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[BartMan01]

If I shut down JRiver Media Center and just leave the server running, MC is still responding to IR remote commands.  This is a problem because Microsoft's WMC does not give itself priority for processing all commands.  SOME commands work for WMC, but many (like stop and play) continue to be picked up by MC instead.  So if I need to shut down MC and use WMC (to watch WMC DRM recorded TV shows for example), I have to also shut down the server which then means no one else in the house can use the MC library.

Is there a technical reason that MC is listening for and responding to IR remote commands with just the server running?  Is there any way to prevent this from happening, or can MC's behavior be changed?

[JimH]

Our wiki has a topic on Media Server.

[BartMan01]

So if I read that correctly, MC is always running 100% and server mode just removes the UI.  Then as a feature request, can MC ignore IR commands when the UI is shut down?  Now that I run the MC library on the same machine that runs my WMC DVR (for encrypted cable), I have to shut down MC to use WMC to watch content.  The problem with shutting down MC is that no one else in the house can then play back any content served from there.

Does anyone else have a viable solution for this use case? 

[RoderickGI]

When I shut down the MC client on my HTPC, all I have to do to restart it is to press the big green button (or it's equivalent on my Logitech remote), and the MC client starts again.

That is the way I like it, and it requires the MC server to be watching for the IR command.

You are effectively trying to run two media centre applications using the one remote, and that isn't going to be straight forward.

[BartMan01]

When I shut down the MC client on my HTPC, all I have to do to restart it is to press the big green button (or it's equivalent on my Logitech remote), and the MC client starts again.

Restarting MC is not an issue, I have a button on my remote for that.  It is the fact that while MC is not running, then no one in the house can watch a movie or listen to music served by MC. 

I used to run MC on a separate system from the WMC box, but for technical reasons I have had had to move it to the main HTPC and don't have the budget right now to add another machine back in.

[gtgray]

Restarting MC is not an issue, I have a button on my remote for that.  It is the fact that while MC is not running, then no one in the house can watch a movie or listen to music served by MC. 

I used to run MC on a separate system from the WMC box, but for technical reasons I have had had to move it to the main HTPC and don't have the budget right now to add another machine back in.

This is exactly the design feature of MC that bugs me the most. I don't want it to respond to IR unless I specifically tell it to. It is impossible to ever get WAF acceptance of a PC that doesn't play protected content. While I might choose JR first, my significant other will not without protected content playback.

[muzicman0]

I use EventGhost...granted, the only aspect of WMC that I use is netflix, but with EventGhost, I can detect whether WMC is running, and send commands that way (using the WMC plugin)...if not, then I send commands to MC (by either key commands, or MCC commands).  There is a bit of a learning curve to set it up, but once it is set up, it's great.

mm0

[BartMan01]

I use EventGhost...granted, the only aspect of WMC that I use is netflix, but with EventGhost, I can detect whether WMC is running, and send commands that way (using the WMC plugin)...if not, then I send commands to MC (by either key commands, or MCC commands).  There is a bit of a learning curve to set it up, but once it is set up, it's great.

mm0

I figure EventGhost could do this.  I downloaded it a while back, but just can't figure it out.  The 'manual' is useless and nothing makes sense to me (without already knowing how to use it).  Any suggestions on a site that clearly explains how to make it detect that WMC is running and redirect all input to it?

Edit:  Nevermind, I think I figured it out.  At least I have it seeing that WMC is active (I think) and then directing the start/stop/skip/rewind commands to it (these are the only ones I found that MC was 'stealing' when WMC was active).  Then disabling the redirects when WMC is inactive.  Seems to be working so far.

Next time someone comes on here complaining about lack of/poor documentation - just send them over to EventGhost's 'instructions'.  I had originally used it when looking at using iRule (abandoned for now), and that didn't require the special contexts since I was creating program specific UDP commands for the controls.

[BartMan01]

After some time with EventGhost last night, it is far from ideal.  Having MC ignore IR commands when in 'server only' mode would be a much better solution.   The issue is that I can either enable or disable HID processing with EG which results in:

Enabled = the IR command gets processed by the system + the EG command gets processed. So 'Play' gets sent to WMC, but anything else sitting there listening for IR will see and process the play command too.

Disabled = IR does not work at all so everything has to be explicitly programmed.  The WMC plugin for EG does not process all input the exact same way  WMC responds to the raw HID commands and some functionality is lost.  For example, in many screens pressing a number key on the remote acts as alpha input (2 = a/b/c/2) and makes jumping right to a specific show in RecordedTV very easy when you have over 100 of them.

I don't see any option to pass the raw HID command to one (and only one) program.

[glynor]

I use Girder for remote control mapping and it work quite well and is extremely flexible.

[kstuart]

+1 on a simple option to have MC ignore remote controls when in Server mode.

+1 on this being a WAF issue.  

A related issue - it would be helpful to have some way of the Green Button to be "Start MC20" rather than "Start Theater View".  (Alternately some way of disabling it altogether would suffice as a workaround.)

The reason is that when a Video is playing, accidentally pressing the Green Button causes the Theater View interface to come up (even if one uses Standard View).

[muzicman0]

After some time with EventGhost last night, it is far from ideal.  Having MC ignore IR commands when in 'server only' mode would be a much better solution.   The issue is that I can either enable or disable HID processing with EG which results in:

Enabled = the IR command gets processed by the system + the EG command gets processed. So 'Play' gets sent to WMC, but anything else sitting there listening for IR will see and process the play command too.

Disabled = IR does not work at all so everything has to be explicitly programmed.  The WMC plugin for EG does not process all input the exact same way  WMC responds to the raw HID commands and some functionality is lost.  For example, in many screens pressing a number key on the remote acts as alpha input (2 = a/b/c/2) and makes jumping right to a specific show in RecordedTV very easy when you have over 100 of them.

I don't see any option to pass the raw HID command to one (and only one) program.

Here is an example of how I have the play button set up on EventGhost:

EventGhost gets triggered by the play button push.
Since I have the MCE plugin, I automatically send a WMC play event...but if WMC isn't running, eventghost will ignore it...this is perfect.
I then use EventGhost to check to see if WMC is open...if it is, then I assume that WMC is the app being used, and exit the macro, since the play event has already been sent.
If WMC is not open, then I check for MC...if it is open, then I send a keyboard command {cntrl-p}.  I only send it if MC is actually open, since I don't want to send cntrl-p (typically used to print) to some other application by accident (IE: the dog jumping on the remote).
then the macro exits.

I could, and probably should when I check to see if MC is open also bring it to the active focused window, but I honestly haven't had the need to do that. 

I am happy to share my eventghost configuration file, but I'm sure you would need to do some editing to make it work in your environment.  My configuration requires to plugins...the MCE plugin, and the MCE Remote plugin.

mm0

[BartMan01]

@muzicman0 - how do you handle the numeric keys auto switching between numeric and alpha input based on context?  EG seems to only send the numeric entry regardless?

If you don't mind, share or PM me your XML file and I will take a look at it to see what you are doing differently.  Thanks.

[mattkhan]

I am happy to share my eventghost configuration file, but I'm sure you would need to do some editing to make it work in your environment.  My configuration requires to plugins...the MCE plugin, and the MCE Remote plugin.

This would be v useful if you can share it.

[BartMan01]

I use Girder for remote control mapping and it work quite well and is extremely flexible.

Do you use Windows Media Center with it for recording/watching TV?  If it integrates well with WMC, I will take a look at it when I have time and more importantly extra cash since even to use the trial I am pretty sure I need to buy a different IR interface than the standard MCE box.

[muzicman0]

to be honest, I don't mess with it (alpha keys vs numbers)...if I need to type something in, I grab a keyboard.  I'll look into it though and see if I can figure something out...

I have attached the .xml file.  I use a couple different remotes, so there are a few triggers for each action I want to send. (I had to change to .txt to attach it).

[muzicman0]

for alpha numeric keys, see this link:

http://www.eventghost.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=614

read all the way through it (it's not long), since there are some issues with the original code...the last post in the thread says it is working 100% though...

Is this what you are after?

[audunth]

On my computer, MC doesn't receive remote commands with only Media Server running in the tray. Was this behavior changed lately, or is there an option? I would like MC to react to the remote even if the window is closed...

EDIT: Spelling correction. Revive should be Receive

[jmone]

I too have not noticed MC stealing MCE commands, the window with Focus gets them for me (note: this is running say MC TheaterView with QuickWMC over the top for the Netflix work around as an example).