[Sharpey]

Hello all. I've just purchased an Acer Revo RL70 to use as my first XBMC media box.

I imagine I will have a ton of questions soon enough when I get underway, so I hope you guys can help out.

In the meantime, I want to get the hardware in place before I start setting it all up.

I want to use an All-in-one remote control with the system, specifically the Logitech Harmony 200 found here because it is cheap and smart looking and is from a reputable brand.

I think I will set the system up with openelec (I hear this is the quickest but I could be wrong?), with XBMC Eden 11.0. With this in mind, could anyone with experience of these remotes or similar tell me if

1) It will work? Is there likely to be any trouble using this brand of remote with the OS/software I have listed?
2) What a suitable IR receiver would be for this type of remote? A discrete one would be preferable but not a deal breaker.
3) Best way to ensure smooth operation, no lag.

I have read up a little but haven't found any solid testimonials on Logitech remotes with XBMC, just some how-to guides.

I would really appreciate your thoughts on this, and if there is anything I haven't considered, so I can go ahead and purchase it (or not).

Thanks for reading and for any help.

[SiliconKid]

The Logitech remote should be fine and really there is no intrinsic relationship between XBMC and any given remote.

The trick is to find the right I/R sensor to use with your Logitech remote.

I personally use the Adesso ARC-1100 remote control with level 6 sensor and I have a Logitech Harmony 700 programmed to work with that and it works perfectly.

http://www.adesso.com/en/home/keyboards/...-1100.html

When I was looking into remote controls I found that it's really hard to find an I/R receiver on its own. You generally have to buy a remote control that comes with one, and that Adesso does the job very nicely.

Also, that Adesso remote worked in uBuntu Linux and XBMC Eden without ANY driver install necessary. I plugged the USB receiver in and it just worked.

There is no lag and no delays. Response is perfect.

The ONLY small thing to be aware of, and many people have this issue, is that you cannot get the "context menu" to popup on certain items in XBMC using this remote and also using a large number of other remotes. They just don't have a button for that.

It's not a train smash though because you CAN set a setting in XBMC to not automatically start playing a media item when you select it but rather popup a small menu with a few options first, one of which is to give you the full context menu.

So there is a workaround.

[Atomic Zombie]

I'm currently having issues with the "dumb" logitech remotes like the one you linked where a key would be pressed twice. But it might just be me.

[Sharpey]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have ordered one of the Logitech remotes now, as after reading further it appears that many people seem to think they work fine. I hope your case is an exception Atomic Zombie.

As SiliconKid says though, finding a suitable IR receiver is the issue. As I'm in the UK, I am having trouble finding one. I am aware of the HP MCE ones but they're all sold from China/USA, so I'm concerned as to how long it will take to receive one, and then there is the issue that others have had that they didn't receive the model that was shown in the listing.

The only one available to bid on in the UK is the model number OVU400102/71 and I heard that some editing of a 'lirc' file is needed for it to work, but I'm not sure what that is or how well it will work after.

Does anyone know of other quality IR receivers?

[SiliconKid]

I had to wait a few weeks for mine to ship here to South Africa, but it's better to wait and get the right thing.

You don't want to hassle with config files and LIRC and all sorts of other things if you don't need to.

I just used a wireless keyboard while I waited.

To be honest, sometimes I prefer using that wireless keyboard.

[Sharpey]

Thanks. I will have a think about it. I'm not a complete noob so if there are some decent guides out there I'm not totally against editing whatever needs to be done. The person who said it needed editing did so last year so things may have improved as another guide on the net says that model worked fine.

You mentioned an issue with context menus. Could you elaborate on this please? What exactly is a context menu, is that the one with 'add source, update library etc'?

[SiliconKid]

The Context Menus I'm referring to are menu that popup for specific items.

For example, there is one that pops up for a Movie when you have a Movies poster highlighted and activate the context menu.

There is also one that pops up for individual TV Episodes, and yet another for a TV Series at top level.

So basically it's the same philosophy as right-click menus in Windows.

The thing is, on a keyboard you can invoke those popup menus by simply pushing the letter C when an appropriate item is selected in the UI, and if you have mouse and skin that supports a mouse you CAN right click items too to get the same result.

But the remote controls don't have ANY button that is the functional equivalent. The Adesso remote DOES have a button that emulates a mouse right click, but that still doesn't help because when you use the remote to navigate you are NOT moving the mouse cursor so even if you push that button your hidden mouse cursor won't be positioned over (under?) the current item in the UI at that point.

And yes, you are correct, those are the menus with Update Library / Movie Information / Stop Library Scan etc. etc. on them.

But like I said, it's not really that big of a deal because you CAN make media items pop up another short menu instead of immediately playing and you can then jump straight to the full Context Menu from that short menu.

I only mentioned it for the sake of full disclosure so you didn't get that remote, discover that and then curse my name for eternity

[Sharpey]

OK thanks for the detailed response. I intend to have XBMC set up to be as user friendly as possible, disabling all settings popups etc, having kiosk mode enabled. Once I have all data set up and the skin settings done I don't envisage a situation where I will need the context menu so I think I will be OK. Thanks for the info, I'm sure I'll have more questions when I have all my hardware ready but for now I think I'm good.

Thanks guys.

[Sharpey]

Hello again.

Just a quick question. Does anyone know how to save settings in XBMC? As in, I have the Aeon Nox skin set up just how I want it (on my PC), but want to download and experiment with others before my HTPC arrives. If I don't like the others I want to be able to load Aeon Nox again without having to completely set it back to how I like it. I have made a master profile but I don't see any option to save the settings.

Thanks.

[SiliconKid]

There is an AddOn called XBMC Backup that is capable of saving your settings, your addon settings, your library etc. etc.

Check it out.

[Burke]

Evey setting that you change within "skin section" in settings is for the skin that is currently in use,
meaning that you can set up any skin to your preference, when you switch back to skin you used before all settings will be there.

You can use "XBMC backup" addon to backup your data or copy your user data folder.

btw . if you are looking for good remote solution check out http://flirc.tv/ it can be used with any remote

[Sharpey]

Thanks again guys, I will give the addon a try.

I looked at Flirc, but it is a little pricy. I've researched further and there are a couple of suitable receivers on ebay I can bid on.

[Eldorado]

One of the best IR receivers I have tried, and for the price it can't be beat.. its internal but not hard to setup

Harmony remote emulates it perfectly

http://www.hd-plex.com/remote.control.html

[Sharpey]

I would love something like that Eldorado but it seems a little out of my league, opening/soldering etc. Thanks though.

It's a shame there aren't micro USB IR receivers like you get for wifi.

[Eldorado]

No soldering is needed unless you want the remote to wake from S5 sleep, will need to request them to include power pcb to do that

For normal setup just plug to usb slot on motherboard and get the IR eye pointing out