Control your PS3 (slim) with another, normal, non Bluetooth/Sony remote. This also works with PS4 and PS4 Pro.
Like many people, we like our home automation and home cinema. So the Sony PS3 (and to a lesser extent the Nintendo Wii) are a royal pain when you find you can't use "one remote to rule them all".
Previously we've used the PS3 ToothFairy (an infra-red to Bluetooth adaptor) to allow our remote controls to control the PS3, but this required another box (the Toothfairy) and a power supply (either in the form of a socket filling plug, or, ironically, a USB power feed from something else, like the Wii....)
But, more recently, we acquired a new, network enabled Onkyo series A/V receiver. And this has changed the game nicely in our favour....we imagine this will work on non Onkyo equipment, but for these instructions, we're referring to the Onkyo....
A Sony PS3 (Slim model, not original/Fat)
An Onkyo "N" series A/V receiver with HDMI inputs (i.e. TX-NR609/NR616 etc)
Connect your PS3 to the BD/DVD HDMI input on the
Set your PS3 to use HDMI (instructions here)
On your PS3, go to Settings > System Settings > Control for HDMI and turn it On
On your Onkyo, go to Setup > Hardware > HDMI > HDMI CEC (RIHD) and turn it On
On your Onkyo remote control, press and hold the DISPLAY and BD/DVD until the remote LED lights red. Then enter 32910. The LED should flash and go out.
You should now be able to control your PS3 with the cursor buttons on the Onkyo remote app, as long as you press BD/DVD on the remote first.
Note: If you want to take it a step further, you can drive the Onkyo (and thereby the PS3) via TCP/IP. You need to enable "Network Control" of your Onkyo, and for this example, we're assuming the default port of 60128 is left "as is"
Using your app/method of choice (we like OpenRemote), transmit the HEX string 0x4953435000000010000000090100000021314344565057524F4E0D to the IP address on your Onkyo on TCP port 60128 - this should "power on" the PS3. (your program may require the leading 0x to be removed)
The "prefix" for all HEX commands is 43 44 56 50 57 52 4f 4e and the suffix is always 0D
You can find a complete list of Onkyo commands in a spreadsheet here - the "CDV" prefix for DVD Player Operation Commands is your friend here
We use the Ascii to Hex website to convert CDV commands such as CDVPWRON to 43 44 56 50 57 52 4f 4e
Remove the spaces and capitalise (4344565057524F4E)
Combine the prefix, command string and suffix 0x495343500000001000000009010000002131 + 4344565057524F4E + 0D (obviously remove the + and spaces)
Repeat for each command