Need remote for portable RPi media player
#1
I'm putting together a RPi 3B+ running Kodi that my brother can take to his club to connect to a projector and show films and I need to find a decent remote to go with it.

It doesn't need a lot of buttons, D-Pad, transport controls (play, pause, stop, ff/rw), but I want at least two spare keys I can reassign, ideally coloured as it'll be easier to remember, one to toggle between full-screen video and GUI as I've accidentally backed out of a playing video and found it impossible to get back to it without such a button on several occasions, and another to jump to a specific menu.

He'll just be playing stuff from a USB stick (or maybe on the SD if there's room), so he won't be using any of the database features and will just need to go to the file manager and browse the USB/SD and select the film he wants to play each time. I'm not sure if I can edit the main menu to put a link to the file manager at the top but either way it will simplify things to have a button which goes straight there.

I've seen a few I've ruled out as unsuitable as they don't have a full complement of transport controls or any coloured buttons to reassign
https://www.modmypi.com/raspberry-pi/acc...te-control
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original...54933.html

This one might be OK. It doesn't have any coloured buttons but if I can assign the two at the top above the Home button to the purposes described then that will probably work. It's missing a Stop button but again if I can reassign the button above Play/Pause, that should be OK. It also has the advantage of a keyboard on the rear, which could come in handy if my brother wanted to show some Youtube videos but he might not even have WiFi/Internet access in the club so that's not a priority.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/MINIX-Keyboard-...016OABW8S/

Will I be able to disable the gyromouse, at least in Kodi if not on the remote, as that would probably just be annoying? Also I guess it might be better if it was backlit, so are there any other better options that fit my criteria?
Reply
#2
If you are happy with a tiny bit of hardware tinkering and have a spare IR remote from any old consumer device then a cheap TSOP connected to GPIO 18 and https://wiki.libreelec.tv/infrared_remotes can be really helpful.

I have so many spare IR remotes from old satellite receivers, DVB-T tuner modules, DVD players etc. this is often my 'weapon of choice' for simple cheap Pi Zero players (the official case comes with a camera case-lid which is perfect to hot glue an IR receiver behind!), but no reason for it not to work on other models.

Otherwise have a look at RF or Bluetooth $6 eBay remotes?
Reply
#3
I actually bought the DoCooler H1 but decided to keep it for myself and give my brother my old remote as I knew how to re-program it for him and it's the same one he has on his RPI2, so he's familiar with it.

Most of the keys on the DoCooler H1 work except for the four coloured ones.

With debug logging on, I see these entries in the log:
Code:
16:13:53.953 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x0e, sym: 0x0008, unicode: 0x0008, modifier: 0x0
16:13:53.953 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: backspace (0xf008) pressed, action is Back

16:14:02.489 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x6a, sym: 0x0113, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:02.489 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: right (0xf083) pressed, action is Right

16:14:03.182 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x69, sym: 0x0114, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:03.182 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: left (0xf082) pressed, action is Left

16:13:58.333 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x6c, sym: 0x0112, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:13:58.333 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: down (0xf081) pressed, action is Down

16:13:59.009 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x67, sym: 0x0111, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:13:59.012 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: up (0xf080) pressed, action is Up

16:14:04.197 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x1c, sym: 0x000d, unicode: 0x000d, modifier: 0x0
16:14:04.197 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: return (0xf00d) pressed, action is Select

16:14:05.128 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0xac, sym: 0x00ac, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:05.128 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: browser_home (0xf0b6) pressed, action is ActivateWindow(Home)

16:14:06.445 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x7f, sym: 0x013f, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:06.605 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: menu (0xf0d8) pressed, action is ContextMenu

16:14:07.356 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x71, sym: 0x00ad, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:07.356 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: volume_mute (0xf0b7) pressed, action is Mute
16:14:07.529 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x71, sym: 0x00ad, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0

16:14:08.677 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x72, sym: 0x00ae, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:08.677 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: volume_down (0xf0b8) pressed, action is VolumeDown
16:14:08.845 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x72, sym: 0x00ae, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0

16:14:09.101 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x73, sym: 0x00af, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:09.101 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: volume_up (0xf0b9) pressed, action is VolumeUp
16:14:09.217 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x73, sym: 0x00af, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0

16:14:10.477 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x68, sym: 0x0118, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:10.477 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: pageup (0xf084) pressed, action is PageUp
16:14:10.669 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x68, sym: 0x0118, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0

16:14:11.402 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x6d, sym: 0x0119, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:11.403 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: pagedown (0xf085) pressed, action is PageDown
16:14:11.549 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0x6d, sym: 0x0119, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0

16:14:15.727 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0xa8, sym: 0x00ba, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:15.727 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: rewind (0xf0c4) pressed, action is Rewind
16:14:15.727 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0xa8, sym: 0x00ba, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0

16:14:15.728 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0xd0, sym: 0x00bb, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:15.728 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: fastforward (0xf0c5) pressed, action is FastForward
16:14:15.835 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0xd0, sym: 0x00bb, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0

16:14:17.049 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0xa5, sym: 0x00b1, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:17.049 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: prev_track (0xf0bb) pressed, action is SkipPrevious
16:14:17.238 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0xa5, sym: 0x00b1, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0

16:14:14.529 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0xa3, sym: 0x00b0, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0
16:14:14.529 T:1938110864   DEBUG: HandleKey: next_track (0xf0ba) pressed, action is SkipNext
16:14:14.718 T:1938110864   DEBUG: Keyboard: scancode: 0xa3, sym: 0x00b0, unicode: 0x0000, modifier: 0x0 

but nothing when I press the coloured keys.

For my CEC remote the coloured keys work and show in the log like this:
Code:
16:13:37.395 T:1938110864 DEBUG: HandleKey: 251 (0xfb, obc4) pressed, action is FullScreen
16:13:38.089 T:1938110864 DEBUG: HandleKey: 252 (0xfc, obc3) pressed, action is CodecInfo
16:13:39.589 T:1938110864 DEBUG: HandleKey: 253 (0xfd, obc2) pressed, action is AspectRatio
16:13:39.609 T:1938110864 DEBUG: HandleKey: 254 (0xfe, obc1) pressed, action is AudioNextLanguage

and I've created a remote.xml in the keymaps folder to keep this behaviour consistent
Code:
<keymap>
<global>
<keyboard>
<key id="251">FullScreen</key>
<key id="252">CodecInfo</key>
<key id="253">AspectRatio</key>
<key id="254">AudioNextLanguage</key>
</keyboard>
</global>
</keymap>

Any idea how to get the coloured keys on the H1 working and how to identify them to re-map them (or any of the H1 keys) in remote.xml?
Reply
#4
Just and idea for you to consider. Instead of a remote, you could use a gamepad to control Kodi (and additionally to play games). You have many wireless models available using Bluetooth (for example, the Nintendo Wii U Pro) or with custom USB dongles (for example the Elecom JC-U4113SBK).
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
Need remote for portable RPi media player0