[tommymsw]

I have posted in the Kodi forums, the Openelec forums and the SolidRun forums. The posts in Kodi and Openelec have been read several times without one response. SolidRun tried to help but suggest I try here.

There is no support for qwerty remote in Kodi. Not through the ir port anyway. It seems as if Kodi will accept qwerty input via the USB port, but only accepts T9 via the ir port.

I have a new CuBox and I've set the ir codes up correctly and they work perfectly in Openelec when testing. However, when Kodi starts, it converts all the keystrokes to T9. For example, the number 1 will throw a 1 when testing in Openelec, but when Kodi starts, it views a number 1 keystroke via the ir as "a". If I sent a number 1 via USB, it shows as "1", but through the ir, it shows as "a". This pattern holds true for all the numbers, and pressing the number multiple times brigs up the expected letter for T9.

Play, stop, enter and so on all work fine through the ir. Only the numbers are converted to letters. This is not a "skin" issue as I am using Confluence and also, the skin would not account for this behavior. As far as I can tell, the only account for this behavior is that Kodi is set to register all keystrokes through the ir as a T9 remote. There used to be a setting to enable or disable T9, but as far as I can tell, this feature has been removed.

I search Google and see others with this problem, but in every case, they are just reporting the problem and never get a response. My own posts have several views and not a single response.

[TRaSH]

not sure if i'm able to help you,
but what kind of Qwerty remote you got ?
it could be that the remote just doesn't work,
Did you try to see which commands the remote sends to the IR reciever in openelec ?
Guide To Test a Remote and Remap Keys

[tommymsw]

The thing is the remote HAS to be working. Like I said, it functions 100% when in Openeelec in testing,and it works when used through the USB. I can't see how a faulty remote would throw the correct numbers to one program, but then magically decide to throw T9 to another program. The remote can't be "choosing" to throw qwerty some times and T9 only to ir ports. It is most likely that Kodi is converting the numbers to T9. It has to be.

My remote tests PERFECTLY when testing in Openelec. And it works 100% when going through the USB port via "Flirc" dongle. It is ONLY when going through the ir port and ONLY in Kodi that I get the different results. And as far as I can tell, everybody who has tried this get's my results. I have yet to find a single person who says they have gotten this working.

[Ned Scott]

So you want the number pad to only send numbers and never send T9 letters?

That's simply a matter of replacing the default keymap file: https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master...remote.xml

Replace things like "Number2" with "2" and you will get the behavior you desire.

[tommymsw]

No, ultimately I would like them to fix the bug. lol

If you have to "tell": Kodi that a number 1 input should be read as number 1 instead of as "a", that's just silly. You shouldn't have to have Kodi know you are pressing the number 1, have it display all number 1 input as "a" and then have to mess with an .xml to tell Kodi to display number 1 inputs as a number 1.

Also, this does not fix my problem as ultimately I want to use my qwerty keyboard with Kodi. And with Kodi seemingly hardwired into T9, it ignores any letter inputs, So NONE of the letters throw letters, because Kodi is expecting the number 1 input to be "a", so it ignores the letter "a" input.

[Ned Scott]

No, ultimately I would like them to fix the bug. lol

It's not a bug, lol.

If you have to "tell": Kodi that a number 1 input should be read as number 1 instead of as "a", that's just silly. You shouldn't have to have Kodi know you are pressing the number 1, have it display all number 1 input as "a" and then have to mess with an .xml to tell Kodi to display number 1 inputs as a number 1.

We made the decision to enable T9 on remote controls by default. If you want to change the default, then you have to add a new keymap. It's not silly, it's doing what works best for the vast majority of the users. Nearly every single remote that uses remote.xml does not have normal letters, and thus the vast majority of users would rather have the option of using T9. I don't think I've ever seen a remote that has a qwerty keyboard and uses IR.

Also, this does not fix my problem as ultimately I want to use my qwerty keyboard with Kodi. And with Kodi seemingly hardwired into T9, it ignores any letter inputs, So NONE of the letters throw letters, because Kodi is expecting the number 1 input to be "a", so it ignores the letter "a" input.

No, there is nothing "hardwired" into T9. No letter input is ignored by Kodi. That is not how it works. If we don't see a letter, and you are using an IR remote, then that is probably because of LIRC or whatever the CuBox is using to handle your IR sensor.

So let's start over, what on earth are you using to type in letters? What is it? Take a picture of it or something.

[tommymsw]

I am using a qwerty remote for a smart tv. I think most smart tv's have a qwerty remote and I imagine Kodi is the equivalent of "smart tv". With people "needing" to enter in keystrokes to use Kodi, you don't think a qwerty remote is more practical than having to connect a keyboard and mouse?

What of the people who wish to use Kodi as a system to watch tv shows on? I get it if Kodi is meant only as a media center for a PC, but with people using them on HTPC's isn't it a little impracticable to have to have a keyboard and mouse attached? Wouldn't an option to have Kodi view keystrokes as the actual keystrokes make sense? And then an option to view them as T9?

I am using something similar to this (not sure if it is the exact model) http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keyword...e458xv4t_e

And I can't use the "keymap" to fix my issue for a couple reasons:
1. If I tell Kodi that the letter "a" should produce the number "1" (in essence then Kodi will view a 1 input as "a" and then be told by the .xml that an "a" should register as a 1), I would then be able to enter a "1" into Kodi, but not "a" (as "a" would now register as 1)
2. None of the letters pressed register as anything in Kodi (via the ir) so I can't map their input to a letter. ( I would be ok with only being able to map the letters, as it is much more likely I would need to enter a letter, than a number)

And it is not the remote, or the ir on the CuBox as I have mentioned, Openelec registers "a" as "a" via the ir port. So this shows that the remote and the ir work normal (right?). But for whatever reason Kodi ignores all the letter inputs (I assume as to not confuse the T9 pattern).

I would imagine as time goes on, that people would be using Kodi as a home entertainment center on their televisions like a HTPC. Having a keyboard and mouse hooked up to your tv seems like an undesirable result. I mean, you guys know better than me, maybe most people do only use this on their laptop or home PCs... I guess you just tend to think people are using it the same way you are. lol (I've been using it since it was only on X-Box so I've always only ever used it as a HTPC.)

At least now I know it can't be done and I thank you for that. It will save me a TON of trouble trying to problem solve. As I mentioned, I've read a lot of threads with people having the same issue and nobody seemed to be able to figure out how to fix it. You are the first person who seemed to know why it was happening. Thank you

[Ned Scott]

I am using a qwerty remote for a smart tv. I think most smart tv's have a qwerty remote and I imagine Kodi is the equivalent of "smart tv". With people "needing" to enter in keystrokes to use Kodi, you don't think a qwerty remote is more practical than having to connect a keyboard and mouse?

What of the people who wish to use Kodi as a system to watch tv shows on? I get it if Kodi is meant only as a media center for a PC, but with people using them on HTPC's isn't it a little impracticable to have to have a keyboard and mouse attached? Wouldn't an option to have Kodi view keystrokes as the actual keystrokes make sense? And then an option to view them as T9?

Kodi is designed to be used with a basic remote control that does not have a QWERTY keyboard. I own at least 20 different removes (it's an obsession), and only a few of those have QWERTY keyboards, and normally I prefer the ones without the keyboard. Kodi is fundamentally an interface designed to reduce the need to type things in. While it is handy for the occasional search, it's certainly not vital.

Kodi can even be used with a minimal of 7 buttons. 4 directional keys, select, back, menu.

That being said, there are a lot of keyboard + remote options out there that use standard USB signals over RF dongle or bluetooth. My current favorites are the Measy GP830 and TiVo Slide Pro.

I am using something similar to this (not sure if it is the exact model) http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keyword...e458xv4t_e

And I can't use the "keymap" to fix my issue for a couple reasons:
1. If I tell Kodi that the letter "a" should produce the number "1" (in essence then Kodi will view a 1 input as "a" and then be told by the .xml that an "a" should register as a 1), I would then be able to enter a "1" into Kodi, but not "a" (as "a" would now register as 1)
2. None of the letters pressed register as anything in Kodi (via the ir) so I can't map their input to a letter. ( I would be ok with only being able to map the letters, as it is much more likely I would need to enter a letter, than a number)

Not quite. This really has nothing to do with Kodi. The IR drivers (something like LIRC) are what receive signals and send something to Kodi. Vizio's remotes are not using anything standard for those buttons and their IR signals. Kodi is never told that you pressed the A button, because nothing in the box knows what an IR-A button from a Vizio remote looks like. It works with a FLIRC receiver (not to be confused with LIRC) only because FLIRC is learning receiver that is made to be taught what the signals are for. It has nothing to do with T9.

At least, as far as this Vizio remote is concerned.

At least now I know it can't be done and I thank you for that.

If I'm right about how the Vizio remote is sending signals, then it's possible, but it's a big pain in the butt. Just like the FLIRC, it is possible to teach the IR driver software about new IR signals. Unlike the FLIRC, there are a lot more steps involved and there's no nice and easy interface. It's not something I've done myself, so I'm not sure how best to look into it.

[jjd-uk]

If I'm right about how the Vizio remote is sending signals, then it's possible, but it's a big pain in the butt. Just like the FLIRC, it is possible to teach the IR driver software about new IR signals. Unlike the FLIRC, there are a lot more steps involved and there's no nice and easy interface. It's not something I've done myself, so I'm not sure how best to look into it.

I guess something similar to this http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?pid=1656784 would need to be done.

[tommymsw]

"Not quite. This really has nothing to do with Kodi. The IR drivers (something like LIRC) are what receive signals and send something to Kodi. Vizio's remotes are not using anything standard for those buttons and their IR signals. Kodi is never told that you pressed the A button, because nothing in the box knows what an IR-A button from a Vizio remote looks like. ."

This is 100% incorrect as far as MY findings. It is 100% due to Kodi that it does not work. The "box" can be told EXACTLY that the "A" input should register an "A". In fact, inside Openelec when testing, an "A" input registers an "A". Yes, you DO have to use the method used in the post above to tell the system what each of the codes represent. However, THEN Kodi receives the "A" input that it is well aware is an "A" input, but then the Kodi programming tells it to ignore any "A" input via the ir. So Kodi changes is back. Or Kodi will say "The user entered a "number 1", but it was through the ir, so we should view this "1" as an "A".

As far as "needing: qwerty... What do you do if you want to watch Youtube? Or search for a video? Or use any one of hundreds of addons that require input? OR (and most importantly) what if you need to enter the number ONE into Kodi?

The way it is set up now, the Kodi programmers assume that a person "may" want to enter letters via a remote, but they would NOT want to enter numbers. As it stands (Due to the hard coded T9), if I press the number ONE on my remote, it enters an "a". So I can't even use it to change the channel!

I am sure that people use Kodi differently than one another, but as for me, the IR setup is completely useless for me. I can ONLY use it for up,down, left, right and select. I just don't see what the problem would POSSIBLY be to let Kodi view input as the ACTUAL input view the ir? I mean, if your argument is correct, then WHY do they let the USB view input as the actual input? Why not make that also see the numbers as letters and the letters show as blank?

I just can not see any logic to the decision of "Ok, let's program Kodi to read all number ONE inputs as the letter "a" and ignore all letter inputs". How can that possibly be a better idea than just letting it read them as they are (like via the USB)? To me, it seems like a LOT of effort where the intent was to lessen user function.

Even if you "think" many people may not want to use qwerty for any input? OR that they would "rather" put down their remote and go plug a keyboard in every time they needed to enter any letters into Kodi, I still don't understand why you would want to FORCE people to use it this way.

Also, I may point out that NO remote app for your phone (including the official Kodi remote) is missing a way to enter qwerty commands. CLEARLY the people designing the remote "apps" thought "Hey, people may need to enter in letters from time to time". I mean, to me is is an obvious feature.I think if you made a remote app, one with and one without, you would see an overwhelming majority of people grabbing the one that allows for qwerty input.

My mind is really just blown that people are like "Why would somebody want to enter in qwerty via they remote, rather than hook a usb keyboard up and use both?" I use mine in my living room, throwing a keyboard down on the living-room floor seems silly to me. I would imagine that to have any commercial application, qwerty control would need to be un-disabled.

[tommymsw]

The way it is set up now, Kodi is like "You may use a remote control via your wifi that has 100% features, and you may use a remote via the usb that has 100% features, but we can't see why anybody would want to use the ir as their source for their remote".

[jjd-uk]

This is 100% incorrect as far as MY findings.

Your findings in fact show that Ned is 100% correct.

Your remote worked with the FLIRC dongle because it is a universal receiver and thus will accept IR from all manner of remotes out of the box, the dongle then presents itself as keyboard to the host system and in doing so it MUST translate the IR codes it receives into key presses.

The IR receiver on your Cubox however will be designed to work only with certain remotes out of the box, for anything else the Linux OS must be configured via LIRC to understand the IR codes so it can then translate the IR codes into key presses which Kodi will then accept as if coming from a keyboard.

Basically FLIRC is a hardware version of LIRC to make things simple.

THEN Kodi receives the "A" input that it is well aware is an "A" input, but then the Kodi programming tells it to ignore any "A" input via the ir. So Kodi changes is back. Or Kodi will say "The user entered a "number 1", but it was through the ir, so we should view this "1" as an "A".

Simply not true, have you tried running a Linux distro on the Cubox? It will most likely have the exact same problems due to LIRC not understanding your remote without changes being made.

[helta]

snap.

[Ned Scott]

Whoever is right or wrong, this thread makes me want to try this myself. I'm buying a Vizio remote (they are awesomely cheap for keyboard remotes) and will attempt to get it to work with a CuBox. They are nice looking remotes, so if we can solve the mystery then everyone wins :D

[jjd-uk]

Your Remote fetish has struck again Ned