Price:	$29.95		Reviewed by:	Neil Brown
Supplied:	WinCESoft.de		Review date:	09/04/2005
Pros:	Easy to train Takes advantage of CIR / IR extender VGA compatible Advanced features if required Integrated layout editor Allows JPG, BMP and GIF background Supports "toggle" feature from Philips remotes "Call application" very useful Far cheaper and more convenient than "true" multi-function remote control		Cons:	Advanced functions can be difficult No CCF import- codes only

	Introduction One of the things I missed in my move from PalmOS to PPC was a decent remote control application- rather than having to find the control for the TV, video, DVD, stereo, amp and PC speakers, I'd rather just select the relevant dashboard from my PDA, and control things from there. Added into the equation was the realisation that my LOOX has CIR- a Consumer InfraRed port- which should give greater range than standard IR ports. I was not really looking for anything particular fancy- just an application to change channels and control different machines easily- it's a bonus that WinCESoft's RemoteControl II (RCII) offers considerably more than that. (Click to enlarge images with borders) Registration Once you receive your registration key (based on your username, company name (if applicable) and e-mail address), you are able to use the application- without this key, you cannot use the full version of the application at all, so it is vital that you try the demonstration version, which allows full usage of the product, for a restricted number of key-presses. The demo is enough to give you a taste of the application (and, importantly, enough to check that it works with your PDA's IR port), and, in my case, leaving me wanting to buy the full application. Setting it up RCII tries to cater for both inexperienced and advanced users alike, and I think that it gets the balance right overall, possibly leaning slightly towards to advanced users (see comments later). Whilst there are included databases, these are not intended to be exhaustive, as far as I could tell- rather, they give you a sample of what is available in terms of functions, and give you models on which you can base your own device databases. It is possible to begin your own remote control screen from scratch, choosing where you'd like the buttons to be, for example, but I decided that the best use (for me) came for simply using existing templates, and renaming and training them for my own appliances. As I use a VGA machine, this meant downloading from a VGA skin from the WinCESoft site- I could only find one available (Troy2), but I personally do not find this a problem. The skin has all the buttons that I am going to be using, and the overall colour and design is reasonably neutral- unlike a Today screen, which I understand can be a very personal choice in terms of colours, applications etc, I think that a remote control can be far more standardised without causing issue. The other thing I noted here is that the skin is good for portrait only- it has a large gap if used in landscape. However, with the majority (I believe?) of PDAs housing their IR port either on the top or the bottom of the device, I am not sure quite when landscape would be useful in any event, so, I can't see this as being a serious oversight. Additionally, there is nothing to stop you tweaking an existing skin to fit your screen, should you so choose. If you wish to create your own skin from scratch, then this is possible, thanks to the integrated editor- you provide images for the background and buttons (in BMP, JPEG or GIF format), and then use the integrated layout editor to place everything you want it. I was most impressed to find that the application works perfectly in “true” VGA mode. This is something which is only of interest to a few, but, is a distinct benefit- soft-resetting to play a game doesn't bother me, but having to do so to change the TV channel would be a nuisance. I installed the application whilst in “true” VGA, and then applied the VGA skin- and got a remote control with buttons which are easier to see and press than the real remote controls I have cloned. As I've said before, lack of “true” VGA support cannot count against an application, but, it's presence certainly goes in the application's favour, for me at least. Adding support for your own selection of appliances can be done in two distinct manners- “training” RCII using the existing remote control, or installing the CCF (Component Configuration File) relevant to your TV, video remote etc. Initially, I test the method with which I was most comfortable- the “training” process, as I felt that this was the route most beginners would take. Training Before you can start to train RCII, you need to define a layout, and some button images. This is easier than it sounds. Edit / Edit Project brings up a screen showing all Panels available on the left, and all the ones currently selected on the right- these form the current Project. (A Project is a collection of Panels)   My first effort was to program for a TV, and, as I was using a VGA device, I selected “New Panel”, and, from the drop-down boxes, tapped on “TV”, and, quite cunningly, named it “Lounge TV”. Checking the box below labelled “Copy layout from existing Panel” and selecting “TV\ VGA Panasonic TV Main” meant that I was quite re-using the existing TV setup, complete with buttons, ready for retraining. Click “Ok”, and then find your new creation in the left-hand menu- as you selected “TV” from the drop-down box, it will be listed as “TV\LoungeTV”, for ease of finding. Once located, tap once on it, and then tap on the “move to right hand side” arrow, in the middle of the screen. This moves the Panel you have just created into the Project. And that was the hard part. All that remains was to drop back onto the main remote control screen, and select “Lounge TV” from the panel at the bottom.   After it's on the screen, select Edit / IR QuickLearn (at the top of the menu), click through the first box to appear, and just tap on the button you wish to train. Once selected, point your appliance remote at your IR port, and press-and-hold the relevant button until your PDA beeps- then move on to the next button etc. When I'd got the knack of creating new Projects, selecting the Panel to copy from, and, then running through the QuickLearn procedure, it took about two minutes for each remote control I wanted to program, which is little hardship. If you want to edit the function of particular buttons, this is possible through pop-up menus- more on this below. One training function which I did not use, but which could prove valuable, is the ability to train a button to accept "toggle" commands. If you have Philips equipment (or various compatible devices, I believe), you can sometimes send two IR commands in a row, to obtain a different effect- the "toggle" feature. As such, if you wish to emulate such a function, you are able to do so, by simply checking a box on the "QuickLearn" screen. Importing If you do not want to program each device separately, you are able to import CCF hex strings, which you are able to find at various locations on the Internet. The Help guide included with RCII has the location of three databases of CCF files and codes, so you should be able to find something relating to the most common brands of appliance. Reading the guide was fundamental to understanding how this worked, and I admit to having to e-mail the (very helpful) developer to work my way through it- it turned out that I was making a stupid mistake from not reading the guide correctly. If you do not follow the guide correctly, and enter a hex string without selecting the IR-A string of a designated remote control (selected in the lower part of the screen), then the application seems to lock-up, forcing a soft reset. The developer is aware of this bug, and has indicated that he will try and fix it for the next release of the application. Another bit of information worth noting is that the Import screen prevents the keyboard from appearing in “true” VGA mode, which negates the possibility of naming new devices in this manner- the only solution I found was dropping back into seVGA for this operation. You are not able to import a CCF file directly, which might prove irritating for people with access to a Pronto remote control, or for those who would like to make use of the ease of this particular function. Neither of these describe my situation, and so I suffered no particular problem; if you do plan on CCF-importing, however, it would be worth testing this application to see whether hex imports are acceptable, or whether you could cope with IR training. Advanced functions: calling applications and creating macros Buttons on the remote are not limited to single IR functions- you can program a particular button to control a macro, or, as I was particularly impressed to note, to call a different application. There are instructions on the WinCESoft.de website in how to do this, so I don't intend to discuss the actual mechanics here, but do think it is worth mentioning this function. Suffice to say that the lounge TV does not have Teletext, meaning I can't easily check what programs are coming up next. It made sense, therefore, for me to program a button to call up PIE, and take me directly to the “currently showing” page on radiotimes.com, allowing me to check up on the listings effortlessly. As the page address does not change, this setup works- if, however, accessing the schedule relied on having the date and time in the URL, it would be harder (perhaps possible, though, if you knew what you were doing?) to get it to work properly. This application call feature is not something that will be of benefit to everyone, but, I'm certainly glad that it is there- even if it only is to do something a little out of the ordinary, as well as being useful. If you'd like to be able to point your remote at your TV, and have it turn on, mute sound and select a particular channel all in one button press, then looking into the macro mode might be fun and useful. There are instructions on programming macros available here, but whilst I understood the principle of what was going on, I did not try to program anything myself, as I found it all a bit beyond my technical capability. Again, this is an advanced function (to my mind), and something worth looking at briefly in the demo version, to see if it works for you. RCII allows you to easily imprint data over buttons, but simply selecting the required information from a drop-down list. As such, you can choose to have a button display battery life remaining, memory levels on your PDA, or even the current time- very useful if you are running the application in “full screen” mode, thus obscuring the normal Start bar clock. Conclusion RCII is a very competent remote control application- it performs the basics very well, and with little to no effort on behalf of the user. In terms of basic functionality, I am very impressed- it looks great in VGA and “true” VGA, and setting it up for different remotes was a breeze. Priced at $29, it is substantially cheaper than purchasing a hardware multi-remote for all your devices, and has the added benefit of being with in your pocket whenever you happen to have your PDA with you. Being able to take advantage of CIR is a huge boon, allowing control from a sensible distance, rather than having to tap a button inches from your screen. If you are not lucky enough to have a CIR-enabled device, then you might be interested in an after-market IR extender- if this is the case, then you can select the model of extender in a pop-up menu, and away you go. If you use the skins provided (or the VGA skin available for download), they are sensibly sized so that you can hit the buttons with your fingers, rather than needing to grab your stylus, although, if you don't have a screen protector, I would not advise doing this. As always, I will only ever report what I can see for myself, and that means I can't pass any form of judgment over the macro mode, other than to say that I found it a bit complicated. The other side to this coin, however, is that there is a great deal of advanced functionality under the hood for people willing to spend the necessary time learning how to use it. Setting up a link to TV pages online is very useful, and something I have never come across before. After understanding how to import CCF hex codes, I didn't have a problem doing this, but it might be a nuisance being unable to import CCF files directly. Manual IR training, which I guess will be the mainstay of the application for most users, was easy, and, as I was able to sort every remote control in my house in under 10 minutes, it would be churlish to dwell on this issue for too long. When I had trouble working with the CCF-import function, the developer answered my support queries very promptly, sending text and images to correct what was really my own error in mis-reading the guide- excellent. Although nothing I have experience of, I was interested to read that RCII supports Handheld PCs as well as the better-known "PDAs"- heard of them, but never seen one- still, useful to know that if I do ever come across one, I can use it to control my TV too, with just a change of skin file :)