Repurposing obsolete DVB-T decoders as remote switches

[soldar]

Spain is moving to DVB-T2 (which I guess means HD) and many older DVB-T decoders will become obsolete in less than a month. I have a bunch of them myself and no doubt many more will be given to me in the coming weeks. Mostly they could just go to recycling but I was thinking if there is any way of repurposing them, for example as remote controls. The remote control will still turn the unit on and off and that makes it easy to switch a relay or something as there is an LED which is turned on/off. It would have to be in the same room or direct line of sight.

They already sell remote control plug switches that work by radio so .... but I am still thinking if there might be some clever application for an IR remote switch.

I am thinking just on/off because trying to get use of the other keys in the remote control unit just seems too difficult.

Or maybe I am just better off salvaging the IR receiver component and dumping the rest?

Any ideas?

[tom66]

Most of the more serious units could be rooted in some way.  Which would allow full access to the remote control interface.  They usually run Linux so if you know your way around a few common exploits - finding an unlocked UART port is pretty common - you can often do what you like with these.