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[tzr916]

Please allow MC the ability to learn any/all IR remote signals that come into the PC for use in Tools > Options > Remote Control > Commands > Start Learning.

[JimH]

Please allow MC the ability to learn any/all IR remote signals that come into the PC for use in Tools > Options > Remote Control > Commands > Start Learning.

Please start a thread and list the ones you want.

MC can learn anything, but it needs to be assigned to something.

[tzr916]

Please start a thread and list the ones you want.

MC can learn anything, but it needs to be assigned to something.

Not. MC cannot learn anything that is incoming on the PC's IR receiver. I've tried RED and BLUE mce buttons, as well as Subtitles mce button. MC just ignores it, like nothing is being sent. Meanwhile Event Ghost sees all incoming.

There's already a thread in the TV forum.

[JimH]

I've seen the thread, but unless they are on a different frequency, MC can learn any button you press.

[JimH]

Unless you mean you want it to assign a learned IR command to a specific button on a MC remote.  Is that it?

[RoderickGI]

Think of it this way Jim. There are more commands in the MC Remote Control Default Commands list than there are buttons on a Standard MCE Remote.

Therefore, those of us with Harmony remotes which are capable of using multiple IR Profiles need to select an IR Code from a Profile that is otherwise not used, assign that IR Code to a Custom Button on our Harmony remote, then have MC learn the IR Code and associate it with the MC Remote Control Default Command that we wish to trigger. So the flow sort of goes like;
Harmony button press > Harmony Profile IR Code > MC learned IR Code > MC Remote Control Command.

The problem is, MC quite often doesn't see the IR Code that the Harmony transmits. Apparently Event Ghost does see the IR Code, but I haven't tested that. I have been testing the IR Codes in the Harmony "MCE Remote" and "Media Center SE" Profiles, to see if MC can learn them. But as that requires adding all codes to buttons on the Harmony via their software, updating the remote control, then testing if MC sees it, I haven't finished yet. I may not if I find enough working Codes to get everything working as I wish.

This process is complicated by the fact that some IR Codes from the two Profiles mentioned, which are in addition to the Standard MCE Remote buttons, are already assigned to MC Remote Control Default Commands. But not all of them. Some other IR Codes are recognised but don't actually do anything. Plus a lot of additional IR Code in the Harmony Profiles appear to be standard Windows Keyboard Shortcuts, and it isn't clear if using them is a good idea, as the system handling of these codes would need to be suppressed so that standard Windows functions aren't invoked. Alt+F4 anyone?

On top of all that, I believe that if you are learning Blaster commands in MC, then MC will see the same IR Codes that it doesn't see when learning codes for controlling MC.

It is a bit of a can of worms.


Some more information over here, which is where I should discuss what I find: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,112064.0.html

[tzr916]

Different frequency? It's an IR receiver. MC should see ALL IR commands that comes into the PC. It doesn't really have anything to do with Harmony. I have 3 non-Harmony remotes that learned all the mce commands directly from an official mce remote. All of these commands worked in WMC and extenders. But MC can only see the basic navigation, play, pause, stop, up, down, and the green/yellow buttons. MC ignores EVERYTHING else. Why? All this time put into new features like PlayPower but the original MC "Start Learning" function isn't even fully working.

[JimH]

But MC can only see the basic navigation, play, pause, stop, up, down, and the green/yellow buttons. MC ignores EVERYTHING else.

I don't think that's the case.  Are you running something else that could be affecting this?  Like Logitech software?  It has caused problems in the past.

I wonder if the Media Keys setting in MC might affect this.

[tzr916]

I can't find "media keys" setting in MC ?

Like I mentioned, this really has nothing to do with Harmony. But no Harmony software is running in the background. I can verify the PC is seeing ALL mce button presses by running Event Ghost and watching the log.

I have also tested the MC Start Learning function on my laptop with the same IR dongle and a regular remote that learned all the mce commands directly from an official mce remote, and found the same behavior.

[JimH]

The options page has a search window at the bottom.

[tzr916]

NEW INFO: The MC feature "Start Learning" does NOT recognize ANY buttons that I press on my mce remotes at all:
-Tools > Options > Remote Control > Commands > Add Custom > name it TEST > Ok.
-Highlight new Command TEST in the list > click Start Learning.
-Try pressing EVERY button on my mce remotes and MC does not do anything, it can't see any button that I press.

Repeat for all 4 options under General > Advanced > Media Keys. Same result. MC cannot see/learn any mce button pressed on my mce remotes.

[Hendrik]

Try enabling the "Remote, keyboard, gamepad or other HID" option in Remote Control -> Devices & Options -> Selected input devices, it might be required to pick up raw IR commands.

[tzr916]

That worked. Thanks!

[RoderickGI]

That worked. Thanks!

Excellent. I have always had the "Remote, keyboard, gamepad or other HID" option enabled in addition to the "Microsoft MCE" device, which is probably why all Standard MCE Remote commands are recognised on my system, as described above and here.

However not all the additional key found in the Harmony "Media Center SE" Profile work. i.e. Ctrl+Alt+0 to 9, A to Z. I also tested with an original Sony DVD Player remote yesterday and its Volume Up/Down keys were not recognised but controlled my Sony Receiver volume without a problem. So the remote was sending, but MC wouldn't learn the IR Code.

Thanks though Jim and Hendrik as you have each provided another avenue to investigate.

I have "Options > General > Advanced > Media Key Mode" set to automatic. I will try Disabled and the other settings to see if this makes a difference.

I also have a Logitech wireless keyboard, with the associated Logitech software. The Keyboard Media Keys Wiki article provides some links that may be helpful.

At least these two items give me some hope I can get more IR Codes to work. However my requests in the Too Easy IV thread would have made this process much easier to work through.

[RoderickGI]

I have "Options > General > Advanced > Media Key Mode" set to automatic. I will try Disabled and the other settings to see if this makes a difference.

Setting Media Key Mode to;
Disabled: A lot of remote control buttons stopped working, such as Play, Stop, Back, etc.
App commands: All the usual buttons worked, but I still couldn't Learn Ctrl+Alt+0 to 9 and A to Z IR Codes.
Hot Keys: As with Disabled, a lot of remote control buttons stopped working. Mainly the media type keys, Play, Pause, Stop, etc.

So Media Key Mode isn't the solution to being able to learn all IR Codes. I'll leave it set to "App commands" for now to see if that creates any issues. At least then I know that the mode isn't switching without me knowing.

[blgentry]

Setting Media Key Mode to;
Disabled: A lot of remote control buttons stopped working, such as Play, Stop, Back, etc.
App commands: All the usual buttons worked, but I still couldn't Learn Ctrl+Alt+0 to 9 and A to Z IR Codes.

Keyboard Keys are NOT remote codes.  There's no correlation except one that might be made with a specific remote control that has those keys and *arbitrarily* assigns remote codes to those keys.

Get a FLIRC.  Then you can map any remote key, from any remote, to any keyboard key, which can then be mapped to nearly any MC MCC command.

I have to qualify this last statement by saying I've never used MC's remote learning support, as it's not present in the Mac or Linux versions.  But if you're having all of this trouble, get a FLIRC and I guarantee it can learn any key from any remote (other than very exotic remotes that use very high frequency IR signals, or RF signals of course).

Or, I guess use Event Ghost to send arbitrary key sequences based on any remote key.  <shrug>

I don't expect MC to ever truly support all IR remote sequences/codes.  Perhaps I'm wrong.

Brian.

[RoderickGI]

Keyboard Keys are NOT remote codes. 

I'm quite aware of that Brian. And yet, changing a keyboard setting, the "Media Key Mode", changed how the Remote Control functionality worked in MC, disabling some primary buttons.
You may not be aware that the Harmony "Media Center SE" profile that I am using on my Harmony 880 remote names many of the additional commands Alt+0, Ctrl+Alt+U, etc. I don't care what the actual IR Code used is, just that I can assign one to a button on my Harmony, and MC can learn that IR Code, so that I can assign an MCC Command to that IR Code.

Get a FLIRC.  <snip> Or, I guess use Event Ghost to send arbitrary key sequences based on any remote key.  <shrug>

I have no interest in adding another layer to the control of MC. The MC Remote Control functionality is simple and straight forward, in theory. Get a remote, pick a button with an assigned IR Code, MC will either already know that IR Code and have a function assigned to it, or can learn the IR Code and have an MCC Command assigned to it, or the existing assigned Command can be changed to what ever is required. MC even supports a sequence of Commands being assigned to one IR Code, like a small macro. Unfortunately, there is very little documentation and no visibility of what MC is doing internally, so users have to work blind if they want to actually make use of the ample functionality that is already there.

I don't expect MC to ever truly support all IR remote sequences/codes.  Perhaps I'm wrong.

Perhaps. However, both Jim and Hendrik keep insisting that MC can learn any IR Code, and that appears to not be the case. If it was I could add the dozen or so commands that I want to use to my Harmony remote, and all would be good. As MC supports an RC6 MCE remote, it should be able to learn all the commands from my Harmony, using the "Media Center SE" profile. In fact, in order to use the Blaster functionality, MC needs to be able to learn IR Codes from various devices, so that it can forward them to those devices.

Of course, I am using a Logitech keyboard with my HTPC, and I haven't tried reconfiguring, turning off or removing the software associated with that yet. It may be part of the problem, preventing IR Codes from being learned. Or it could even be my Inteset CIR Receiver can't see certain IR Codes, although that seems unlikely. So I still have some things to check.

I guess I am just pointing out a niggling issue with MC, that prevents me from using it with my Harmony remote as I wish. Particularly as it is claimed MC can do what I need. So I am working through the possible issues, at my own pace, and documenting what I find. That is all.