Ultimate Remote Guide for Windows

**phishie** · January 25th, 2009, 10:22 PM

Great info here, just a few questions...

Any recommendations on where/what IR Receiver to get? I haven't picked one up yet and the google search results is a hodge podge of hardware.

Is it possible to program the Verizon FiOS remote I have to work with whatever IR Receiver I get? I would think if it the Receiver recognizes the signal for the remote then it's just a matter of having Boxee/middleware interpret them correctly.

Thanks!

**gregsmith** · January 26th, 2009, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by gregsmith

Does anyone know why it might not be working for me?

OK, I now know what the problem was. I got what I thought was the latest version of eventghost, but what I needed was the latest beta NIGHTLY version of the program. I had already installed EG and it told me I had the latest versh so I thought I was good to go.

Excuse my ignorance. I hope this helps someone else.

**jeffporn** · January 26th, 2009, 05:21 PM

Anyone been able to get the "Green Button" on the MCE remote to start Boxee?

**gregsmith** · January 26th, 2009, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by jeffporn

Anyone been able to get the "Green Button" on the MCE remote to start Boxee?

I've been experimenting a little with this. This is the 'Home' macro in eventghost. If you add an Action you can choose to start a program and select boxee.exe. I also added the '-p' command line switch as without it my user wasn't in the list, although I don't know why. '-fs' should start full screen but doesn't work on my second monitor where I want it so I've left this off.

This works fine but if boxee is already running it'll start a second instance of the program. Ideally we want a macro that will look for the boxee window, if it finds it and it's the focus return to the home screen, if it isn't the focus make it the focus, and if it can't find it at all to start boxee.exe. This would exactly mimic the standard mce behaviour of the button, but I haven't figured out how to do this yet.

**gregsmith** · January 26th, 2009, 06:10 PM

OK, here's how to make the green button launch boxee or gain focus if it's already running. I haven't tested too thoroughly yet. This assumes you've followed the first post in this thread.

1. Create a new macro. I called mine 'Start Boxee'.
2. Within it add a new action. Select System -> Start Application.
3. Select the boxee executable filepath. Add -p to command line options for the profile screen to work and -fs if you want full screen. Click OK.
4. Now expand to the 'Home' macro in the tree. Above the 'Emulate Keystrokes: h' action, add an action and select Window -> Find a window.
5. Make it find the Boxee.exe window and untick 'Stop macro if target is not found'.
6. Now create another action below 'Find Window'. Select EventGhost -> Jump.
7. Now select 'last action was Unsuccessful'. Choose 'jump to' the 'Start Boxee' macro you created in step 1. Click OK.

That should be it. You can test it by selecting the 'Home' macro and hitting play.

Now if I could just get boxee starting on my second monitor in fullscreen I'd be set.

**jeffporn** · January 26th, 2009, 06:54 PM

ok, I set it up the way you have listed and if I click home and play it works fine, however, if I push the green button on my remote it does not work.

Any Ideas?

**willmatic** · January 26th, 2009, 08:03 PM

well that was quick and painless. all i had to do was add some macros for Volume up and down and Mute and everything works great. thanks!

**gregsmith** · January 27th, 2009, 02:38 AM

Originally Posted by jeffporn

ok, I set it up the way you have listed and if I click home and play it works fine, however, if I push the green button on my remote it does not work.

Any Ideas?

For mine, the Home macro was mapped to the green button on my remote by default. Are you using the replacement driver?

**gregsmith** · January 27th, 2009, 02:58 AM

Originally Posted by willmatic

well that was quick and painless. all i had to do was add some macros for Volume up and down and Mute and everything works great. thanks!

What's the keyboard shortcut for mute? I've found vol up and down are the + and - keys.

We also need a way to scroll quicker if an arrow key is held down for navigating long lists. Any ideas?

**jeffporn** · January 27th, 2009, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by gregsmith

For mine, the Home macro was mapped to the green button on my remote by default. Are you using the replacement driver?

I already had it installed, I've been using Mediaportal for years. One thing I just though of is I have the European version of the MCE remote, I wonder of the Green Button has a different mapping for it.