Best IR Remote

I've searched the forum and, surprisingly, the only similar thread was from 2005. I've nearly given up on using my MCE-style remote w/ xbmc. It's a USB HID device and works fine but no amount of tuning seems to make it work quite right (read, family friendly) with xbmc. That's even given the fact that I'm actually using a more flexible Harmony 880 as the xmitter.

So, if one were to break down and buy a remote that 'just works' (assuming such a beast exists) with xbmc, what would it be?

joshr Wrote:I've searched the forum and, surprisingly, the only similar thread was from 2005. I've nearly given up on using my MCE-style remote w/ xbmc. It's a USB HID device and works fine but no amount of tuning seems to make it work quite right (read, family friendly) with xbmc. That's even given the fact that I'm actually using a more flexible Harmony 880 as the xmitter.

So, if one were to break down and buy a remote that 'just works' (assuming such a beast exists) with xbmc, what would it be?

i am curious on what functions do not work and what does family friendly meen?

What doesn't work (as expected):
1. 'DVD' button does not land you on the inserted dvd or just take you directly to the dvd's menu.

2. In the video library, with the dvd highlighted, hitting 'select' does not start playing the dvd but drills down further into the dvd's file structure. you must hit play. This might seem like a small complaint but with a wife and two impatient children, a button that initiates action elsewhere should do the same here.

3. Side menu navigation. If someone has a keyboard.xml that makes that navigable, please let me know. Without keeping the keyboard nearby, it keeps getting stuck in the expanded position.

4. Live TV (mythtv). I know this is a relatively new feature but the integration is abysmal, at least from a remote control perspective. I can deal with the fact that flipping through channels is not an option (though it works just fine in myth). 5-15 seconds channel change times using the guide, are highly annoying. The kicker is that the channel up/down buttons on my MCE remote insist on acting as seek back/forward buttons no matter what I do. Even if the family adjusts to not flipping through channels, the in-laws are still going to come over to watch the kids and hit the channel up button. This will be followed by a 'tech support' call to my cell.

Oh did I mention that the 'Guide' button doesn't bring up the guide?

Yes, I've ensured that I only have one keyboard.xml (in /usr/share, nothing in xbmc users' home directory). I have done some successful keymap tuning but I spent all my patience getting cx18 and nvidia drivers to play nice. Now I would just like a remote that doesn't require extensive experimentation to work as anticipated.

You need to re-edit the buttons in the Harmony Activity for your XBMC device, that would fix most of your problems. For the rest, maybe your IR receiver is not the best. I find that only a very certain HP receiver (Hp P/N: 5188-1667) works VERY well with the Harmony.

If only it were that easy. What should I reprogram the Guide button to be? Which available option provides the expected action of taking the user to the channel guide (from within Live TV).

Also, are you suggesting that I reprogram the OK button (select) on my harmony to be 'play' so that the inserted dvd plays when highlighted? That's not going to work so well in other areas of xbmc.

If you want different button actions for different contexts to be exactly how you want them... then look into creating a remote.xml file. You can define global button actions along with specific button actions for other areas of the interface.

are you running xbmc live or is xbmc installed in windows?

1. I'd guess your remote is sending keypresses. For example the DVD menu button is probably sending ctrl-shift-M. You just need a custom keyboard.xml in $home/.xbmc/userdata/keymaps to map ctrl-shift-M to play the DVD. Offhand I don't know what the action would be.

2. That's normal isn't it? With the keyboard Select, i.e. Enter, does drill down into the file structure. Pressing Play, i.e. P on the keyboard, is the only way to play the DVD at this level.

3. Press left to open the side menu and left to close it again.

4. I have no experience of how key mapping works with LiveTV, but presumably you just need the appropriate mappings added to your keyboard.xml. The Guide button is probably sending ctrl-G.

I normally recommend the Microsoft remote, or any eHome/RC6 compatible remote, as being the best option, but I'm not sure how that will help with your points above as none of them are really down to the remote.

JR

Okay, I may be getting a bit OT here but is it possible to do something like...

activateWindow(videolibrary,TV,Live Channels)?

In other words, is that an acceptable means for specifying a sub-level of "TV"?