2014-04-11, 15:12
I got ahold of one of the Ortek $12 faux-MCE remotes to play with. Still planning on getting a flirc, but wanted to report on some stuff if anyone plans to use this with a Harmony. I use a Harmony Smart Control system and the 'dumb' remote that comes with it, but I would think the principles would be the same for any Harmony remotes.
Out of the box, the Ortek (once you plug in the IR receiver) will control both XBMC and the FireTV, with the typical situation where a few of the key assignments are head-scratchers. It's good to go through and note down what every single key does. Of course, my goal is fewer remotes, not more. The first thing I tried was setting up an MCE Keyboard device in Harmony, which was always my go-to for the older MCE IR receivers. This doesn't work. I also thought I'd seen someone here say they used the Vizio Costar profile for this remote. That also didn't work. (Meaning, no key presses are getting sent to the receiver.) I tried a generic "Windows Media Center" device and a few other things, and eventually gave up and began the annoying process of learning the default remote's commands by hand (by pointing it at the Harmony smart hub and going through their 'learn command' deal, which is painfully slow on the Smart Control system). In the end, I had pretty much everything I could ask for mapped, including a button that takes you back out to the main Fire menu. Except for one annoying problem I cannot fix:
In the Home screen of XBMC (but not in file lists, go figure), and in the Fire menu itself, the Harmony is sending double-presses for the Up and Down keys, which is as annoying as it sounds. The stock Ortek remote doesn't do it. Troubleshooting I've done:
--Set repeat to 0. (Delay was already on 0.)
--Re-learning the Up and Down keys from the Ortek remote about 500 times, being careful not to hold the button down for more than a single quick press
--Sending the command from my Harmony IOS app rather than the dumb remote
--Being sure the CEC from my TV was disabled
--Starting over again creating a new device
--Repositioning the various transmitters and receivers
Pretty much stumped at this point. It's ONLY the Up and Down buttons. You can see the Ortek's receiver blink twice as it receives the double-press. I can (and did) remap them in XBMC keymap editor to different key presses, but the problem persists when navigating the Fire's menu.
Just something to be aware of if you plan on this exact configuration (Ortek receiver + Harmony smart control as your emitter). I'll test it again with some of my older stand-alone Harmony remotes this weekend.
EDIT: Found a post on Logitech forums indicating you can add the Ortek as a device itself, but that also didn't work for me. Will try again and make sure I'm not missing something.
Out of the box, the Ortek (once you plug in the IR receiver) will control both XBMC and the FireTV, with the typical situation where a few of the key assignments are head-scratchers. It's good to go through and note down what every single key does. Of course, my goal is fewer remotes, not more. The first thing I tried was setting up an MCE Keyboard device in Harmony, which was always my go-to for the older MCE IR receivers. This doesn't work. I also thought I'd seen someone here say they used the Vizio Costar profile for this remote. That also didn't work. (Meaning, no key presses are getting sent to the receiver.) I tried a generic "Windows Media Center" device and a few other things, and eventually gave up and began the annoying process of learning the default remote's commands by hand (by pointing it at the Harmony smart hub and going through their 'learn command' deal, which is painfully slow on the Smart Control system). In the end, I had pretty much everything I could ask for mapped, including a button that takes you back out to the main Fire menu. Except for one annoying problem I cannot fix:
In the Home screen of XBMC (but not in file lists, go figure), and in the Fire menu itself, the Harmony is sending double-presses for the Up and Down keys, which is as annoying as it sounds. The stock Ortek remote doesn't do it. Troubleshooting I've done:
--Set repeat to 0. (Delay was already on 0.)
--Re-learning the Up and Down keys from the Ortek remote about 500 times, being careful not to hold the button down for more than a single quick press
--Sending the command from my Harmony IOS app rather than the dumb remote
--Being sure the CEC from my TV was disabled
--Starting over again creating a new device
--Repositioning the various transmitters and receivers
Pretty much stumped at this point. It's ONLY the Up and Down buttons. You can see the Ortek's receiver blink twice as it receives the double-press. I can (and did) remap them in XBMC keymap editor to different key presses, but the problem persists when navigating the Fire's menu.
Just something to be aware of if you plan on this exact configuration (Ortek receiver + Harmony smart control as your emitter). I'll test it again with some of my older stand-alone Harmony remotes this weekend.
EDIT: Found a post on Logitech forums indicating you can add the Ortek as a device itself, but that also didn't work for me. Will try again and make sure I'm not missing something.
