I love the Xbox, and everything it does. However, there’s one annoying little thing that you simply can’t do, turn it on and off remotely. Yes, I know this makes me supreme of lazy, but since it’s so tied into my Home Theater setup, it would be extremely nice if I could operate its powerstate like I do all the other components in my system.
If you visit Xbox-Scene, there is a tutorial on how to do it, but it requires you to find a specific chip and then program it. Since I don’t have a programmer, that was kind of out of my league. Of course, someone figured this would be an easy way to make a few bucks. Welcome the XIR from CheapLPC.
I purchased the Pro version, because I’m ok with spending less and having to do one solder connection. Installation was a snap; simply slide some wires into the motherboard molex connector, and solder the one point. Granted, the one solder point was a bit awkward because of it’s location, but definitely not that hard by any stretch. I had to reprogram the Pronto last night with the xbox remote configuration, since I currently don’t have an xbox remote. This, unfortunately, took the vast majority of my time because I pretty much redid my whole configuration since so much had changed (no more DVD player, Colleen’s, no more Digital Cable Box). However, the XIR preformed flawlessly, just as advertised. I slipped the IR Receiver so it just pokes out on the front display and now when there’s a commercial or nothing on TV worth watching, I can easily flip to the xbox without having to get up to turn it on. The thing can even turn on and off my modchip via the remote. I just have to install a (not included) wire from it to the dreaded d0 point. Granted, for me, there’s no real reason to have the modchip off, but who knows.
Now all I need is some Wireless Controllers, and I’m all set. Granted, they are already on my Amazon.com Wishlist, so here’s wishing.