2011-01-23, 04:49
Until a week a go I had no idea what XBMC was and for the last 6 days, I've been reading like crazy!
I figured my first post would be about scrapers and fanart and folder arrangements etc...but I guess that will have to be my 2nd post!
Here's my basic setup.
I am running the latest Dharma build on my Windows Box.
I also have a harmony one that I finally caved in and bought.
So here's what I have learned so far:
I understand that certain remotes work differently(keystrokes, shortcuts etc etc). Most common variety are the ones that support or come with RC6 support. With this type of receiver, I can add an MCE Keyboard under the Harmony setup like mentioned here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=77519
There are other remotes that work somewhat ok(which I have now learned) but are not RC6 compatible. Maybe like this one that I just bought...
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Control-In...pg__header
Its an Ortek VRC-1100. I was able to get basic things working and learn some other commands in which kinda gets me going with the basic navigation, start/stop etc.
I've also read about the keymap.xml mentioned here.
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Keymap.xml
And also read about other options like EventGhost, Trapping your keys with a program like ShowKey and then edit with KeyMapEdit etc. Lot of info to parse for my brain..so....
Certain questions I am still a bit hazy on...
1. Guessing that my IR receiver is probably not RC6, will programs like Showkey, KeyMapEdit etc help me any with the current setup? The end goal is to use the Harmony.
2. Will installing the MCERemote add on XBMC help in some way with my current remote from Amazon or will I still need an RC6 capable receiver to make it click(what does it do anyway?)
3. If I just swap or buy an RC6 receiver---how does that impact the setup with the programs in question #1 and #2? Will I still need to use these programs for anything? Do they add value or not really needed once you follow this ?
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=77519
4. Does anyone know if this an RC6 remote/receiver?
http://www.dealextreme.com/feedbacks/Bro.../sku.14380
5. A bit off topic but my PC is being used as a monitor and sending the feed to the TV only when I use XBMC. I have a shortcut that launches an ATI profile that disables my monitor and sets the TV for the 1080P resolution. With my current setup, its a bit flaky-- as getting to launch that shortcut before I launch XBMC doesn't always happen. I've learned commands in RAW mode, adjusted Harmony delay settings...but not quite 100% reliable.
Any ideas to solve that? I suspect its just ATI's control panel that's flaky...so maybe I need to rethink this somehow?
BTW--I did remap the Green Button that defaults to launch Media Center to launch XBMC instead as suggested here...
http://inchoatethoughts.com/launching-xb...ter-remote
And then manually learned that in RAW mode on Harmony. So launching XBMC is ok at this point.
So as you can see I am going about in corky ways to get stuff done. I can see how getting the MCE Keyboard setup in Harmony would open up keyboard commands to the Harmony setup...just don't know what else I am not aware of. Trying to minimize the number of working parts here(eventghost or other 3rd party programs running in the background) to get this to run smoothly.
Any suggestions(and answers to questions above) would be a great help!
Once I sort this in my head, I'll move to cleaning up the data issues.
I figured my first post would be about scrapers and fanart and folder arrangements etc...but I guess that will have to be my 2nd post!
Here's my basic setup.
I am running the latest Dharma build on my Windows Box.
I also have a harmony one that I finally caved in and bought.
So here's what I have learned so far:
I understand that certain remotes work differently(keystrokes, shortcuts etc etc). Most common variety are the ones that support or come with RC6 support. With this type of receiver, I can add an MCE Keyboard under the Harmony setup like mentioned here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=77519
There are other remotes that work somewhat ok(which I have now learned) but are not RC6 compatible. Maybe like this one that I just bought...
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Control-In...pg__header
Its an Ortek VRC-1100. I was able to get basic things working and learn some other commands in which kinda gets me going with the basic navigation, start/stop etc.
I've also read about the keymap.xml mentioned here.
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Keymap.xml
And also read about other options like EventGhost, Trapping your keys with a program like ShowKey and then edit with KeyMapEdit etc. Lot of info to parse for my brain..so....
Certain questions I am still a bit hazy on...
1. Guessing that my IR receiver is probably not RC6, will programs like Showkey, KeyMapEdit etc help me any with the current setup? The end goal is to use the Harmony.
2. Will installing the MCERemote add on XBMC help in some way with my current remote from Amazon or will I still need an RC6 capable receiver to make it click(what does it do anyway?)
3. If I just swap or buy an RC6 receiver---how does that impact the setup with the programs in question #1 and #2? Will I still need to use these programs for anything? Do they add value or not really needed once you follow this ?
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=77519
4. Does anyone know if this an RC6 remote/receiver?
http://www.dealextreme.com/feedbacks/Bro.../sku.14380
5. A bit off topic but my PC is being used as a monitor and sending the feed to the TV only when I use XBMC. I have a shortcut that launches an ATI profile that disables my monitor and sets the TV for the 1080P resolution. With my current setup, its a bit flaky-- as getting to launch that shortcut before I launch XBMC doesn't always happen. I've learned commands in RAW mode, adjusted Harmony delay settings...but not quite 100% reliable.
Any ideas to solve that? I suspect its just ATI's control panel that's flaky...so maybe I need to rethink this somehow?
BTW--I did remap the Green Button that defaults to launch Media Center to launch XBMC instead as suggested here...
http://inchoatethoughts.com/launching-xb...ter-remote
And then manually learned that in RAW mode on Harmony. So launching XBMC is ok at this point.
So as you can see I am going about in corky ways to get stuff done. I can see how getting the MCE Keyboard setup in Harmony would open up keyboard commands to the Harmony setup...just don't know what else I am not aware of. Trying to minimize the number of working parts here(eventghost or other 3rd party programs running in the background) to get this to run smoothly.
Any suggestions(and answers to questions above) would be a great help!
Once I sort this in my head, I'll move to cleaning up the data issues.