Remote Control

[whoisfrost]

I am running Boxee along side XBMC on my windows box and aside from the few bugs already reported here, everything has been working great. I've been using the Remotexbmc Client written by MoDe2006 on from the XBMC forums for about 6 months now with no problems. After installing boxee I grabbed my remote and it worked perfect.

I haven't seen much info yet on the forums regarding remotes so I thought I'd share. I was controlling boxee on linux with my iPhone. It works but the lack of tactile feedback forces you to look down at the phone when you're navigating. I'll post the link to download the Remotexbmc software in case any one wants to try it out. ver 2.0 works the best, 3.0 is fairly buggy.

Forum Thread
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=37852&highlight=remotexbmc

Download Link
http://figuralbanks.free.fr/

If you need any help let me know.

[agentlame]

hey, cool!

thanks for the great contribution! also, welcome to boxee!

[Roofus86]

Hey all, I haven't yet received an invite to the Boxee Windows Aplpha, but I'm hastely preparing a windows box out of the junk I have lying around. (Thank you PCI-E for devaluing so much great hardware!)

I was hoping to get a discussion going about what IR receivers and software people have been using to control boxee in Windows.

My plans were to use my USB-UIRT and Girder which is what I've used in the past for HTPCs.

What's everyone else doing?

[henryachilles]

You can setup your MCE remote to work with Boxee in windows by using a program intelliremote and mapping the keyboard commands that way. That's how I did it using an MCE remote. The only command I couldn't remap to a remote control was the close command to exit Boxee when you press the button rather than browse the menus for the quit command. Because the end key on the keyboard does not close Boxee like it does in the original XBOX Media Center for Windows and even though the ALT-F4 Windows close commands works to close Boxee via the keyboard when you map it to the remote it does nothing. I guess because of the way the keyboard command combination are sent.

You can also replace your MCE remote with an XBOX 360 Universal Media Remote control and get a few more buttons like an X which can be used a close the running program button and back lighting and TV input and volume control but you need to download a program called Tweak MCE and change a setting. Here the address of the website with the the link to Tweak MCE and instructions to use the XBOX 360 Universal Media Remote with Windows Vista: http://www.redmondpie.com/using-xbox...-media-center/ here they also have the link and instructions on how to map keys with intelliremote.

Also you can use universal remotes that have codes for Windows Media Center PC's usually listed as Microsoft or Linksys or by computer manufacturer like HP in the code listing for the remote. I know Harmony has codes for media center PC's in their remote codes. You would still need to buy an MCE remote for the IR sensor it uses but you would then have a wide selection of button and touchscreen remotes you could use. And once program in the code to your remote you would program it the same as the original MCE remote. If you use a listed XBOX 360 code on your universal remote since may find one for an XBOX 360 which will work as well you will need to follow the steps for making an XBOX 360 Universal Media Remote work as well since it uses different IR codes then the original MCE remotes but provides more functionality.

Hope you find this suggestion helpful in making your decision,
Hank

[Roofus86]

You can setup your MCE remote to work with Boxee in windows by using a program intelliremote and mapping the keyboard commands that way...
Hank

I'll have to look into those, I have a harmony remote, so it'll be pretty easy for me to emulate any remote I could want. So could program it as an MCE remote and use that software, unless it has issues with my IR receiver.

[theseep]

I'm just getting around to trying the windows boxee build and I'm using Air Mouse on my iPhone for a remote. For $4.99 it's pretty slick as a mouse but the keyboard is missing arrows, tab, and esc keys thus far. It does seem to control boxee well, however!

[NRSTech]

Hey all, I haven't yet received an invite to the Boxee Windows Aplpha, but I'm hastely preparing a windows box out of the junk I have lying around. (Thank you PCI-E for devaluing so much great hardware!)

I was hoping to get a discussion going about what IR receivers and software people have been using to control boxee in Windows.

My plans were to use my USB-UIRT and Girder which is what I've used in the past for HTPCs.

What's everyone else doing?

Harmony 1000 works perfect. Standard USB IR adapter available for about $10 on the web. I am using the standard MCE remote buttons and it seems to work with some odd mappings. The right and left NAV buttons seem to be fast forward and rewind rather than the actual fast forward and rewind buttons and pause is still a bit of a mystery to me as I know it's still being adjusted. It is an Alpha after all.

Maybe if we map those to the right buttons on an MCE remote the transition would be a little easier.

Hint... Hint...:D

[Metacore]

Although I still didn't receive an alpha invite either, I figured I'd share what I use for XBMC.

Primarily, I use the wiimote(I keep my Wii in the living room too) with software called GlovePIE to emulate a mouse and keyboard. This lets me use the infrared bar on the TV to triangulate the position and angle of the wiimote, letting me have the cursor follow where I point with the wiimote. Then, depending which "mode" I'm in, the other buttons do different things. Unfortunately, I don't know how to pair the wiimote yet(requires the host's bluetooth address in binary, backwards. Pretty much every bluetooth software only lets me put in ascii PINs...). The work-around is to have GlovePIE autoconnect the wiimote each time, but it's pretty flimsy.
Also, if I feel like impressing someone, I could point the wiimote at the TV and use a little IR pen on the screen itself as a mouse, using a program called WiimoteSmoothboard, though it's not really practical.

For practicality and impressiveness, I use CamSpace, which similar to how the wiimote tracks infrared light, can use a camera to track any kind of light. This lets me use a little ring I made from tape and stickers on my index finger which controls mouse position while my thumb controls different clicks. If I flick my thumb inwards, it holds the left click down, and flicking it back out releases it, while flicking my thumb downwards right clicks.

The CamSpace script is really for general use, but I can continue to make different functions like the ones I mentioned. For instance, I can tell it that when it sees my pinky, it's position compare to my index finger controls the volume. This means if I do the "devil" hand gesture at the camera, tiling my hand controls the volume. Similarly, if it sees my thumb as well during this, it will control the rewind/fastforward speed. Those are just ideas though, but I'll start to work on them when I get the invite for windows.

[Roofus86]

Well, I've got boxee up and running on my system and I've settled on a remote software. My original choice of Girder. Even though I couldn't find my old serial # and the price tag for the newest version was a bit steep ($50US). Girder was the only software out of the loads that I tried that actually worked. When intelliremote wasn't crashing, the delay between keypresses, which I couldn't find a setting for was unbearable. The only other programs I found that advertised compatibility with my USB-UIRT only worked with specific preset programs. Although Girder is a bit pricey, it just freakin works, and you get a lot more than a simple remote control program out of it.

Thanks to everyone who's chimed in so far, let's keep this ball rolling!

[louism74]

i use the windows Mce 2005 remote but only 4 buttons work it would be nice if it can be remap or mb a way to let the user map the buttons lay out ;)

[rerunx5]

I got Boxee working fine (in windowed mode) with an xbox dvd remote in Vista 32-bit.

I just download the xbox dvd remote drivers from here and install them.
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40052

Then installed IRXBOX.
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=38629

Somehow when I'm in fullscreen mode in Boxee and Xbmc, the screen blinks when I press a button on the remote while IRXBOX is on.

[arvind]

i use the windows Mce 2005 remote but only 4 buttons work it would be nice if it can be remap or mb a way to let the user map the buttons lay out ;)

I've been using the MCE remote myself and it works great. I am able to use the 4 directional buttons, the center (enter) button and the "Clear" button (for back/escape)

With these keys, it basically works just like the Apple Remote for AppleTV!

[Rusdude]

Pesonally, since my HTPC is hidden behind the TV, I use the same solution as I do for VMC -- Logitech DiNovo Mini keyboard. The only downside is that Esc key is Fn+Tab on it.

[LordHelmet]

I've been using the MCE remote myself and it works great. I am able to use the 4 directional buttons, the center (enter) button and the "Clear" button (for back/escape)

With these keys, it basically works just like the Apple Remote for AppleTV!

Hmmm..I can't get mine to scroll through long lists of movies...it only moves up or down one movie at a time.

Side note...it would be awesome to get an apple remote working with windows...

[marky_uk]

Hi there,

I'm wondering if anyone has figured how BEST to setup the Harmony 1000 remote with Boxee?

I cannot get the "My ..." buttons to work - they always reload up Windows Media Center and go to the relevant option ... so I'll be sat in Boxee, and press My Music, and it opens MCE to My Music. Yuck!

Also, would be nice, as aforementioned, to be able to map the < and > hard keys to skip backwards/forwards a page when in lists.

Anyone got ideas/can help?

Thanks!

Marky_UK

[Mr. D]

Marky

Many people have had success with intelliremote to remap keys but it did not work for me. I use AutoHotkey - a free keyboard remapper. Now all the buttons on my remote map directly to useful keys on Boxee. I can control Boxee totally with the remote - it is very cool

David

[marky_uk]

Hi david,

Cool, thanks for that!

I'm wondering now if there is a list of all keys that boxee uses! (come on, you knew that was my next question! hehe)

Mark_UK

[ams123]

I've been using the MCE remote myself and it works great. I am able to use the 4 directional buttons, the center (enter) button and the "Clear" button (for back/escape)

With these keys, it basically works just like the Apple Remote for AppleTV!

Thanks for the tip about the Clear button. Sure it would be nice if the playback buttons work but now I can at least have full function control.

[marky_uk]

All the same for me - firstly thanks, I hadn't said it in here but the bit about "clear" and not the more obvious "back" has made it 100x more usable now!

And ditto re mapping other functions - I want to press Movies and get to the Movies page, Music, go to Music, etc, etc.

Marky_uk

[Mr. D]

I have a surplus remote that was intended for a software DVD player. The remote sends keycodes to Windows. I used freeware AutoHotkey to remap the keycodes to the ones Boxee recognizes. Here is my AutoHotkey macro file if anyone is interested:

#AllowSameLineComments
#InstallKeyBDHook
Browser_Back::Send {Backspace} ; Back button
^P::Send {Space} ; Play button is pause
^S::Send X ; Stop button
^+F::Send f ; Fast Forward
^+B::Send r ; Rewind
^B::Send {,} ; Skip Previous
^F::Send {.} ; Skip Next
^R::Send p ; Record button is play
SC120::Send Z ; Aspect Ratio
SC130::+ ; Volume up
SC12E::- ; Volume down
Tab::Send {Esc} ; Tab button is Escape
^+!Home::Send c ; Home is Context menu
^!+F::Send i ; Suffle button is Info
^!+B::Send y ; Repeat button is Codec Info

Here is information on the remote:


Here is some technical information on it:

http://mathema.tician.de/node/416
http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/general-support-51/xpc-rc01-remote-help-12670/
http://www.techexcess.net/downloads/ir_remote_and_receiver_reference.htm

The only thing I could not get to work is the "Mute" button because I don't know what key to send to Boxee for mute.

David