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[Marty3d]

Hi!
I'm thinking about buying a Logitech diNovo Mini for my MC htpc setup. Anyone have experience in using that keyboard?

Thanks!
/Martin

[Matt]

I haven't used it, but I have looked at it.  It looks interesting.

I _really_ wish they'd toss a basic IR control onto it so I could use it to turn the volume up and down on my amp.  The combination of keyboard, mouse, and IR remote would be perfect. (Belkin made an attempt at this years ago, but then quit development)

[ThoBar]

I'm using one, and it generally works well. The mouse isn't great but is functional.

For the most part a normal remote is still preferable for general htpc use, but the mini does give you that bit of flexibilty without the chunky keyboard lying around.

I agree wholeheartedly with Matt's desire for an amp-controlling capability though.

I also want to try to get on to testing some windows mobile software which will lwt me use my HTC Touch Diamond Pro (what a mouthful) as a keyboard/touchpad/gyro mouse...

[RedJ]

I got one and like it a lot.  The main reasons I went with it are:

1) It's Bluetooth.  My gear is all in a rack in the back of my theater room and the line-of-site IR remote keyboard and mice I'd been using weren't pretty unreliable.
2) It's small.  I had a fullsize theater keyboard and mouse for awhile and they were awkward to use in this setting.

I don't do a lot of heavy typing on the HTPC, but I do find that text entry is not infrequent so I can't comfortably get away with just a remote control.  I especially like that the DiNovo Mini can switch from d-pad mode to a mousepad on the fly.  Don't use a mouse heavily on the HTPC, but definitely would not be able to get by without one.  It's fully backlit so you can see what you're doing in a darkened theater room.  It's small enough to stick on the arm of the theater seats when you're not using it.  It's a fairly well designed and manufactured product.  It seems like it would be hard to come up with a better compromise solution for a home theater, assuming you are like me and would rather use your Harmony remote to control the equipment anyway.

[Marquis]

I got one and it's the best solution for replacing a standard mouse and keyboard I've seen so far. The advantages are quite clear:

1. Small, small, small and a cool design
2. useable in the dark, because of illuminated keys
2. Bluetooth (good range, stable connection)
3. Wake-up over USB (if supported by your mainboard) and stand-by over keyboard (ideal for a htpc)
4. Media Keys for volume control, next, prev, play, pause, stop are supported

But I don't want to hide the disadvantages:

1. No cradle for charging the battery
2. Needs a reset (take battery out) once a month otherwise connection is not working well
3. No support for all special keys, like F1-F12

Best regards,
  Marc

[mojave]

I use the Microsoft Entertainment Desktop 7000. It is small, light, and the navigation pad works great when you don't want to use the mouse. It doesn't have illuminated keys, but has most of the other benefits of the diNovo Mini. The Desktop 8000 has illuminated keys and is rechargeable. However, I don't have to change the batteries very often in the 7000.

[Marty3d]

Thanks for all the great feedback!

A (stupid?) question: Can you use the keyboard together with a standard keyboard/mouse combo? The computer working as a HTPC is also used for som desktop duties... and since it's not optimal to type on, I just realized it could be a showstopper.

[Marty3d]

Thanks everyone for all your information! the keyboard is on its way as a early christmas gift from me to me

[Marty3d]

Got the keyboard!
Now, I'm looking for a way to use the Previous/Next to seek or fast forward/rewind through a file? Als, it would be nice to start MC in some way (preferrable in Theater View mode). Now I just mapped one of the media buttons to a *.bat-file with the command "mc12.exe /Mode Theater" (yes, mc12, haven't got the time to explore 13 fully yet).

Any tips? This is probably applicable on any Logitech keyboard.

Thanks!

[mojave]

To start in Theater View go to Tools > Options > Startup > Mode and select Theater View. It will now start in Theater View mode every time. I also mapped a button on my remote to Ctrl+3 so that with a push of a button I can switch between Theater View and Display View.

[Marty3d]

To start in Theater View go to Tools > Options > Startup > Mode and select Theater View. It will now start in Theater View mode every time. I also mapped a button on my remote to Ctrl+3 so that with a push of a button I can switch between Theater View and Display View.

The CTRL-3 is a good tip! About the startup mode, I don't want to start MC in Theater View mode all the time since I mostly listen to music. It's only a couple of evenings that we watch video. So it could be nice (but a minor issue though) to start it in Theater View by pressing a button on th remote.

But more important is the seek/ff/rew thing. I browsed all the posts here and saw the player.ini hack, I'm going to try that.

[Marty3d]

As I mentioned in another thread, the player.ini hack didn't work.

Does seeking work in MC13? It doesn't IN mc12.