wireless keyboard with trackpad

[McBainUK]

Came across this KeySonic wireless Keyboard and wondered if anyone has any experiacne with it, or a similar item? It has an integrated trackpad which would be useful in a HTPC enviroment.

[stustunz]

logitech have one but the pad is to the side

[herbs]

I have the exact keyboard for my second pvr, to be truthful I don't use it much but works fairly well. The only issue I have is when the pc awakes from hibernate I have to press the windows key a few times to get the keyboard and pointer to wake as well. If it helps I have had the keyboard about 6-7 months and haven't changed the battery but as I said I don't use it too much, I got mine from ebuyer. I personally prefer my btc 9019 keyboard which is a lot larger but has taken some battering and still works, well the rubber feet have fallen off and the rubber on the pointer has fallen off but it works well after two years of abuse. One thing is that the receiver is more sensitive on the BTC model than the Keysonic, the btc will control my pc from another room, the keysonic will not.

[Rickos]

Hi,
I've been using that particular keyboard (also sourced from ebuyer) for almost a year now, no issues, it's been fairly robust, gets flung about in the living room, sees fairly frequent use, and the batteries haven't run out yet.
It does need a few keypresses to wake it up.

the range is fairly good too (the blurb says 10 metres, i haven't tested that far), my PVR is in the cellar & the room above is the living room & is seperated by the wooden beams/floorboards/carpet, a good 8-10 feet+ away from the keyboard normally, and i've not experience any responsiveness issues.

hth
Rick

[JonnyCam]

I use one of these (actually 2, one for PVR, one for client) BTC KB's

They work really well, and the handgrips make pass it to someone easy, plus the location of the mouse buttons / stick make it very easy to operate. It's got scroll keys beside the stick, and you can push the stick in for left click ()as well as left / right beign on the left hand side)

It's also got little indents on the bottom for resting on your legs / lap.
Very pleased with this, but hard to find in NZ now. I got them for about $40 NZD.

The operating distance is up to 5m I guess, maybe more, and the 2 KB's sit on different channels and don't interfere with each other.

[thebruce]

I bought the the Adesso WKB-4000 keyboard. It's the identical twin of that Keysonic. I didn't like it because the generic HID driver it uses doesn't allow you to turn off the "tapping" feature. I kept accidentally dragging and dropping system folders to unknown places on my hard drive! And it ate batteries like they were popcorn.

I'm saving up for the Logitech diNovo Edge..... mmmmm, diNovo...... (drool).

Why haven't manufacturers come out with a decent HTPC keyboard/pointer device yet? The diNovo Edge is the only one I can find that has all the features a HTPC keyboard should have (except the price).

Rechargeable
Built in Trackball or Touchpad (directional pad is too slow)
Scroll wheel
Backlit keys
Wireless RF or Bluetooth
Mini or Laptop keyboard sized
Configurable driver
Decent price

[Obsidian]

I've got one of the keysonic keyboards. I've found it to be very good actually, my only gripe is that the scroll bar on the right side of the trackpad doesn't feel any different to the rest of the pad, so I often accidentally scroll when I am moving the pad right. It's a really useful thing to have for the PVR anyway, imho.

[mlippitt]

I use one of these (actually 2, one for PVR, one for client) BTC KB's

They work really well, and the handgrips make pass it to someone easy, plus the location of the mouse buttons / stick make it very easy to operate. It's got scroll keys beside the stick, and you can push the stick in for left click ()as well as left / right beign on the left hand side)

.

JonnyCam, Thanks for the tip on the BTC keyboard ! I just got one and am very pleased with it.

With Windows Media Player the Play and Pause buttons work, but with PVRX2 they aren't. The volume and mute buttons work with both. Any idea how to get the Play and Pause to work with PVRX2?

Thanks,
Mark

[Flipper]

I second the BTC 9019URF recommendation.

I'm typing this message using one while sitting on my couch on the main floor, while the computer is down in the basement. No issues about range or delay, unlike some other wireless keyboards, and a pair of AA batteries has been lasting for months now. It's light and compact, and pretty much disappears when sitting next to my black stereo equipment.

I don't use it much for PVR though, since I much prefer my Universal Remote Control RF20 for that. The media buttons work fine with GBPVR.exe, can't speak for PVRX2.

[JonnyCam]

With Windows Media Player the Play and Pause buttons work, but with PVRX2 they aren't. The volume and mute buttons work with both. Any idea how to get the Play and Pause to work with PVRX2?

You will either need to use the KeyMaestro program to reprogram them to the PVRX2 key combinations, or use something like HIP so that the key configs are set depending on which application has focus) (otherwise they will be set globally, and they keys won't work in WMP)

Cheers