[bramblepants]

I'm having a lot of problems with the "smoothness" of my remote pressing. I have to press very slowly and be very determined to get any kind of response from XBMC. Any suggestions as to what this can be (considering the fact you seem to have it working). I'm on Vista x64, if that's even somewhat relevant.

Heilage - sorry for the delay in replying!

For me, what made the most difference with navigating around XBMC was not mapping the MCE Remote to XBMC Up, Down, Left and Right, but mapping it to keyboard presses via "Emulate Keystrokes", found in EventGhost. Once I'd got this setup it meant navigating was smooth, fast, and I could hold down a button and it would repeat.

Apologies if you already know how to do this, but it might be useful for other people...

* Fire up EventGhost (I'm using EventGhost 0.3.7.r851)
* Load the Keyboard Plugin
* Create a new folder, named something like "MCE Remote + Keyboard"
* Create 4 new macros named Up, Down, Left and Right
* Press Up on your remote, then drag the Event over to the "Up" macro
* Whilst in the "Up" macro press the "Add Action..." button, go to Window and add the Emulate Keystrokes action.
* In the Text To type box type {Up} and press OK.
* Press the "Add Action..." button again and go to EventGhost, and choose "Autorepeat current macro".
* In the settings for Autorepeat put:

0.40
0.15
999.00
0.15

I'm still working on these timings, as it occasionally skips a little further than I want. Just looked at another thread which suggests the following, but I haven't tested yet.

0.60
0.30
2.00
0.03

You could try either...

So, under your "Up" macro you should now have, in this order:

MceRemote.Up
Emulate Keystrokes:{Up}
Autorepeat current macro: 0.4

if it's not in that order, drag them to the correct order. You will also need to disable the Up Macro under XBMC, in EventGhost, otherwise you'll get double presses.

At this point you could save your settings in EG, then fire up XBMC and see if it makes navigating any speedier? Compare Up to Down, Left and Right. If it's better, then just repeat the above process for Down, Left and Right, using {Down}, {Left} and {Right} as your keypresses to emulate. Make sure you disable the same under the XBMC macros.

I have also used the Emulate Keystrokes for the volume control, which made that smooth as well. You just need to map it to + for volume up and - for volume down.

I am also doing all this with the HID service disabled with all the special buttons working, and the Green button launching XBMC...

If this helps anyone please let me know, as I'm considering writing instructions for setting up EventGhost + MCE Remote + XBMC from start to finish, including repeat delays, launching XBMC from the green button, sleep and standby and Multitap.

[Heilage]

Worked like a charm! The timing is not spot-on at the moment, but it's about 1337% better than before. A few keys are difficult to fix though, like the stop button and context menu (for this one I used the XBMC-function instead of a keboard emulation).

When I'm finished I'll be glad to throw the configuration out to the world.

[bramblepants]

Worked like a charm! The timing is not spot-on at the moment, but it's about 1337% better than before. A few keys are difficult to fix though, like the stop button and context menu (for this one I used the XBMC-function instead of a keboard emulation).

When I'm finished I'll be glad to throw the configuration out to the world.

OK, that's good to hear. I've updated my post above with some timings which may be better. I'm at work at the moment though so cant test them. You could try these?

I've also left my context button as the XBMC function, and I think it's working ok for me. Might be worth double clicking your "Microsoft MCE Remote" plugin in EG and making sure the Button release timeout is set to 0.15?

I ended up mapping quite a few of the MCE buttons to keyboard presses, as I found they work better. For Select just create a new Macro, named "Select". Press OK on your remote, drag it over to the "Select" Macro, add an Emulate Keystroke as {Enter} and disable Select under the XBMC macro...No need to add an autorepeat on this one...

You could also add them for Page Up, Page Down, Back, Delete etc etc...just make sure you disable the same under the XBMC folder and macros.

[Livin]

Guys,
thanks for working out the timings... I have noticed this is an issue with the latest plugins.

btw... I never had any timing issue using the keyboard emulation, everything was very fast and smooth. I wonder if the 'issue' is with the Eventserver - or the new plugin?

[Vorm]

Heilage - sorry for the delay in replying!

For me, what made the most difference with navigating around XBMC was not mapping the MCE Remote to XBMC Up, Down, Left and Right, but mapping it to keyboard presses via "Emulate Keystrokes", found in EventGhost. Once I'd got this setup it meant navigating was smooth, fast, and I could hold down a button and it would repeat.

Apologies if you already know how to do this, but it might be useful for other people...

* Fire up EventGhost (I'm using EventGhost 0.3.7.r851)
* Load the Keyboard Plugin
* Create a new folder, named something like "MCE Remote + Keyboard"
* Create 4 new macros named Up, Down, Left and Right
* Press Up on your remote, then drag the Event over to the "Up" macro
* Whilst in the "Up" macro press the "Add Action..." button, go to Window and add the Emulate Keystrokes action.
* In the Text To type box type {Up} and press OK.
* Press the "Add Action..." button again and go to EventGhost, and choose "Autorepeat current macro".
* In the settings for Autorepeat put:

0.40
0.15
999.00
0.15
<snip>.

I'm attempting to get a Cyberlink remote control working with XBMC though eventghost. Will the basic premise for setting up as posted above, work for that remote also?

[acbeef]

Only way that i got smooth navigation was to enable the hid on the mce remote.
I then disabled the ehtray.exe in vista so media center would not intercept the key presses (there are guides on google for this)

I disabled all mapping for up,down,left,right and select (center button) in eventghost

after doing all this scrolling is perfect same as on xbox1

I am guessing its because xbmc is actually reading them as remote codes instead of keyboard emulation/ events (eventclient)

anyway this is what worked for me

[byronl]

Heilage - sorry for the delay in replying!

For me, what made the most difference with navigating around XBMC was not mapping the MCE Remote to XBMC Up, Down, Left and Right, but mapping it to keyboard presses via "Emulate Keystrokes", found in EventGhost. Once I'd got this setup it meant navigating was smooth, fast, and I could hold down a button and it would repeat.

Very clever. Could you not just add the emulate etc under the relevant command in the XBMC plugin? I'm using the new plugin (discussed on the eventghost board) that goes via keymap.xml and hence some of the context things work better and it scrolls a touch faster.

EDIT: You can add this emulation to whatever XBMC plugin macro you choose, just simply delete the XBMC function under the macro. Allows context stuff to work and keeps everything under the one macro.

EDIT2: I've just done it for direction keys and not context keys such as StepForward etc as I don't think this would work for them, and repeats are not important for this). Mind I might have double actions. Need to test tonight.

Great work.

B

[bramblepants]

I'm attempting to get a Cyberlink remote control working with XBMC though eventghost. Will the basic premise for setting up as posted above, work for that remote also?

I dont have any experience with the Cyberlink remote, but I'm presuming that as long as you could load a plugin for it (unless it's seen as the Microsoft MCE Remote, and you could just use that plugin) then this process would work fine? You should try!

[bramblepants]

Very clever. Could you not just add the emulate etc under the relevant command in the XBMC plugin? I'm using the new plugin (discussed on the eventghost board) that goes via keymap.xml and hence some of the context things work better and it scrolls a touch faster.

EDIT: You can add this emulation to whatever XBMC plugin macro you choose, just simply delete the XBMC function under the macro. Allows context stuff to work and keeps everything under the one macro.

EDIT2: I've just done it for direction keys and not context keys such as StepForward etc as I don't think this would work for them, and repeats are not important for this). Mind I might have double actions. Need to test tonight.

Great work.

B

Ok, keep us updated on how you got on? I'd be interested to see how this new plugin works, but have only just got it working like this!

[byronl]

Ok, keep us updated on how you got on? I'd be interested to see how this new plugin works, but have only just got it working like this!

Will do. The new plugin behaves correctly if you have the step actions (bigstep, smallstep) mapped to the direction keys like on XBMC/XBOX. You don't get double actions like you do in the original plugin whereby pressing a direction on OSD menu also caused the video to step as well.

There's a context issue with DVD menus and the step actions, which I have a cunning plan for.

B

[kulprit]

This shouldn't stop the keymap.xml with the new plugin. What I am trying to do is get the info screen to open when i press my select button, but only in my video library. I've added <select>Info</select> to the <myvideolibrary> part of my keymap but that doesn't seem to be working.

Any ideas if eventghost could be having an impact?

[byronl]

This shouldn't stop the keymap.xml with the new plugin. What I am trying to do is get the info screen to open when i press my select button, but only in my video library. I've added <select>Info</select> to the <myvideolibrary> part of my keymap but that doesn't seem to be working.

Any ideas if eventghost could be having an impact?

How odd, the new plugin is meant to use keymap.xml. Perhaps ask in the EG forums.

B

[byronl]

I did some testing on the repeat business and my universal remote doesn't repeat as fast as the original MCE remote.

That said with some more agressive times for the up/down keys
0.30
0.01
0.30
0.01

With original remote it scrolls very fast, the IR MS keyboard is way faster, but works around Eventghost and directly controls XBMC. I couldn't my remote to do it as fast. I've done some repeat tweaking and i've got it pretty acceptable.

Thanks for the tip.

B

[bramblepants]

I did some testing on the repeat business and my universal remote doesn't repeat as fast as the original MCE remote.

That said with some more agressive times for the up/down keys
0.30
0.01
0.30
0.01

With original remote it scrolls very fast, the IR MS keyboard is way faster, but works around Eventghost and directly controls XBMC. I couldn't my remote to do it as fast. I've done some repeat tweaking and i've got it pretty acceptable.

Thanks for the tip.

B

Good news! I'll also try those timings and see how I get on. I've had a Harmony One sitting in a box for a while now and have ust ordered a USB-UIRT, so more fun ahead getting that working!

[bramblepants]

Only way that i got smooth navigation was to enable the hid on the mce remote.
I then disabled the ehtray.exe in vista so media center would not intercept the key presses (there are guides on google for this)

I disabled all mapping for up,down,left,right and select (center button) in eventghost

after doing all this scrolling is perfect same as on xbox1

I am guessing its because xbmc is actually reading them as remote codes instead of keyboard emulation/ events (eventclient)

anyway this is what worked for me

I thought I'd try your suggestion and disable ehtray.exe, and I have to say you were right. I have now disabled all the Up, Down, Left and Right commands in EG and everything is working super quick, just as good as it did in Vista MCE - so thanks!

I would now recommend that the easiest way to get your repeats and everything working is to disable ehtray.exe (which you can google), DONT allow the MCE Plugin in EG to disable the HID and then disable any of the directions you've got setup in EG, as you wont need them. Same goes for keyboard directions.