The VideoLAN Forums

Trying to find user-friendly HTPC remote.
One purpose is - watching DVD ripped without compression - complete with DVD menu, or just Main Movie (VLC allows navigating directly to any chapter even if all you have is Main Movie).
Also - watching compressed movies - FLV, AVI, etc.
Also - watching video streams from sites like ninjavideo.net - this has nothing to do with VLC, though sometimes I record FLV stream for future enjoyment via VLC.

Preferences:
RF (to avoid pointing to desktop PC);
Hands-friendly and intuitive - with comfortable buttons for FF, Next, Prev, Pause, Play, Stop (already labeled, or easy to customize - I am not much into "C" programming). It won't be controlling other hardware but PC, or other media player but VLC. But it will be used for web navigation, so mouse function and scrolling is a must.
Not absolutely necessary, but desirable to work with Eventghost or similar tools.

Finally, my question (sorry, I'm still dummy): is there anything in retail in USA or Canada? I checked ATI Wonder II and SnapStream Firefly - nobody sells them anymore.
Off-topic here, but I've hit the wall with other options, like network players - those are crippled devices, playback problem with some formats, and none of them has mouse function in remote.

I've used a Keyspan remote for a while. Keyspan offers several remotes, incl. ones with RF. Don't know if any of these do mouse control.
http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/mo ... delID=3901

For my HTPC, I settled on using a keyboard (Apple wireless keyboard), mouse and a Griffin PowerMate volume controller.

Keyspan looks nice. Probably some keys can move mouse cursor up/down/left/right. But, once you're outside of Win Media Center or similar portal, for scrolling/clicking in webpages you need more freedom of movement.

So far I've found 2 more remotes with real mouse function, each one with better layout than ATI RW:

$130 ZV remote with Touchpad http://www.zeevee.com/accessories/zvremote ($100 remote + $30 receiver).

$60 GYR4101 (successor to GYR3101) has Wii-style mouse control http://www.gyration.com/index.php/us/pr ... emote.html. Gyration is the patent-holder of Wii technology.

GYR buttons can be bundled with keyboard shortcuts using http://www.eventghost.org/docs/supported_receivers.html which means you can control pretty much any software without a mouse (but mouse is still necessary for web pages). There were complaints on poor impact resistance of GYR3 remote, but they offer 2 years warranty.

Does anybody know if ZV buttons can control VLC right off the box, or can be programmed by Eventghost or similar soft? There are no reviews of ZV remote, and manufacturer is the only place that sells it.

Whatever you do, stay away from the Keyspan Tripp Lite Products, especially the URM-15T http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/mo ... delID=3910
The custom mapping features do not work. Support across common OS platforms, such as Win7 (x64) are non-existant.

It sure looks nice and compact. And with all the great documentation, how hard can it be?

Well ... it can be impossible --- because the product itself is such a piece of crap.