Poor Performance of Eventghost in XBMC
#1
Well I spent about 4 hours last night trying to get Eventghost and XBMC performing well together, but can't solve the problem.

I'm having laggy response and missed keypresses ONLY in XBMC.

I'm using the IRA-3 from Home Electronics.

I've mapped 3 different remotes (Harmony, Xbox DVD Remote and a DVD remote) with the same results.

I've tried using Keyboard emulation for Up/Down and the EventClient plugin for XBMC with similar results. Tried to adjust the delay settings for EventClient in XBMC with no improvement.

In all other Windows programs (Windows Explorer, IE, Notepad, etc), the Keyboard emulation works just fine with no lag or dropped signals.

EventGhost itself shows no lag either, as I can see the events executing perfectly (with all 3 remotes).

Using a regular keyboard with XBMC also works perfectly (no lag or missed keys).

I even went into Task Manager and set the CPU priority for the EventGhost executable to High, with no affect.

Performance is slightly better if I run XBMC in Windowed mode versus Full Screen, but still shows lag and drops.

I've done tests where I hold down the Up button to confirm the cursor keeps moving, and just momentarily pressing the same button. In XBMC, the cursor doesn't always move when I press the button momentarily, and when I hold it down, the cursor stops and starts, stops and starts.

I've run diagnostics on the IRA-3 using the ComPort.exe command prompt utility, and it shows the IRA-3 working perfectly, with no lag or drops.

I'm very frustrated, because this is the last piece of the puzzle for me, but without consistent IR response within XBMC, the entire user experience is almost ruined.

I'm at a loss for what to try next, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Some of the specifics of my system:

OS: XP Professional SP3
MB Chipset: Intel G45 (Northbridge)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 Wolfdale 2.66GHz
Video: Intel GMA X4500HD
RAM: 2GB
XBMC Ver: 8.10 Atlantis Final
EventGhost: 0.3.6.1487
IR Hardware: IRA-3 OEM
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#2
I found when setting up my Harmony One remote that I had to press the same button quite a few times because every so often it would send a different code which I'd then add to the event.
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#3
try setting up the remote in the Harmony one software with the smallest delay
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#4
I don't have a harmony but a Universal remote, like Hitcher I noticed that remote presses sent 2 codes to event ghost fairly reliably but not everytime. I thinks its probably a repeat code of some sort.

Once I used the 2nd code for a keyboard emulation things were much better, though I did have to reduce the timings and repeat delays to work smoothly.

but yes I found remote support to be frustrating and a step back in XBMC... everything else is top notch
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#5
Mind posting your timings? I am still working on mine as well. Same with the repeat rate for the arrow key emulations.
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#6
Well at work.... but I am fairly certain I used .10 for both settings in both sections... I am thinking of upping it a bit cause it does create a backlog of commands, not bad but once I release the arrow it will move a few more entries...

I will check when I get home though
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#7
idioteque Wrote:try setting up the remote in the Harmony one software with the smallest delay

I set the delays to 0 milliseconds in the Harmony One software, but maybe that makes it worse? Maybe I should set it to 10ms or something?

That's why I also tried some other non-programmable remotes to see if it was an issue with the Harmony. I have the same lag/drops in the other remotes.

dandirk Wrote:Hitcher I noticed that remote presses sent 2 codes to event ghost fairly reliably but not everytime. I thinks its probably a repeat code of some sort.

Once I used the 2nd code for a keyboard emulation things were much better, though I did have to reduce the timings and repeat delays to work smoothly.

I did make sure to put both codes in for each keypress, because from what I've read in other posts, the MCE emulation I'm using can send 2 codes per button.

So you're referring to the Repeat macro inside of the EG configuration, or the settings in XBMC for EventClient?
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#8
I use 'Autorepeat current macro' in EG for Up, Down, Left and Right with the following settings -

Start first repetition after [0.30] seconds
with one repetition every [0.10] seconds

Increase repetition the next [3.00] seconds
to one repetition every [0.03] seconds

I haven't touched the settings in XBMC, my Harmony One is emulating my Xbox 360 media remote and it's delay settings are all '0'.

Hope that helps.
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#9
Hitcher Wrote:I use 'Autorepeat current macro' in EG for Up, Down, Left and Right with the following settings -

Start first repetition after [0.30] seconds
with one repetition every [0.10] seconds

Increase repetition the next [3.00] seconds
to one repetition every [0.03] seconds

I haven't touched the settings in XBMC, my Harmony One is emulating my Xbox 360 media remote and it's delay settings are all '0'.

Hope that helps.

I'll try the 360 Remote for the Harmony to see if that makes a difference.

What builds are you using for XBMC and EG? What OS are you on?
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#10
If my understanding is correct, I think that EB uses "SendKeys" for keyboard emulation.

To eliminate the remote control completely, and see if it's an issue with XBMC handling SendKeys, I found this utility I'm going to test out tonight:

http://orlando.mvps.org/SendKeysMore.asp

This is a command line tool that allows you to send keystrokes to any target application.

Using a DOS batch file with something along the lines of this code, we should be able to simulate a series of UP keystrokes and see how XBMC handles them:

Code:
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
SendKeys.exe 0 10 "XBMC" "{UP}"
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#11
After some more searching, it appears that XBMC uses SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) for keyboard input, which is some sort of low-level handling of keyboard input. Can't find the XBMC Wiki entry on it however.

So, now I'm wondering if that's why we are seeing such a difference in the use of EventGhost's keyboard emulation, which uses SendKeys versus actual keyboard input?
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#12
mcowher Wrote:What builds are you using for XBMC and EG? What OS are you on?

The latest SVN XBMC build, the latest EG (0.3.6.1487) on Vista.

EDIT: I've remapped Up, Down, Left, Right and Enter to their corresponding keyboard inputs because I wanted navigational sounds for them.
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#13
Hitcher Wrote:The latest SVN XBMC build, the latest EG (0.3.6.1487) on Vista.

EDIT: I've remapped Up, Down, Left, Right and Enter to their corresponding keyboard inputs because I wanted navigational sounds for them.

Ok, I'm running 8.10 Atlantis, so I'll try the latest SVN build.

I also want the navigation sounds for those 5 buttons, so I'm using keyboard emulation for the same reason.
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#14
Hitcher Wrote:I've remapped Up, Down, Left, Right and Enter to their corresponding keyboard inputs because I wanted navigational sounds for them.

Any chance you can post your EG config file so I can see if I'm missing something crucial?
XP Pro SP3 - Intel G45 - Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz - 2GB RAM - Intel GMA X4500HD Video - MCE Infrared - Adesso WKB-4000US RF Keyboard
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#15
I just checked my repeat settings... Mine are set to .6 to repeat then repeat every .1 seconds... Pretty much just like Hitcher...

Another reason to emulate kb for up/down etc instead of using the xbmc plugin is because there are some overlay menus that won't work otherwise...
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Poor Performance of Eventghost in XBMC0