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Anyone using a UMPC as an interface/remote control?

Posted by Dave in gva (A) on February 1, 2007 at 11:34:41

I want to know if I can use an Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) to function as an interface and remote control to control a sound system based around a PC music server. Basically a UMPC is the latest evolution of tablet PC's - they have 7" screens typically running 800 x 480 screen resolution and can run XP, XP Tablet, and Vista or Vista Tablet operating systems (see www.carrypad.com for more info). They're handheld and give a much richer visual interface than PDA's while still being capable of full fledged PC operation including wireless and Bluetooth interfaces.

I'm planning on a major upgrade to my sound system to an audiophile system with lossless audio files stored on a high capacity server. This music server will be streaming digital music over USB to a USB digital analog converter that then sends the analog output into an amp also located in the same room. The amp I have in mind has volume control via an IR remote control but (as I explain below) will actually have volume controlled via the music server. The only part of the audio chain in the listening room will be my speakers and my UMPC.

So my UMPC needs to be able to do two things:

1. Interface with the music server to select and play playlists through an application like either Foobar2000 or iTunes.
2. Interface with the music server to control volume through interacting over IR with the amplifier.

I think what I have in mind will work, but I wanted to bounce it off people here. I would plan to use the Remote Desktop capability of XP to access the music server to stream the files into the audio chain via either iTunes or Foobar2000. I don't see any reason why this won't work but am not clear on how the 800x480 screeen resolution of a UMPC will play into this as I understand that most of the interface resolutions for Foobar at least are based around fixed screen resolutions that are higher. Not sure about iTunes and not sure about capabilities of some UMPC's to interpolate to higher screen resolutions. Comments welcome.

For controlling volume I need capability of a PC to function as an IR emitter. I've seen USB IR transceivers and have in mind equipping the music server with this and then using a program called Girder. There may be other programs that do this, but I believe Girder allows a PC equipped with an IR transceiver to learn remote control IR signals and emit them. The USB IR transceiver plugged into the music server would be physically directed at the IR receiver of the amplifier in the equipment room. I suppose I will have to control volume through a separate window on the UMPC in the Remote Desktop session through Girder. It would be nicer to be able to associate this with hard buttons on the UMPC but not sure if this will be possible as the actual control I need to execute is for something off the music server and not the UMPC.

Does it sound as if this will work and do people have any thoughts or comments? One unknown for me is whether Vista offers a better platform - however whether the music server is running XP or Vista it will be in a separate room and I need an interface for connecting to that computer. A UMPC serving as this interface/remote control (while also having the advantages of being a web browser and GPS for my car) seems like an elegant solution.

Thanks for comments,

Dave M

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