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[PaulSinnema]

Hi,

I've been away from this forum for some time. It is good to see it is still alive and kickin'.

I've bought myself a Harmony 1100 last week with 1 RF-IR Extender. I would like to use MC with this control too but haven't got a clue on how to accomplish that. Should I buy an USB-IR Adapter (and if so, which one is compatible with MC?) or is there a RF way to do this? Maybe someone here can give me some pointers?

Regards,
Paul Sinnema.

[PaulSinnema]

I've just discovered that my Mac Mini, on which I've installed Windows XP Pro, has a IR Port. I can find the port in the hardware settings of Windows XP. So the last thing I need is for MC to recognize the port somehow. The IRMan driver seems to see something but it is not able to learn any of the commands of the control.

Maybe I want something that is not (yet) possible. If so it would be nice to know that too so I can stop searching.

[JimH]

This is an area we're currently working in (IR).  
http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/Remotes

Not all IR is the same, so the first step is to see if the Harmony and the MAC talk the same IR.

I believe the Harmony uses RC6 ir.  Several people use the remotes.  I'll see if I can find a thread.

Here's a page at Apple:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA23968?viewlocale=en_US

but I didn't see an IR specification when I took a quick look.

XP usually needs a driver to support the IR USB receivers.  It would be surprising if you could find one for the MAC.

A simpler solution might be to buy an inexpensive IR receiver, one that works with the MCE remotes.  There is a link to a driver for those on one of our wiki pages on remotes.

[JimH]

Here's a recent thread on the Harmony remotes.  You could find more by searching.

[PaulSinnema]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the information. I did not receive the Harmony yet but as soon as it arives (probably early this week) I'll look into the information and report my results.

Regards,
Paul Sinnema.

[PaulSinnema]

Well, here goes:

I've received the Harmony 1100 yesterday and played arround with it for about 2 hours. Configuring and testing is a bit tedious because you can's use the device when it is hooked up to via USB. So you'll have to set it up, unhook, test it and hook it up again after testing to be able to make changes.

Setting it up is very easy though. The wizards are pretty smart and help you through the process quite fluently. All my devices were recognized without any problems (although the Amplifier's remote control has a 'video' selection it did not show up in the wizard, haven't solved that one yet).

One of the devices is my Mac Mini. In the Logitech DB this device was found and added accordingly. Since I had installed the Apple drivers, which are on the OS DVD delivered with the Mac, somehow MC13 was able to receive commands from the remote immediately (IRMan?).

Fazit: In 2 hours I was able to set up all the devices (except for the 'video' thingy) and have them work together flawlessly. Even my Mac Mini works like a charm with de default settings. The bigger challenge now is going to be to customize the remote to my liking, but first impression is super.

Cheers,
Paul

[PaulSinnema]

Hi Jim,

Been playing with the Remote for some time now and am a bit confused  ? The setup for the Harmony even finds a Media Center 13 JRiver device to set up and add all the buttons I would expect, but the Mac Mini never sees any of the IR commands. What kind of device would you think the remote is expecting to send commands to?

If I use the standard setting of Frontrow only the play, next track and prev.track buttons become available but at least they work. Any pointers?

Cheers,
Paul

[PaulSinnema]

I'm having trouble accepting that it is impossible to use the stander IR port on my Mac Mini. The Commands I mentioned work fine but I would like to have more control. Before bying the USB-UIRT device you mentioned, I could use confimation that what I want is actually impossible (or better, a solution for the use of the internal IR Sensor).

[PaulSinnema]

Hi Jim,

What you see here is the result of selecting "Remote, keyboard, gamepad or other HID" and trying to learn some button on the remote. As you can see it does learn something but it is always the same code, no matter which button I press. Any ideas?

Cheers,
Paul

[PaulSinnema]

Can somebody confirm or deny please? If I need to buy the USB-UUIRT I'll do it but until then I'll try and stick with the standard IR port. Anyone please?

PS: Installed MC14. Looking good. More remote settings too. Cool.

[JimH]

Try activating the MCE remote, too.  I don't know what's happening.  I doubt that the UIRT would solve it.

Make sure your version is the most recent available on the MC14 board.

[PaulSinnema]

Hi Jim,

MCE does not accept any codes at all. I've tried all of the possible settings separately. Only the HID driver sees code, but as I told earlier, always the same code.

I've got 14.0.50 installed. I see that is the latest.

Cheers,
Paul.

[PaulSinnema]

Try activating the MCE remote, too.  I don't know what's happening.   I doubt that the UIRT would solve it.

Make sure your version is the most recent available on the MC14 board.

Why do you doubt the UUIRT will solve it?

Regards,
Paul

[PaulSinnema]

Bump

[JimH]

Did you try the wizard in remote options?   It might make it more clear what is needed.

I'm sorry, but I can't help much on specifics with your remote.

[borislejan]

Hi Paul,

I read your different posts related to the usage of the Harmony 1100 remote controller to control the JRiver MC and thank you for sharing these info with the community. I am afraid that I am going to ask an additional contribution from you as I have a question.

When using the Harmony to control the JRiver MC, I was wondering if you could visualise your music library (I guess the different songs, artists, playlists which appears via the MC interface) on the Harmony screen?

I am asking as I am trying to figure out the best option to build a audiophile but easy music system in my home... and obviously, the possibility to browse the media library on the Harmony screen is a ket attribute for me.

thank you very much for your reply

Boris

[PaulSinnema]

Hi Boris,

No the playlist and so on are not displayed on the Harmony 1100. The remotes displays is completely dedicated to itself. Nothing other then the masks of the control are displayed on it.

In the mean time i've bought myself an IPad. With this device and the app RiverMote I can see the playlist, what's playing and have (limited) control over MC.

Cheers
Paul

[fitbrit]

Hi Boris,

No the playlist and so on are not displayed on the Harmony 1100. The remotes displays is completely dedicated to itself. Nothing other then the masks of the control are displayed on it.

In the mean time i've bought myself an IPad. With this device and the app RiverMote I can see the playlist, what's playing and have (limited) control over MC.

Cheers
Paul

Did you sell the Harmony, or are you interested in doing so?

[PaulSinnema]

Did you sell the Harmony, or are you interested in doing so?

no