Topic: [Bug] - maybe...some remote commands stop responding...sometimes. (Read 3043 times)

muzicman0 · « **on:** November 26, 2012, 09:46:40 am »

This has happened 3 times to me...2 times on my client PC, and 1 time on my server. Both very similar hardware, but my remotes stop working...sorta...the 5 main buttons (left, right, up, down, OK) still work, but volume, pause, stop, etc all stop working. The only way I can get them back is to close MC and re-open. Has anyone else seen this?

mm0

pahunt · « **Reply #1 on:** November 26, 2012, 11:16:17 am »

I am seeing exactly the same issue, I assumed it was my remote screwing up but maybe not. I have not been able to determine a pattern for when it works and when it doesn't I'm afraid. Running 18.0.78 on Win 8 Pro using a Harmony 700 in case any of that is relevant.

muzicman0 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 26, 2012, 11:18:31 am »

I am using a Windows Media Center Remote and receiver on both PC's. I want to say it is a 'MediaGate' remote.

mm0

maciekb · « **Reply #3 on:** November 26, 2012, 04:35:07 pm »

Same thing with my HTPC. I think this issue is related with loosing focus when display view mode is on (watching move). When I hit alt+tab to switch to desktop and immediately alt+tab to back to MC, all keys on remote are working. I'm using WMC remote on Windows 7 x64, Ivy Bridge CPU and Intel 4000 GPU.

muzicman0 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 27, 2012, 11:12:08 am »

yep...I verified this last night. I went to watch a video from Theater View, and the remote started acting up...I alt-tab'd off, then back on, and it worked again.

fitbrit · « **Reply #5 on:** November 27, 2012, 01:08:17 pm »

Same here using my keyboard's media keys. ctrl-S works fine to stop playback, but the stop button on the keyboard no longer works. Instead, pressing it seems to cause MC to lose focus.

JimH · « **Reply #6 on:** November 27, 2012, 01:55:36 pm »

When it fails, try using a mouse to click on the screen. It may be a focus issue.

Also make sure WMC isn't catching the remote keys. MC options allow you to turn WMC off. It's under Theater View.

pahunt · « **Reply #7 on:** November 27, 2012, 02:30:00 pm »

I've switched off WMC under Theater View options but the problem is so random that it'll be a couple of days before I'll be sure if it's made any difference

muzicman0 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 27, 2012, 02:31:26 pm »

I've had WMC turned off from day 1, and I still have the issue.

pahunt · « **Reply #9 on:** November 27, 2012, 02:44:23 pm »

Well that didn't take long

Still goes wrong with WMC switched off.

muzicman0 · « **Reply #10 on:** November 27, 2012, 03:20:50 pm »

@ JimH...keep in mind that this is happening while launching stuff from theater view. So why is it losing focus? 99% of what this PC is for is MC18 theater View.

JimH · « **Reply #11 on:** November 27, 2012, 03:38:05 pm »

I'm just trying to find out if the problem is just focus. Report whether it works if you click on it first with a mouse.

muzicman0 · « **Reply #12 on:** November 27, 2012, 03:39:06 pm »

will try it...but like I said, if you alt-tab to change to another app, then alt-tab back, it works again. but I will test next time it happens.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #13 on:** November 27, 2012, 04:51:28 pm »

Quote from: JimH on November 27, 2012, 03:38:05 pm

I'm just trying to find out if the problem is just focus. Report whether it works if you click on it first with a mouse.

This is a focus issue Jim. I mentioned it in another post but no one responded so I figured it was just me. If you click on on the screen it regains focus and starts working. This started happening with MC18 way back in the early versions so I could only post to the Beta board at the time.

Seems like it has something to do with message loop processing. What seems to be happening is that MC remotes use standard keystrokes for many functions including the arrow keys. These work no matter where the focus is. However once that focus shifts (I'm assuming to the main window not the display view) special media key messages are not being caught. That's my guess anyway.

fitbrit · « **Reply #14 on:** November 27, 2012, 09:16:19 pm »

Quote from: JimH on November 27, 2012, 03:38:05 pm

I'm just trying to find out if the problem is just focus. Report whether it works if you click on it first with a mouse.

Hi Jim, I tried this of course. But since MC loses focus every time I press the stop button (the windows task bar appears, even when in display view), refocusing MC doesn't help - it loses focus again as soon as I hit stop. The weird thing is that I have two multimedia keyboards. They both worked fine, and after the last build only one of them still does; this may explain things if this bug isn't reproducable by all.

muzicman0 · « **Reply #15 on:** November 28, 2012, 09:35:03 am »

Quote from: JimH on November 27, 2012, 03:38:05 pm

I'm just trying to find out if the problem is just focus. Report whether it works if you click on it first with a mouse.

Had the issue last night, and a simple click on the screen restored focus.

I believe the stop button issue for fitbrit is a separate issue, as I don't have that.

mm0

Matt · « **Reply #16 on:** November 28, 2012, 09:48:51 am »

Is there a step-by-step that reliably leads to the focus being in the wrong spot?

muzicman0 · « **Reply #17 on:** November 28, 2012, 09:51:38 am »

for me, it seems pretty random, it might happen once every couple of days. I will do some tests though.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #18 on:** November 28, 2012, 05:52:26 pm »

For me it just happens. I click on watch in theater view and sometimes the focus moves. So I don't think it is something I'm doing, but something else that shifts the focus. It happens in the middle of a movie.

As a guess, I think the issue may have been here a long time but only since some changes to the message loop in v18 are they are apparent. I'm guessing that the message loop in the window it shifts to has changed. It might be a quick fix just accept the media control in the other loop as well.

One thing I need to try is play something back in Display View from Standard and see if the issue occurs. Also need to see if display view "minimized" to standard also does not accept media control buttons. I'll have to test this later unless someone beats me too it.

gvanbrunt · « **Reply #19 on:** November 28, 2012, 09:26:30 pm »

OK so I tried the controls from standard view, Theater View etc. All worked without issue. But the instant I launched the video from Theater View, Display View loses focus and the media buttons stop working.

The only thing I can think of in my situation is I have iMon running so I can capture the remote control on the front of my case rather than the external MC IR. Anyone else using anything that has to do with a remote control like that? Eventghost? Girder? Anyone have more than one IR?

I worked around the issue just now by using iMon to remap the media buttons to the shortcut commands in MC.

davros · « **Reply #20 on:** February 27, 2013, 06:12:42 am »

I just experienced what i think to be a related issue under JR 17.0.189

I am using a HP MCE usb receiver. I was using custom IR codes with this reciever. With this setup, MCE would run in server mode (ie. in the background) and responded to IR commands perfectly.

I reset the remote options to default in MCE (uses default MCE remote codes) and set up a custom remote code to do standby.
After this, JR would only respond to IR commands when JR was the forground app. (Media key mode is set to default : Autmatic and was not changed in the above process and Windows Media Centre service is disabled).

I was able to get past this issue by larning all the MCE remote commands again as custom IR commands. JR popped up a dialogue saying I should not do this as it can cause duplicate commands...but it has not caused any issues and it works now with JR in server mode.

Thought that may be of interest.

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Author Topic: [Bug] - maybe...some remote commands stop responding...sometimes. (Read 3043 times)