Finally, after more than two years on the market, the PS3 is getting a mainstream solution to a glaring issue with the Playstation 3… namely, lack of infra-red remote control support (ie. universal remote controls.)  What’s that you say?  You’ve seen infra-red remote controls for the PS3 on store shelves?  Sure you have… but they only work after you turn on your PS3 by some other means because they didn’t support turning your PS3 on or off, only controlling (usually) limited functions such as DVD playback controls, etc.

Keep reading for more info…

Sure, there are also after-market kits (some very expensive) that convert infra-red to the Bluetooth control the PS3 expects, but those are usually some combination of expensive, dubious build quality, or hard to find.  Even when you do find and buy them, most aren’t simply plug and play leaving a fair amount of tinkering involved.  What Logitech is doing, as uncovered by some folks at engadget.com, is releasing a presumably “consumer friendly” module that will accept infra-red signals from your universal remote (clearly Logitech’s own Harmony line is their desired remote to use, but it’s unclear if this product will work with other remotes or not… my money says it will, but will be discouraged) and send the commands back out as Bluetooth commands for the PS3 to pick up.  At the end of the day, this means full PS3 remote functionality without the typical third-party remote limitations such as limited support or hogging up a USB port.

Make no mistake, other than the lack of backlighting, I think the PS3’s “official” Bluetooth remote is a really great remote at an unexpectedly great price, but I already have a Harmony 880 and would LOVE to run 100% of my equipment from that remote instead of “everything by my PS3″ as it stands now.

We’re still in the dark in terms of price and release dates, but judging by the other Harmony product prices, this thing could end up being a little pricier than I’d like but like many other folks, I’d probably pay more than I like just to get the “universal” universal remote setup I’ve wanted since purchasing a PS3.  Heck, when you think about it, even the Xbox 360 branded Harmony should work with this thing… and that just seems so… wrong.

Popularity: 1% [?]