FLIRC works great at adapting IR remotes like Streamzap to any application

[SteveP]

I was having trouble getting my Streamzap remote to work properly with SageTV on a new Win 10 setup. I found FLIRC and it works great.

FLIRC is a small USB-based device that converts remote control IR signals into keyboard presses. Windows 10 recognizes FLIRC as just another USB keyboard. The software comes with a few pre-made configurations for applications like Kodi and WMC. You just select a key shown on screen and press a button on your remote that you want to correspond with the key press for your application.

For SageTV, I used the full keyboard configuration to select the key presses for controlling SageTV. You can assign one or more keyboard keys to a single remote button. For example, assign keys Ctrl+R to to the volume up button on the remote to raise the volume in Sage.

For remotes that send alternating different codes for each button, such as Streamzap, you have to assign the keyboard keys to remote buttons twice for each button.

I was also able to assign the extra colored buttons to start an application and perform other functions. To launch an application, I found the site https://www.guidingtech.com/2285/key...launch-chrome/ which explains how to start an application from a keyboard. This was easy to do. In my case, I assigned keyboard letter F to start Firefox. Windows automatically added Ctrl+Alt. In FLIRC I assigned my blue remote button to keys Ctrl+ALT+F. Now I can launch Firefox immediately which has tabs premade to access Netflix and Amazon Video. To compliment this action I set my yellow button to issue Ctrl+Tab which steps through the open Firefox tabs. The green button switches between open applications by sending Alt+Esc.

Cheers,
Steve

[Dargason]

Thanks for the post, Steve. Based on your review, I purchased one for my brand new client and I'm very happy.

The only issue I found was that it didn't work terribly well with the sage tv remote I had lying around from an extender. The problem was that I had to press every key twice before it would 'take'.

I ended up using a different remote (from a now-dead blu-ray player) that works perfectly. Then later I found the following which sounds related to my issue: Every other button press not registering.

[mlcarson]

I think one of the best remotes for SageTV via Flirc is the Tivo remote. You have to use them in IR mode but they last forever and have a good button layout since they're designed for Tivo's own DVR.

[Dargason]

Hmm... I used to have one of those, but I think I donated it...

[SteveP]

Sorry for the extremely late reply. I've been off building systems to digitize VHS tapes plus 8mm and 16mm film.

I vaguely remember the issue you are talking about. I believe registering each key twice in succession is the answer just as the information in the link mentions. On some remote I had, some of the keys alternated between two codes. Registering each key twice took care of the issue.

Ok, now back to my other very deep techinical rabbit holes I'm rooting around in.

Steve