How do I setup Emprex MCE remote? (1 Viewer)

doveman

Portal Pro
February 12, 2008
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I've got this Emprex 3009URF III Vista MCE Remote Emprex:News/Media Center/HDD Enclosure/BT Download/LCD TV/LCD Monitor/Webcam/Keyboard which doesn't actually seem to register as an MCE remote (I noticed that MP's MCE Remote config doesn't seem to have settings for the * and # buttons, which seems a bit strange but that's another matter).

So I'd appreciate it if someone could advise how I should go about setting this up to use with MP.

I think I'll probably have to create a script in AutoHotKey and then map each remote key to a keyboard key in that, which is fine for a lot of them as I can see/change what they do under Keys and Sounds in MP Config, but this section only appears to allow a key to be assigned to an Action and not a Window command, unlike the Remote config section, so I'm not sure how I'm going to map my remote's shortcut keys to open the appropriate Window.
 

doveman

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February 12, 2008
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I had this remote working with EventGhost and Mediaportal on another PC but I want to use it with my current PC now and can't remember what I had to do to get it working.

Most of the keys do work and are mapped in EG to Mediaportal/Message Plugin, it's just the directional keys I can't sort out as they are detected as Keyboard Down/Up/Left/Right and OK is Keyboard Return. So if I enable the Plugin:Keyboard in EG, it does trap them but also disables those keys from working on my actual keyboard, which I don't recall happening on the other PC. If I disable the Plugin:Keyboard then they're just not detected at all in EG. I guess I need to somehow stop the keys working as direction/Return and then hopefully they'll send codes which EG can trap with the HID plugin.

There's four devices that show for the remote, so I've added four Plugin:HID:BTC USB Multimedia Cordless Keyboard.

I've disabled the HID service and the MCE Receiver and Scheduler services. I've also zeroed out the RC6 remote registry entry as below:

Code:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\HidIr\Remotes\745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da]
"CodeSetNum0"=dword:00000000 ;
"CodeSetNum1"=dword:00000000 ;These four values put the standard global windows keys out of function. These are
"CodeSetNum2"=dword:00000000 ;volume +, -, mute and .... windows sleep mode. I so hated that button
"CodeSetNum3"=dword:00000000 ;
"ReportMappingTable"=hex:\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
01,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
02,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
03,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
04,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
05,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
06,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
07,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
08,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
09,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
0a,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
0b,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
0c,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
0e,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
0f,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
10,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
11,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
12,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
13,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
14,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
15,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
16,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
17,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
18,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
19,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
1a,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
1b,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
1c,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
1d,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
1e,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
1f,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
20,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
21,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
22,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
23,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
26,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
29,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
2a,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
3b,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
4e,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
6e,00,00,00,00,00,00

So I'm at a loss now and am very frustrated, so would appreciate any help if someone knows what I need to do.
 

doveman

Portal Pro
February 12, 2008
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As it seems impossible to direct the D-pad to only MP, what I've done instead is disable the Keyboard plugin in EventGhost (which traps the directional and Enter keys on my actual keyboard as well, making them not work in anything else) and used the Find Window and Bring Windows to Front functions in EG assigned to certain keys (Guide, MCE/Home), so that pressing them gives MP focus.

It's a bit of a cludge that isn't exactly user-friendly ("Why can't I navigate the menu/EPG?" "Oh, you have to press Guide or the big button once first") but it seems that's the only workaround unfortunately.

The Hauppauge remote works better in this respect as all the keys are directed to MP, whether it has focus or not but I wanted to move to an RF rather than IR remote, partly so that I don't have to have an ugly IR sensor stuck to the front of my TV and also because I've replaced the Nova-T with a USB tuner, so couldn't use the Hauppauge remote anymore anyway. The Emprex remote does look a lot nicer too ;)

Do all MCE remotes have this problem, i.e. that the D-Pad and OK buttons present as the directional keys and Enter to Windows rather than unique keycodes that can be trapped just by MP or EG?
 

doveman

Portal Pro
February 12, 2008
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Home Country
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Wow, I seem to have managed to modify one of the default EG scripts to work with my Emprex remote after several hours of trial and error :)

I've attached the script in case anyone else can use it. I've had to add .txt to the end to upload it, so just remove that before using it.
 

Attachments

  • __init__ .py.txt
    4 KB

doveman

Portal Pro
February 12, 2008
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Home Country
United Kingdom United Kingdom
This is just weird. After working fine since my last post, today I went to use my remote and it wasn't working and the light was stuck on the receiver. So I unplugged it and reconnected it and it started working after that but EG was just throwing up errors, so I rebooted but that didn't help.

What's happened is that it's decided all the codes have changed so that I have to change the last digit from 0 to 164, so where before I had

(2, 141, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0): 'Guide',

in my EG Plugin __init__.py I now need

(2, 141, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 164): 'Guide',

and I've had to change this for every entry.

Why would it suddenly change the keycode it sends/receives like this?
 

RonD

Test Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • December 20, 2011
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    SillyValley CA
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    Is it possible the remote uses a "toggle bit" or "toggle code"? Each button press sends 1 of 2 codes and the remote alternates the code each time you press the button so the receiver can tell the difference between holding the button and a release and new press. If you google for remotes and toggle bit/code there are comments on this topic and I've seen references to toggle in the MePo remote wiki pages.

    Not sure why your remote flipped. Maybe unplug all batteries for 1 to 5 minutes to discharge/reset the remote and see if it flips back
     

    doveman

    Portal Pro
    February 12, 2008
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    Not quite. Depending on whether the press code begun with a 2 or 3, on release it sends (2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0) or (3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0) but the last digit for that has changed to 164 as well now.
     

    doveman

    Portal Pro
    February 12, 2008
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    Well it seems the last digit changes every time I re-sync the remote and receiver (perhaps when moving the receiver to a different USB port as well). Is there anyway to use a wildcard for the last digit (i.e. 164) in the EG script so that I don't have to edit it everytime I resync or move the receiver?
     

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