Calling all MP New Zealanders (Both of you!!) (3 Viewers)

[rocklander]

Ah yes dealextreme, love that site. got a link for the one you ordered?

well it arrived today, and the good news is that for some reason they screwed up and sent me two for the price of one... however I now have two very light paperweights... some buttons correspond with mediaportal, but not many.. just searching the forum now to see if there's some simple instructions on how to set up a generic remote.. the stuff I've found so far looks like there's a set number of remotes to choose from (LM remote and IR server suite)... we'll see how I go I guess :-|

 

[littlematt]

Well I dont suppose you can expect too much for ten bucks....
This will see you right.
Home electronics - Hauppauge MCE Remote Control Kit
As an added bonus you can pick up an IR keyboard still which will also work off this reciever...

Microsoft Remote Keyboard for Windows XP Media Center Edition - Compare NZ Prices On Price Me

Wow they both got expensive since I bought em dont remember paying that much... Maybe =)

 

[rocklander]

Well I dont suppose you can expect too much for ten bucks....

yeah, I hear ya.. worth a crack though, right.. I'll put some time into it later on and see if I can beat it into submission. not very hopeful, and it'll likely not be for a couple weeks... will certainly post info of I get it going.

 

[dvbkiwi]

Ive been using the SnapStream firefly for many years

SnapStream Firefly: Overview

I use to use this for Beyond TV and then started using it for MP, I just installed the standard drivers on XP and then created a profile file using a txt editor to just map each button to the media portal keyboard shortcuts. The great thing about this remote is that its RF so I can change music volume from anywhere in and around the house. I also use the one-button addon so I can just choose a play list pressing a button on the remote without having to turn the TV on.

It doesn't have any infrared capabilities so if you want to use an infrared blaster you will have to buy it separately. I use LMKeymap to blast infrared to my amp for on/off and volume control.

I also like how Firefly recognizes the APP that you are running and uses the profile for the specific app, if there is no profile for a specific app it will use the global profile which has some generic mappings.

Just another option for you I guess

 

[timbotim]

Just an update on those Weather images

I've changed some of the sources and settings around and they're all working fine in MP now.

Here's a step-by-step guide for getting the weather feature working using my New Zealand weather images in MediaPortal (because I was a noob once too):

1. Open MediaPortal Configuration
2. Go to Weather
3. Click the "Add" button if your city isn't already in the list, otherwise select your city, click the "Edit" button and skip step 4.
4. Enter the name of the nearest city and click "Search". If the city you typed isn't in the list, search for the nearest major city that is there. A lot of NZ cities are.
5. In the tabs (or the boxes if you're editing a city), enter the following URLs (everything before the []):

Satellite - one of the following:
http://weather.secure.org.nz/satellite.png [~180 KB, highest quality still image]
http://weather.secure.org.nz/satellite.jpg [~50 KB, high quality still image]
http://weather.secure.org.nz/satellite24hr.gif [~460 KB, low quality animation of last 24 hours]
http://weather.secure.org.nz/satellite18hr.gif [~360 KB, low quality animation of last 18 hours]
http://weather.secure.org.nz/satellite12hr.gif [~260 KB, low quality animation of last 12 hours]
http://weather.secure.org.nz/satellite6hr.gif [~160 KB, low quality animation of last 6 hours]
NB: It's your choice which of these you pick. The higher the size in KB, the more of your bandwidth it will use, the more of my bandwidth it will use and the longer it will take to load in MediaPortal.

Temperature: http://weather.secure.org.nz/temp.gif [~50 KB, still image of temperature and humidity readings]

UV Index - go to http://www.niwa.co.nz/our-services/online-services/uv-and-ozone/forecasts, right click the name of the nearest town to you, copy the link and paste this into MediaPortal Configuration. Or for a more standard UV index meter, use http://www.niwa.co.nz/our-services/online-services/uv-and-ozone/curr_uvi_l.gif but be aware this is only for Lauder in Central Otago, which can be quite different to the UV in somewhere like Wellington or Auckland.

Winds: http://weather.secure.org.nz/wind.gif [~50 KB, still image of wind readings]

Humidity: http://weather.secure.org.nz/temp.gif [~50 KB, still image of temperature and humidity readings]

Precipitation - one of the following:
http://weather.secure.org.nz/rain.jpg [~50 KB, highest quality still image]
http://weather.secure.org.nz/rain.gif [~630 KB, low quality animation of last 6 hours]
NB: It's your choice which of these you pick. The higher the size in KB, the more of your bandwidth it will use, the more of my bandwidth it will use and the longer it will take to load in MediaPortal.

6. Click the "Add City" button (or "OK" if you're editing a city).
7. Done

Some of the pics look pretty warped if you click the preview button in the add city window, but don't worry, they don't look like that in MediaPortal. And I can't change the resolution of the pics because they are the same resolution as the source images are (so blowing them up would make them pixelated and shrinking them would lose quality).

The rain images are updated every hour, about ten mins after the hour. The satellite images are updated every 3 hours, about 30 mins after the 3 hour mark (eg. 12:30, 3:30, 6:30, etc.). The Temperature/Humidity and Rain images are also updated every three hours, but about an hour after the 3 hour mark (eg. 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, etc.). This is to do with when the images are actually updated on the sites I get the images off. NIWA's images are updated on a daily basis as they are predictions for the whole day. Take a look around NIWA's UV & Ozone site for more pics you could use for the UV index instead.

 

[Bleazle]

Good stuff - you should add it to the NZ Wiki Page: Country_Specific_Informations/NewZealand - MediaPortal Manual Documentation

 

[timbotim]

Good stuff - you should add it to the NZ Wiki Page: Country_Specific_Informations/NewZealand - MediaPortal Manual Documentation

Good idea Bleazle. Done.

 

[Bleazle]

Good stuff - you should add it to the NZ Wiki Page: Country_Specific_Informations/NewZealand - MediaPortal Manual Documentation

Good idea Bleazle. Done.

Good job

Hey guys, check out my new toy: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/bleazle-311/hp-touchsmart-5-minute-review-82016/

 

[mediortal]

Ah yes dealextreme, love that site. got a link for the one you ordered?

well it arrived today, and the good news is that for some reason they screwed up and sent me two for the price of one... however I now have two very light paperweights... some buttons correspond with mediaportal, but not many.. just searching the forum now to see if there's some simple instructions on how to set up a generic remote.. the stuff I've found so far looks like there's a set number of remotes to choose from (LM remote and IR server suite)... we'll see how I go I guess :-|

That look not bad for the price. What exactly is the problem with the buttons?

I'm using an old remote, which is not a MC rem, and it works fine, but its old, and the software isnt very flexible, so I wouldnt mind getting a cheap replacement.

Does it not come with any app that runs in the background, which lets you assign keys to each button??

 

[rocklander]

That look not bad for the price. What exactly is the problem with the buttons?

I'm using an old remote, which is not a MC rem, and it works fine, but its old, and the software isnt very flexible, so I wouldnt mind getting a cheap replacement.

Does it not come with any app that runs in the background, which lets you assign keys to each button??

no.. no software.. some buttons work (like play, maybe stop) but others do weird stuff like take mp out of full screen mode.. or close it down.

I'm unable to put any time into it this week, but maybe next week.. I'll see.

same site has some grey MCE ones at a slightly cheaper price too.. so just search dealextreme for mce.. that'll be my next stop if I can't get these going.