[mythtv-users] The remote control from outer space

[Rod Smith]

On Monday 19 March 2007 21:26, Angus wrote:
> Brian Wood wrote:
> > On Mar 19, 2007, at 5:17 PM, Angus wrote:
> >> I
> >>     Do I need lirc for MythTV to work? Is it an essential tool?
> >> There's
> >> no model number on the remote whatsoever, but the card it came with
> >> is a
> >> KWorld Global Terminator, which is *supposed* to be supported,
> >> according
> >> to the documentation I've read.
> >
> > You do not need lirc for Myth to work. It is used for some remote
> > control setups, and for some IR blaster setups.
> >
> > You can use a serial-controlled MyBlaster without needing lirc, and
> > some remotes function as USB or even PS2 keyboard devices and thus
> > will work without lirc either.
>
>     So how do I hook up my remote with Myth?

I'm not a LIRC expert (I've never used it), so I'll leave it to others to 
suggest how you might get LIRC working with the remote you've got. Likewise, 
I've never used the MyBlaster to which Brian refers. Instead, I'll focus on a 
couple of other possibilities:

First, you could buy a universal remote -- just about anything will do, even 
an el-cheapo $10 job. You might even have something sitting around unused. 
Once you've got this, you could configure LIRC via {vague mumblings} to 
recognize codes for some common device for which a ready-made LIRC 
configuration is available and program the remote to control that common 
device.

Second, you could buy an infrared keyboard and bypass LIRC entirely. You could 
either use the keyboard directly or program a more advanced universal remote 
to send the keycodes that the IR keyboard sends. (You could do the same with 
a keyboard that uses radio waves rather than IR, but RF remotes are rarer 
than IR remotes.) This option will definitely cost more unless you can find a 
wireless keyboard for very little money, but if LIRC is giving you headaches, 
it might be worth spending a few bucks. FWIW, this is what I do, mainly 
because I decided before building my MythTV box that I wanted a wireless 
keyboard for it anyhow and I already had a JP1 remote and I knew how to 
program it with arbitrary codes. One caution: You'll either need a code set 
for whatever IR keyboard you buy or you'll need a remote that can "learn" all 
the keys you want it to handle. Some "learning" remotes can only learn a few 
keys before they run out of memory.

-- 
Rod Smith
http://www.rodsbooks.com