Utility: SageTV Remote Control

[jreichen]

nyplayer, did you clear browser's cache and reload the remote control page after modifying config.xml?

shadeBlue, could this be a cross domain problem with Flex?

[delgross]

No knowing much about how this was done..... is there anyway easy
way a very simple version of this could be done without flash so
that it would work on an Ipod Touch?

Thanks
ED

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by jreichen

nyplayer, did you clear browser's cache and reload the remote control page after modifying config.xml?

shadeBlue, could this be a cross domain problem with Flex?

It could be a cross domain problem, I'll look into that and see what I can find.

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by delgross

No knowing much about how this was done..... is there anyway easy
way a very simple version of this could be done without flash so
that it would work on an Ipod Touch?

Thanks
ED

The logic is simple and it would not be too much effort for somebody to create a web servlet to perform this same function, much like the one already build into Nielm's web server. However, my intention was to use Flash/Flex to to create a more dynamic application like user experience and to help me learn/play with Flex.

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by delgross

No knowing much about how this was done..... is there anyway easy
way a very simple version of this could be done without flash so
that it would work on an Ipod Touch?

Thanks
ED

Check out this post by jreichen over on the mobile web user interface thread. This may be worth looking into for an iPhone/iPod Touch solution.

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by delgross

No knowing much about how this was done..... is there anyway easy
way a very simple version of this could be done without flash so
that it would work on an Ipod Touch?

Thanks
ED

I just tested the webremote that is build into Nielm's web server, and it is functional. I had to turn the iPhone on is side to get the horizontal view and I had to zoom in to make the buttons big enough to be usable, but it does work!

After playing with it on the iPhone, the web server/page hosted solution seems too sluggish to try and use this for real time control. A native iPhone app would be the right way to go! Or if Apple would include support for Flash ... sigh ....

[delgross]

Thanks for the info. I am considering the Intelliremote choice myself and it
is actually what prompted by question. This just seemed more elegant and perfectly suited. Also, at this point it is not obvious to me how Intelliremote can be used to control an extender which is what I want to do. This application seemed to solve the problem.

ED

[stuckless]

After playing with it on the iPhone, the web server/page hosted solution seems too sluggish to try and use this for real time control

I think if you were to try a web app designed for the iphone that used ajax, then you'd probably find it was as responsive as the flash based app (especially for a remote control). The sluggishness that you refer to has more to do with the fact the page reloads after button press, but for a remote, the page never has to reload, it just has to send commands.

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I think if you were to try a web app designed for the iphone that used ajax, then you'd probably find it was as responsive as the flash based app (especially for a remote control). The sluggishness that you refer to has more to do with the fact the page reloads after button press, but for a remote, the page never has to reload, it just has to send commands.

Sean, you are correct, an AJAX designed web page should work just as well. Is there any remote control capabilities targeted as part of your mobile web project?

[delgross]

I started toying with the Intelliremote package. I have it working with sage, but can't quite figure out how to get it running with my extender?

ED

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by delgross

I started toying with the Intelliremote package. I have it working with sage, but can't quite figure out how to get it running with my extender?

ED

How does it communicate with Sage? If is is using Windows Messages or Keystrokes, then I don't think it will work for the extenders?

[stuckless]

Is there any remote control capabilities targeted as part of your mobile web project?

I'm pretty sure that's Jreichen's mobile web project ... but yeah i've toyed with the idea of creating a remote app for use on my ipod touch... but I have enough stuff on the go right now that it won't happen

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I'm pretty sure that's Jreichen's mobile web project ... but yeah i've toyed with the idea of creating a remote app for use on my ipod touch... but I have enough stuff on the go right now that it won't happen

Jreichen's mobile web project ... CORRECT. I was getting my list of developers mixed up

[shadeblue.com]

I'd be willing to take this on as a native iPhone/iPod Touch app if somebody will buy me a mac :-) I looked into the iPhone SDK when it was first released ... you have to have a MAC to do the development.

[jreichen]

Originally Posted by shadeblue.com

Jreichen's mobile web project ... CORRECT. I was getting my list of developers mixed up

Tell me about it I'm trying to keep track of stuckless, shadeblue, and slugger. I posted something about trying Ajax but Opera Mini kept refreshing anyway. Plus I don't have a touch screeen so the focus would reset to the first item on the page and I'd have to navigate to the button again.

Originally Posted by shadeblue.com

I'd be willing to take this on as a native iPhone/iPod Touch app if somebody will buy me a mac :-) I looked into the iPhone SDK when it was first released ... you have to have a MAC to do the development.

I've thought about making that offer, too Except I also need the iPhone. And don't forget the $100 for having the privilege of publishing to the App Store.

[Melloware]

Hey guys,

A couple of things. Intelliremote can not control Extenders but can blast with USB-UIRT or RedRat UIRT's. it can also control your X10 lighting or your Zwave lighting....

I have just uploaded a SageTV profile for customization for SageTV users so you can control your SageTV from your iPhone or IPod natively. The profile needs some tweaks as its just a starter profile but you can make it do whatever you want either through SageTV command line params or keyboard shortcuts.

Intelliremote supports about 40 hardware remotes like all the X10 remotes, MCE Remotes, Creative Soundblaster remotes, as well as the iPhone/iPod Touch client.

Intelliremote - http://www.intelliremote.com

Intelliphone - http://melloware.com/products/intelliphone/

As for iPhone development. You are right, Apple charges you 105$ USD just for the privilege of writing apps for the iPhone. Then you have to write the code on a MAC, it does not work in Windows so you gotta splurge a minimum of 600$ for a Mac Mini (like I did). Then Apple (Big Brother) can reject your app for any reason they feel like including "we don't like your icon". If you guys have any Iphone dev questions I am more than happy to answer them.

Thanks for your time!

[shadeblue.com]

Originally Posted by Melloware

Hey guys,

A couple of things. Intelliremote can not control Extenders but can blast with USB-UIRT or RedRat UIRT's. it can also control your X10 lighting or your Zwave lighting....

I have just uploaded a SageTV profile for customization for SageTV users so you can control your SageTV from your iPhone or IPod natively. The profile needs some tweaks as its just a starter profile but you can make it do whatever you want either through SageTV command line params or keyboard shortcuts.

Intelliremote supports about 40 hardware remotes like all the X10 remotes, MCE Remotes, Creative Soundblaster remotes, as well as the iPhone/iPod Touch client.

Intelliremote - http://www.intelliremote.com

Intelliphone - http://melloware.com/products/intelliphone/

As for iPhone development. You are right, Apple charges you 105$ USD just for the privilege of writing apps for the iPhone. Then you have to write the code on a MAC, it does not work in Windows so you gotta splurge a minimum of 600$ for a Mac Mini (like I did). Then Apple (Big Brother) can reject your app for any reason they feel like including "we don't like your icon". If you guys have any Iphone dev questions I am more than happy to answer them.

Thanks for your time!

Hi Melloware,

Does Intelliremote support a plug-in infrastructure where we could create a plug-in to bridge the input from Intelliphone/Intelliremote to a custom coded output? The SageTV extenders can be controlled via HTTP (REST) link I am doing in this Flash based remote control solution.

Thanks,
shadeBlue

[Melloware]

Originally Posted by shadeblue.com

Hi Melloware,

Does Intelliremote support a plug-in infrastructure where we could create a plug-in to bridge the input from Intelliphone/Intelliremote to a custom coded output? The SageTV extenders can be controlled via HTTP (REST) link I am doing in this Flash based remote control solution.

Thanks,
shadeBlue

We don't support plug in infrustruction but we do have a very cool script window box for each remote button. If it is RESTful HTTP I could easily add the ability for your to say for example

//send extender TV On Signal
HttpRest("http://192.168.1.100/SageTv?TVOn")

//sleep for 1/2 second
Sleep(500)

//send the DVR On command
HttpRest("http://192.168.1.100/SageTv?DvrOn")

All from a single remote button. So from your iPhone you could press the power looking button/icon and have it execute the above script to turn your stuff on. Or from any other remote you own etc. Plus if you had X10 or Zwave lighting you could have it dim your lights for you because its TV time.

If anybody is interested in helping me get this working I think this would be a relatively easy feature to add to Intelliremote.

[shadeblue.com]

Melloware,

In looking at your website, I see that Intelliremote does support multiple "Profiles". Does this mean that we could setup different profile instances to control multiple SageTV clients/extenders? Can one switch profiles from the Intelliphone iPhone app? Most SageTV users have multiple extenders/clients they would want to control, just trying to figure out if this can be supported.

I can provide a listing of all the RESTful HTTP queries for each control action in SageTV if that helps. All HTTP queries are destined to a single SageTV server IP address and a parameter in the REST query directs control to a specific extender instance.

Thanks,
shadeBlue

[Melloware]

Originally Posted by shadeblue.com

Melloware,

In looking at your website, I see that Intelliremote does support multiple "Profiles". Does this mean that we could setup different profile instances to control multiple SageTV clients/extenders? Can one switch profiles from the Intelliphone iPhone app? Most SageTV users have multiple extenders/clients they would want to control, just trying to figure out if this can be supported.

I can provide a listing of all the RESTful HTTP queries for each control action in SageTV if that helps. All HTTP queries are destined to a single SageTV server IP address and a parameter in the REST query directs control to a specific extender instance.

Thanks,
shadeBlue

That is absolutely correct. You could map the Power button in one profile to turn on all your hardware for SageTV but say you also have a Winamp profile you can have the Power button just launch Winamp application to turn it on. Or you could create 3 SageTV profiles all mapping the same remote buttons to different functions. Intelliremote also has a cool feature where if you label an Activation Task to say "sagetv.exe" it will automatically switch to that Profile if SageTV window gets focus. And if you for some reason switched to Winamp, Intelliremote automagically notices the window change and switches profiles to the Winamp profile with a completely different set of remote mappings specific to Winamp.

Does that make sense? And from the iPhone you can cycle through your profiles by clicking the icon in the lower left corner. It's pretty flexible.