Boxee with Windows MCE Remote Control

**clh** · February 24th, 2009, 07:50 PM

This is an alternate solution, compared to another thread already out there, for making the Windows MCE Remote Control fully (or mostly) functional with Boxee. This should work with both Vista and XP. (I know it works with Vista since that's what I have, but it should work with XP too.)

First, let me say, I agree with a few other posts I've seen that to make Boxee truly mainstream, they really need to have the full support of the MCE Remote built in to Boxee. We shouldn't have to work with tweaks like this. However I realize Boxee is only in Alpha and still a work in progress.

Now...

I know there's another thread that already has a solution for this topic in general, but this is an alternate, and I belive easier to configure, solution specifically for use with the Windows MCE Remote. This solution uses a different piece of software called LM Remote KeyMap that has built in support for the Windows MCE remote, no need to use the alternate driver that's required for the solution in the other thread.

I posted this as a new thread because I wanted it to be an easily identifiable alternate solution if someone is searching instead of having to read through the entire other thread to find this alternative.

LM Remote KeyMap also has support for Streamzap and FireFly remotes so if you have a Windows MCE, Streamzap or Firefly, or you've tried the other solution and are having issues, you might want to try this method.

If you have other remotes, or try this solution and don't quite like it, you might want to check out the other thread. It's titled "Ultimate Remote Guide for Windows". Here's the link to it:
http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=3816

(Oh, if you've already tried the other solution and want to try this one, you probably need to remove the "alternate" driver and let the system install the standard system MCE Remote driver.)

I do have to give credit to the other thread because I found some keystrokes I wasn't aware that Boxee supported based on the profile in that thread that I was able to add to my profile for this. So without seeing that other thread first, this solution wouldn't be nearly as complete.

Differences in this solution to the "Ultimate Remote Guide for Windows" solution:

The other solution seems to be geared mostly for using Boxee standalone. I want to use Boxee in conjunction with Windows MCE. I use MCE for all my local media and I'm using Boxee primarily to be able to access Internet video content using a remote control. I used MCE Menu Minder to create an Entry Point in the MCE interface to launch Boxee for me. (Then when I exit Boxee it returns to the MCE interface.)

Also, because I still want MCE itself to still be functional I had to use a few different buttons for different functions because the ones used by default in the other solution would cause MCE to pop up and do things (or still cause the PC to go to sleep in the case of the Power option). Here's the differences in the specific button assignments.

My "Home" function uses the DVD Menu button instead of the Start (green "Windows") button. Just think "Menu" to get back to the main Boxee menu.

My "Video Info" button is the "i" Info button.

I ran out of buttons that didn't already perform some other function that caused interference from MCE so I was not able to map the Power Options or Library Status functions for Boxee. To exit I just have to navigate in the Boxee menu to the Exit menu item.

Okay, so here's what to do to set this up.

First, download LM Remote KeyMap from the following link and install it. The free version will work just fine.
http://www.lmgestion.net/@en-us/4/22/60/article.asp
Download the zip file that's attached to this message and extract the profiles.xml file from it. Just hang onto that file until told what to do with it below.
After installing LM Remote KeyMap, it does not create it's own Start Menu subfolder. It just adds a shortcut for itself under the Startup folder in the Start Menu.
Click the shortcut in the Startup folder to run it.
When you run it the first time it will ask you to choose the remote type you are using. Select the "Media Center Remote" option and click OK.
You'll see the icon for it in the System Tray.
RIGHT-Click on the system tray icon and select "Open config & Log Folder".
Paste in the new profiles.xml contained in the zip file attached to this message. Just overwrite the existing profiles.xml. (You can close this Explorer window after this.)
Now right-click on the system tray icon and select Exit to close it.
Run it again from the Startup folder in the Start Menu.
Double-click on the system tray icon to bring up the user interface.
At the top, under Remote Profiles, click the drop-down and verify that you see Boxee listed. (If it's not, you need to recopy the profiles.xml and exit and restart LM Remote KeyMap again.)
Click the "Setup Remote" button.
UNcheck all 3 of the "Enable customization of the..." arrow, number, and OK buttons "...in the default profile." Then click OK. (If you don't do this you can have issues within the Windows MCE interface itself.)
Now MINIMIZE (don't click the X) LM Remote KeyMap and you should be good to go from there.

**Kiggold** · February 24th, 2009, 08:52 PM

I'm in the same boat with you with the MCE remote.

And I have to say I tried using LM Remote, and its, well, garbage
I got Boxee + MCE remote working very well with event ghost...(Ultimate Remote Guide)

However, I did have an issue with EventGhost and holding down the arrow keys (here), so I will be trying out again LM Remote with your xml file...thanks!

**clh** · February 25th, 2009, 07:50 AM

Originally Posted by Kiggold

I'm in the same boat with you with the MCE remote.

And I have to say I tried using LM Remote, and its, well, garbage
I got Boxee + MCE remote working very well with event ghost...(Ultimate Remote Guide)

However, I did have an issue with EventGhost and holding down the arrow keys (here), so I will be trying out again LM Remote with your xml file...thanks!

I haven't had any trouble at all with LM Remote.

I got it originally to program the additional Blu-ray functionality for PowerDVD with my MCE Remote (from some threads I found somewhere from a Google search) so I already had it and it was working fine for that purpose. When I saw the other thread about event ghost I figured I could probably program LM Remote the same way and so far so good. No problems at all. The arrow keys work just fine when holding down. In fact, they maybe work TOO well (VERY fast repeating in Boxee).

I don't anything about event ghost so it's possible event ghost has some more advanced features than LM Remote, so if you are trying to do more advanced stuff for other purposes in addition to this then maybe LM Remote isn't up to snuff. But for this basic purpose for the average who doesn't want to have to mess with the alternate driver this solution should work very well.

**Douro** · February 25th, 2009, 10:14 AM

I'm going to have to try this when I get home. I don't use Media Center at all, but in addition to the MCE Remote, I also have the MCE Keyboard. The alternative driver breaks the Keyboard. If this solution both allows Boxee to work with the MCE Remote, and leaves the MCE Keyboard functional, count me in.

**innesst** · February 27th, 2009, 01:04 AM

This method works great! I highly recommend it (I have a harmony 550). I already had LM Remote KeyMap installed for PowerDVD (http://www.missingremote.com/index.p...=2560&Itemid=1) and modified the keymap to almost exactly what clh had. Great post!

I note that if you click the back button while watching a video, you can continue to hit the back button until you reach the home screen and then you will return to the video. However, you will have lost your navigation. As far as I can tell, there is no "forward" command - it is a Boxee issue not related to a remote interface. To retain your navigation, you need to go left and choose "now playing". A forward button would be more intuitive.

**clh** · February 27th, 2009, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by innesst

This method works great! I highly recommend it (I have a harmony 550). I already had LM Remote KeyMap installed for PowerDVD (http://www.missingremote.com/index.p...=2560&Itemid=1) and modified the keymap to almost exactly what clh had. Great post!

I note that if you click the back button while watching a video, you can continue to hit the back button until you reach the home screen and then you will return to the video. However, you will have lost your navigation. As far as I can tell, there is no "forward" command - it is a Boxee issue not related to a remote interface. To retain your navigation, you need to go left and choose "now playing". A forward button would be more intuitive.

Glad it worked for you!

Now that you mention it, while I was programming LM Remote KeyMap and saw the "home" function from the event ghost profile in the other solution's post, I got to thinking "they should have a direct Now Playing keyboard shorcut."

If you mean a "forward" button to retrace back into the same menu structure you just "back"ed out of (like it remembers where you came back out of and retraces that back down into the menus), that would be nice but I'm not aware of any media center type interface that has that. There might be one, but I don't know of any.

**ashtonisdrugfree** · February 28th, 2009, 03:22 PM

props. got a few more buttons working for me. any idea as to why the pause and play button take me to my home screen?

**clh** · February 28th, 2009, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by ashtonisdrugfree

props. got a few more buttons working for me. any idea as to why the pause and play button take me to my home screen?

Sorry, don't know. The Play/Pause function is Boxee is the Space Bar so make sure that's what they're mapped to. The "Home" function is "h" key.

**iBurger** · March 1st, 2009, 02:57 AM

Somehow, I cant make LM Remote see my usb MCE remote.
I tried to manually select the blaster. (see attached screenshot).

suggestions?

**clh** · March 1st, 2009, 08:39 AM

I'm not sure why you're in the IR Blaster selection. You need to click the "Choose Remote" button at the top, then there will be an option for the MCE Remote. Then after that also don't forget to go into "Setup Remote" and UNcheck those 3 boxes I mention in the original post.

If you're actually trying to get LM Remote to work with a IR blaster (to send signals from your PC to something else), I can't really help you there. I haven't used it that way.