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[1maynard]

I was wondering if any one has used either or both of these to control MC and can give advice. I have been trying to get my URC MX-850 to work with MC in Theater View and cannot get all of the functions to work properly. I do have a HP remote and transceiver like the one that JRiver used to offer and it will control all functions properly but when I try to teach the commands to my MX-850 they show that they were learned but they do not work. What is strange is I have a WMC remote that I first used with WMC and it will also only partly control MC. The live TV, Recorded TV, Movie, and other direct access buttons do nothing. I was thinking that I could make my MX-850 work with one of the USB devices above. Getting one remote to work will go a long way in the wife factor. As it is the MX-850 can use a macro to start my TV and switch to the proper input, start a DVD player, start my AVR and switch inputs, control whatever device I am operating, and if I want to switch to a different device do the proper input switching and shut down the previous device. Right now with the exception of JRiver it is truly a one remote solution. Thanks

[JimH]

I've used the FLIRC and it was easy to set up.  I don't know how well it will work in your situation.

[robt]

I have a FLIRC usb and a Harmony One (and Hub) controlling JRiver on a PC.

FLIRC has a built in Kodi profile that works very well with JRiver but I'm not sure how to set things up other than via a Harmony device.

[RoderickGI]

If your  URC MX-850 can send key combinations to the PC, and/or run programs on the PC using macros or otherwise, and include parameters, then your existing remote can do everything you want.

Read up on;
User Defined Global Keyboard Shortcuts. Use the Resource.xml from "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 23\Data\Default Resources\" (64bit) rather than download a copy. Create a "Custom Resources" and put the Resource.xml file in it, here; "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 23\Data\Custom Resources\". Edit that version of Resource.xml and MC will look for and use that version first.

The Command Line. Send simple commands using MC Command Line switches. For example, restart MC (not the PC) with "mc23.exe /Restart".

Media Center Core Commands.


Also search the forum for "FLIRC". There are a lot of discussions. Just make sure people are talking about the Gen 2 version.


BTW, when in Theatre View the standard MCE Remote "Live TV" button should launch live TV playing the last played channel. It is equivalent to "MC23.exe /MCC 30002, 0".

The "Recorded TV" button should take you to the " Theatre View > Video > Shows" area of the Theatre View menu, unless you have modified the Theatre View menu system. It is equivalent to "MC23.exe /MCC 22001, 8".

Those buttons work without doing any IR Code "learning" in MC, with the default setup. So if you have learned new codes for those buttons, put them back to default and they should work. If they are at default at the moment and don't work, try learning the IR Code for the button.

But not all standard MCE Remote buttons work in MC as expected. IR Remotes codes are still a can of worms, and unfortunately not well documented in the Wiki, which is out of date. For example, there are no Remote-Control Plug-Ins any more.


Finally, user BLGentry tells me that the FLIRC can do everything required to use MC as you desire. But I haven't tried one. I use a Harmony 880 emulating an MCE Remote, with some custom functions. It still isn't a complete solution because I gave up. I'll get back to it one day.

[1maynard]

Thanks guys, If I can get my MX-850 to mimic all of the commands that the HP WMC remote sends it will work just fine. What I do not understand is both the HP and the old WMC remote would control WMC and when I programmed the MX-850 using a code I found in the URC editor database it also worked with WMC. I was under the impression that any WMC remote would also work with JRiver MC but that does not seem to hold true. I will order a FLIRC tomorrow and then work on getting it set up. If all else fails I can use both remotes but I would rather get the MX-850 to work. Funny thing is I never had an issue with the MX-850 learning commands from any other IR remotes. Does the HP WMC remote send out a different type command or IR signal than most other IR remotes? I have noticed that it will not work unless you use the HP receiver that comes with it. To me this is a challenge that I will overcome, We got used to having one remote to control everything and I really do not want to go back. Since the MX-850 is not considered a consumer remote I cannot get any help from URC. When I bought it they supported it to the end user and you could get updates etc. Now the only way to get help is through a authorized dealer and most will not help unless they do the all of the programing. I have tried Harmony remotes and yes they will work but I do not feel that they work as well as the MX-850. Guess I got spoiled.

RoderickGI, I noticed that you posted when I was composing my response. I will do some research on your suggestions and see what I can work out. As I stated the HP remote works right but the other MCE remote I have does not. I have all remote codes set to default. Will post back later.

[1maynard]

Since my AVR is out for repairs I decided to look into remote control. As I stated before I have a URC MX-850 universal remote to control my system. When I was using it with WMC I loaded a windows MCE remote profile in it and all buttons work, ie pressing guide took you the Guide screen, recorded tv to the recorded tv listings etc. Only a small portion of these buttons work in MC. I have a HP Remote and receiver that all buttons work properly in MC. Problem is I have not been able to teach the commands to my MX-850. I also have a VRC-1000 MCE remote and its buttons seem to follow what I loaded in my MX-850 and most do not work in MC. I tried to remap the buttons in the remotes command settings page but most will not work. Can someone help me out? If I could get the VRC-1000 remote functions to work in MC I could then teach the corresponding commands to my MX-850. This is the MCE remote I have. 

I looked into core commands etc but am just lost at this point.

[RoderickGI]

Why can't you use your HP Remote to teach your MX-850? Why doesn't the Windows MCE remote profile work for MC? It should. MCE Remotes work out of the box, with no IR Code learning required in MC.

You aren't testing this on the same PC with WMC and MC installed, are you? If so, have you disabled WMC in MC? You should really shut down all parts of WMC, including any background IR command handling services. If you haven't WMC will steal the IR commands from MC, and they won't work.


Attached is my rough mapping of MCE Remote buttons to MC IR commands. Green is good.

[1maynard]

I wish I knew why I cannot teach the HP Remote commands to my MX-850. I have tried all of the tricks on trying to teach it that are in my programming manual. The Hp is the first remote that it could not learn. Today I tried to teach the HP commands to a different remote I have and it could not learn them either. I think the HP remote uses a different IR frequency than most. I tried using it with the IR receiver that I use for my other remotes and it would not control MC.  As I said before the HPO remote works perfectly but the VRC-1100 MCE remote does not. Only part of the buttons send the proper commands. When I was using Kodi I had the same issues with the MCE remote.   This is on my Win 10 HTPC, There is no windows 10 installed. I ordered a FLIRC to see if I can make it work. I can usually figure these things out but this one really has me stumped. As I said I tried to learn some of the commands from my MX-850 using the remote control set up page and haven't been able to make that work either. I will look into your mapping chart to see if it will help me out. Sorry to be such a pain but I do not know what else to do to make this work. I have been through the Wiki, searched the forums and just cannot get this to work. I really appreciate your trying to help.

[JimH]

Did you check the battery on the HP remote?

[1maynard]

Jim, I still cannot teach the HP commands to the MX-850. So this morning I decided to go back into Remote set up and see what I could do. First thing I did was checked that the input devices were active I then un checked them restarted the PC and went back in and checked MCE and remote keyboard etc. Then went into the commands page and using RodrickGI's mapping sheet programmed my MX-850's commands that were not working. SUCCESS!!!! the only button that is not working is the Live TV. I try to add that command manualy.  I have no idea why I could not get this to work before but I am 99% there.

Thanks to you guys for your help and support You have converted me. I will send in my payment today along with one for JRemote. This site is so much different than any other MC site that I have asked for help on before. Most of them just give you grief and talk down to you.