How to control SageTV w/o focus (mostly Hauppauge remote)

[mls]

Could just get a remote extender (from Radio Shack maybe). Then you could use the Hauppauge remote from the other room. Of course, you'd have to remember to take the remote with you (or get a 2nd one somehow).

[Lucas]

I have a USBUIRT for changing channels on my digital sat box.

I have stopped using the Hauppauge IR receiver.
I re-learned the RC commands through Sage(no Girder) and everything works well.
The added bonus is that I have programmed more than 1 remote (3 so far).

[kevthor]

This doesn't seem to be working for me. When I hit the menu button on my haupaugge remote (silver) I get still the the equivelent of an ALT-TAB if Sage isn't the active window??

[Opus4]

"this" = "?" What file did you download and did you place it in your Windows dir?

Did you restart the Hauppauge IR program? (ir.exe) Is your version of the IR software/driver intended for the ini file you downloaded?

- Andy

[kevthor]

Sorry about my last post. I should've included more information. Here is what I've done. I've upgraded my IR software to version: 2.42.22180.0. I replaced the irremote.ini file located in c:\windows with your irremote.ini file from post 15 (non 45 button remote).

What it is doing, is if Sage isn't in focus and I hit the green power button on the remote it brings sage to focus and then I can use it. But I can't control Sage if it doesn't have focus.

Another weird thing is happening, if Sage is sleeping, and I try to wake it up with the power button, it wakes up but I have no remote control functionality. The only way I can wake it up with remote control functionallity is if I hit the Menu Button, then Power, then Menu again. Then I have full remote functionallity but again only if Sage is in focus?

[Opus4]

You are using the original Hauppauge remote, not another remote that you taught its codes to? Would you double check that you downloaded haup_no_focus_irremote.zip, put its irremote.ini file in your Windows dir, and restarted ir.exe.

Have you installed a SageTV update since you downloaded/installed this ini file? If so & you checked the box to install support for the Hauppuage remote, you've overwritten the dwonloaded ini file. The [SageTV] section near the end of the ini should have the green power button defined as:

GRNPOWER={findwnd(SageApp,SageWin)}{SendMsg(1258,0,19)}{mode(Default)}

This ini doesn't require focus, so it sounds like the ini is not correct.

- Andy

[Enormous]

I seem to be having the same problem as kevthor. I updated my IR software to 2.42.22180, replaced the irremote.ini in the windows dir, and restarted the whole machine.

Now when I try to sleep Sage, I have to press the green power button twice in order for it to have any effect at all. To bring it out of sleep, I have to press the green power button twice too. But if I do this, none of the buttons work except up and down. These only either go to the topmost menu item, or the bottom one. Nothing in between.

In order for Sage to function correctly coming out of sleep, I have to press the green power button, and then another button. If I do this, then everything works fine. Until I sleep it again.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Opus4]

Oh. Change the GRNPOWER statement in the [Default] section to contain the location of SageTV.exe. Be sure to use short filenames, since spaces cannot be used. I put a default path there & you can customize for the file location on your PC. I thought I commented on that above. If not, I'll go add it.

- Andy

[Enormous]

Andy,

Thanks! I'll make that change when I get home.

[Enormous]

Andy,

Unfortunately, I installed Sage in the default path, so the GRNPOWER statement in the Default section is actually correct! I even copied over the irremote.ini from your zip file once more, and restarted the IR. Still having the same problems I described above. Any ideas?

Thanks,

[Opus4]

When I tried this the other night, I got what you and kevthor are describing when that GRNPOWER path was incorrect. The path in the ini is the short filename -- are you sure that is exactly the short filename path to your SageTV.exe file?

C:\Progra~1\FreyTe~1\SageTV\SageTV.exe

I've seen cases where, due to file/directory renaming, "Program Files" is not "Progra~1" or "Frey Technologies" is not "FreyTe~1".

What happens is: When GRNPOWER is pressed the first time, no exe gets run, but the mode gets set to [SageTV] anyway. Then, the GRNPOWER sends a Power command, which wakes SageTV, but then teh remote puts itself into [Default] mode. You end up with SageTV running, but irremote.ini sitting in the wrong section, so the buttons don't operate as they should.

- Andy

[kevthor]

I am getting the exact same systems as Enormous. I am postive the filepath is correct. I never changed the default location and I double checked the ini to make sure it was correct.

Thanks for your help Opus4. It really is appreciated.

[Opus4]

1) Humor me on this one, since I can't do my own tests on your system. Exit the SageTV UI completely, so that it is not running at all; not even sleeping. Right click on the Hauppauge IR icon in the system tray & select "Exit IR". Then, run ir.exe again to restart it. Now try using the GRNPOWER button. Does SageTV start to run?

2) Also, go to your Windows directory, get irremote.ini, and upload it as an attachment to a post. Don't just upload the ini file you downloaded -- upload the one that is in your Windows dir.

3) Finally: are you using the Hauppauge remote, or are you using a remote that you taught its codes to?

Please do all three. So far, except when the path is not correct, I can't get the same symptoms to occur.

- Andy

[Opus4]

Are you two letting SageTV go to sleep in screen saver mode while full screen? See: this thread, where that was pointed out to me as another source of this type of problem. I can think of a few solutions for that situation, but I don't run SageTV that way, so I can't test to see what seems most useful.

- Andy

[kevthor]

Yes sage is sleeping in screen saver mode. I will try what MLS suggested and let you know.

Thanks for your help,
Kevin

[mls]

Originally Posted by Opus4

I can think of a few solutions for that situation, but I don't run SageTV that way, so I can't test to see what seems most useful.

- Andy

Since I do have SageTV running full screen (all the time 24/7) on my secondary output to a TV... If you got some new ideas, feel free to PM them to me and I'll gladly test them out for you.

However, since I don't use the Hauppauge remote for anything else other than SageTV I really haven't had any other problems after I removed that extra default mode command. Those that want to run other programs from the remote would end up with the odd behavior of the Power button otherwise though.

[Enormous]

Originally Posted by Opus4

1) Humor me on this one, since I can't do my own tests on your system. Exit the SageTV UI completely, so that it is not running at all; not even sleeping. Right click on the Hauppauge IR icon in the system tray & select "Exit IR". Then, run ir.exe again to restart it. Now try using the GRNPOWER button. Does SageTV start to run?

Yes. Sage starts up with one press of the Green Power button.

2) Also, go to your Windows directory, get irremote.ini, and upload it as an attachment to a post. Don't just upload the ini file you downloaded -- upload the one that is in your Windows dir.

Done.

3) Finally: are you using the Hauppauge remote, or are you using a remote that you taught its codes to?

The original gray Hauppauge remote that came with the PVR-250.

Please do all three. So far, except when the path is not correct, I can't get the same symptoms to occur.

To ensure that the path was correct, I copied it out of the irremote.ini file, and did a 'cd' on that path from a command prompt window. It was directly to the Sage directory.

I read the posts in the other thread, and I only use the remote for Sage, as mls does. So I will try his suggestions and let you know.

Thanks again.

[Opus4]

Enormous: Thanks for the feedback on those steps, but it now seems like it isn't needed.

All: Sorry -- I might have figured out this part about sleeping in screen saver mode _eventually_, but mls's reminder was certainly timely for this!

Running SageTV.exe again doesn't wake it from screen saver mode? In that case, I would consider adding this to the end of the GRNPOWER line in [Default]: {findwnd(SageApp,SageWin)}{SendMsg(1258,0,43)} So, the line would be:

GRNPOWER={run(C:\Progra~1\FreyTe~1\SageTV\SageTV.exe)}{mode(SageTV)}{findwnd(SageApp,SageWin)}{SendMsg(1258,0,43)}

(Again: there should be no spaces in that line, but the forum keeps adding them.) That _should_ send the Power ON command & it would do so last, since I think the command sequence stops if findwnd() fails.

Edit: never mind: I AGAIN forgot that this seems to be caused by SageTV entering sleep mode on its own, at which point, using the power button exits SageTV mode. You could try changing the power button in [SageTV] to use the Power OFF command (#46) if you still want the remote to enter/exit SageTV mode so that you can control other programs.

As for what would be my favorite solution here, especially when using the remote to control other stuff, would be to dedicate 2 buttons for power: 1 for power ON & 1 for power OFF. That is actually what I do, but then I'm using an MX-700 with many more buttons. That way, I can always run/wake/bring SageTV into focus by using the power on button & I can always sleep it with power off.

- Andy

[kevthor]

I am still having problems getting this to work. Attached is the irrremote.ini file I'm using. Here are my steps and symptoms:

Start Sage Manually

Only 3 buttons on remote that work. They are the up and down arrows which just switches me between the Sage TV Recordings Menu and the Sleep Mode Menu. This does this with Sage in or out of focus it doesn't matter. The 3rd button is the power button, this brings Sage into focus and all buttons now work. Even now if I take Sage out of focus, all buttons continue to funtion. Except for if I bring Sage out of sleep with the green power button. Then I start from the beginning where only the up and down arrow working.

Since I use my haupauge remote for SageTV only the following is what I would like it to do. I want Sage to remain out of focus constantly on the computer screen (2nd video card to monitor, unless I manually click to open it up). I want the green power button to put sage to sleep and wake it up only. I dont want the power button to actually launch sage as I will do that manually. I want the video of sage and the menu to be constantly on my TV via my PVR350 with the screen saver on sleep enabled.

Is this possible? Thanks again for all your help.

[Opus4]

As mls mentioned in that other thread, remove the "{mode(Default)}" command at the end of the GRNPOWER line in the [SageTV] section.

In the current setup, you _have_ to use the GRNPOWER button to place the remote into SageTV mode. Once that is done, it will stay in SageTV mode, since there will be no mode command canceling that, if you do what I said above. It doesn't matter that the exe is run again in the [Default] section; that just brings it into focus if it isn't running. You could remove the run command in the [Default] section and just leave the "{mode(SageTV)}" command, but you still need to force the mode switch at some point.

If you don't plan to use the remote for anything else at all, then try this: Move the "SageTV=" line to be the first one in the [Applications] section, above "Default=". Now, the remote will start in SageTV mode, since it will be the new default. The problem here is that no mode has been forced, so if some other program has focus & also has a section in the ini file, the remote will automatically use its section's commands instead... solution for that: remove the [Sections] for all other applications between the [Default] and [Debug.txt] sections. Just keep backups of whatever you do.

- Andy