TopSeed TSBX-2404 Remote

From MythTV Official Wiki
Revision as of 19:06, 12 June 2010 by Kevlar (talk | contribs) (Moved details of event_key_remap to its own page.)

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search

TopSeed TSBX-2404 Remote

TSBX-2404 remote.png

A Media-Center (MCE) style RF remote control.

Tested with: Mythbuntu 10.04 (Ubuntu 10.04 LTS - Lucid Lynx)

Support Status: Many keys work 'out of the box'. Requires some workarounds to get more keys working.


Description

This remote control differs from the majority of remote controls in that it uses radio frequency (RF) communication rather than Infra-Red (IR) between the handset and the receiver. This has the advantage that the remote handset does not need a line of sight to the receiver; the handset can sometimes even be used from a different room.

This remote control is supplied with the Lian-Li PC-C39B HTPC case along with a companion receiver module mounted inside the case.


Key code generation

Many of the buttons on the handset generate key codes greater than 255 - such as the channel up and channel down buttons which generate key codes 402 and 403 respectively. In order to make these buttons work, you need to remap the key codes to values lower than 255 so that X can process them. This can be achieved using event_key_remap.


Configuring event_key_remap

Once you have the patched 'xf86-input-evdev' driver loaded (see event_key_remap for example instructions), the configuration required in your 'xorg.conf' file for this remote control is:

Option      "event_key_remap" "130=31 158=9 362=58 402=111 403=116"

This maps:

   code 130 (Props - the 'i' button) to 31 (i) 
   code 158 (Back) to code 9 (Escape)
   code 362 (Program) to code 58 (m)
   code 402 (ChannelUp) to code 111 (Up)
   code 403 (ChannelDown) to code 116 (Down)


Unusable keys

The top of the remote handset has two rows of four buttons marked with symbols for various devices such as PC, TV, Camera, DVD and Radio. Of these eight buttons, only the Program button appears to generate a usable code - which is used as the Menu button for MythTV.

The PC button (with the red icon) is automatically intercepted by the receiver board - see the next section.

Also, the Red, Green, Yellow and Blue buttons do not seem to generate receivable key codes and therefore these buttons cannot be used for MythTV.


PC power control

The TopSeed receiver board (as supplied with the Lian-Li PC-C39B case) intercepts the left hand power button and the TV button (both with red symbols on them) to enable them to be used to power the entire PC on and shut it down again if the receiver board is connected according to the installation instructions which come with the case (which is optional). These buttons are therefore unusable for MythTV functions.


Receiver location

When supplied with the Lian-Li PC-C39B case, the receiver for the TSBX-2404 is mounted inside the front panel of the case in a location where the receiving antenna is behind the transparent window in the front panel. The big problem with this is that the PC-C39B is a metal case - and RF reception does not work well inside a metal case.

Leaving the lid of the case open by a couple of centimetres vastly improves the performance of the remote control. The alternative is to dismount the receiver board from inside the front panel, extend the connector with a piece of 8-core wire (with careful soldering) and allow the receiver board to dangle outside the rear or side of the case. Remember to insulate the receiver board either with plastic tape, or place it in a small plastic box to protect the connector from short circuits. As the communication is by RF and not IR, the receiver does not have to be visually visible from the front.