MCE Remote not work fully with Placeshifter

[devinteske]

I bought the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 MCE-Kit, which came with the IR receiver, IR transmitter (blaster), MCE remote, and PVR-150 PCI card.

Everything works great on the main system that has SageTV v6 installed. However, I connected the IR receiver to a computer running Placeshifter and I am surprised to find out that the ONLY buttons that work with the placeshifter are the directional arrow (up, down, left, right) and the OK button. I really wish that the channel +/- buttons worked as a page-up/page-down as it does on the main system.

I have tried installing the IR32 app that comes with the Hauppauge setup, but that has made no difference.

At first, I thought this was because I was operating a trial version of the software, but after purchasing it and getting it all set up, the remote still only has 5 functioning buttons

I also noticed that in Placeshifter, the options pertaining to the remote are unavailable in the Setup Menu.

I just can't for the life of me figure out why the remote would not function 100% on one computer and the very same remote work perfectly 100% of the time on the other system. Is this intentional in the PlaceShifter software? If this is the case, then I think that placeshifter should work the same as the main app with regard to remote controls as I tend to demo SageTV to a lot of people with my laptop (people find it especially remarkable when I wip out the remote and start using my laptop as a TV during the demo).

I've just purchased the SageTV Client to see if *IT* works properly with the remote.

Cheers,
Devin

P.S. Sage r0x3r your s0x off

[jphipps]

I had the same problem, after sifting through all of the posts, the only way I got my MCE remote to work was use HIP to translate the codes from the remote to the sagetv keystrokes.

[gplasky]

I'm pretty sure Placeshifter is not designed for nor supports any remote use. If you're remote emulates keystrokes you may be able to get some of it to work for you. Sage TV client fully supports many remotes.

Gerry

[devinteske]

AH! After installing SageTV Client, it is glaringly obvious that what you said is right. Placeshifter wasn't designed to work with a remote. When installing SageTV Client, the installer asks me if I want to enable support for the Hauppauge remote. Placeshifter asks me no such thing.

This is really a shame, since I tend to show this stuff off to people when I'm on the road (and Placeshifter is the only remote client that will work through the internet).

That brings up another really good point. I *really* think that the website should have a page describing SageTV Client. I was unable to find *any* information on this software on the website. I think that it is very confusing having Client AND Placeshifter because certain parts of the website mention the Client, but there's no information on it (only information on Placeshifter). I've noticed in the forum that other people have made the same mistake that I did... mistook Placeshifter for Client when needing a remote front-end. Perhaps Sage should have a little rubrik/matrix showing a product for each row and feature for each column (putting check marks where a product has a certain feature) so people can see which product they need (see Below):

                    | Connect | Connect | Support |
                    | via LAN | via IP  | Remote  |
--------------------+---------+---------+---------+
SageTV Client       |    X    |    X    |    X    |
--------------------+---------+---------+---------+
SageTV Placeshifter |    X    |         |         |
--------------------+---------+---------+---------+
SageTV Media Center |         |         |    X    |
--------------------+---------+---------+---------+
SageTV Recorder     |         |         |         |
--------------------+---------+---------+---------+

Good Idea?

Cheers,
Devin

[cejota3]

Ha! I'm building up a fresh, new Media Center computer, and I've got the exact same problem (only certain buttons on the Microsoft MCE remote work).

My OS is MS Windows Media Center 2005 with all updates and roll-ups, I'm using the latest-and-greatest Sage (full version), and I'm choosing the "built-in" choice for "MCE remote".

I've spent a lot of time on this now, and have gone through many posts. I've enabled things and (more often) disabled things. I've upgraded drivers, etc. The short of what I'm saying is I think this is a real problem if multiple people are experiencing it. It's a real shame as it seems like it would be a great, inexpensive remote otherwise.

From the posts I've read, apparently there was a way to get this remote to work by utilizing girder and HID and I'm not sure what else. I'm thinking I'm going to give that a try, but it seems like a pain in the rear, and others have noted problems with that approach also.

(I won't even go into the troubles I've encountered thus far trying to get the IR blaster portions of the MCE remote setup working.)

[orangezero]

I ran into this problem a long time ago.

I haven't tried it for placeshifter, but check out a program called "event ghost." Its free, and can do a lot of really cool things with a remote, the MCE remote specifically. I'm pretty sure you could map all the keyboard strokes to the buttons on the remote. Its actually really easy to learn compared to HIP or girder or some of the others. Not sure why, perhaps its just me. I think its great though, plus its free and I believe the newest version has all the mce related files already included in the download.

good luck