Ongoing New budget HTPC build (down under!) (1 Viewer)

[craigparris1]

I gave up trying to get the remote working. I haven't had too much time to look at MediaPortal at all, I have been playing around with Vista Media Center, but that's starting to sh!t me (as most Microsoft things do).

Can you explain more about how you got the remote control working? Was it just as easy as installing Seba's Plugin?

Cheers,
goulin

Hi Goulin,

Yeah, all I did was just install Seba's plug-in, and it works sweet. A couple of important things to note, though:

1. you need to get this version of the plug-in (I just got the plug-in, I didn't worry about the replacement wizard launcher)
2. I had problems getting the remote working with the last couple of most recent versions of WinPVR2 - the version on the CD that came with my cards worked fine, though. So, depending on your card, you may have a little fiddling around to do with that software ....
3. I have 2 x tuner cards in my machine, so there was some mucking around I had to do first to actually get the remote working in the first lace - but if you've got the remote working in either WinPVR or the WF_RemCtrl app recognises the buttons, then MediaPortal - with Seba's plug-in - should be fine with it

Our model of remote is not included in the list with Seba's plug-in, so I had to check the debug logs to figure out the codes for all the extra buttons, then I did some custom mapping for all the commands to get the remote working the way I wanted. I'm at work at the moment, but if I remember when I get home tonight, I'll upload the custom input mapping file - you can start with that one, and go from there. There's only 3 buttons that don't get recognised - TV, DVD and FM. Not sure why. No big deal, though - the MediaPortal menus are pretty easy to navigate through, plus you've got the red/blue/green/yellow buttons, and the four blank ones along the bottom, that you can map shortcuts with if you want.

I got the last SVN for RC1 about a week or so ago and installed that, and it's been working great since then. Been watching live TV, setup a whole lot of schedules, watched some DVDs and recorded TV shows and it hasn't missed a beat! I'm chuffed. I hope you end up having as good a luck as me!

Cheers,
Craig

p.s. keep an eye out for the input mapping file .... if you don't see it in the next couple of days, post me a nudge!

 

[craigparris1]

Input mapping file for CoolCommand Y04G0044 remote

Hi Goulin (and anyone else who's interested),

Attached is the input mapping file for use with Seba's CoolReceiver plug-in and Leadtek's CoolCommand remote (model Y04G0044). All the buttons are recognised except for the 3 at the top next to power (TV, DVD, FM). The mappings are just the way that I chose to set them up, but obviously you can change them as required.

Cheers,
Craig

 

[goulin]

Hi Craig,

Thanks for that! I will give it a go sometime soon (have got so little time at the moment). I am really waiting for the full version 1 to come out, as opposed to the RC's, before I really tackle it, plus that would coincide with when I would have spare time.

Meanwhile, I discovered that the Leadtek remote is actually crap anyway, it doesn't work very well from distances greater than 2 meters and is very inconsistent. It won't turn on the PC from standby, only from full power off. So I might spend $30 and get a new remote.

 

[craigparris1]

Hi Goulin,

No probs - happy to help, anyway.

Personally, I've not had any issues with the remote's responsiveness, even in my armchair about 4 metres from the sensor (I can't really get any further away from tele than this!). Responsiveness in MediaPortal and PowerDVD is very quick. I've not really used the WinPVR software, so can't tell you what the response is like with that.

We do have different models of card, though, so that could also be a factor in the performance of the remote.

I will agree with you, though, that it's not the best remote in the world. As you know from my previous posts, I've not been able to get the remote to wake up my PC from any state - either standby or off. Again, this could be to do with the TV card itself, or perhaps my mobo. Ultimately, I'd like to replace it with the MCE remote, but when I do I'll probably get the MCE remote/keyboard bundle, which is about $100.

In the meantime, aside from having to turn on from standby by pressing the power button, I'm stoked with RC1 (and its last SVN) and the Leadtek remote. In fact, unless there's some major problem that I come up against (although that's unlikely, as I've been happily watching/recording TV and DVDs), I'll probably stick with this version for some time.

Cheers,
Craig

 

[daleski]

hi guys! just read the whole thread, lots of great info, thanks!

I am building basically the same setup, and choosing TV tuner cards at the moment!
One quick question, how happy are you with the TV channel change time.
i have an old leadtek dtv1000T card, and im disappointed with how slow channel change is...
I'm using RC2 (and love it).

any other advice on which is the ultimate tv card for an aussie would be great!
cheers,
Dale

 

[craigparris1]

Hi Daleski,

Channel change time for me is around 2-3 seconds. Takes a second or two longer than that when first turning TV on (from power on or standby). Personally, this is fine for me - that's about the channel change time I used to get on the old set-top box (and the wife doesn't complain about it!). I know some much more expensive cards can probably change quicker, but for $40 each, the DTV1000S cards rock!

I've not used any other cards in the past, so I don't really have a comparison point. There are certainly quite a few active Aussies on this forum who I'm sure would be happy to answer any other questions you might have!

Cheers,
Craig

 

[jwcolby]

The reason I tried to do an XP solution was that I wanted to wait for the full release of MP to come out and use that as an interim solution, but I might use MCE2005 and then move to MP when the full release comes out.

I hope that helps.

It's not all or nothing.

I have MCE 2005 installed and working, with MyMovies plugin. It works pretty well and I am busy ripping DVDs and feeding it into the MyMovies database.

I also have MP installed and am trying to get it working. It didn't disable MCE / MyMovies when it installed. Of course you can only use one or the other but it would appear that you can switch back and forth as you wish. For my money MP will be the best long term solution since MS has stopped development on MCE 2005 and moved the whole shebang to Vista, with all the DRM crappola that entails. However I can at least use MCE to rip and even watch my movies while I wait for MP 1.0 to stabilize.

So I am working on both environments, right on the same machine, just not at the same time.

 

[kevinsmith50]

Hiii

Hii John


Could help me get that project

Looking for ur favour..

Kevin smith..

http://www.hookup-tonite.com

 

[jwcolby]

I don't understand your post.

"Could I help you get that project"?