compro remote/any remote/device/mobile phone/application control MP without focus (2 Viewers)

[clintebb]

ive spent the past few days trying to get the remote working properly/how i want it. ive got a compro dtv200 tuner, but this set up i have done would work with virtually any card i think.

i wanted to use the remote without MP being the active window. i have 2 monitors on my pc, and often have the tv running while doing other things on the computer. with my setup, i can completely control mediaportal while using the computer for anything else, and both run perfectly side by side. i can even play games such as need for speed or any other fullscreen/any kind of game/application, and its never failed before. ive only been doing this for a day so far on MP but before MP i was doing this on MCE for a year.

firstly i installed the messageplugin for MP, it can be found in the downloads section of the the team-mediaportal website.

i am using HIP, can be found on the byremote website, search google, its also up for download on this website too i think i saw. if you are using a 32 bit windows, get the latest version, if you are using a 64 bit windows you must use a 2.xxx version, version 3.xx does not work on 64 bit. took me a year to work that out! last year i went back to vista 32 bit just because of HIP not working on 64 bit. in addition to hip for compro remotes compro2hip is required. can be found on the HIP website. it will probably throw an error while trying to install, its not a problem. when compro2hip was written the remote software was called comproremotedtv, newer versions of compro remote changed the name to comproremote, so it just tells you that it cant find the remote software, just install compro2hip ignoring the error and it will work.

Hip cannot (or i couldnt get it to) send messages to a program not in focus. i thought ive done it before, im sure i had it set up with MCE so that it worked, but maybe the older version im using now is different? so to get around this, i made my own program that could send a message to MP when its not in focus. its a simple 3 line program made in autohotkey. in the readme file for messageplugin is a list of functions and their numbers to send to MP. my program takes that number as a parameter after the filename and sends it to MP. its pretty easy, the program is called mediaportalremote, you could rename it to MPremote or anything else.. but an example of how to use it: just run "mediaportalremote 24" and mediaportal will pause. run "mediaportalremote 38" and it will go to the guide screen. so its pretty simple. as mentioned the numbers are found in the readme for messageplugin, but ill also list them later in this post. i wanted the livetv button on my remote to do 2 things, obviously go to live tv, but also start mediaportal if its not already running. so ive made a second program for that, it has no starting parameters, you just run it, if no MP is running it starts it, and if its there it goes to the tv menu. running is consecutively changed between the tv menu and full screen tv (thats not something ive done, it just so happens to work that way, which is handy ) this program is called MediaPortalremote Live Tv or start MP but again rename it to anything u like, something shorter is probably better haha.

i was already working with HIP originally so i just kept on with it, but thinking back i could have used the compro software directly. but a few disadvantages, with the compro software some keys such as the livetv button cant be used, they are reserved for compro software. and also with hip i can save the profile, so next time i just inport the profile and it works instantly, compared to with the compro software every time i reinstall windows or on a different pc i would need to set up the whole profile.

im using a compro remote, but this will work with almost any remote or device, even a mobile phone! since its all done by running my program, you dont need to be sending messages or anything hard, simply run an executable, any program can do that. so as long as your remote works with hip, or the default software for your remote has the option for running an executable, then you are set. theres even programs that work on most mobile phones allowing you to execute programs on your pc remotely from your phone. they would be able to control MP

so here is the list of commands:

Remote Buttons
-------------------
NumPad0 = 0
NumPad1 = 1
NumPad2 = 2
NumPad3 = 3
NumPad4 = 4
NumPad5 = 5
NumPad6 = 6
NumPad7 = 7
NumPad8 = 8
NumPad9 = 9
Clear = 10
Enter = 11
Power2 = 12
Start = 13
Mute = 14
Info = 15
VolumeUp = 16
VolumeDown = 17
ChannelUp = 18
ChannelDown = 19
Forward = 20
Rewind = 21
Play = 22
Record = 23
Pause = 24
Stop = 25
Skip = 26
Replay = 27
OemGate = 28
Oem8 = 29
Up = 30
Down = 31
Left = 32
Right = 33
Ok = 34
Back = 35
DVDMenu = 36
LiveTV = 37
Guide = 38
AspectRatio = 39
MyTV = 70
MyMusic = 71
RecordedTV = 72
MyPictures = 73
MyVideos = 74
Print = 78
MyRadio = 80
Teletext = 90
Red = 91
Green = 92
Yellow = 93
Blue = 94
PowerTV = 101
Messenger = 105
Power1 = 165

I really hope this is useful to people, makes my few days of trying worth it! i dont take all credit for it, ive just pieced together a few different programs, and made my program to bridge the gap between the other programs. but hopefully this will make it much easier for others wanting to set up a remote control. it also has the advantage of it working without MP being the active program, i havent seen any other programs yet that did that, which is why i did this.

please post any comments/suggestions or questions here, spread the word too.. over the past few days ive come across soo many threads of vista 64 bit people having trouble and cant get hip working, various people cant get different remotes to work with MP and this should get most of those working.

Clint

 

[big_pu_666]

hi
i have few problems with this workaround.
how did you setup hip ? which plugin should i install ? i tried with hid and i got working arrow keys of my remote.
and i don't get where is your program in all this ? when does it activate ?

tnx

 

[clintebb]

Which remote control do you have? the files i made are attached to my post, the others needed are messageplugin, its available for download on the mp website, just search for it, i would do but my internet is so slow it barely works right now. and hip which you obviously have.

basically how to do it, get your remote working with hip, if your remote functions with hid, then install the hip generic hid addin, or if its already installed select it from the configuration menu, if your using a compro remote, you need to install compro2hip and then select the generic hip plugin.

but firstly describe which remote you are using, and what you have installed so far and we can go from there

 

[big_pu_666]

i have remote for compro e800f, and i currently use compro2aw. but as you said some system keys do not function.
and i installed compro2hip, hip and message plugin for mediaportal.
i'll try with generic hip plugin.

and, can you tell me what is the sequence ? signal from remote goes to comproremote.exe, from there to compro2hip, from there to hip and from there to messageplugin ?

and where in this game is program you wrote ?!? or it is not ment to be used with remote ?

 

[wogboy112]

Hi....

i've got a e700f and I was wondering whats the best way to get it working....... I've tried uninstalling the software and using hip... I wouldnt mind trying compro2aw but the download link wont work...


what's been better for all of you so far?

 

[big_pu_666]

probably the best way is with hip and compro2hip, but i haven't managed to make it work.
with compro2aw system keys (top two rows - my radio, my tv, my music ...), vista green key, and teletext keys are not working. but it is pretty easy to setup.
i can send you my version with comporemote.exe included and ini file already set for my remote.

 

[wogboy112]

Hi...

I you could send me your setup that would be great!!.. thanks

 

[big_pu_666]

yes i could, if you would send me your email adress

 

[clintebb]

sorry for the late reply.. ive been busy and not on here for a while.

so you have the compro software installed?
compro2hip installed?
if you open task manager, go to processes tab can you see compro2hip in the list?
have you installed messageplugin for mediaportal?
you have installed hip with no other plugins (the generic interface input device is installed as part of hip)

in hip click file > preferences go to the alternate input tab and select the generic interface under alternate input devices.
click on add, press a button on the remote, push it again to confirm and your now under way. if at this point pushing buttons has no effect on hip, it just sits there with the box saying press a key to continue, then there is a problem and you need to start looking at whats the problem. but basically if the remote works with the compro software, then you install compro2hip, theres no reason for it not to work. if your remote works with hip, but doesnt control mediaportal, check that you have installed messageplugin and enabled it in the config. what you can do to check this and remove your remote and hip from the equation, click on start, run, select my program and then add a parameter after it, eg c:\mediaportalremote 24 and mediaportal will pause. if it doesnt then you need to check the config for messageplugin or mediaportal

now all of the buttons need to be configured from within this alternate input tab in the preferences, not from within the main hip screen. in the options menu here these commands will work at all times, doesnt matter what the current active window is, if you add the commands to the main hip screen where you associate then with one of the 1-9 program slots, then the buttons will only work when that program is active. i think you need a program in at least 1 of those program slots for hip to work, so just put anything, mediaportal or whatever, its not used, its just to make hip happy and think u have a program set up with it.

so now click on add value, press the remote button, such as volume up, now in the next hip screen where you associate commands with that button, click on execute program, select my program which u downloaded from this thread, and in the third box down parameters select the relevant parameter from the list above, which in this case volume up is 16. click on on the window there, taking you back to the previous hip screen showing description and primary command boxes, you can select all the text in the primary command box, copy it and paste it into that same box next time you add a remote button, and then just change that 16 to say 17 for volume down.

the advantage of this over compro2aw is this will work 100% no matter what windows are open and active, mediaportal can just be running in the background or on the 2nd screen and you never need to select that window, the remote will always work.

let me know if u have any other issues.

ive recently reinstalled windows and will be setting up my remote soon.. ill now be using a dvico usb tuner as my remote receiver, still using the compro remotes, it will just be using the hid interface in hip instead of generic interface, so if u want i can get a few screenshots along the way and quick instructions as i go to make it clear on how its set up.

 

[big_pu_666]

thanks for this detailed instructions.
but the trouble now is that i am stuck in same situation like with compro2aw.
this is picture of my remote:
Imagesforme - Besplatan upload slika i fotografija
i still cannot configure first two rows of buttons on my remote and the green key.
when i press them hip does not recognize them. with all other buttons everything is ok.