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Full Version: [WINDOWS] HOW-TO use a Logitech Harmony Remote with XBMC
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Hi,

I have an ASrock Vision 3D 156B (ehome ir device) with XBMC 10.1.

I've tried to configure as per the guide of the first post, but the MCE Keyboard commands don't work with my Harmony 900.

Now I reverted to using MCE Remote + MCE Keyboard SE, they both work, but I'm missing the flexibility of the MCE Keyboard, there are a lot of commands in that profile.

I've seen some users having problems with the MCE Keyboard profile, but I didn't find out if and how they solved.

Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot. Smile
Axel Foley Wrote:Hi,

I have an ASrock Vision 3D 156B (ehome ir device) with XBMC 10.1.

I've tried to configure as per the guide of the first post, but the MCE Keyboard commands don't work with my Harmony 900.

Now I reverted to using MCE Remote + MCE Keyboard SE, they both work, but I'm missing the flexibility of the MCE Keyboard, there are a lot of commands in that profile.

I've seen some users having problems with the MCE Keyboard profile, but I didn't find out if and how they solved.

Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot. Smile

Verify again that you've followed closely this part of the instruction in the first post:

Quote:Select: Computer – Media Center PC – Microsoft – “Windows Media Center”

You’ll have to enter the last bit by hand.
Add this as a device and name it MCE Remote.

Now, repeat the ‘Add Device’ process, this time select:
Computer – Media Center PC – Microsoft – “MCE Keyboard”

Note that the 3rd item in the Add Device process must be manually entered extactly as MCE Keyboard.

Some users chose "Window Media Center", and it's a wrong device.

If that still does not work, then post here what you did step-by-step and I'll help you troubleshoot the problem.
dannycorker Wrote:Could anyone tell me how to create a button to play a film using the cinema experience mod rather than just playing normally?

I know you can press i and then select cinema mode, but I'm sure there's probably a slicker way using a remote!

The usual way of binding a button like this is to find out the name of the window that activate the function, and then specify a key to run the ActivateWindow(name) in the keyboard.xml file.

For example, to activate the Favorites menu from any screen. I've assigned the key K to do this by adding an entry in the keyboard.xml file. That key binding has the following xml syntax (I'm writing this from memory, so there might be mispelling):

<k>ActivateWindow(Favourites)</k>

See this post for detail instruction on how to bind a key to function/action

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=7...post735331
bodhi Wrote:Verify again that you've followed closely this part of the instruction in the first post:



Note that the 3rd item in the Add Device process must be manually entered extactly as MCE Keyboard.

Some users chose "Window Media Center", and it's a wrong device.

If that still does not work, then post here what you did step-by-step and I'll help you troubleshoot the problem.

Bodhi, first of all thanks for your answer.

I followed the step-by-step guide of the new thread (the one currently under construction), and I used MCE Keyboard, not Windows Media Center, because I read the thread before trying the procedure.

The MCE Keyboard SE and the MCE Remote (I'm using this in the meanwhile) buttons work perfectly, the MCE Keyboard codes instead don't work at all.

I tried running the ShowKey program to check if the ASrock was actually receiving something, but it seems it's not the case. It's like the IR commands sent by that profile are not understood at all by the ir receiver.

Is that a way to check (utility or some debug log) if ir commands are being received by the system?
Axel Foley Wrote:Bodhi, first of all thanks for your answer.

I followed the step-by-step guide of the new thread (the one currently under construction), and I used MCE Keyboard, not Windows Media Center, because I read the thread before trying the procedure.

The MCE Keyboard SE and the MCE Remote (I'm using this in the meanwhile) buttons work perfectly, the MCE Keyboard codes instead don't work at all.

I tried running the ShowKey program to check if the ASrock was actually receiving something, but it seems it's not the case. It's like the IR commands sent by that profile are not understood at all by the ir receiver.

Is that a way to check (utility or some debug log) if ir commands are being received by the system?

That's really odd. If you have not done this, turn on XBMC debug System --> System menu (System twice), debug option is at the end of the list. And then try pressing a key using MCE SE Keyboard, and then another key using MCE Keyboard. The debug log is in top Userdata directory.

Have you tried to exit XBMC to desktop and then use the MCE Keyboard profile to type something or use the mouse arrow keys? see if it is really sending valid IR codes .
I have had problems with MCE keyboard, where harmony simply wouldnt "activate" mce keyboard. I didnt find a solution to the problem, but i worked after i reinstalled harmony software, the old version and choosed mce keyboard first in the section were you add devices.
I think it has to do with the delay/timings advanced settings, last night after retrying desperately to make it work I got angry, so I pressed a lot of buttons repeatedly and 2-3 times I saw some letters appearing (2 out of 50 key presses).

Can someone tell me if you changed the default values of those settings? Probably the ASrock IR receiver needs some tweaking in order to be compatible with the MCE Keyboard profile, it's the only thing that comes to my mind.

Is there any utility that tells you if the IR receiver received an infrared command? I tried the SetKey utility but I don't know if it also displays unrecognized commands.

Thanks for the help.
Axel Foley Wrote:I think it has to do with the delay/timings advanced settings, last night after retrying desperately to make it work I got angry, so I pressed a lot of buttons repeatedly and 2-3 times I saw some letters appearing (2 out of 50 key presses).

Can someone tell me if you changed the default values of those settings? Probably the ASrock IR receiver needs some tweaking in order to be compatible with the MCE Keyboard profile, it's the only thing that comes to my mind.

Is there any utility that tells you if the IR receiver received an infrared command? I tried the SetKey utility but I don't know if it also displays unrecognized commands.

Thanks for the help.

Alex, have you tried to update you remote again? I can't see why the MCE Remote and MCE SE Keyboard devices are working but the MCE Keyboard is not. There is a possibility that something has happened during the remote update that messed up this device. It happened to me before, I can't recall exactly which device, but just by updating again, it was back to normal.
I've tried at least 100 times to reprogram everything. The only thing I didn't try is deleting MCE Keyboard SE and MCE Remote devices and add only the MCE Keyboard device to see if something changes.

I also posted on Harmony's forum. Let's see if somebody comes up with any idea...

Thanks for the help anyway. Smile
vanOert Wrote:Just a quick update: I've contacted Logitech, they want to do a special profile for xbmc, I am currently waiting for a button template so we can work out the best action set.


Great. Is this done yet?
borchgrevink Wrote:Great. Is this done yet?

Rofl
borchgrevink Wrote:Great. Is this done yet?
Looking forward in this!
It would be a great help for everyone that tries to set up a Harmony remote to function in XBMC.
Berggren Wrote:Looking forward in this!
It would be a great help for everyone that tries to set up a Harmony remote to function in XBMC.

That post was almost a year old. I don't think it's going to happen, unfortunately.
bodhi Wrote:That post was almost a year old. I don't think it's going to happen, unfortunately.
I saw that after I made my post. It's to bad that it can't be done. It would be great help for anyone trying to set up a Harmony remote.
But the tips in this thread helps a lot also, almost got my 900 to behave as I want it to :-)
Berggren Wrote:I saw that after I made my post. It's to bad that it can't be done. It would be great help for anyone trying to set up a Harmony remote.
But the tips in this thread helps a lot also, almost got my 900 to behave as I want it to :-)

Cool!... what are other problems you still have? post here, perhaps we can help.