Long-Range Wireless Keyboard/Mouse?

tambo writes with the sort of problem more people wish they had: "I've just bought myself an excellent LCD TV. I'd love to be able to access my home server from it for many reasons (music, video, surfing, MAME, etc.) — but my home server is in another room, 30 feet away from the TV and 50 feet away from the couch. I've acquired some gear to send PC audio and video wirelessly (over the 5.8GHz range), so that's all good. My challenge now is trying to send input wirelessly to my PC from fifty feet away. I've thought about getting a wireless USB hub, but that would introduce an additional wireless hop that would probably add to the input latency (and might interfere with all the other wireless gear in my pad.) My best bet now is to get a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse that have an unusually good range, and some of the Logitechs seem to qualify, but it's a gamble. Advice?"

Comments

Gyration Go Pro 2.4 GHz

[unne]

Gyration GO PRO 2.4GHz Optical Air Mouse and Compact Keyboard Suite. Needs only an empty USB port and gives you a 100' range.

http://www.gyration.com/p-18-go-pro-24ghz-optical-air-mouse-and-compact-keyboard-suite.aspx

Logitech Bluetooth Mediaboard for the PS3

[SScorpio]

http://reviews.cnet.com/keyboards/logitech-cordless-mediaboard-for/4505-3134_7-32319140.html

My friend is using one for just this purpose. And he's about 30' or so away, and he's going through from the first room of his house to his basement and it's working great.

As for the wireless video? Are you using so type of VGA wireless solution? With an LCD TV you should be able to receive 720p or even 1080p connect. This would require either a component or HDMI/DVI connect. There are actually DVI over ethernet adapters which will send your single over the long distance without losing quality which the wireless solution I used to use has issues with. You could also just hit up http://www.monoprice.com/ and pick up a 40" HDMI cable for about $40 or so shipped. If you didn't know you can get adapters that convert DVI->HDMI and some even support sound as well.

Re:Bluetooth?

[jdcaron]

Personally I own a wireless keyboard (Adesso WKB-4000US) which I am very satisfied of. I never had to charge the batteries (AAA) since I got it (6 months). And it works either on Windows XP or Linux without any drivers to install. The range of the keyboard is good and that's fine for my usage. Also, the manufacturer says that it works up to 100 feet. But obviously it's not 100 feet through any walls or floors. So, I guess that could work for you but I don't know much what you really mean by "...in an other room..."

Otherwise, I found that my laptop is a very good alternative. I just hop on my server through VNC and I control it with my laptop. And this works from a further distance since my wireless network has a very good range.

And I'll third that!

[epp_b]

We have a Gyration keyboard and mouse set at our church. The range is awesome: The receiver and PC are at the back while the keyboard and mouse are controlled from the pulpit, well over 100 feet away.

Active Extension Cable : 16 feet

[corsec67]

So you get a USB cable that has a repeater in it.

I think the repeater is a one-port USB hub, so they could be daisy chained for a while, as long as they get enough power from the original port. Maybe have a powered USB hub that the wireless receiver plugs into.

Or you use a USB-Ethernet Extender, which sends the USB signals over an Ethernet cable. I don't think that is USB over IP, so you probably can't plug that into an ethernet switch at all.