[mythtv-users] IR keyboards?

[Raphael]

Mike LaPlante wrote:
> Phil Bridges wrote:
>> I've seen some people here that use IR keyboards for their remote (or
>> program a universal remote with their IR keyboard), relieveing
>> themselves of the need to use LIRC.  I thought I'd settled down on an
>> Adesso IR keyboard/receiver combo, but it appears that it doesn't play
>> well with learning remotes.
>>
>> If you are using an IR keyboard, what model are you using?
>> _______________________________________________
>>   
> Haven't ordered one yet, but I've really been wanting to shop around. I 
> have a Logitech Harmony remote that has way more buttons and 
> capabilities than I can make use of by just emulating the grey Hauppage 
> remote.
> 
> Plus, my lircrc file seems to be a constant work in progress. There's 
> always something in either myth or mplayer that isn't quite setup right. 
> I would love to drop lirc completely. Its one more service running and 
> one more place for configuration errors.
> 
> Mike
> _______________________________________________


One thing about dumping LIRC - you can do some pretty advanced things 
with it, and to replicate those functions using your new 
keyboard-emulating remote it's still going to take some configuration.
irexec is one example; you'd need to configure some other hotkey polling 
program to run whatever scripts you have irexec set to run now, and the 
hotkey would have to be a single key from the keyboard (not a 
combination like ctl+shift+<key>). Another is having the same key on 
your remote do the same thing across programs like xine and mplayer. 
With LIRC you needed to edit lircrc files, and with the keyboard-remote 
you'll need to actually change the hotkeys in each program to do the 
same thing.

Luckily mplayer is already so close to the keyboard commands for the 
internal myth player that the transition was mostly seamless in my case 
(to the extent I haven't had to change any of the keys in mplayer at all).

I wasn't in a big hurry to dump LIRC in my case, but I didn't like 
having the two IR receivers there next to the TV, one for the keyboard 
and one for the remote - just seemed so inelegant.
raphy