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Networks and Remotes => Remotes => Topic started by: Foobs on May 02, 2018, 04:36:01 pm

Title: MCE Controller
Post by: Foobs on May 02, 2018, 04:36:01 pm
Since version 24 added menu’s (so much yay!) I’m giving JRiver a serious trial and everything is going really well except that I can’t figure out how to network control it.

I use MCE Controller (https://github.com/tig/mcec) because it integrates well with Simple Control on my iPad that I use to control the rest of my system and house.  It controls regular MCE fine but all it controls in JRiver is up, down, left, right and select.

Any thoughts?

 
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: astromo on May 02, 2018, 04:58:41 pm
You can teach MC your remotes commands. I'm not at my desk but it's not too hard to work out.

Get into Options > Remotes ... and that's where my memory fails. Poke around and you should find what you're after. The Wiki may offer something useful or a deeper search of interact.
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: Foobs on May 02, 2018, 06:15:00 pm

I’ve tried all the options in that tab and nothing seems to work.
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: Foobs on May 03, 2018, 08:58:26 am
The commands are being issued, like I said earlier, the arrow keys and select keys actually work but nothing else does. When I try to learn a command, nothing happens. I’ve attached a screenshot.
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: Foobs on May 04, 2018, 05:26:14 pm
I never could figure it out, so I had to go the hard way   :-\

I ended up creating custom commands in MCE Controller for every button that I needed, a custom key map in JRiver for commands that didn’t have a shortcut and then custom commands for each button in Simple Control. It was a total pain, but I got it done and it works.
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: Denti on June 23, 2018, 09:52:41 pm
I would love for someone to explain how that Options->Remote Control page works. I also can't get the learning to work, though it's clear the MC controller is working.

All I want is to be able to toggle views, subtitles, and audio. I just want to assign a button to each of these. Can anyone help?
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: JohnT on June 25, 2018, 09:56:01 am
Did you go into "Devices & Options" and make sure the input devices were selected?

(https://i.imgur.com/EAe3qa5.png)

Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: RoderickGI on June 25, 2018, 07:03:43 pm
All I want is to be able to toggle views, subtitles, and audio. I just want to assign a button to each of these. Can anyone help?

I see the OP is doing something a bit different, using the software "MCE Controller" to send IR Codes over the network to his HTPC and trying to controller MC that way. I'm not completely surprised that doesn't work that way, since I think MC only reads directly from the IR Sensor driver. But I could be mistaken there. Also, it would make more sense to send MCC Commands to the HTPC to control MC over the network, rather than try to have MC learn IR Commands that MCE Controller issues.

But Denti, I feel your pain. I would like to be able to define buttons to MC Commands that would change interfaces (Standard View to Theatre View, or Display View, or Mini View - Basically all the Ctrl+1 to 5 commands, for example), select Video, Audio, Movies etc. with the press of a button.

If anyone can ever prove to me that MC can learn any and all IR commands I will be very happy. As far as I can tell it can only learn MCE commands, which it mostly already knows about and responds to anyway, and a few other Extended MCE commands. Yes, I have both the MCE and Remote, Keyboard, gamepad, or other HID devices selected.

MC can't learn commands from other remotes such as my old DVD player, old TV, CD Player, etc., although it may be able to see those IR commands when setting up IR Blasting. I don't know because I don't use blasting, and can't test as I don't have the hardware so MC doesn't allow me to get past the first step, which is logical.

I use a Harmony 880 Remote and can program it with additional custom buttons using MCE Extended IR codes or IR codes from other IR remotes. None of that works with MC, except for a very few Extended MCE IR codes, such as Alt+1 to Alt+4 or something.

Fortunately, I can drive MC with just the five buttons (left, right, up, down, OK) but it would be nice if this functionality was improved at some stage.
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: Denti on June 25, 2018, 08:56:01 pm
Well, thanks to John's post I was able to get it to toggle views. That's no problem. It's there in the list of commands. I assigned it a button. Viola!

But how do I toggle subtitles? Is there a shortcut command for that I can teach the remote?
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: RoderickGI on June 25, 2018, 09:04:40 pm
You can just arrow up through the OSD menus to find and select subtitles while a video is playing.

Or if you have the options set correctly for default language and subtitles, they will show automatically as required if available. Forced subtitles should always show.

Otherwise have a look through the Media Center Core Commands (https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Center_Core_Commands).
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: rec head on June 26, 2018, 07:36:28 am
Well, thanks to John's post I was able to get it to toggle views. That's no problem. It's there in the list of commands. I assigned it a button. Viola!

But how do I toggle subtitles? Is there a shortcut command for that I can teach the remote?

Goods news I'll have to check it out. I hope it works with my Harmony remote. My method for switching from Standard View to Theater View has always been to close MC and restart it.

Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: RoderickGI on June 26, 2018, 06:48:22 pm
My method for switching from Standard View to Theater View has always been to close MC and restart it.

That is extreme. A Harmony emulating an MCE remote should work by default for lots of standard buttons.

A quick way to get from Standard View to Theatre View using just the remote is to press the "Guide" button. That will open Theatre View and display the TV Guide, and from there you can navigate anywhere you want, starting with the "Back" button to get to the menus.
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: Denti on June 26, 2018, 08:11:22 pm
Quote
10052   MCC_SET_SUBTITLES   int nIndex (-1 toggles forward, -2 toggles backwards)

Looks like this is the code. Now if someone can tell me how I would actually use this to program a button, I would be grateful.
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: RoderickGI on June 26, 2018, 08:47:24 pm
Looks like this is the code. Now if someone can tell me how I would actually use this to program a button, I would be grateful.

Exactly what brand and model remote control are you using?
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: rec head on June 26, 2018, 08:54:43 pm
A quick way to get from Standard View to Theatre View using just the remote is to press the "Guide" button. That will open Theatre View and display the TV Guide, and from there you can navigate anywhere you want, starting with the "Back" button to get to the menus.

2 button presses either way.
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: Denti on June 27, 2018, 09:39:59 am
Exactly what brand and model remote control are you using?
Ortek 1100 (I think). Standard Windows Media Center remote. Everything else worked out of the box.
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: JohnT on June 27, 2018, 10:14:15 am
Looks like this is the code. Now if someone can tell me how I would actually use this to program a button, I would be grateful.
If you're on Media Center 24, this command will be available in an upcoming build (24.0.39 or greater).   

When you've installed that build:
 1. Go to the Remote Control Setup dialog and click 'Commands'
 2. If you haven't customized the list already, you can click "Restore Default List" and the new commands will show up in the displayed list.  If you have done customization that you want to hold onto, click the 'Add' button and then 'Add Media Center commands' and the new commands will show up in the list of commands that can be added (e.g. "Use next subtitle set", "Use previous subtitle set").
 3. Select the subtitle command in the list and click 'Learn'.  Point the remote at your MCE receiver and press the button on your remote you want to use for subtitle selection.  It should learn the function and be available for use.  If you're using an MCE remote, it will pop a dialog warning that if you are 'learning' a button that has a common MCE keyboard function like Ok,Left,Right,Up,Down, etc., it may not work correctly.  I used a button on the remote that I never used for anything else and it worked fine for subtitle selection.
 4. Test it out.
Title: Re: MCE Controller
Post by: RoderickGI on June 27, 2018, 07:21:43 pm
If you're on Media Center 24, this command will be available in an upcoming build (24.0.39 or greater).

Nice.

Ortek 1100 (I think). Standard Windows Media Center remote. Everything else worked out of the box.

Just be aware that from my understanding the Ortek version of the VCR-1100 is a little bit non-standard, in terms of its support for all MCE functions. The basic functions all work, and some people have no issues, but others have trouble getting some functions to work. John's procedure should work fine for extra functions such as your changing Subtitle requirement though. As long as MC can see and learn the IR Code the button sends.