Flirc + Mediaportal review and setup (1 Viewer)

Rick164

MP Donator
  • Premium Supporter
  • January 7, 2006
    1,335
    1,005
    Home Country
    Netherlands Netherlands
    Hi,

    Been using Flirc for a while and with recently adding a Harmony Hub + Harmony companion in the mix it has really become a nice setup albeit with some extra work to setup, below are some basic explanations and guide based on Harmony setup.

    Hardware

    - Flirc

    It's an USB dongle which emulates keyboard commands and can learn from just about any IR remote, requires no extra software after setup and stores its config in internal dongle memory so you can swap to another machine and have the same configuration.

    - Harmony Hub

    An WiFi / Bluetooth / IR station which can receive commands via those protocols and is easy to setup via Android / iOS app
    The Flirc dongle is placed right next the Harmony Hub so I don''t need line of sight, it beams IR codes straight to the dongle that way.

    - Harmony Companion

    RF remote which communicates to the Harmony Hub, has some cool features like holding keys for x seconds does a different command (double function)
    Battery life is amazing and it goes to sleep when not used for a while, so far mine is going 2 months without replacing the small replaceable battery.

    Setup

    This depends on the remote but gonna use Harmony Companion as an example here:

    Step 1

    In the Harmony app add a new device and base it on Microsoft MCE keyboard from the supported devices it shows you (preferred) or create one yourself so long as it sends non-mce IR commands as Flirc can't handle those.
    Tweak layout and key functions with app to your liking.

    Step 2

    Connect your Flirc dongle and starts it software, since there's no clear cut Mediaportal profile you have to lookup the keyboard commands here:

    http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/20_Reference/Keyboard_Shortcuts/1_General

    Click on a keyboard key you want to map in the Flirc app and then press the key on your remote you want to map to it, repeat this for every key.

    Step 3

    Flirc also has a dedicated wake up key which you can map to any IR key to wake up even when machine is in deep sleep:

    FlircWakeyWakey.PNG


    Step 4 (Optional)

    In the Flirc app you have advanced options for inter-key delay, depending on your remote you might need to tweak this and for Harmony Company kept it at 4.

    Also Flirc has the option there to allow sequence modifiers i.e. key combinations for more freedom, these key combinations you can map or create new ones for in Mediaportal configuration (general -> Keys and Sounds) or EventGhost depending on your preference.

    FlircAdvanced.PNG


    Step 5

    6yuyae.jpg
     
    Last edited:

    Greenhorn7

    Portal Member
    May 19, 2023
    24
    6
    Home Country
    Germany Germany
    I am also trying to connect my harmony remote via FLIRC to MP2 but still encounter a problem when following your steps.
    When setting up a new device, harmony is asking for a device and a serial number. May I ask you, what exactly I should type in there?
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Top Bottom