Remote Buddy: HTPC Glue!

Up to this point, I've blogged about a couple of different software packages I use: EyeTV for live & time-shifted video, and XBMC for DVDs, video files and streaming video. Both these programs integrate seamlessly with the Apple remote making controlling them from the comfort of your armchair an absolute doddle. But there's a snag... what do you do if you want to context switch, say you've just finished a DVD and want to catch the news before bed? It feels wrong to have to drop the remote, reach for a keyboard or mouse to shut down XBMC and fire up EyeTV, then switch back to the remote again. Enter ioSpirit to save the day!

ioSpirit are the makers of Remote Buddy, and for me it is the glue that holds together the whole HTPC concept on my Mac mini. Without it, it feels like I've got a computer connected to my TV. With it, I can sit back the arm chair and control the whole thing with a simple white remote.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first: it isn't freeware. A license will cost you $19.99 and can be bought on their website at http://www.iospirit.com/products/remotebuddy. Trust me on this, it is well worth the money. And if you don't want to trust me, then fear not as there is a 30 day free trial.

Once installed and up and running, it'll give you an icon in the menu bar.

It is the "Preferences..." option on this menu that you'll spend a little bit of time getting things set up just right. By default, Remote Buddy will set itself up to display its overlay menu when you press and hole the menu button on the Apple remote. It does a great job of fitting the contents of the default menu to what you've actually got on your system, but for me it is a bit exhaustive and messy. Just because a program on my system can be controlled by remote, doesn't mean it has any part to play in my HTPC system. And simplicity is the key here; if my GF brings up a list of 30 different pieces of sotware to choose between, that remote is going straight back down the side of the sofa where she found it. So I recommend creating your own menu profile (by hitting the plus icon in the screenshot below) and then ripping it to pieces. Delete everything you don't htink you'll need; it's easy to add it back in later if you were a bit overzealous with your pruning. I ended up with a very simple list of 4 applications, like so:

Clean, simple, and elegant! From here you can pick and choose your applications, fire up new ones, close down ones you aren't using any more, and so on and so forth. It's nice and simple to navigate, and the only thing you need to be aware of is that the clumsily-named "Activate behaviour" option is the first option you'll want to choose each time you switch between apps. It will fire up the app if it isn't running, and it'll bring the window to the front and then re-map all the buttons on the remote to perform application-specific tasks. The only button that isn't remapped is the menu-button-held-down action; this will always pop you right back out to Remote Buddy's own menu overlay. All the application-specific controls can be customized to your hearts content by visiting the Mapping tab in the Preferences panel:

Mostly, the defaults are spot on and so unless you really want to tweak it to your own specific requirements (all I did was change the fast forward and rewind actions around a bit on the EyeTV mapping set) you'll get along just fine without having to wrap your head around the details on this tab.

So there you have it: Remote Buddy is one useful piece of software for any HTPC. I have friends trying to set up their own HTPCs on a Windows platform and despite a fair amount of fiddling, ebaying, and googling, they've so far been unable to get close to the level of slickness offered by Remote Buddy. I give it a big thumbs up, well worth the investment!