[WINDOWS] HOW-TO setup Sony PS3 Bluetooth Remote Control to work with XBMC

For all that own a playstation3 BD remote or like to use and excellent remote that has a better connectivity that RF or IR, cheetah05, wrote an excellent app for Windows Vista/XP and win7!

Get It -> PS3BluMote v2.03

*The hibernation feature has been disabled as it does not work.( for now)

It Acts like a normal keyboard / HID-input runs in the system tray and also features sms like text input trough the numeric keys :o , so you can use it on all your favorite applications that use keyboard shortcuts, like media players media centers and so on.

I'd say: check it out and let us know what you think.

Quote:HOW TO PAIR THE OFFICIAL SONY PS3 BLUETOOTH REMOTE IN WINDOWS:

1. Bring up the Bluetooth pairing screen on your computer. How you do
this depends entirely on your operating system and what Bluetooth
adapter you are using.
2. Put the PS3 Bluetooth Remote into pairing mode. To do this you hold
"Start + Enter" buttons together for 5 seconds and then release.
3. Search for discoverable devices on your computer.
4. When the remote (it is named "BD Remote Control") is found, pair the
device. If prompted for a key, opt for the NO KEY (or similar) option.
5. Allow for the device to pair. Do NOT close the "finished paring screen"
for 2 minutes. Hopefully it should install some drivers in the
background (see your system tray).
6. Open the PS3BluMote application and see if the remote works, pressing
any button should pair the remote automatically. If it works you will
have a blue icon in your system tray and when you hover over the icon
for the application it will pop-up with "Connected".

If it does not work, continue with these steps:

7. Put the remote back into pairing mode (follow instruction 2).
8. Open up the services screen for the already paired remote.
9. **HOPEFULLY** you should see a checkbox for HID device (or something
similar). Check it and click Apply/Ok and it should install the driver.

If you are still having issues continue with these steps:

10. Unplug your PS3 (if you own one).
11. Un-pair/Remove any PS3 related Bluetooth devices that are paired with
your computer.
12. Remove the drivers for your PC Bluetooth device/dongle and remove the
actual device itself.
13. Look through Device Manager to ensure that all drivers/devices related
to Bluetooth have been removed.
14. Restart your computer.
15. Plug the Bluetooth device/dongle back into your PC and install the
drivers.
16. Restart your computer.
17. Return to Step 1.


you need to have .NET 4.0 Framework installed in order to run the application

*From the readme

This little app works great for me, I wastrying to wrap my head around the whole eventclient thing when i stumbled upon this (i am using bluesoleil bluetooth dongle, so I dont know if it is compatible with xbmc). I find this app very responsive and if you just hold the PS button down for 6 seconds it will disconnect from the bluetooth until another button is pressed. I also bound the X button the ps3 remote to a hotkey I had setup on the xbmc shortcut on my desktop to launch xbmc and then bound the red button as shutdown.

good to hear.

Quote:and if you just hold the PS button down for 6 seconds it will disconnect from the bluetooth until another button is pressed.

Yes, i forgot to put that bit in, otherwise the remote will stay connected and drown your battery's.

i too love the "feel" of the remote, and you never have to worry about line of sight like with IR.

We are currently looking into the possibility to load different config's, toggle sms feature on/off and left/right mouse presses with a key bind. (maybe even mouse movement). With the SMS feature you can type letters with the number keys like you do on your phone.

If you like, you can post your config file so others can build on it.

I am having a problem now, I am using a bluetooth dongle with bluesoleil and sometimes as soon as I press a button the remote connects right away, but now it searches for a few seconds and says "Bluetooth service is not available" and cannot connect to the remote. I suspect this is an issue with bluesoleil?

that might be, is it still listed in your bluetooth places or under game controller in config screen? i had to once re-install the dongle drivers because i was fucking around with it

yeah it is still listed there but wont let me connect. I have a feeling that the problem is happening if I dont hold down the PS button to disconnect before I restart the computer. If I go ahead and restart it without disconnecting first, it throws the pairing off maybe? I will have to mess around with it later, kind of annoying.

on another note, I am also getting that video speeds up and slows down but audio remains constant problem, I think it has to do with the digital audio, I am using a SB Live! 5.1 using spdif and ac3filter, the videos work fine thru WMP or VLC, it just seems to be an issue in XBMC.

I love tinkering with this shit though, the wife on the other hand does not seem to be imnpressed.

I still get connection issues here and there but I think it is just the cheap dongle I have, if I disconnect it and plug in back in it will usually connect again.

Would it be possible to have the remote automaticly time out and switch off after a user specified time interval? I'm pretty forgetful so I'm bound to forget to unpair the remote manually every time.

no its not possible to send anything TO the remote, but i never paid attention if it might do it itself. how is it on the sixaxis? does it shutdown after inactivity?

Thanks alot for posting about this. I actually bought one from work last night just to start using after reading this post, and being bluetooth (Yeah, no aiming!!) Works just great too. I might add 'use no pairing code' to the info though. A lot of devices use 0000 as a default (my mouse,all headsets,etc.), so i'm guessing there might be users out there trying this and thinking something isn't working right when it comes back saying couldn't pair. I tried no code 1st luckily, but still thought it would be helpfull to others in case.
I would also love to see some feedback if/when someone happens to find out if it auto shuts off, so it doesn't wear down the batteries trying to always keep paired even when not being used. I could always pull out a battery when just not using, or unpair it til then.
Would you mind posting your ini file to share that you setup for XBMC? (the exported ini file for the BT remote application), which works perfectly BTW, That way we only have to just tweak a few buttons if any.