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ZombieRobot · 2011-08-25, 21:24

Hey guys just wanted to point this out to anyone who is not already aware of its existence XBMC posted it on their facebook page today what it essentially does is allows you to communicate with your htpc with your standard tv remote (like sony bravia link) you can turn on the tv and control xbmc all with the same standard remote kinda cool just wanted to point it out.

http://www.pulse-eight.com/store/product...apter.aspx

Quartermass · 2011-08-26, 12:58

Oooh! That'll be handy. I have a Panasonic G30 and the remote control for it is great in comparison to third party remotes... it'd be amazing if I could get it to control XBMC.

Balinus · 2011-08-26, 17:14

Quartermass Wrote:Oooh! That'll be handy. I have a Panasonic G30 and the remote control for it is great in comparison to third party remotes... it'd be amazing if I could get it to control XBMC.

You let us know if that works. I have a G25. Smile

tboooe · 2011-08-26, 17:56

I am a bit confused about this product. How would this allow me to control XBMC via my TV remote? Am I missing something?

T800 · 2011-08-26, 18:46

tboooe Wrote:I am a bit confused about this product. How would this allow me to control XBMC via my TV remote? Am I missing something?

It's not very clear what it can actually do or how it works.

Quartermass · 2011-08-26, 20:26

I'm a little clearer on it...

I've gone and ordered one as well as the Pulse Eight remote...

The device intercepts signals sent into the HDMI port and sends them to a USB port. If your TV has the feature (Panasonic call it Viera Link) then you can have the TV send commands from the TV remote. Normally it'd be to the DVD player or the amp, but there's no reason why it couldn't do it for XBMC. Additionally it can be made to send HDMI signals to your TV.

That means you can use the device in two ways.

1) You can keep your TV remote and use some of the functions on it to control XBMC.
2) You can get rid of the TV remote, and use your XBMC to control XBMC and also the TV

Route 2 is the right one for me I think. I've ordered the remote so that I'll be able to use it to control the TV and XBMC. The remote itself looks better quality than the MCE one I'm using, and since it's RF and not IR then it should function better too.

**lloydsmart** · 2011-08-26, 20:35

This looks very cool, I want one! I too have a nice Panasonic remote, and would love to use it for XBMC. My TV (VT20) already integrates nicely with my amp (Onkyo 705) to do the volume, etc. It would be awesome to have it control my media center aswell - no need for IR on the HTPC, then!

ph77 · 2011-08-26, 20:43

tboooe Wrote:I am a bit confused about this product. How would this allow me to control XBMC via my TV remote? Am I missing something?

First of all you'll need a TV (or another HDMI device) with a remote that supports CEC protocol. My Samsung TV has it as Anynet+. I have a Canon HD camera (with CEC support) which I can connect to the TV through a HDMI cable and then from my TV remote (Anynet+ button) I can access the interface of the camera (browsing/playing/editing videos & photos) instantly and *without* the need to reprogram the remote.

The device above will give CEC support to a PC.
I'm guessing that with the usage of libCEC (will be provided by the same company), somebody can write an interface that is exposed when you access the PC from a CEC remote. An XBMC addon for example could expose the XBMC functionality and automatically map the remote keys to xbmc keys (navigation, menu, volume, power button, etc). Sounds sweet.

Quartermass · 2011-08-27, 09:04

lloydsmart Wrote:This looks very cool, I want one! I too have a nice Panasonic remote, and would love to use it for XBMC. My TV (VT20) already integrates nicely with my amp (Onkyo 705) to do the volume, etc. It would be awesome to have it control my media center aswell - no need for IR on the HTPC, then!

I don't know how limited it'll be though. Remember only commands that the TV sends down the pipe will count. I imagine your remote is very similar to mine and there's enough on it to do the job, I know that when I pressed the "i" button when XBMC was connected the TV just told me it was at 60 hz etc. I think that means it wouldn't send the "i" down the line to XBMC through CEC. Probably though l,r,u,d and ok will work, along with back, and exit? Not sure if the coloured buttons will work.. if they do then that would cover everything you'd need for XBMC i think.

A more elegant solution I think is to add the function to turn the TV or or off to another remote control, along as using the volume controls on the TV (or amp) and having other volumes static. Although the Panasonic remote is nice, it's still IR (or at least I think it is!) and an RF remote would be a step forwards.

**Malard** · 2011-08-27, 13:30

ph77 Wrote:First of all you'll need a TV (or another HDMI device) with a remote that supports CEC protocol. My Samsung TV has it as Anynet+. I have a Canon HD camera (with CEC support) which I can connect to the TV through a HDMI cable and then from my TV remote (Anynet+ button) I can access the interface of the camera (browsing/playing/editing videos & photos) instantly and *without* the need to reprogram the remote.

The device above will give CEC support to a PC.
I'm guessing that with the usage of libCEC (will be provided by the same company), somebody can write an interface that is exposed when you access the PC from a CEC remote. An XBMC addon for example could expose the XBMC functionality and automatically map the remote keys to xbmc keys (navigation, menu, volume, power button, etc). Sounds sweet.

XBMC core will have libCEC integrated into it over the next few weeks. So you won't need to do anything to get the benefit

teaguecl · 2011-08-28, 23:03

Rainshadow has had this device for a few years now - it's a really good idea. I hope the Pulse8 version is as hackable as the RS is. I've used it's CEC to control a receiver, and it's RS232 to control my LG television through it's debug port - brilliant!
The CEC bridge is a very nice way to take an ordinary remote and give it significantly improved abilities.
http://rainshadowtech.com/default_files/HDMICECUSB.htm

**Malard** · 2011-08-29, 09:36

We've know about the rainshadow tech version for some time, but the issue I've always had with it is the lofty price tag,

There is no serial port on the USB - CEC Adapter from Pulse-Eight but libCEC will allow you to do anything you like, XBMC will use it through a new Peripherals subsystem in development

aptalca · 2011-08-29, 14:39

If the signals go through the hdmi cable, why is this device needed (that essentially uses a usb connection to the htpc)?

Can't the htpc receive the signals directly through the hdmi and send them on there??

What I mean is, can't this hdmi-cec protocol supported by software?

Thanks

**lloydsmart** · 2011-08-29, 16:45

aptalca - The reason for this device is that most (if not all) graphics cards out today have not implemented the necessary support for HDMI-CEC in hardware. No software solution can solve this, hence the need for the device from Pulse8.

What this device does, is take the a/v signal from the HTPC's HDMI output, and inject control messages received via USB. It then sends a signal on it's HDMI output that includes the controls received via USB and a/v received via HDMI.

So yes, the signals go through the HDMI cable, but the current crop of HDMI hardware for PCs don't support CEC, so we have to use USB instead and inject the commands outside the PC with a device like this.

Ideally, we would have full support for CEC in our graphics cards, and wouldn't need a device like this.

Hope that clears things up.