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[jmone]

MC already support (without the needs for IR plug ins, girder etc) almost ALL the buttons on the Microsoft Remote Keyboard and Remote for Windows Media Center Edition except:
- Record Button (they only one I really care about)
- My Music, My Radio, My Pictures, My Videos, My TV
- Live TV, Recorded TV, Guide, DVD Menu
- The "i" (info) button

Thanks
Nathan

[Matt]

Do you know what pushing those buttons fires to the focused application?

The other keys work because they simulate keyboard keystrokes.

[jmone]

Ammm I'm not sure the following helps (as I could find nothing at MS) but I found the following at :http://www.byremote.com.au/Hip/mce_remote_faq.htm

"MCE keyboard shortcuts" "Description Key Hip Command" "(Keystroke or SendMessage Commands)"
Move up UP ARROW  {UP}
Move down DOWN ARROW  {DOWN}
Move left LEFT ARROW  {LEFT}
Move right RIGHT ARROW {RIGHT}
Select ENTER or SPACEBAR  {ENTER} or {SPACE}
Jump back one page at a time PAGE UP  {PGUP}
Jump ahead one page at a time PAGE DOWN  {PGDN}
Start Media Center Windows logo key+ALT+ENTER *@{ENTER}
Go back to the previous screen or backspace a single character in Search BACKSPACE  {BKSP} or {@793,0,65536}
Toggle full screen mode or window mode ALT+ENTER  @{ENTER}
Change channels     
Change to a specific channel 0..9 0..9
Move up one channel EQUAL (=) or CTRL+EQUAL = or ^= or {@793,0,3342336}
Move down one channel MINUS (-) or  CTRL+MINUS - or ^- or {@793,0,3407872}

Menu shortcuts take you directly to the main menus for feature areas.
My TV CTRL+SHIFT+T  ^!t
My Music CTRL+M  ^m
My Videos CTRL+E  ^e
My Pictures CTRL+I  ^i

TV and DVD menus
Guide CTRL+G  ^g
Record CTRL+R ^r or {@793,0,3145728}
Details  CTRL+D  ^d
DVD Menu  CTRL+SHIFT+M  ^!m
Recorded TV CTRL+O  ^o
DVD Audio CTRL+SHIFT+A ^!a
DVD Subtitle CTRL+U ^u

Transport controls control the playback of your media.
Pause CTRL+P  ^p or {@793,0,3080192}
Play CTRL+SHIFT+P  ^!p or {@793,0,3014656}
Play/Pause   {@793,0,917504}
Stop  CTRL+SHIFT+S  ^!s or {@793,0,851968}
Replay  CTRL+B  ^b or {@793,0,786432}
Skip  CTRL+F  ^f or {@793,0,720896}
Rewind  CTRL+SHIFT+B  ^!b or {@793,0,3276800}
Fast Forward CTRL+SHIFT+F ^!f or {@793,0,3211264}
Mute  F8  {F8} or {@793,0,524288}
Volume Down F9 {F9} or {@793,0,589824}
Volume Up  F10 {F10} {@793,0,655360}

[raym]

I'd like to see support for this too is possible.

A quick question though, are you tied to MCE or VMC only with these devices or do third party drivers also exist which let you use the bundled receiver with vanilla XP?

[jmone]

Hi Ralf - not sure if this answers your Q - but to get the MCE K'Board & Remote to work on XP you need to install a particular MS Hot Patch (WindowsXP-KB912024-v2-x86-ENU) that was part of MCE Rollup II and you then just plug in the IR receiver and it all just works.  The one trick is the MS Keyboard/RC use a "debounce" feature that you need to turn off in the registry if you are going to program a third party universal remote control as each key sends alternative IR signals to prevent so called bounce but I've never had the problem.
Thanks
Nathan

[raym]

Thanks Nathan. I'm actually aware of this update but one of the requirements is that you must install it to an MCE version of the OS (ie, MCE2005 etc). Therefore, this wouldn't work attempting to apply this patch to XP.

Oh well..

[jmone]

Nope - it works perfectly on XP (that is what I am using it on  )

[raym]

Nope - it works perfectly on XP (that is what I am using it on  )

Really? Oh great! So where do you get the patch from?

[jmone]

Really? Oh great! So where do you get the patch from?

Those nice guys at MS have it  - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=B39D53F1-0AC9-433B-B488-4CAB82F31DC8&displaylang=en

If that does not work I've got it the file....

Edit2 (wrong link!)- There is also a third party one over at GreenButton but I've felt no desire to play with it (yet)

[raym]

Got it! Thanks Nathan..

I really look forward to more support for this remote in the near future. For basic navigation, it's already there but as you've pointed out, some useful functions are missing. I'm not sure how do-able this will be though without some intermediate application (or plugin). Looking at the majority of shortcuts you've provided above for the various missing functions, they don't seem to match up with the shortcuts MC provides for the same things. Therefore, something would be needed to do this re-mapping I would have thought.

Cheers.

[jmone]

Ralf - it is actually already pretty good for most day to day functions working out of the box, for me the only ones I miss are:

• Record CTRL+R ^r or {@793,0,3145728}
• Go back to the previous screen or backspace a single character in Search BACKSPACE  {BKSP} or {@793,0,65536} (works with everything EXCEPT I wish the button would take me back from full screen eg at the moment you have to press the enter button first)

It would be very easy to support by MC adding a check box that changed the mappings for the current ones to the MS ones if desired.

Thanks
Nathan

[raym]

Well, I hope you're right 

The MyTV/Music/Pictures etc buttons would be really useful as well as the DVD menu and Live TV buttons.

[jmone]

Mmmm your right - easy for me to say on this side of the world!  I also hope that the mapping above are correct as I could not find them on the MS site only over at greenbutton

[jmone]

OK found the MS link (finally) looks similar....http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb417079.aspx

Apprantly "Input from the remote control is processed as follows:
The sensor receives the signal and forwards it to a device driver on the computer.
The device driver converts the input into a WM_INPUT, WM_APPCOMMAND, WM_KEYDOWN, WM_KEYPRESS, or WM_KEYUP message.
Windows places these messages in the message queue to be processed by a program's main window procedure.
The foreground program processes messages of interest. For example, a digital media streaming program could process the messages corresponding to the transport buttons (Pause, Play, Stop, Fast Forward, and Rewind) but ignore messages from the numeric keypad. "

[raym]

Nathan, just outa curiosity, since you're only using XP and not MCE, what do ya get if you hit "the green button" on your remote. Nothing I suspect?

Also, does the remote keypad have any effect anywhere in MC?

Cheers,
R

[jmone]

The green button does sod all (just like many of the other ones - they are just keyboard shortcuts so unless the receiving app usings that key combo it is just ignored).  I'm not sure what you mean by the "remote keypad" - I have the V2 MCE Keyboard and the Remote (normally purchased seperatly but I got a pack with both in them).  The remote also comes with IR blasters for the control of other IR devices but MC support for that will be a while yet!

The MCE Keyboard works just like a normal keyboard/mouse (it has an inbuit track point style mouse device that takes a bit to get used to as mine was very stiff to start with).  The Remote is really just a subset of the keys on the keyboard made to look like a remote (I used it to program my Yami RC so I only have 1 RC controlling the lot!).

The setup is a good one where you want to use the RC primarly but need a keyboard for "admin" or "windows" config stuff.  If probably would not recommend it as the only or for a dedicated KB user as
1) the IR signal gets blocked as people walk between you and the receiver which can be really annoying when try to "drag and drop"
2) only works once Windows has booted (eg you can not get into your BIOS settings with this one)
3) for some odd reason it does not have a PRTSCRN button (which drives me nuts for getting screen shots for this board! - I use a little $10 USB minikeyboard for this!)

Thanks
Nathan

[jmone]

Bump....Every update I press my REC button just in case it slipped in.....

[jmone]

I'm now even googleing around to what support there is in the industry for the Microsoft's Keyboard / RC - so far EVERY HTPC front end known to man supports the MCE Remote/KB mappings EXCEPT JR's MC12!! (....well I did not look up the Apple stuff ):
- MS Media Center Edition
- Media Portal
- Nero Home
- BeyondTV
- SageTV
- MythTV
- JR Media Center 12

Every user who bought MS's Media Center Edition is going to have this hardware and when they upgrade to JR's MC12 (as we all know they should and will!!) they will find half the buttons don't work!

In case the Dev have never seen one I've included a Picture with the REC button pointed out.....yes you may want to use it to RECORD TV at some stage from Theater View. 




Apologies for the Humour Failure
Nathan

Edit - pretty picture of the Keyboard

[JohnT]

Hi Jmone,

The red record button will be supported in the next build. MC catches an MC_APPCOMMAND from it and then fires an MCC_TV_RECORD command. We're trying to get the "green button" on the MCE remote supported, but we're not sure how to catch what it fires. The Microsoft documentation makes it sound like it's not possible for our app. to capture the button press:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms867196.aspx
Search this page for "eHome" and it says "Not for use by applications." !!

If anyone knows a way to do this, let us know.

To add other shortcuts to MC, follow the directions here:
http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/User_Defined_Global_Keyboard_Shortcuts

[jmone]

I think I love U  - I've tried guessing the Enum for the MCC_TV_RECORD and what the Record button fires (but made a complete hash of it!).   I personally don't care about the Green Button as I've got JRMC12 set to fireup into TheaterView automatically on startup.

The Green Button must fire something into the system - but I've tried a few of the key stroke mapping utilities and they are all silent when this key is pressed, if you want me to try anything pls let me know.

Thanks again,
off to try the new build!
Nathan

[jmone]

We're trying to get the "green button" on the MCE remote supported, but we're not sure how to catch what it fires. The Microsoft documentation makes it sound like it's not possible for our app. to capture the button press:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms867196.aspx
Search this page for "eHome" and it says "Not for use by applications." !!

I think this is a later link in MSDN (they have had several RC's released) but it to says "Not For use by applications".
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb417079.aspx

[raym]

If anyone knows a way to do this, let us know.

I think it could be: Windows Key+ALT+ENTER

Take a look here: http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/knowledgebase/entry/13/65/


I'd also like support (if possible) for:

1. the numbered keypad (this may already work but not sure??)
2. "DVD Menu" button
3. "More" button (to launch whatever program we like perhaps?)
4. "CH|PG" button (page up/down in theater view; next track/previous track in display view)
5. "recorded TV" button and Live TV (both could jumpt to MC TV view for now unless there's something more appropriate?)

Cheers.

[jmone]

Ralf could be right as also from The Green Button (as posted above):

Start Media Center Windows logo key+ALT+ENTER *@{ENTER}

[ThoBar]

Thats it! JMONE gets my official JR MC12 Forum contributor of the week award!

Fastest implemetation of good ideas with the help of a user yet! 2 in a week at that!

Thanks Jmone JRiver and to RAYM for helping out in this thread.

*much fanfare* 
*presents award*
*presents monoloply money cheque*
*shakes hand*
*tells him to keep up the good work*

*gets down and parties at the after ceremony celebration*
*drinks too much and falls down*

C.

[glynor]

*drinks too much and falls down*

I'd help you up but I'm lying down too.  I'm just sleepy though.

Seriously.

I didn't drink too much at the party too.  I never do that.

* glynor whistles and looks away...

[JohnT]

I think it could be: Windows Key+ALT+ENTER

Take a look here: http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/knowledgebase/entry/13/65/

We tried catching the Windows+Alt+Enter combination, but it's not coming through. Everything is strangely silent when the green button is pressed. It seems like it's getting eaten by some service that's running. Or perhaps the driver only sends the message under certain conditions or to certain applications (like MCE?).

[raym]

We tried catching the Windows+Alt+Enter combination, but it's not coming through. Everything is strangely silent when the green button is pressed. It seems like it's getting eaten by some service that's running. Or perhaps the driver only sends the message under certain conditions or to certain applications (like MCE?).

Hmmm, then what's confishy so happy about?... 

Any luck with the other buttons listed above?

Thanks

[JohnT]

Try out the next build. It should support all the keys except the "green button".

[jmone]

Giving it a go now!   

[jmone]

OK - Had a quick play and can report it looks pretty good with the mapping of most buttons pretty logical  .  The odd ones are:
- My Radio : Does nothing (not that surprising really!)
- Recorded TV : Works like Live TV in that it plays a TV Station.  MC12 populates the Genre Field with "TV Recordings" when recording a TV Prog and hence with my selected View Scheme of sorting Video by Genre I have a "TV Recordings" folder under Video - the button "could" map to this folder in TheaterView but I don't know how universally applicable it would be.
- Guide : This one currently closes T'View and starts up MS Media Center (might want to change this one!)
- Info Button : Currently does nothing

Looking good!
Nathan

[glynor]

- Info Button : Currently does nothing

That could bring up the mouseover display when in Display View.  And, you could even give us a MCC command to do the same while you're at it so that us Girder users can make use of it too.

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.    

[ThoBar]

- Info Button : Currently does nothing

That could bring up the mouseover display when in Display View.

... with an OSD, rather than the drop-to-windowed mode that we currently have.

C.

[JohnT]

OK - Had a quick play and can report it looks pretty good with the mapping of most buttons pretty logical  .  The odd ones are:
- My Radio : Does nothing (not that surprising really!)
- Recorded TV : Works like Live TV in that it plays a TV Station.  MC12 populates the Genre Field with "TV Recordings" when recording a TV Prog and hence with my selected View Scheme of sorting Video by Genre I have a "TV Recordings" folder under Video - the button "could" map to this folder in TheaterView but I don't know how universally applicable it would be.
- Guide : This one currently closes T'View and starts up MS Media Center (might want to change this one!)
- Info Button : Currently does nothing

Looking good!
Nathan

Neither of our MCE remotes has a "My Radio" button. I'm going to add some log output so we can record what the button is sending.

The Guide button toggles between standard view, theater view, and display view.

I wasn't sure what to do with the info button. What it does now is toggle the list view between details mode and thumbnail mode. That's a good idea to use it to view the "mouseover" information.

[jmone]

Thanks John - sounds good, let me know about the logging and I'll press some buttons.

I also had MS Media Center (Vista) pop up several times over the w'end after various key presses (not just the Guide).  I don't know if it is a focus problem or that if MC does not accept the input at a particular occasion it gets routed to MS Media Center.

Thanks
Nathan

[Oronomus]

Has anyone been able to use MCE remote with Windows XP 64 bit? 

I have a Sony RC6 remote and Sony IR receiver from a Vaio laptop, want to use it with my HTPC.  It will not install plug n' play.  I tried installing drivers from "Update Rollup 2 for eHome Infrared Receiver for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005" and MceIr.sys.

[mcwhorter]

ttt
Any luck with getting the "Green Button" to work?