Remote use does not give MP focus (1 Viewer)

[doveman]

MediaPortal Version: v1.2.1
MediaPortal Skin: StreamedMP
Windows Version: Win7 Ult 64
CPU Type: Athlon II X4 630
HDD: 2TB Samsung F4
Memory: 4GB DDR2 1066Mhz
Motherboard: Biostar TA790GXBE
Video Card: HD6950 2GB
Video Card Driver: 11.8
Sound Card: onboard Realtek AC97 (ALC662)
Sound Card AC3: no AC3
Sound Card Driver: 6.01.6410
1. TV Card: Hauppauge Nova-T 500
1. TV Card Type: DVB-T
1. TV Card Driver: 4.3.27240
MPEG2 Video Codec: Cyberlink PDVD11
MPEG2 Audio Codec: ffdshow
h.264 Video Codec: ffdshow
HTPC Case: Custom
Cooling: Scythe 120mm Bottom Intake Fan, True Rev.C with Nexus 120mm
Power Supply: OCZ StealthStream 400W
Remote: Nova-T 500
TV: Sony XBR800 36"
TV - HTPC Connection: DVI

I use MP on a dual-screen PC (one screen is my monitor, the other my TV). When I leave my PC to go and watch TV, I sit down in front of the TV and use the remote to control MP and find that it's very slow/jerky. I then have to get up and use my mouse to click somewhere on the MP screen to give it focus.

I've found that after starting LiveTV, MP gets focus but often I might want to browse through the guide, my recordings or films for a while, so I think that MP should get focus as soon as it receives a command from my remote.

 

[doveman]

Any thoughts on this and whether anything can be done to make MP take focus when it receives commands from the remote?

 

[mbuzina]

I believe it is on purpose that mp can be controlled via remote when not focused, allowing a dual user scenario. With the mce remote you just have to press the green button and mp gets focus. I guess you can program a button to give mp focus as well. Don't know your remote, though.

 

[doveman]

I'm not sure how useful it is having MP not automatically gain focus when using the remote, as it's so unresponsive it's painful to use. Also, the general advice I've received in other threads is to avoid using MP with dual-screens as it doesn't tend to play nice, so I'd be surprised if it had been developed with a dual-screen scenario in mind.

Thanks for the tip about programming a remote button to give MP focus though, I'll have a look and see if I can do this with my Hauppauge remote.

EDIT: Well I've had a look at the Hauppauge remote settings in MP and there is a "Gain Focus" tick box, but it's for every button and is in addition to whatever action is selected for that button.

I'll try setting my Power button to Toggle Layer (I don't know what that does, hopefully nothing!) and Gain Focus.

Perhaps an option could be added to the Remote settings to "Gain focus when remote used"?

EDIT2: Might not have been the cause, but after making this change, MP crashed after pressing my Power button. Logs attached.

 

[doveman]

There seems to be a problem with the Gain Focus setting, in that it doesn't seem to take effect when media (TV) is playing. I can tell this from the stats as my render time is about 7ms when MP is in focus and increases to about 16ms when not.

I ticked the Gain Focus setting on most of the buttons, including the volume controls, which still function otherwise. They seem to make MP gain focus when in the GUI.

Doing this reinforced my belief that there should be an overall "Gain focus when remote is used" setting though, as otherwise it needs to be set not only for each key, but for each action assigned to each key, which is rather tedious. Some people might only want one key to Gain Focus, and they can do that, but for those who want all remote use to give MP focus, there should be a simple setting for that IMHO.