OpenElec IR remote control issues please help
#1
Hello

I just installed the latest version of OpenElec (Intel x86_64 Version:3.2.3) on to a USB stick on my HTPC as a test, would like to switch to OpenElec from Ubuntu Minimal.

I have an Origenae M10 HTPC case and it has the SoundGraph iMON VF310 15c2:0036 VFD unit. I am using a HP MCE remote like this one

I am having an issue with the IR MCE remote control and double key presses / repeats. For example:

When pressing the Guide button to bring up the Content Menu in XBMC. The context menu appears and then disappears again.

It did this before when trying to use LIRC and Ubuntu Minimal and is caused by this double key press / sending business. In Ubuntu I unistalled LIRC and used irkeyable and the imon_mce rc_keymap file and the keyboard.xml file instead.

If I putty in to the OpenElec box and press the guide button whilst running IRW, I can see two presses ?

OpenELEC:~ # irw
16d 0 KEY_EPG devinput
16d 0 KEY_EPG_UP devinput
16d 0 KEY_EPG devinput
16d 0 KEY_EPG_UP devinput

It also does the same with the pause button on movie playback, if I press pause, it does a double key send and it must pause and then un-pause and continue playback. So not actually pausing as it should.

OpenELEC:~ # irw
77 0 KEY_PAUSE devinput
77 0 KEY_PAUSE_UP devinput
77 0 KEY_PAUSE devinput
77 0 KEY_PAUSE_UP devinput

If I run irkeytable -t it says: -sh: irkeytable: not found. which presumably means its not installed.

So I presume it is using LIRC ?

Here is what I did in OpenElec / XBMC to get the remote and the LCD screen functioning in the first place:

I installed an imon-mce XBMC add-on and this gave me basic IR remote control i.e. Up/Down/Left/Right/OK was working. Also in the OpenElec settings I turned on LCD/VFD Driver and set it to imon. And then in the actual XBMC settings - System turned on Enable LCD/VFD, which now the LCD screen on the HTPC case appears to be working and tells me what XBMC menu I am currently on etc.

I also started a thread on the OpenElec forum here.

How can I fix the double key presses on the remote control ? This is the biggest issue I have always faced with XBMC..


Many Thanks
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#2
Is that a typo ??
Quote: irkeytable -t
Should be ir-keytable -t and just checked OpenELEC on my laptop and got this
Code:
OpenELEC:/ # find / -name '*keytable*'
/usr/bin/ir-keytable
OpenELEC:/ #


If ir-keytable is also grabbing your remote codes then you can turn it off with
Code:
modprobe ir-lirc-codec
ir-keytable -p LIRC
to just leave lirc handling your remote.
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#3
Hi thanks for the reply.

Yeah that was a mistake, if I try ir-keytable -t in terminal it says:

Testing events. Please, press CTRL-C to abort.

However when pressing buttons on the remote control nothing is shown in the terminal output.

So what does that tell me lol.

Thanks.

I just ran the commands

OpenELEC:~ # modprobe ir-lirc-codec
OpenELEC:~ # ir-keytable -p LIRC
Protocols changed to LIRC

And now the remote control seems to have stopped working altogether, I've not tried a reboot yet though as its updating the music library at the moment.
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#4
OK I rebooted the HTPC and now the remote is "working" again. However I am still getting this double press issue on some buttons like the Guide button.

irw in terminal is listing responses when pressing buttons on the remote.
ir-keytable -t in terminal is not listing any responses when pressing buttons on the remote.

I'm really confused as if its using LIRC or IR-Keytable, I presume its using LIRC but don't know how to stop these double key presses / sends.

I had the same problem in Ubuntu Minimal 12.10 and the only way I got that working was to uninstall LIRC completely and use the in Kernel modules and ir-keytable etc.

Many thanks.

I don't think your commands:

modprobe ir-lirc-codec
ir-keytable -p LIRC

are sticking after a reboot? I just ran those commands again and immediately the remote control stops working again after running the commands.

Presume if I reboot the HTPC again the remote control will work again, but with the double key press issue.

Thanks

If I run the command:

ir-keytable -p RC6

Then the remote control starts working again no need to reboot the machine.

Still confused can any experts help ?

Cheers
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#5
Does your remote show any events if you use

Code:
ir-keytable -c -p NEC,RC-5,RC-6 -t
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#6
(2013-11-12, 17:51)black_eagle Wrote: Does your remote show any events if you use

Code:
ir-keytable -c -p NEC,RC-5,RC-6 -t

Hi

If I run that command above, it said:

Old keytable cleared
Protocols changed to NEC RC-5 RC-6

And at this point, the remote control stops working again altogether. No output shown in the ir-keytable testing events, when I press buttons on the remote.

One thing I just noticed not sure if its related, but If I run a ps -ef command I can see eventlircd listed in the processes.

675 root 0:00 eventlircd --evmap=/etc/eventlircd.d --socket=/var/run/li

Anything else to check for?

Many thanks for your help!!
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#7
The full list of supported protocols for ir-keytable is NEC RC-5 RC-6 JVC SONY LIRC. So,
Code:
ir-keytable -c -p NEC,RC-5,RC-6,JVC,SONY,LIRC -t
is the full set.

Possibly ir-keytable is using LIRC and thats where you are picking up the double presses Confused
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#8
I can also see this in the process list

737 root 0:11 /usr/lib/xbmc/xbmc.bin --standalone -fs --lircdev /var/run/lirc/lircd

I don't know much about LIRC as I never used it in Ubuntu Minimal as I already said.

apt-get is disabled in OpenElec so might not even be able to uninstall LIRC and use the in Kernel drivers / modules and ir-keytable etc as I was able to do in Ubuntu Minimal.

Really stuck now!

(2013-11-12, 18:14)black_eagle Wrote: The full list of supported protocols for ir-keytable is NEC RC-5 RC-6 JVC SONY LIRC. So,
Code:
ir-keytable -c -p NEC,RC-5,RC-6,JVC,SONY,LIRC -t
is the full set.

Possibly ir-keytable is using LIRC and thats where you are picking up the double presses Confused

Same thing again:

openelec:~ # ir-keytable -c -p NEC,RC-5,RC-6,JVC,SONY,LIRC -t
Old keytable cleared

Then the remote just stops working no responses in the ir-keytable testing events etc when pressing buttons.

So what do you think this means? Confused
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#9
If I just type: ir-keytable in to terminal it says:

OpenELEC (official) Version: 3.2.3
openelec:~ # ir-keytable
Found /sys/class/rc/rc0/ (/dev/input/event3) with:
Driver imon, table rc-imon-pad
Supported protocols: RC-6 other
Enabled protocols: RC-6
Repeat delay = 1000 ms, repeat period = 125 ms

I think rc-imon-pad is wrong as I am using the MCE remote and not the crappy imon pad remote thing that comes with the HTPC case.

I will look at switching it to the imon_mce keymap....
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#10
I dunno, the command to load the correct rc_keymap file is:

openelec:~ # ir-keytable -c -w /etc/rc_keymaps/imon_mce
Read imon_mce table
Old keytable cleared
Wrote 75 keycode(s) to driver
Protocols changed to RC-6

But I still get the double presses and the testing events with ir-keytable -t do not capture anything.

Only irw shows responses to button presses.

I'm really not sure how OpenElec is working as far as IR remote goes...
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#11
Ha, well my kids just started shouting at me because the remote wasn't working lol, so had to quickly figure out what I had done.
Code:
modprobe ir-lirc-codec
ir-keytable -p LIRC
sorted it for me. If irw is showing responses then you probably need to use irrecord to define your remote. FishOil on here has written rather a nice guide to getting any remote to work.

If you mean double presses like this
Code:
xbmc@diamond:~$ irw
00000000d52ac43b 00 KEY_PAUSE pioneer-dvr
00000000d52ac43b 01 KEY_PAUSE pioneer-dvr
00000000d52ac43b 00 KEY_PAUSE pioneer-dvr
00000000d52ac43b 01 KEY_PAUSE pioneer-dvr
^C
xbmc@diamond:~$
then that is correct. 00 is key down, 01 key up. So I pressed pause twice, but I get four events because there is one for each of button on and button off.

HTH
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#12
Double presses as described below:

If I putty in to the OpenElec box and press the guide button whilst running IRW, I can see two presses ?

OpenELEC:~ # irw
16d 0 KEY_EPG devinput
16d 0 KEY_EPG_UP devinput
16d 0 KEY_EPG devinput
16d 0 KEY_EPG_UP devinput

It also does the same with the pause button on movie playback, if I press pause, it does a double key send and it must pause and then un-pause and continue playback. So not actually pausing as it should.

OpenELEC:~ # irw
77 0 KEY_PAUSE devinput
77 0 KEY_PAUSE_UP devinput
77 0 KEY_PAUSE devinput
77 0 KEY_PAUSE_UP devinput

However when I press the directional buttons up/down/left/right etc, in irw I only see one response and the remote only moves once left for example.
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#13
Those responses are correct. Button down/up. U/D/L/R on my remote also only give one press. I don't know why this is (something to do with the standard?) but my remote does exactly the same as yours in irw. Are you sure the pause button is actually mapped to XBMC's pause function ?
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#14
(2013-11-12, 19:39)black_eagle Wrote: Are you sure the pause button is actually mapped to XBMC's pause function ?

I'm not sure how / where to check this ?

Perhaps its a repeat delay setting or something some where that needs tweaking.

The only way to bring up the (right-click) context menu with the remote, is to hold down the guide button for a longer period and let go, if I am lucky the context menu will stay on screen. If not the context menu will disappear. Pot luck really.

If I press the guide button on the remote in a normal manner, i.e. press it and then release the context menu will then always appear and then disappear and then you can't access it.

If I press the pause button in a normal manner, when playing a video in the confluence skin a thing at the top of the screen will appear briefly showing a progress bar, but because of the double press issue the video is not paused and continues to play.
Again if I instead hold down the pause button on the remote for longer and let go, sometimes I get lucky and it will pause it.

Same with play, if the video is currently paused and I press the play button and let go, it briefly switches to playing and then back to pause. Double press / command send issue for sure.
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#15
Just discovered something here? I read that lirc in OpenElec had been deprecated and that eventircd is being used? What ever that is?

I have just installed the Unofficial OpenElec Repository from here: http://unofficial.addon.pro/

I then installed an add-on called evtest

In terminal I ran this command first: killall eventlircd

And then:

OpenELEC:~ # evtest
No device specified, trying to scan all of /dev/input/event*
Available devices:
/dev/input/event0: Power Button
/dev/input/event1: Power Button
/dev/input/event10: HDA Intel PCH Rear Mic
/dev/input/event2: iMON Panel, Knob and Mouse(15c2:0036)
/dev/input/event3: HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=7
/dev/input/event4: HDA Intel PCH HDMI/DP,pcm=3
/dev/input/event5: HDA Intel PCH Line Out CLFE
/dev/input/event6: HDA Intel PCH Line Out Surround
/dev/input/event7: HDA Intel PCH Line Out Front
/dev/input/event8: iMON Remote (15c2:0036)
/dev/input/event9: HDA Intel PCH Line
Select the device event number [0-10]:

I selected number 8 for iMon Remote

I then pressed the GUIDE button on the remote control handset once, it outputted:

Testing ... (interrupt to exit)
Event: time 1384281733.593170, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 800ff426
Event: time 1384281733.593170, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 365 (KEY_EPG), value 1
Event: time 1384281733.593170, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1384281733.696167, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 365 (KEY_EPG), value 0
Event: time 1384281733.696167, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1384281733.697168, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 800ff426
Event: time 1384281733.697168, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 365 (KEY_EPG), value 1
Event: time 1384281733.697168, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1384281733.947159, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 365 (KEY_EPG), value 0
Event: time 1384281733.947159, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------

I've never heard of eventlircd before what is it? A replacement to lirc ?

Thanks

Also interesting is that after running the killall eventlircd command ir-keytable -t has started working in terminal:

OpenELEC:~ # ir-keytable -t
Testing events. Please, press CTRL-C to abort.
1384281933.319859: event MSC: scancode = 800ff426
1384281933.319859: event key down: KEY_EPG (0x016d)
1384281933.319859: event sync
1384281933.422857: event key up: KEY_EPG (0x016d)
1384281933.422857: event sync
1384281933.423856: event MSC: scancode = 800ff426
1384281933.423856: event key down: KEY_EPG (0x016d)
1384281933.423856: event sync
1384281933.673808: event key up: KEY_EPG (0x016d)
1384281933.673808: event sync

So OpenElec is using eventlircd and not lirc or ir-keytable / in kernel stuff ?
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OpenElec IR remote control issues please help0