I've been wondering if it would be possable to connect an IR reciever from an old VCR to a USB cable and write/reverse engineer a driver for it so that the remote could be used on a pc, Crazy?

I am basing this theory on the assumption that the reciever is infact a very simple device, I have salvaged a number of them from old stereos and VCRs and they all seem to have three connectors, again i assume these MUST be

1.input from video recorder
2.output from the receiver
3.power into the receiver

there are three pins coming out of the small circut. i connected these three pins to the corresponding internal wires of a usb cable and plugged it in, at which point i was informed by windows that new hardware had been installed and I did not have a driver for it.
i am guessing that the ir reciever is a fairly simple device that will output 1's and 0's in various modes through its pins as long as it has power and input from its remote control. ya follow?
would it be possable to write a small driver to interpret the pulses (use the remote on the pc)
thank you very much for reading and thank you even more if you have any thaughts to express on the matter.

In short, yes, it would be possible. If you're guessing and connecting wires to your PC, then your PC's life is in danger! The easiest (and safest) way to analyse the receiver's output is with a 'scope. Failing that, have a look at interfacing with your parallel (printer) port (see inpout.dll at http://www.logix4u.net or search for 'inpout.dll' or 'parallel interface') - you can see exactly what's coming out of the receiver, and start thinking about decoding it. DON'T put more than 5 volts on the printer port!! (and buffer that with resistors)- you'll kill it. Don't forget that VCR & TV remotes are manufacturer specific i.e. a Sony remote puts out different codes to (say) a Mitsubishi, and one remote probably won't work (or won't work correctly) with someone else's device. Some manufacturers' remotes won't even work with different models! If you can't write code, either learn (Microsoft VC++ is available as a free download from the MS website), or forget it- what you're proposing is too device specific ....unless someone out there knows different?