Win Zotac Zbox ID80 plus + Remote controller configuration
#1
Hello.

First of all I would like to thank all people who work on this project and for all help and support from you guys and I apologize for my poor English.

I got Zotac Zbox plus ID80 and I feel the need to share my opinion.
running windows 7 home premium 32 bit - XBMC Eden.

Simply it is: slim, small quiet and fast enough to play 3D 1080p full SBS smoothly, but I had difficulty with the remote control configuration, I search the forum and other forums but no luck. finally after many tries and searching I was able to configure the remote controller buttons to work with XBMC even the red-green-yellow and blue buttons.

the remote use the generic HID driver " USB Input device" not use the Microsoft MCE driver, so any steps or setting to configure mce remote through Registry will not work.


Here are the steps to get all the buttons work:
1- download the latest version of Eventghost it comes with the xbmc plugin.
2- start new configuration and delete every thing under configuration tree- leave only the Autostart.
3- add plugin from remote menu Generic HID- from the window device name u will find 4 of MCE USB IR Receiver - Spinel Plus- select the first one - then and the plugin again and select the 2nd one - repeat until u add all of them (4): this important because the remote use each driver to control group of buttons .
4 - add the plugin Keyboard ( because some buttons like numbers are emulation keyboard keys).
5 - now if u press any button u will see at left window the key code for each button - check all the buttons to make sure that u got the plugins all works for all buttons .

6 - now we are ready to assign keys to XBMC - on right window add folder and name it any thing - like xbmc .
7 - while the folder is selected add micro and select from the menu XBMC2 - buttons - then the action u want (for example the button "info")
8 - now the micro "Xbmc- info will be in the right window" press on the remote control the "I" button - and u will see the code in left window - Drag it to the micro XBM-info.
9- repeat the steps for all required keys.
10 - launch xbmc and try the remote - it should work .


The Green start button always runs windows Media center - in my case I removed it from my computer and I used EVENGhost to assign run application xbmc.



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#2
hello,

A novice here. I've got a zotac ad10 ( with remote control as well ) and installed W7/XBMC.

I've tried to configure the remote control as you did but I wasn't able to configure the "WMC button" to start the XBMC. It's the only one that can't be detected when pushing it by eventghost!!! ( EventGhost 0.4.1.r1568, Apr 05 2012 )

any idea what I'm doing wrong? BTW, I didn't find 4 MCE plugins but 2 in that version of eventghost....

thanks is advance!
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#3
thank you i setup my zotac remote using your guide.
great now zotac remote and xbmc speak the same language.
peppe
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#4
Just got an ID04. The IR works, but I can't get EventGhost to see anything. I've added the 4 interfaces you've described and yet nothing is logged. Otherwise it runs great, but i want it to play nice with XBMC =/
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#5
really strange......
you have to add the first four items of the "generic HID plugin" and also the keyboard plugin.
are you sure you did so?
peppe
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#6
Yes, I did. I have resolved it based on earlier conflicts. What I can't seem to fix is the default behavior of the "Windows Green" button. EventGhost sees it as HID.Button.50, but no matter what I do, it always launches WMC. I want it to execute XBMC
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#7
i used a easy workaround.......i have renamed the WMC folder (i never use it) so the remote can't recall the WMC and than assigned the central button to my favourite function.
peppe
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#8
So, i've tried a couple things. I wrote my own program and called it ehshell.exe and put it in ehome while renaming ehshell to ehshell.orig. my app opens with two buttons. one to launch xbmc and the other to launch ehshell.orig. Only problem is Media Center Themer fails to work on ehshell.orig.exe.

Just can't seem it have my cake and eat it too =)
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#9
i don't understand.........you want to use both xbmc that wmc? if yes my workaround fails, i don't use never WMC i could alsa delete it from my system.
What is Media Center Themer?
peppe
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#10
I don't have the same hardware as you guys but I'm using a Dell M2010 Gyration Remote and in device manager the remote component is just listed as "HID - compliant device". I'm running Windows 7 64bit edition.

I've been doing everything I can too, to prevent the "green", "guide", "recorded tv" and "live tv" button from starting WMC. As yet have found no solution that allows me to keep WMC. I still want to have WMC on the computer as it works so well with a USB TV tuner, for everything else i use XBMC and Chrome (because the remote is gyration based).

I'm hoping to assign the keys as follows, but at present everything's mapped to WMC

"Green" button > open WMC
"Recorded TV" > open XBMC
"Guide" > open On Screen Keyboard
"Live TV" > open WMC on EPG gudide
"DVD" > open Chrome

If I figure something out will share with you guys.
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#11
I've been searching for weeks for a solution that allows me to 1. keep WMC 2. prevent it from starting anytime any MCE button is pushed (i.e. Green, Live TV, Guide, Recording, DVD). I have a non-eHome remote (Dell M2010 Gyration Remote) so most solutions out there hadn't worked for me. Steps should work for everyone, however note that I'm using Windows 7 64bit.

HOW TO DISABLE MCE BUTTONS FROM TRIGGERING WMC
1. Grant yourself full control to the "c:\windows\ehome\ehtray.exe" file. Here's how http://www.tipandtrick.net/2008/how-to-t...-in-vista/
2. Rename "ehtray.exe" to "ehtray.exe.bk"
3. Reboot

Doing the above disables the remote service that triggers WMC launch using the MCE buttons. Everytime you wish to use WMC then open up "c:\windows\ehome\ehshell.exe" in full screen with eventghost or manually. I tried AutoHotKey, LM Remote and it wasn't until I read the user manual of Intelliremote that I found this method. I read nearly all HTPC forums and even the M2010 remote plugin on this forum didn't resolve my issue.

I've been going mad finding this solution. Anyway, hope it helps someone else out there.
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#12
This is update to the instructions provided by baselaa to make it clearer to understand. I'm in no way taking credit for this, just want to make it easier to understand for others

I have a Zotac AD10 running Win7. These instructions should work for all Zotac remotes in a Windows environment

1 - Download Eventghost (http://www.eventghost.org/downloads/) and install it
2 - Run Eventghost
3 - Click File/New
4 - In the right-hand panel you should now just have AutoStart
5 - Right-click on AutoStart in the Right-hand window and pick Add Plug-In
6 - Under Remote Receiver, choose Generic HID and click OK
7 - The next window (you should make this window bigger so you can see), under Settings there will be a list of 4+ entries. You need to find the 4 with the same vendor ID (mine was Vendor ID 1118, 3 input.inf ones and 1 hidserv.inf). Select the 1st one and click OK
8 - Now repeat Steps 5, 6, and 7 until you have all 4 Generic HID with the same Vendor ID entries for the Remote under your Autostart
Now that you added the 4 Generic HID items
9 - Right-click on AutoStart in the Right-hand window and pick Add Plug-In
10- Under Remote Receiver, choose Keyboard and click OK
(so far you should have Autostart, 4 entries for Generic HID and the Keyboard in the Right-hand window)
11 - Now press the buttons on your Zotac remote. In the left-hand window, the program should show you codes for each of the buttons. If it doesn't, then go back thru steps 3-10 because you didn't do something
12 - Now right-click on AutoStart and pick Add Folder
13 - Name the folder whatever you like (in this tutorial I'm going to call it MyXBMC)
14 - Now click on the folder your created in Step 13 to highlight it
15 - Now right-click and click Add Plug-In.
16 - Under Program Control, choose XBMC2 and click OK
17 - At the next window asking for IP and port, hit OK (unless your XBMC is setup other than the defaults)
18 - At the next window, it's asking in what folder would you like to place the plugin. Choose the folder you created in Step 13 (in the instance, I'm going to choose MyXBMC because that is what I called it) and click ok
(now, in your right-hand window, you should have Autostart, with 4 Generic HID Plugins, 1 Keyboard and 1 XBMC2 Plugin, then the Folder you created and under that folder, another folder for XBMC2)
Now to program XBMC to respond to the buttons the way you want
19 - Under XMBC2 folder, open the Actions folder and open the action you want to setup (don't mess with the Buttons folder.. all the buttons are already setup)
20 - Press the button on the Zotac Remote you want to setup. In the left-hand window, drag the button code over to the action you want to run when you press the button

Example - You want to setup the Green Button on the remote to bring up the Context Menu
-Open MyXBMC/XBMC2/Actions/General/Context Menu in the right-hand window
-Press the Green button on the remote, in the left-window you should see HID.Button 91
-Drag HID.Button 91 to the ContextMenu Action on the Right
-So now under MyXBMC/XBMC2/Action/General/ConextMenu you should see HID.Button 91 and XMBC2: ContextMenu
-You can test it by pressing the Green button on the remote and not only should HID.Button 91 show in the left, but also XBMC2: ContextMenu
You can launch XBMC and Test it (note to save time, you can leave XBMC open while you are configuring EventGhost, it will be realtime configuration)

NOTE: You don't have to program EVERY SINGLE action. Most things are already setup in XBMC. Example: The Stop button. Unless you want the button to do something other than what it already does, you don't have to setup the action. Since almost every button already works, I only programmed the actions for Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, Info, Guide buttons. All the others, I left alone.

Programming a Button to Launch XBMC (or something else)
Since there is no Action to launch an Application, we have to create one. (I'm assuming you did the 20 steps above to setup the remote and some of the actions/buttons)
1. Click on your folder you created in Step 13 above
2. Right Click the folder and then click Add Macro
3. Under System choose Start Application and click ok
4. Now browse to your .exe, setup and command line aruguments.
5. Click Test to test to make sure it launches the way you want it to
6. Click OK when finished
7. Now click the button on your remote and you should see the code show up in the left window
8. Drag the code over to the Start Program Macro
9. Now when you press that button on your remote, it should launch the program you setup

Example: You want to setup the windows button the remote to launch XMBC in Full Screen Mode (this is assuming you removed Windows Media Center)
-Create a new Macro for System/Start Application which points to XBMC.exe and set the window mode to Full Screen
-Click the windows button on the Zotc remote, in the left-window you should see HID.Button 12
-Drag HID.Button 12 to the Start Program: XMBC.exe macro on the right
-So now under Start Program: XMBC.exe, you should see HID.Button 12 and Start Program: XMBC.exe
-You can test it by pressing the Windows button on the remote and it should launch XBMC

Getting rid of Windows Media Center

If you don't use Windows Media Center, and want to program the Windows button and the guide button to do something, you are going to get rid of media center
1. Click Start/Control Panel/Programs and Features
2. On the left side, click 'Turn Windows Features On/Off'
3. Open the Media Features then uncheck Media Center and click ok
4. This will remove WMC (might require a reboot)

Hope this helps
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#13
Thanks a lot larock0wns and baselaa, I'm using an AD04 with the Zotac remote and your instructions have been extremely helpful for getting this to work with EventGhost and XBMC!

Actually it solved 99% of the stuff I'd like to have when running XBMC, and I'd like to ask you or whoever has the knowledge and reading this thread:
I have uninstalled MCE as instructed and now obviously Media Center is not starting anymore when pressing the green windows button. That is very good and I don't need Media Center at all.
However there are still some buttons that do other stuff.

For example the mute button for me results in "HID.Button.23" which is fine, but also "System.Mute '100,00'" (or "System.UnMute '100,00'").
The same with the Volume +/. keys and the * and # keys each seem to result in 3 keyboard presses (fist LShift, then LShift + 8 or 3, then 8 or 3).
And the power off button still puts the system in suspend.

I'd like all this predefined Windows functionality go completely away, can that be done?

Especially at least the mute button should not mute Windows system wide because I only want to use the XBMC muting with this button.

By the way in the Generic HID the 4 devices all show up as "MCE USB IR Receiver - Spinel plus" (Manufacturer PHILIPS) and this was the only part about your instructions I was a bit confused about, I have no Vendor IDs or infs or anything I can see there, only 4 lines with "MCE USB IR Receiver - Spinel plus" and I added the plugin 4 times and set each one to one of the four - seems to work as you described however as I'm getting events for all the buttons, only for the Power Off button I can't see anything because the system shuts down before I can see any event).

Later: What I also do not understand is how XBMC is recognizing the Back button. I have not set this up in EventGhost yet (it just shows "HID.Button.9" when I press it in EventGhost and it is not assigned anywhere) but when I press the button eg when full screen video is playing in XBMC it jumps back to the Video list - I'd like to have it to make a small step back like in OpenElec when I press this button.
Also when assigning the Info key (HID.Button.7 in EventGhost for me) to the General/Info action for XBMC in EventGhost it shows the info BUT when I press the Info button again it doesn't disappear again but it instead is displayed *again* (so this is not like pressing the I key on the keyboard -> it appears, and then when pressing I again -> it disappears). In OpenElec it also worked that way that it appeared on first press ofInfo button but then disappeared on 2nd press of Info button.

Even later: well no one replying, I figured out at least how to prevent the back button go back to the menu:
Edit the XBMC settings in XBMC program folder system/keymaps subfolder and change the this line in appcommand.xml
<browser_back>Back</browser_back>
to
<browser_back/>

Apparently it gets the Back via the remote as "browser back" command - but we do not want it to go back to the menu when a video is playing, at least I don't.

Still have to figure out how to use the Info button for Info properly.

Much later: Got the Info thing to work by assigning the HID.Button.7 to the XBMC2/Buttons/Remote/Info instead of XBMC2/Actions/General/Info, now it appears and disappears when I press the Info button the first and the second time.

What's still giving me headaches is how it works in OpenElec that in Full Screen it uses the Back Button in Full Screen as SmallStepBack while otherwise as Back action.
I was able to disable the "inbuilt" Back action as described above and use the SmallStepBack functionality on the button, but as soon as I added the General/Back Action to the button it not only made the smal step back, but also used the back action and jumped back to the video list.

Apparently the "Full Screen" actions do not override the "General" actions but are only sent additionally!?
I wonder how they were able to do it in OpenElec!?

For now I went the way of not putting the Back action on the back button but SmallStepBack in FullScreen and Parentfolder in General (because Parentfolder won't do anything in Full Screen).
Additionally I disabled the Skip Previous button in appcommand.xml and set this one to the Back action (it is located right next to the Back button on the Zotac remote and these previous/next track actions are useless when using XBMC for videos ayway, mabe more interesting for music, but I use it 99,99% for videos).

Still I'd like to know how they did that in OpenElec?
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#14
For the back button functionality, edit the keyboard.xml file:
under <FullscreenVideo> section
change the <backspace>Fullscreen</backspace> to <backspace>SmallStepBack</backspace>

Since XBMC interprets remote commands as a keyboard stroke for a lot of it's functions, this should work. I'm not sure if it works with eventghost.
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#15
Instructions from baselaa also work on zotac ID83 thanks for the info
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