Is it possible to have 2 media center PCs next to each other and be able to control each of them from their own remote control separately?

No matter which remote I use, it controls both Media Center PCs. I would like to be able to change the frequency of one of the remotes and correspondingly change the frequency that one of the PCs uses to control it --  that way I can have 2 remotes, but each one of them will only correspond to a specific PC.

Is this possible?

I doubt it. I don't think that a remote sends out a remote control id code first? Even if it did, VMC doesn't read it, and I don't think from my experiments that an addin could get hold of it either - but, I may be wrong.

Edit: I'm glad I added that disclaimer, 'cause it looks like I was (mostly) wrong! :(
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V

That's a tough one.  The only thing I can think of is an expensive Remote Setup that is WiFi based and does RS-232 control.  Don't know what your budget is?  But typical IR is not going to happen with the current setup.

Dwight2001

Sure you can do this.  In Media Center 2005 you can use TweakMCE to change the remote ID for each different PC.  If you are using Vista, I assume you need to find the registry key that it relates to now.

Chris:

Well one of my PCs is Media Center 2005 and the other is Vista. I'll see if I can make the change within MCE2005, but if both remotes output the same IR signal, then that does me little good -- unless you're suggesting I use a 3rd party remote control.

Install TweakMCE on MCE 2005 and change the Remote ID to 2.  I believe Vista is going to be set at 1.  That means, the remote you use to set MCE 2005 to 2 will only control MCE 2005 PC.  The other remote, currently set to 1 will just control the Vista PC.

That's what you looking for, right?

Settings for mce 2005
 
Set Remote Control ID - To enable your Media Center to respond to a specific remote control ID do the following; 1. Press and hold the DVD Menu key on the remote then press a number button (1-8) for 5 seconds. Remotes with visible LED signal indicators will blink twice to confirm the change. 2. Enter that same number below. 3. Save. 4. Restart the Media Center PC. Note: To enable Media Center to respond to all remotes use the number 0. A reboot is required for this setting to take effect.

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da
Registry value - CodeSetNum0
Registry value data type - REG_DWORD
This setting also requires deleting the following registry values:

Registry key - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da
Registry value - CodeSetNum1
Registry value - CodeSetNum2
Registry value - CodeSetNum3

Edit: Backup the registry first.

 

okay. That fixed it for when I use the vista remote, but it doesn't fix it for when I use the MCE05 remote.
When I use the vista remote, just the Vista MCE is affected. But when I use the MCE05 remote, both machines still get controlled.

Is there a Vista version of TweekMCE so I can do the same thing for Vista?

There isn't a Vista version of TweakMCE.

This is a really useful thread for me; I have the same problem at work, and usually my way around it has been to use a remote with one PC, keyboard and mouse with the other. But in my case, at this point everything in my office is Vista-based.

I gotta admit, I didn't know about that setting in Tweak MCE.  Jessica, is there going to be a Tweak VMC?

Dwight2001

I doubt it, but I don't know for sure. Probably not a tool created by Microsoft and released by Microsoft.

This is a great thread.  I'm doing this so I can control my Xbox 360 with one remote and the Media Center next to it with another, without interference; both remotes are MCE remotes.

Now that I have the Remote Control ID set on both the Media Center and the MCE remote (7), things are working great; the XBOX remote is set to (8).  However, now the "MCE" keys on my MCE keyboard are not functioning (as expected) with my media center, but I am not sure how to change the remote ID on it.

Holding the DVD Menu + 1-8 on the MCE keyboard does not seem to do the trick.  Anyone know how to program the keyboard??

Rob

Anyone?

hmm..  I'm not sure the keyboard was able to be changed..   I've been lazy to get multi-vista machines to do this..

BTW!!!   this is more for todd, but I would love to see this ability with 360s..   open floor plan houses are the biggest pain in the next to get all the hardware to place nice with remote controls.

Jessica, Matt Goyer used to make the tweakmce tool and its been under the media center powertoys on the ms website.  

Yeah, I know. I'm saying you won't see an update to it (tweakmce) for Vista.