New MCE Remote Software

[StephaneM]

Hello Ryan,

Originally Posted by RyanW

I've reprogrammed the default action in LM RKM to do the power off blasts when I put the system to sleep. This works, but that 20 second delay is painfully slow. Especially when you add the warm-up time of the TV.

The 20 sec delay is a setting you can find in the svc_settings.xml (in the LM RKM Config & Log folder). This delay is somehow needed to be sure that all USB devices are waken up (so the MCE Receiver). You can change this value and then restart the LM RKM Blaster service, be careful though that if you select a value between 1 and 10 sec, it may not always work (the time needed to resume the USB device may resume from time to time)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[RyanW]

Thanks for that pointer. I appear to be able to shave that delay down to 15s reliably.

I also figured out my event trigger for waking up. This needs a little explanation though. In my setup, the only USB device that can wake my computer is the remote. If you have multiple USB devices that wake your system and you want to distinguish between them, this likely will be insufficient for you.

I found that the triggers that you can define from the Task Scheduler GUI don't allow the level of detail I need. If you look at the detail of an event in the Event Viewer you'll find all sorts of <Event Data> attached to it. If you create a custom trigger in the Task Scheduler and swith over to XML view, you can hand craft an XPATH expression, which let's you consider all of that. I was able to come up with the following:

<QueryList>
  <Query Id="0" Path="System">
    <Select Path="System">*[System[Provider[@Name='Microsoft-Windows-Power-Troubleshooter'] and (EventID=1)] and EventData[Data[@Name='WakeSourceText']='USB Root Hub']]</Select>
  </Query>
</QueryList>

I temporarily enabled support for another USB device to wake my system, and see if there were any distinguishing pieces of data in the log. Unfortunately there wasn't, so you really can't distinguish USB wake sources. Which isn't a problem for me, as normally I'm only allowing my remote to do the waking. In some cases I've found you can distinguish the source if the device has it's own device driver that adds more detail to the Event Data.

I now have a setup in which one press of my MCE Remote wakes my HTPC, and turns on the TV and amp. Ditto when putting it to sleep.

-Ryan

[RyanW]

Stéphane,

I have another question about LMRK. I know it supports the MCE Blaster, and your docs say it supports the USB-UIRT. But does it also support the old school serial port, LIRC style, blaster? I have my setup working pretty good now, but I'm still disappointed in how long it takes for the USB based MCE Blaster to wake up. Since the serial port is a dumb device, I'm betting I could blast commands out of it without any delay.

Before I go to the trouble of building a LIRC, I was hoping you could tell me if LMRK will be able to blast IR codes with it?

-Ryan

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by RyanW

But does it also support the old school serial port, LIRC style, blaster?

No.

[mikesm]

Hi. I am trrying to get this to work properly under windows 7 (which is like Vista in most ways). I had it working fine and then something happened that caused the HID only remote keys to stop working (green button, guide, etc...). When I do a live trace, the lm remote utility doesn't even see them, not even the power button which when pressed doesn't put the system to sleep.

I have VMC completely disabled and prohibited from running, so the green button doesn't start it.

The software is set to use the mce remote exclusively. And I have unplugged and replugged multiple times, even a reboot, to no avail.

Does anyone know what may be going on here? Something is swallowing the non-keyboard IR codes.

thx
mike

[StephaneM]

Hi Mike,

Originally Posted by mikesm

Hi. I am trrying to get this to work properly under windows 7 (which is like Vista in most ways).

The MCE remote is not currently supported with LM RKM on Windows 7 (the remote is sending different HID codes)

Regards,
Stéphane.

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Hi Mike,
The MCE remote is not currently supported with LM RKM on Windows 7 (the remote is sending different HID codes)

Regards,
Stéphane.

What would you suggest as a workaround? Are you planning on adding Windows 7 support soon, or do I have to use an alternative like eventghost?

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by mikesm

What would you suggest as a workaround? Are you planning on adding Windows 7 support soon, or do I have to use an alternative like eventghost?

Yes, I'll add support to the MCE Remote on Windows 7. If you are a donator, you can request a pre-release version directly by sending me an e-mail.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Yes, I'll add support to the MCE Remote on Windows 7. If you are a donator, you can request a pre-release version directly by sending me an e-mail.

Regards,
Stéphane.

I am a donator - any idea as how long this will take?

thx
mike

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by mikesm

I am a donator - any idea as how long this will take?

A few days.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by mikesm

Are you planning on adding Windows 7 support soon?

Version 4.10, should now support the MCE remote on Windows 7.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Version 4.10, should now support the MCE remote on Windows 7.

Regards,
Stéphane.

Wow, that was fast! Will try it tonight!

Thanks!

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Version 4.10, should now support the MCE remote on Windows 7.

Regards,
Stéphane.

PS I tried it and it works great. The remote does exactly what its supposed to. You might want to update the release notes to show this improvement as well.

Bravo!

[gplasky]

What's the typical wait time after donating before I receive access to the donated version? Just curious. I donated thru Paypal today and was wondering when to expect the access email.

Gerry

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by gplasky

What's the typical wait time after donating before I receive access to the donated version?

usually between a few minutes up to 24 hours (I manuall create username etc...). You should have received an e-mail now.

Regards,
Stéphane.

[pir]

Hi All,

I've installed the software and training was a breeze, and I'm successfully changing channels with my MCE Blaster using the "Test Channel Change" -- though after installing the Sage TV plugin, I don't get any channel changing ... The LM Remote Keymap Blaster service is running and I was able to choose the "Tuning Device" I made in the LM app in the Source Setup -- though when I select "Test Infrared Code" the list is empty... is that normal?

The only thing in the logs that looks suspicious is this:

20090423 17:22:24.046 - Error - Error when creating Windows Vista Volume EndPoint

in the svc log. I'm running 32-bit XP w/sp3

Everything is working fine except the SageTV plugin... I did copy the .dll and the .ir file over -- I've attached my .ir file too.

I've attached both log files - if anyone can spot anything odd or anything I may have missed, any assistance would be very much appreciated. I've restarted everything multiple times (including windows).

I do have an HID Input Service running -- I've tried disabling that and that didn't help either.

Thanks!

-pir

[StephaneM]

Hello,

Originally Posted by pir

when I select "Test Infrared Code" the list is empty... is that normal?

Yes it is normal you can't test infrared code with this kind of plugin (this is for channel change plugin with learning capabilities inside SageTV)

The only thing in the logs that looks suspicious is this:

20090423 17:22:24.046 - Error - Error when creating Windows Vista Volume EndPoint

This is fine on Windows XP.

if anyone can spot anything odd or anything I may have missed, any assistance would be very much appreciated.

Open SageTV in a Windows and start the LM RKM trace viewer. Then tune to a channel, do you see the channel change request in the LM RKM trace viewer?

Regards,
Stéphane.

[pir]

Originally Posted by StephaneM

Open SageTV in a Windows and start the LM RKM trace viewer. Then tune to a channel, do you see the channel change request in the LM RKM trace viewer?

Stephanie, Thanks for your speedy reply!

I had tried that earlier (the trace view) and no, there was no channel change request, when changing channels with SageTV. Though that was with SageTV in full-screen mode... (I have TV + LCD monitor) I'll try again with it windowed.

Thanks again,

-pir

[pir]

Stephanie,

Still no luck.

For some reason LM RKM isn't getting any requests from the SageTV plugin. I do have a wireless keyboard (as my only keyboard), that has HID buttons, could that be the issue?

-pir

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by pir

For some reason LM RKM isn't getting any requests from the SageTV plugin

I attached a VBS script to test the channel changing. Download the zip file and extract the VBS file to a folder of your choice on the PC where LM RKM is installed (the VBS file is written to trigger a channel change of '10' on your Comcast device, if you changed your device in between you'll need to change the ID '9650f5bfa1cb4ac489cc072f3a3ca197' that you'll find in the devices.xml file in the Config & Log folder)

Open the Live Trace Viewer and double click on the VBS file. You should first see the name of your IR device, if the ID is correct you should see the proper device name, then click "Ok" and the VBS file will send the channel change request to the blaster service and the live trace viewer should reflect it.

If this work, this means the COM registration of the Channel Change object is Ok and you'll need to create a SageTV debug log to see why it is not called properly. If the VBS file doesn't work at all (crash etc...) let me know.

Regards,
Stéphane.