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Full Version: Looking for the pink unicorn of remote control inputs...
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I have a problem! We are in the process of building an in-wall cabinet to house all of our AV and home automation equipment. It will, for all intents and purposes, be out of line of sight. I already have an RF remote with RS-232, internet and IR blaster ability. My *preferenece*, born out of simplicity, would be to have individual IR blasters at all devices except the TV which is nowhere near the equipment. I would LOVE to find a PCI IR receiver that I could install into my XBMC system. Currently, I am using FLIRC, which has served me well, but I want something internal once I rack mount all my equipment.

So:
1.) Does an PCI IR receiver exist? And where would I find one? Or what other internal IR options exist?
or
2.)How do I control XBMC via incoming RS-232 connection?
or
3.)You tell me the best way to do this.

For what its worth an external IR receiver is absolutely out of the question. Nothing like making this tough, huh?

Thanks in advance
XBMC can be controlled in many ways that are better than pointing an IR transmitter at an IR receiver, if your aim is to control xbmc via some home automation system. The JSON/RPC interface would be far more reliable.

However if you are stuck on IR, you can get a regular USB IR receiver and plug it into a USB header on your motherboard, then epoxy the receiver on the inside of the case, just inside a hole you drilled for it.
A lot of computers with internal IR are actually just using a soldered on USB connection internally. I'd do what nickr suggests and just use an internal header. That or just a rear USB port. If someone does sell a PCI IR receiver, it'd probably just be a USB PCI card with a USB IR adapter soldered onto it ;)
I certainly have no issue with JSON RPC control, I think that would probably be the best solution. I just unfortunately don't know my head from a hole in the ground when it comes to JSON programming.It may prove to be a tad out of my depth.
Can you tell us a bit more about your setup? There are various automation solutions I have seen here. What is your overall goal?
I want the darn thing to work and not have dongles, USB receivers sticking out... Smile

We are having a new remote system installed literally as I type this. The remote will control the receiver, amp, TV, XBMC (obviously), XBOX and cable box. It has the ability to communicate with a relay station via RF, so that I can have everything out of sight. The relay station can then communicate to individual components via network connection, IR blasters, or RS-232. nickr, I feel you are correct about JSON/RPC control via network being the best option. The cleanest installation of this system (fewest wires) would be for me to program the remote to send the actual JSON code to the base station, which is then transmitted over the network to the XBMC. The remote relay is quite capable of doing this. My problem, is that I don't know how to create the JSON code to make XBMC do anything. I checked out the Wiki, and found examples of JSONRPC codes, installed REST chrome extension, and have been trying to make it do *anything*, to no avail. I believe that JSON, is likely out of my ability range. I am not looking to have immense control, quite honestly, I'm content with up, down, left, right, select, back, context menu, info... truly the basics to start with, and maybe I can teach myself the bigger stuff down the road. Luckily, I have a year or so before the system HAS to be RF controlled, for now, IR still works. I haven't begun building the doors to the cabinet yet.

Ideally, if someone could provide me with the JSON codes for the basic commands, that would be perfect. I use my iPhone with xbmcRemote all the time, and the "Remote Control" function of that program would serve my purposes almost without fail.

I don't know if any of this helps... I hate feeling like I'm over my head!!
What software does this relay station run?
It is a ProControl Prolink.z... So, I'm sure it is totally proprietary. My, basilar understanding is that it passes through commands from the remote. The only function (programming) that the relay, they call it a processor, does is to know "this signal goes to output Y". Basically, the remote tells it what system it is trying to talk to, so you program the processor to correlate system X with output Y.
I just did a quick google of "ProControl MCE" and "ProControl XBMC" and there's actually a bunch of info out there. I haven't looked too deeply into it, but it sounds like other people have set up something similar.
Thanks for the response Ned,

I reviewed the hits from the search you suggested. Most of them I had already come across. The remainder, in-so-far as I could find, were on setting the ProConrol remote up as an MCE remote. While, that would work for the remote input for an internalized IR receiver, it still leaves me with a less than ideal outcome. I am sure, that you are correct and the easiest play would be to epoxy an (otherwise external) IR receiver to the inside of the chasis. But I must admit, the more I look into the range of possibilities of the JSON connection over the network, the more interested in that I get.

I am going to close this thread, as I think it has basically run its course.I sincerely appreciate the thoughts and advice nickr and Ned Scott
I think the fairly closed nature of the system you have chosen is regrettable. I downloaded and read the instructions and couldn't make much sense of how to use the ethernet control function at all. I wouldn't go outside an open system like openhab or similar myself. https://github.com/openhab/openhab/wiki/XBMC-Binding

(Not that I am trying to bum you out about your choice! There may yet be a way!)