[Bagpuss]

Just bought one of these remotes.

Just wanted to share my efforts in making it work with XBMC.
All of this works with the latest Gotham nigthly. I've not tested against Frodo or earlier, but it should work the same.

Unlike the Mele F10, all of the keys on this remote generate useful scan codes, so it's just a case of modifying the keyboard.xml and mouse.xml files to suit.
In addition, the up, down, left right, OK, Menu, mute, AV/TV and power keys generate IR instead of RF. The remote can learn IR, so it's a simple case of put the remote into learning mode, and teaching it the IR for the various buttons.

In my case, I used an XBOX360 media remote to teach the IR, but pretty much any MCE remote should work. In my case, I've actually taught the remote to use the mute signal for my AV receiver, which I find more useful.

In XBMC settings -> System -> Input devices, I have:
Remote control sends keyboard presses - OFF
Enable mouse and touch screen support - ON
Enable joystick and gamepad support - OFF

You need to enable mouse support, otherwise XBMC doesn't capture the right mouse click (which is generated by the back key on the remote).
Air Mouse functionality is turned off on the remote by pressing the 'arrow' button below the left mouse button. This then prevents the air mouse from generate unwanted input. The mouse buttons still work, though.

On the remote, the keys are mapped as follows (using attached keyboard.xml and mouse.xml):

SkipForward / SkipBack - now map to fast forward and rewind. Page up and page down keys generate SkipForward and SkipBack (i.e. chapter skip), so I didn't see any point in duplication.

Magnifying glass button - mapped to XMBC video library search

Mail button - mapped to Stop (my wife didn't like that there was no stop key on the remote)

Back key - changed from right mouse click to back


The other buttons all mapped as expected using the XBMC defaults.
I've also attached a keycode.txt file which shows what codes the various buttons generate.

To use the keymaps, simply copy them into the /storage/.xbmc/userdata/keymaps folder.
For more information on this see here.

All in all, I find this a great remote, and certainly more versatile than the F10 (thanks to it's IR learning capability).

UPDATE (6th March 2014)
Have now included extra directives in mouse.xml to disable Air Mouse functionality completely.
I found that if you switched the keyboard on after XBMC had booted, then mouse functionality was enabled again.
If you need to enable it again, simply remove the <mousemove> and <mousedrag> entries from the file.

File downloads
mouse.xml
keyboard.xml
keycodes.txt

[dhead]

I'm curios, what is the color of your D-Pad ?

Mine is orange (I seen pictures with blue layout).
Although the remote I've received was faulty it did looks like the D-Pad is IR only.

[Bagpuss]

My D-Pad is also orange.

There is a new version of the remote called the i25A, which adds RF audio transmission.
Some of the renders of this remote show a blue layout, but I believe the final product is actually orange.

The D-Pad is IR only, which suits me fine. However, I can understand why RF would be preferable if you want to hide your XBMC box in your home theatre cabinet.

[dhead]

Thanks Bagpuss for clarifying that.

[kyoo]

Thanks Bagpuss! You've inspired me to order it from Amazon Prime. I'll give this a go on Thursday or Friday..

[Dogway]

Unlike the Mele F10, all of the keys on this remote generate useful scan codes...
In addition, the up, down, left right, OK, Menu, mute, AV/TV and power keys generate IR instead of RF. The remote can learn IR, so it's a simple case of put the remote into learning mode, and teaching it the IR for the various buttons.

If the directional buttons generate scan codes, can they be used on xbmc, or PC general speaking?

How is the reach of the IR signal? I read it's very short (2 meters only).

[Bagpuss]

The directional buttons don't generate any scan codes by default. You need to teach the remote using an existing remote.

It makes sense to teach the remote using a device that XBMC or Windows supports natively. In my case, I used an Xbox media remote, which uses MCE IR codes.

As for range, then it is a bit limited, and the remote must be pointed straight at the device being controlled.

[Dogway]

Tricky stuff... the only method to browse through xbmc on the remote side is using the d-pad. And for that you need "another" remote, and a special one for that matter (MCE IR).

Now I'm really confused to what buy, this or the MELE F10 Pro (for the lack of anything better). Does the Rii i25 work on a USB 3.0 port?

edit: Ok, found a MCE IR remote on the office. I guess that should work.
Another question, does the power button turns off the TV?
And as I asked above, does it work on a USB 3.0 port?

Thank for help really, you confirm me this and I buy the remote.

[Bagpuss]

I'm hoping it will arrive in the next couple of days. Will post results as soon as I've had chance to muck about with it.

With regards to power on, and power off commands, then I've programmed my Harmony using IR codes from an XBOX360 media remote. This works perfectly for pretty much all XBMC operations, including powering the NUC on and off.

One of the reasons I like the i25, is because it is capable of learning IR remote commands from another remote. That way, I can teach it power on commands from the XBOX remote, but make volume up and down use the commands for my Yamaha AVR. It was the only remote I could find which has the combination of RF (for the keyboard/mouse etc.) and IR learning for other commands.

Have now got this remote, and it's working brilliantly.

Rather than clutter up this thread with chat about it, I've posted my findings and configuration in a new thread here.

Hi Bagpuss,
This is just the thing I was looking for but was struggling to find. I was looking at the Mele F10 also and was about to buy before seeing the above. So a few questions if you don't mind?

Do you have both and think the Rii i25 is better?
Did the Rii i25 take much tweaking to get working or did it go pretty much out of the box?
Is it's range OK?
Does it sync up to the box OK?
Do you need the dongle to get it to work or does it work with just it?
Sorry more than a few questions...☺

Also good review in the separate thread!

Many thanks
RLTW

I've tried both remotes, and it's a mixed bag for both of them.
My goal was to have a remote that my wife and daughter could use easily.
With the F10, I found that not having enough specific media control keys (play/stop for example) was a problem.
You can remap the keys on the Mele, but it's more work.

With the i25, then all of the keys generate scan codes out of the box. This is not true with the Mele, and you have to use hid_mapper to get some of them working.
With the i25, you do need to modify the keyboard.xml and mouse.xml files to get it working, but I've included some that work in the first post in this thread.

You do need the dongle to get it to work, as only the Menu, Mute, TV/AV, Power, D-Pad and OK buttons are IR.

IR range is a bit of an issue, but it's just about manageable in my setup. The remote does have to be pointed straight at the device being controlled, though.
Personally, I'd prefer all the buttons to be RF, except for power. Power was the only one I couldn't get working on the Mele (but it might be possible now).

Hope that helps.

[Bagpuss]

---

Tricky stuff... the only method to browse through xbmc on the remote side is using the d-pad. And for that you need "another" remote, and a special one for that matter (MCE IR).

Now I'm really confused to what buy, this or the MELE F10 Pro (for the lack of anything better). Does the Rii i25 work on a USB 3.0 port?

edit: Ok, found a MCE IR remote on the office. I guess that should work.
Another question, does the power button turns off the TV?
And as I asked above, does it work on a USB 3.0 port?

Thank for help really, you confirm me this and I buy the remote.

The power button will turn on/off whatever device you program it to. In my case, I've taught it the IR for power from the MCE remote, as I want it to be able to turn the HTPC on and off.
If you programmed it with the IR for the power button on your TV, then it would work.
I can confirm that the dongle works just fine with a USB3 port.

[Dogway]

Thank you.
That's a problem because this remote can only learn from one single IR remote. So if I learn the D-Pad from the MCE Remote, I can't learn the power button from the TV remote. This makes it unable to replace the TV remote at all. Anyways, guess I gotta live with it, there's no perfect remote. Thanks for help.

[Bagpuss]

Thank you.
That's a problem because this remote can only learn from one single IR remote. So if I learn the D-Pad from the MCE Remote, I can't learn the power button from the TV remote. This makes it unable to replace the TV remote at all. Anyways, guess I gotta live with it, there's no perfect remote. Thanks for help.

You can program the D-Pad from the MCE remote and then the power button from the TV remote. That works just fine.

[stw303]

Were you able to map the Context and Full Screen functions?

[Bagpuss]

Were you able to map the Context and Full Screen functions?

The context button works without needing any modifications (it's on the key near the bottom left with 3 horizontal lines on it). Full screen you could easily map with keyboard.xml. I'm using the email key for stop, but you could map that to full screen.

[stw303]

Thanks Bagpuss