MCE Replacement Driver [Obsolete]

[flippado]

4 the tips!

for the post in this thread...

[p0rsch3]

need IR help, can't get things to work with Vista VMC
I am very familiar with xp MCE / IR / home automation, etc.

here's the prob-
I have an MCE v1 receiver / remote and vista ultimate 32. The receiver and remote actually work fine to control all of the VMC functions, it was plug-n-play. I copied my media center remote commands to my MX850 remote. All works except the up/dn/l/r keys. it stops advancing after one press, as it seems the mce remote does some sort of code shifting?

I deleted the codesetnum0-3 keys in the reg, stopped ehtray, rebooted
Installed HIP, left the default ehome driver alone, loaded the HIPMCE plugin, chose MCE as the input device- It will not see my remote

Then installed your MCE replacement driver, chose the first device listed. Still no love from HIP
Then installed the driver that came with HIP, still no love


What should I specifically do to get the IR input working with my MX850?

[Uh_Andy]

I would really like to see some info on this also. I've spent hours trying to get this to work on my VISTA Ultimate machine. All worked fine on XP using the MCE Remote Replacement Driver and following the FAQ by Peter Grimshaw. http://www.byremote.com.au/Hip/mce_remote_faq.htm

Has anyone seen step by step instructions for doing this on VISTA? Another thread, wiki, faq, blog? Has anyone ever actually gotten this to work on VISTA MCE? Everything I've seen so far is for XP.

Eg. VISTA refuses to install the replacement driver. When I try to update to it it tells me the best driver is already installed. If I right click the inf file and choose install it says it was not designed to do that kind of installation. If I run the install bat file I see a dos window which launches a devcon window which closes so fast I can't see what happened but I suspect it's failing. No IR is seen in HIP and IR blasting stops working.

Remote is hauppauge MCE
MCE Receiver/Blaster is typical SMK usb


Thanks in advance for any help!
- Andy

[p0rsch3]

Update - solution found!! www.intelliremote.com - have been using this perfectly, it costs $15 but worth every penny. The site owner / developer is also a very nice guy and quite responsive.

Install, follow instructions and that's it!

PS- the MCE replacement driver, HIP, EventGhost and IR server do not work. I spent days on this and the only one that works without fuss is Intelliremote.

[Uh_Andy]

Thanks for the info p0rsch. This program looks good but the price is now $24 to register. Still not too bad except the trial version now has almost constant nag screens that pop under MCE making it very difficult to evaluate. I'm still giving it a try. Maybe the author will come back to earth soon. LOL

[and-81]

p0rsch3:

The Version 1 MCE remote is not well supported in many programs and has never been (as far as I know) supported by the Replacement Driver. The FAQ on ByRemote.com.au explains that.

I'd support the V1 remote in a heartbeat if I had one, but they are a bit rare these days.

It's nice that intelliremote seems to support it, but I don't think many people will agree with you when you say that HIP, EventGhost and IR Server Suite dont work. It might be more accurate to say that they don't support the Version 1 MCE Remote properly. I believe you can get the V1 MCE remote to work with both EventGhost and IR Server Suite, but it requires a little tweaking in both cases. In IR Server Suite you might be able to get it to work with either the keyboard relay program or the custom HID plugin, but I've not done it myself.

By the way, HIP, EventGhost and IR Server Suite are all free. And EventGhost and IR Server Suite are open source, so if someone wants to write a plugin to support Version 1 MCE remotes they can quite easily.

But this thread is about the replacement driver, so lets leave it at that.

Uh_Andy:

The replacement driver might not be the answer to your problems. What software have you tried so far?

Cheers,

[Melloware]

UH_Andy,

Sorry about that. The five disabled buttons in the shareware version are:

5
STOP
NEXT
ARROW_RIGHT
MUTE

I added the nag screen because I had so many people asking me "hey my Mute button doesn't work" not realizing it was disabled in the shareware version so I figured the nag screen would answer that question without me getting 1000 emails. Sounds like I need to re-evaluate that decision! Feel free to email me at my site I would be more than happy to work out any issues you are having. Also I saw your review on Softpedia, i noticed you said my ehtray.exe instructions for Vista were incorrect. I would also be more than happy to work that out and get it right in my documentation but those instructions worked for me fine on my Vista.

You can reach me at info at melloware dot com if you would like to chat.

[Uh_Andy]

Aaron - IR Server Suite - Test Build 1.4.2 RC1 installed easily and is working very well with my Vista 32 MCE. I just didn't spot that version before. Thanks for the great app!

Melloware - Thanks for your response and offers to help. That's really very cool. The error in the doc is minor but considering the increased price ... here's the bit:
5. In the same command prompt, type icacls C:\Windows\ehome\ehtray.exe /grant (your username):F NOTE: Substitute (your username) with your current username.
6. A message will be displayed that this completed successfully.
X. In the same command prompt, type cd C:\Windows\ehome
7. In the same command prompt, type rename ehtray.exe ehtray.old

imho, Shareware/open source are the best types of software. Limited timed trials with full functionality are the best demos for commercial products. Crippleware and Nagware for commercial products are annoying. Crippling combined with nagging may be overkill and really give a bad impression. In this case, since I was troubleshooting within MCE I didn't see the nags until I exited MCE. Then there would be dozens of the nag screens stacked over each other. I didn't realize they were related to certain buttons. I think I was getting one each time I tried to navigate to the right in the MCE menus even though I hadn't redefined that button. Not sure.

Thanks guys! I'm very happy to have 2 solutions that will work with Vista MCE.

[pdiaz]

I am using the standard MCE driver and Mediaportal Server / Client. I have a Logitech Programmable universal remote which I have configured to send the MCE IR Signals. When I select the Activity "Watch Mediaportal" on the Remote, I have configured it to send the "Power PC" button to wake the PC from standby which works great. The only problem I have is that if I am watching / recording TV in Mediaportal, change to doing something else like watching TV through my TV's built in tuner and then switch back to Mediaportal, the remote sends the "Power PC" signal again which seems to turns off the TV tuner in Mediaportal and stops recording. I know "Power PC" is the culprit as using this button on the original remote will also kill the tuner. I used to use the standalone Mediaportal an didn't have this problem. There is no option in Mediaportal Configuration -> Remotes to change the behaviour of this "Power PC" button? I would prefer not to change to HIP or Girder to control MP and would still like my remote to send the "Power PC" signal for the WAF :-)

Is there any other way to stop MP reacting to this signal?


Below is a section from my TsWriter.log correlating to when I press "Power PC"

18-05-2008 10:46:31.609 DiskRecorder[TIMESHIFT] Stop 'C:\Media Center\Media Portal Recordings\Timeshifting\live1-0.ts.tsbuffer'
18-05-2008 10:46:31.609 DiskRecorder[TIMESHIFT] Reset
18-05-2008 10:46:31.609 del m_pVideoAnalyzer
18-05-2008 10:46:31.609 analyzer: reset
18-05-2008 10:46:31.609 del m_pPmtGrabber
18-05-2008 10:46:31.609 del m_pRecorder
18-05-2008 10:46:31.609 del m_pTimeShifting
18-05-2008 10:46:31.625 del m_pTeletextGrabber
18-05-2008 10:46:31.625 del m_pCaGrabber
18-05-2008 10:46:31.625 del done...
18-05-2008 10:46:31.640 CMpTsFilter:ause()
18-05-2008 10:46:31.640 CMpTsFilter:top()


And from TsReader.log at the same time

18-05-2008 10:46:31.687 [1154]CTsReaderFilter:ause()
18-05-2008 10:46:31.734 [1154]CTsReaderFilter:top()
18-05-2008 10:46:31.734 [1154]demux:set hold audio:1
18-05-2008 10:46:31.734 [1154]demux:set hold video:1
18-05-2008 10:46:31.734 [1154]demux:set hold subtitle:1
18-05-2008 10:46:31.781 [d24]aud:isseeking2
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [f3c]CTsReaderFilter::ThreadProc stopped()
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]CTsReaderFilter:top() -stop source
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]CTsReaderFilter:top() -stop source done
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:set hold audio:0
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:set hold video:0
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:set hold subtitle:0
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:flushing
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:set hold audio:1
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:set hold video:1
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:set hold subtitle:1
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:flush audio
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:flush video
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:flush subtitle
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:set hold audio:0
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:set hold video:0
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:set hold subtitle:0
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]CTsReaderFilter:top() done
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]aud seek to 6.476000/8.294000
18-05-2008 10:46:32.687 [1154]demux:set hold audio:1
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]CTsReaderFilter::--SeekStart()--
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]CTsReaderFilter:eek--
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]CTsReaderFilter:: Seek-> 6.476000/8.294000
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]seek to 6.476000 filepos:caa674 pid:30
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154] got 6.475750 at filepos c9a56c diff 0.000250
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154] stop seek: 6.475750 at c9a56c - target: 6.476000, diff: 0.000250
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]CTsReaderFilter::--SeekDone()
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]demux:set hold audio:0
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]aud seek done---
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]vid seek to 6.476000
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]demux:set hold video:1
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]CTsReaderFilter:eek--
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]demux:set hold video:0
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]vid seek done---
18-05-2008 10:46:32.703 [1154]aud:skip seek
18-05-2008 10:46:33.281 [1154]CTsReaderFilter::dtor
18-05-2008 10:46:33.281 [1154]pin:dtor()
18-05-2008 10:46:33.281 [1154]pin:dtor()
18-05-2008 10:46:33.281 [1154]sub pin:dtor()
18-05-2008 10:46:33.281 [1154]FileReader::CloseFile() no open file
18-05-2008 10:46:33.281 [1154]FileReader::CloseFile() no open file
18-05-2008 10:46:33.296 [1154]CRTSPClient::~CRTSPClient()
18-05-2008 10:46:33.296 [1154]demux:flushing
18-05-2008 10:46:33.296 [1154]demux:set hold audio:1
18-05-2008 10:46:33.296 [1154]demux:set hold video:1
18-05-2008 10:46:33.296 [1154]demux:set hold subtitle:1
18-05-2008 10:46:33.296 [1154]demux:flush audio
18-05-2008 10:46:33.296 [1154]demux:flush video
18-05-2008 10:46:33.296 [1154]demux:flush subtitle
18-05-2008 10:46:33.296 [1154]demux:set hold audio:0
18-05-2008 10:46:33.296 [1154]demux:set hold video:0
18-05-2008 10:46:33.296 [1154]demux:set hold subtitle:0

[and-81]

Uh_Andy:

Glad to hear it's working for you. If you have any trouble or suggestions you know where to find me

pdiaz:

That button is built into the driver, so to stop it you have to modify the registry as I described in the MCE Replacement Driver thread linked in my signature.

If you want greater control over your mce remote try disabling MediaPortals built in support and switching to something like IR Server Suite, HIP or Girder. It's a bit more mucking around but the flexibility is far greater.

But to begin with just try disabling the registry key. If that doesn't work you can recover the registry by re-installing the mce remote driver in device manager.

Best of luck,