[_bob_]

i was just visiting this website http://www.girder.nl/index.php and thought it would be a really great type of idea intergraded into xbox media center so we could do alot more remotely. with out even having even having to touch the xbox controller

[_bob_]

great websites so far... don't mind it saying pc.... im thinking of getting a usb type trans/receiver so i can hook it up the the xb and see what i can do from there... i was also thinking about taking the advantage of the lpc ports to see what all is possible with the xbox

http://www.lintronic.dk/command_809,%20x-box.htm <-transmitxboxcode
http://www.home-electro.com/tira2.htm
http://www.hifi-remote.com/ofa/            
http://www.hifi-remote.com/jp1/
http://www.usbuirt.com/
http://www.hifi-remote.com/infrared/ir101.shtml <-good read



if you are wondering, "why can't we just use the dvd dongle?" to tell you the truth.... you really can... but the frequency is 56khz..... the standard for alot of the remotes is usually 38khz. the reason i want to use a differen't frequency is so we could have all of the options in remote controls and so for..etc

[ http://www.xbox-linux.org/docs/dvdremote.html

[madhatr]

i have searched the forums but have not found this idea as of yet. sorry if it has already been brought up and i missed it.

would it be possible to add support for a usb ir transmitter. this would allow you to turn off you tv, a/v system and such when shutting down the xbox. it would also allow you to control something like a dvd changer. you could have a page full of thumbnails of all your dvds, select the movie you want to see and the xbox could send the signal to switch to that dvd and then change the tv to that input.

[Dogo]

thats a really cool idea

any idea how usb ir transmittors work ?

[madhatr]

there are tons of them out there. if you search for usb ir transmitter it brings up a ton, they are usually recievers to so it could double as a remote sensor to. have seen open source drivers. could also just be built with a board and a few chips.

was originally looking into building a dvd controller box since most dvd changers have a controller input but can't get info on what kind of input they take.

was also looking into a way of taking a cd changer or dvd changer and replacing the drive in it with a xbox drive so it could then pick a game and tell the changer to switch to it and play, but that is still a good bit in the future. the ablility to have access to 300 games without getting up or looking for them would be great though.

[jiz_king]

i am embarking on a semi home automation project and i have a few ideas i need to run past the devs.

i plan to use xbmc as a media server in the lounge with switchable audio send to all rooms and video to only some rooms. this will be controlled using a psp with the newly introduced sony web browser controlling xbmc's web interface wirelessly from any room i choose.

now, this is already known to work (search psp forums for examples) with a few tweaks to the web interface layout for the psp's screen to make things pretty.

the idea i am now pondering is how to control things like audio / scart swiches / amps etc. that are next to the xbox using the psp from another room. the thought occurs to me that xbmc already sends information seamlessly to the lcd enabled modchips via the lpc bus, so why not send information to control other things. for example: -

send out ir control codes to an external ir transmitter. this could control any device within range that uses an ir remote. xbmc already has the ability to read ir codes using the dongle as a debug feature so it would be an easy task to make an inteface to learn ir codes form your remotes. maybe some of the major mod chips already have the capability to handle the ir transmitor part?


this would mean you could, using a psp as a remote control, switch your amp on, route the audio to the bathroom and choose a playlist from xbmc to play. it would even be possible to switch the amp's source select to, for example a digital tuner, still using xbmc as an interface even though it is no longer the audio source.

would some of the devs please care to comment on the feasibility of this?

cheers.

[Gamester17]

possible yes, but unless you're a c/c++/assembly programmer yourself your unlikly to make it happen (as i doubt any of our official xbmc developers have the interest for it) :hmm: ...though know that team-xecuter are currently working on a ir-reciever for their x3-modchip, they could probebly add a ir-transciever later as well, team-xecuter also have the skill and possible the motivation to pull it of (if it will help the sell more modchips) so you can ask them via their forums, then if team-xecuter or someone else would submit a patch for it to us (together with a few hardware-samples) we could look it over and integrate it into xbmc it the coding is solid (or at least bug-free if disabled).

ps! a related request/suggestion cand be found here => http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin....;t=2202

[jiz_king]

i will see what response i get from the major mod manufacturers.

just to be clear (as the topic title is now a little misleading) i am talking about sending out ir signals using the *lpc port* rather than usb.

i seem to remember there was some source documentation released by the mod manufacturers as to the protocol to send signals to the mod chips / lcd modules. i will have a search, if anyone knows what i am refering to please post a link.

cheers.

edit *cheers for the topic title update*

[RoyN]

hi,

i'm sorry if this has been discussed but i couldnt find it at all.. anyways, i would like very much to use, say, a pocketpc as the sole controller for a room.

soooo, i would require a way of interfacing the pocketpc with a tv, an amplifier, etc... so we get to ir.... and since xbmc already has a nice web itnerface, why not take advantage of the same nice itnerface and be able to control ir stuff with it, i ask...

so here is my qestion: considering that items such as the uirt (http://www.usbuirt.com/) , afterall for 5 bucks a pop if we can somehow integrate it in sofware would be amazing...

so, would it be possible to make a python script that recieves info from the xbmc web server, and spits it out to the uirt?

other interfaces could be:
http://www.evation.com/irman/index.html - serial , would require a usb-serial i think?
http://www.home-electro.com/tira2.php - usb, has drivers for windows and linux
http://www.redrat.co.uk/redrat3/ - not sure how it can connect



edit: http://usbirboy.sourceforge.net/ is another do-it-yourself module, and it mentions use in an xbox... http://www.razorwings.net/xboxmediaplayer/ has details about installing a usb infrared thingy in the xbox... seems like all we need is to know if the current software has a way of accessing this sort of thing, if so how...

[Gamester17]

this has been discussed/requested before, so i'm merging your post into that existing topic thread.

you need to understand one thing first of all; you cannot compare xbmc with linux (which you did when you linked to this), linux booted using a linux-bios (like cromwell) makes the xbox into a normal x86 computer and you cannot run xbmc on that. catch-22 here is that since xbmc isn't anything like linux and an xbox without a linux-bios is anything like a normal x86 computer. so because xbmc isn't like linux and a xbox without a linux-bios isn't like a computer you cannot expect it to act like a computer. for one xbmc is not an operating-system* and it has no usb-hardware-layer-interface ("usb-stack"/"usb-api") and you cannot install any device-drivers on it.

please read through these topic-threads to understand the difficulties with usb and adapters that require device-drivers that are not built-into the xdk (xbox development kit by microsoft):
http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin....=4&t=24
http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin....4&t=279
http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin....;t=7705
http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin....;t=8665
http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin....;t=3791

however in theory could be possible to use the rs232 or i2c/lpt port on an modchip to connect a infrared-tranciever (just as to how you now connect a lcd-display to some modchips), but some low-level assembly code would have to be written/coded to control that ir-tranciever and i don't know of anyone here with the expertice skills and motivation/time to do that. though uou might want to think about requesting it from modchip-manufactures (like team-xecuter, team-xodus, and team-smartxx) as they where the ones who added the support for the lcd-displays, if they see that there is profit in it for them then they might just help you out. some silimar ideas have been posted here (link), difference being that those are for a ir-reciever and not a it-transciever/sender.


*

xbmc is not an operating system. xbmc is one excutable running in one process, the xbox bios do not support more than one excutable/process running at any one time, (anbd the xbox bios is the closest thing to an operating system you get on the original xbox as it is it that controlles the low-level access to the xbox hardware resourses such as memory, processor and harddrive, game-ports, etc., and it presents that as a high-level api (application program interface) to the application or game running on the xbox) . ...a simplified definition of a operating system (os) is an under-laying system software responsible for the direct control and management of hardware, and additionally can have several excutables (application software) running under it at the time (and each of those excutables can be running one or more processes), see wikipedia.org for a more detailed description. this xbmc can never be.

if you want to run a true operating system on the xbox then a xbox-linux distribution is your only choise (in order to run linux on the xbox they had to replace the xbox-bios with a real x86 bios, as the original xbox-bios can not run linux, ...and the linux bios for xbox can not xbox games made with the xdk).

ps! see xbox-linux faq for more answers to questions like: the xbox is a standard pc, isn't it?, and why not develop on top of the xbox kernel?

[garyb]

hi all

is it possible to run a script or program that will send an infrared signal from the dvd ir pickup, when i turn on the xbox i want it to send a signal to the screen i am using to change it to av input. i hope this is in the correct forum as it is really about if the pickup can send as well as recieve.

thanks

garyb