks what's your idea of cheap?

[elootos]

Got it ordered. Should be here Monday

[elootos]

Hmmm, not great I'm afraid.

Good points:

• Well made
• Good choice of buttons for Media Center use
• Nice and easy to use trackball
  

Bad points:

• Trackball too sensitive
• button repeat too quick - way too quick!
• Play/Pause combined - should be 2 buttons
  

And I'm afraid those bad points, as few as they are, make it not great for Media Center use. The trackball sensitivity drove me made within 5 minutes; with the remote just sitting static on the coffee table it still sends random, albeit tiny, mouse movements that bring the mouse on screen. I tried watching a film last night and every few mintues the cursor appears on screen and that of course brings the OSD up over the film - grrrr! Just moving the remote slightly in your hand moves the trackball and that sends the cursor moving. If you're on the left side of the screen trying to navigate something with the cursor buttons, and the mouse is hidden over on the right side of the screen, then when the mouse pops up your navigation flys over to the other side of the screen. More ggrrrrrr! It does have a sleep mode for the trackball, but this is about 5 minutes, and last night I sat there almost counting in my head hoping that it would 'sleep' before it moved itself again.

The button repeat is about 1/10th second, so if wanting the Guide up on screen you have to stab the button really quickly otherwise it sends 2 commands in quick succession sending the guide away again as quickly as it came up on screen. Also repeat this annoyance with volume - a small up volume press and you hit full volume within 1.5secs. Ear bleeding ggrggrrrr!

And finally, I rely on pressing the play button to bring up the on-screen timeline so I can see where I am within the show and also the clock in the top-right hand corner - very handy to know how much I have to endure of bloody Eastenders. Well the trackball remote has play/pause combined, so the only way to bring up the timeline is to pause/play continually. Head-in-hands grrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!



And those small niggles make it a very frustrating control for Media Center. Probably why it isn't Microsoft certified

I think that despite my Gyrations failing after about 18months use, they are still the best option for Media Center.

Now where's that receipt...

[dunks517]

(04-06-2011 11:07 PM)northan Wrote:  I love the my movies app, it works well.
But that remote looks good too, simple for the wife and kids.
Who would win in a FIGHTTTTTTTT
Cheers Harry

Seriously I'm sure both would work well side by side because there is always the need to have mouse control.
BTW Dunks what's your idea of cheap?

£199 on contract: http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/i...buytwo.jsp

There's plenty of mouse apps available, Logitech do a good on.

[northan]

(04-12-2011 02:26 PM)elootos Wrote:  And those small niggles make it a very frustrating control for Media Center. Probably why it isn't Microsoft certified

It's a shame it's not meeting up to expectations.
What is microsoft certified these days? Very little.
Could you use an android pad or (dare I say it) apple Ipad.
There are some cheap tablets out there and you can even get mymovies for android. Missus would love using it for face book.

[elootos]

OK, it's official, the Accuratus remote is in the bin (proverbial one at least).

As Dunks quite rightly pointed out - only a fool doesn't use an app to control their PC these days!

I'm currently on myRemote for Android, but who knows where I'll end up...