RF and IR Keyboard and Mouse

[solfood]

I'm about to purchase a keyboard and mouse combo for my (ALMOST!!) finished cocktail cabinet.  I've never owned a wireless mouse or keyboard and have a couple of questions.

Does the reciever end need to be outside the cabinet or can it be stowed inside?  I assume that the IR needs to have line of site but do the radio frequencies make it through the cabinet?  I don't really want to have the reciever end stuck to the side of the cab and have it ruin the looks.

Are there any compatability problems with an IPAC and wireless combo?

thanks!

[crashwg]

You are correct on the IR thing, it indeed needs a "line of sight" from keyboard/mouse to reciever to work.  Therefore you will need to mount the reciever so it can "see" outside the cab.

RF on the other hand, does not need to be mounted on the outside, it will send and recieve right through the sides of the cab.  Just think of it like your cordless phone, the reciever may be downstairs in the living room, but you've gone upstairs downstairs and even outside with it haven't you?  Same principle but with less power, so keep in mind that the wood or mdf of your cab will decrease the range of the RF, but how far would you realy want to be from the cab while using it anyway...

[NoOne=NBA=]

I have a Microsoft RF mouse, and get about 4 feet through my cab.

I did have to move the receiver to the other side of my monitor though.
I think the RF leaking out of the monitor was interfering with it in the first location I placed it.

[Brad Lee]

I've got a IR key/mouse. Over my monitor Ive got tinted plexi, and there was an inch or so clearance between the top of the TV and the enclosure. I tucked it in there, behind the plexi so you cant see it from outside. It's near the center of the cab so it has pretty good peripheral range as well as up n down

[Minwah]

I have a Logitech RF keyboard/mouse, with the xmitter thing stuck inside the cab (half-way up, in the middle), and the range with full batteries is still 6' or more...seems to have reduced to ~3' with flat-ish batteries in the keyboard...