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[AppleTV] HOW-TO increase ATV remote functionality with a Universal Remote Control - Printable Version

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[AppleTV] HOW-TO increase ATV remote functionality with a Universal Remote Control - aedile - 2009-04-02

Greetings,

We all know the deal: ATV is a nice package, but the remote blows for XBMC. Universal mode is there, but it is inconsistent at best, broken at worst. That being said, there is another way to get a little more functionality which I will outline right now.

You will need:
1) Apple TV (front row 2.3) and Remote
2) An old remote from something you no longer use (I'm using a dvd player remote).
3) A universal remote capable of learning (most Harmony remotes do this)

Steps:
1) Upgrade to the newest beta of launcher. There are instructions for this here:
http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=46605
2) Upgrade to the latest version of XBMC via Launcher (just to be sure).
3) Go to the remote option in settings on frontrow and learn all of the requested buttons off of your old remote. For more information on this, visit the following url:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3296
4) Download a copy of your keymap.xml file and replace the current entry for apple remote under the global node to the xml below. (You can change the functions, of course). Then copy it back over to the ATV. You can find the correct keymap.xml here:
/mnt/Scratch/Users/frontrow/Library/Application Support/XBMC/userdata.
5) Learn your current apple remote keys as well as the old remote functions into your learning remote.
6) Enjoy!

I've done this now on two apple tv's and it works like a charm. No muss, no fuss, no universal mode! It is unbelievable how much more usable the ATV is with just these few extra functions.

Special thanks to davila and MaestroDD for answering questions and sircube (who wrote a brief version of these instructions in a different thread).

--------CUT HERE FOR XML-----------------
<joystick name="AppleRemote">
<!-- plus --> <button id="1">Up</button>
<!-- minus --> <button id="2">Down</button>
<!-- left --> <button id="3">Left</button>
<!-- right --> <button id="4">Right</button>
<!-- play/pause --> <button id="5">Select</button>
<!-- menu --> <button id="6">PreviousMenu</button>

<!-- hold play --> <button id="7">Fullscreen</button>
<!-- hold menu --> <button id="8">ContextMenu</button>

<!-- old buttons (ATV <2.2) -->
<!-- hold left --> <button id="9">ShowSubtitles</button>
<!-- hold right --> <button id="10">Info</button>

<!-- Learned remote buttons (ATV >2.3) -->
<!-- Play --> <button id="70">Play</button>
<!-- Pause --> <button id="71">Pause</button>
<!-- Stop --> <button id="72">Stop</button>
<!-- Previous --> <button id="73">SkipPrevious</button>
<!-- Next --> <button id="74">SkipNext</button>
<!-- Rewind --> <button id="75">Rewind</button>
<!-- Forward --> <button id="76">FastForward</button>
<!-- Return --> <button id="77">OSD</button>
<!-- Enter --> <button id="78">ShowVideoMenu</button>
</joystick>

- criti - 2009-04-02

great tutorial, now i love my harmony 880 even more.

now i just can't wait until i can input numbers to fast skip through videos again.

- MaestroDD - 2009-04-02

aedile, thanks for the tutorial!

I've added the additional keys to default keymap.xml, so it'll be included in next release.

cheers,
DD

ATV Only, and not on a Mini running 10.5.6 I assume - Fergus - 2009-04-02

This looks great, and I'd hoped I'd be able to do something like this on my Mac Mini. I'm guessing however that this only works on ATV, as I couldn't see an equivalent "Remote" pane anywhere on the System Preferences. If I've missed anything, I'd appreciate a pointer in the right direction!

Many thanks!

Fergus

- osxrulz - 2009-04-02

Kudos!

This worked great.

- shadwarr - 2009-04-04

Thanks for the great guide!!

I'm using the Harmony 880 but can't for the life of me get the 4 button hold commands learnt in the Harmony software - I've tried at different distances, different angles and different lengths of time holding the buttons.

The other buttons from the old remote learnt fine, as were the single click apple remote ones - I just can't get the knack of the holding ones.

Any tips?

- shadwarr - 2009-04-04

shadwarr Wrote:Thanks for the great guide!!

I'm using the Harmony 880 but can't for the life of me get the 4 button hold commands learnt in the Harmony software - I've tried at different distances, different angles and different lengths of time holding the buttons.

The other buttons from the old remote learnt fine, as were the single click apple remote ones - I just can't get the knack of the holding ones.

Any tips?

Nevermind I figured it out. The trick in case anyone else is having probs is to hold it constantly and then move it back and forward, left and right until it takes.

- shadwarr - 2009-04-04

criti Wrote:great tutorial, now i love my harmony 880 even more.

now i just can't wait until i can input numbers to fast skip through videos again.

Whats the delay like on your 880? Even with the delays set to 0ms for the AppleTV the delay is much more for me using the 880 then the apple remote. I can have one in each hand and the Apple TV is much quicker to respond to multiple clicks then the 880.

- criti - 2009-04-04

shadwarr Wrote:Whats the delay like on your 880? Even with the delays set to 0ms for the AppleTV the delay is much more for me using the 880 then the apple remote. I can have one in each hand and the Apple TV is much quicker to respond to multiple clicks then the 880.

yea not sure it was just me, but i feel it is a little slower as well. maybe the custom remotes have to jump through some more hoops in the appletv software making it slower.

- shadwarr - 2009-04-04

criti Wrote:yea not sure it was just me, but i feel it is a little slower as well. maybe the custom remotes have to jump through some more hoops in the appletv software making it slower.

In theory it should be the same right? The down button on the Apple Remote is learnt by the down button on the 880 - therefore it should be the exact same command right? But the Apple TV remote has barely any delay when I hit down yet the 880 on the exact same screen is slow on the down.

I tried fiddling with the Event Server delays also - but that was not the answer.

The delays are definately 0ms in the logitech software. I also tried at 100ms to see if it made a difference but it didn't. I've had funny behaviour from the remote before - where commands would be ignored unless I flashed the firmware over the top of itself (latest over latest) which then put the commands back on.

Edit - I reflashed the 880 but still no joy.

Edit 2 - The delay can also be seen in FrontRow for the 880 but not AppleRemote, so looks like an issue with the Harmony.

- aedile - 2009-04-05

Greetings,

This delay seems to be just the nature of the beast using Universal remotes. They are not as snappy on Apple TV. I use a URC MX-3000 which is a top-of-the-line professional remote and even it has this issue. I thought at first it was because I was using the RF distribution chain, but I switched to IR and it was the same. Tried it on my old xbox 360 harmony and it was the same story. I have yet to see anything work as well as the ATV remote.

-aedile-

- davo - 2009-04-07

This is brilliant!! Followed the instructions and now have much better functionality with my Harmony 525. Well done! Smile

- chocky - 2009-04-12

I can't get this to work -I've updated to Launcher 3.0, and re-updated XBMC for good measure. My 'learned' remote works fine outside of XBMC, but in it I'm only getting standard remote functionality- up, down, left, right, play and menu.

Can anyone give me any advice on debugging this? I've seen lots of threads but they all refer to paths that don't exist with Launcher 3.0 (MultiFinder.app, etc)- I think I need to be able to read the debug output of xbmchelper, but I can't even find out how to turn that on...

- criti - 2009-04-12

chocky Wrote:I can't get this to work -I've updated to Launcher 3.0, and re-updated XBMC for good measure. My 'learned' remote works fine outside of XBMC, but in it I'm only getting standard remote functionality- up, down, left, right, play and menu.

Can anyone give me any advice on debugging this? I've seen lots of threads but they all refer to paths that don't exist with Launcher 3.0 (MultiFinder.app, etc)- I think I need to be able to read the debug output of xbmchelper, but I can't even find out how to turn that on...

what's your atv version?

- chocky - 2009-04-12

criti Wrote:what's your atv version?

Sorry, forgot to say. 2.3.1.