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Author Topic: Use of the Apple Remote with JRiver  (Read 6438 times)

rotho

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Use of the Apple Remote with JRiver
« on: November 17, 2011, 06:38:30 am »

I installed Windows 7 on my recent iMac (running OS X Lion) with BootCamp, and then tried JRiver : it works perfectly well !  8)

Then I tried to use the Apple Remote, but it doesn't work as well as glynor described in another thread (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=66213.msg444422#msg444422).  :(

By default, only the Play/Pause button is working. The Up/Down buttons only command the volume. And the Left/Right buttons don't do the right thing in the Theater View.

I then tried a bit of customization in the "Remote Control" options of JRiver : I selected the "Remote, keyboard, gamepad or other HID" input device, and I started learning the IR Commands. I managed to learn the commands for the "Up", "Left" and "Right" buttons, but for the other buttons, I got the message "This button is already assigned ... Do you want to re-assign this button to the current command". For example, the "Down" button seems to be assigned the same code as the "Up" button by JRiver.

With such a (limited) customization, the "Left" and "Right" buttons work properly in the Theater View, and the "Up" button also (but it also commands the Volume Up, which is quite annoying !  >:(), but I did not manage to get the other buttons to work with JRiver.  :-[

So, has anyone been successfully using the Apple Remote for JRiver on a Mac with BootCamp ?  ?
And, glynor, did you manage to cancel the default behavior of the Up/Down buttons which command the volume Up/Down ?

Perhaps it's an IR driver problem, and the drivers installed by Parallels work better that those installed by BootCamp ?  ?

I think I will try to install a test version of Parallels 7 in a couple of days and see if the Apple Remote works better with JRiver in that configuration...
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MrC

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Re: Use of the Apple Remote with JRiver
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2011, 01:00:23 pm »

I think I will try to install a test version of Parallels 7 in a couple of days and see if the Apple Remote works better with JRiver in that configuration...

It doesn't.  Glynor and I confirmed the problems in that thread.  I believe that's a limitation of the remote, in that some of the buttons send out the same IR.
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rotho

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Re: Use of the Apple Remote with JRiver
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2011, 05:32:36 pm »

It works  8) !

After searching for a while on the net, I found this :
http://blog.bengarney.com/2008/07/20/working-with-the-apple-remote-on-boot-camp/
I adapted the method for Windows 7, but roughly, I think that it consists in transforming the Apple IR receiver into a USB HID driver. I don't understand exactly what that means, but it did work !

The drawback is that the Apple Remote is now not functioning at all in a traditional way : for example the Up / Down buttons do not command the volume Up / Down (in Windows mode, of course !).

The advantage is that I was now able to program the 7 buttons of the Apple Remote : all the buttons have different IR codes !!  :D.

I did the following mapping :
Up -> Up Arrow
Down -> Down Arrow
Left -> Left Arrow
Right -> Right Arrow
Enter -> Middle Button
Play/Pause -> Play/Pause Button
Back -> Menu Button

In Theater View, it is now very convenient to work with the remote  :).

Of course, I lost the traditional commands of the Apple remote on Windows, but I don't care, because I only want to use JRiver on Windows  ;D.

Anyway, I will also give Parallels 7 a try, and report if it works the same.
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rotho

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Re: Use of the Apple Remote with JRiver
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2011, 07:04:26 am »

The Apple Remote also works when using JRiver with Parallels (v7.0) !

I first tested with Parallels pointing to my BootCamp partition, and then I restarted from scratch : I erased my BootCamp partition and only used a Windows 7 VM with Parallels.

This time, I didn't have to fiddle with the Apple IR remote driver : I just had to select "Apple IR Receiver" in the USB Devices list in Parallels (Devices > USB menu), and then I went into the "Remote Control" options of JRiver, in order to learn the codes corresponding to the 7 buttons of the Apple Remote, as I described in my previous posts.

For the "Menu" button, in the end I decided to map it with the "Menu" command of JRiver instead of the "Back" command, because the "Back" command can always be found on the upper roller menu of JRiver, and now with the "Menu" button of the remote, I have access to the context menu.

So in conclusion, the Apple Remote is perfectly usable with JRiver on an iMac, whether you are using BootCamp or Parallels Desktop  :D.
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MrC

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Re: Use of the Apple Remote with JRiver
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2011, 10:35:47 pm »

Confirmed w/the new aluminum remote and Win 7 under Parallels 7.

Thanks!
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