"remote" For Laptop

when watching a movie in VLC, WMP, etc., i find it a real pain tryna locate the play/pause/rew/ff buttons. an old-school remote u could manage in the dark, solely by feel, but on-screen controls u gotta perk up and go squint at the screen. really takes u out of the film.

is there a way around this? i recall physical "remotes" for PCs back around 2005, but they never caught on. do they even exist anymore?

it's even worse as far as VOLUME CONTROL is. i kinda miss one of my old lappies which had a physical DIAL on the side. none of my recent ones have had so. again, u gotta sit up and do it all on the screen. what a pain!

 

Many TV cards came with remotes, but Windows also had a Media Center Edition (HTPC - Home Theater PC) that had an IR remote. Google "Windows media remote" or "htpc", there are some solutions, even apps you can run on a phone or tablet to control VLC. There is a popular one called the Flirc that you can use your own remote.

 

for a start, if i could assign the main functions to 4-5 specific KEYS, i could prolly get used to that. space bar for start/stop, for example.

it's the "dragging the cursor back atop button" part which requires vision.

i feel like we're going backwards. when someone caught me watching pr0n back in the 80s, i could hit mute in a hurry. when someone caught me watching pr0n back in the 00s, i could turn down that DIAL in a hurry. when someone catches me watching pr0n nowadays, i'm a good 30+ secs fumbing around trying to find the on-screen controls! is this any way to run a society?!?!?!

 

Have a look at this app that turns a smartphone into a remote control.
https://vlcmobileremote.com/pc-remote/

 

Just another idea, if you have a wireless joystick there are tools out there you can assign keys / shortcuts to control different things.
Joy2key, Xpadder... https://alternativeto.net/software/xpadder/

 

Another option might be to use the app's built-in keyboard shortcuts. VLC.