Remotes used with Nextpvr.exe and aftermarket remotes/receivers

[jobby99]

Has anyone tried the FLIRC USB devices and thought they were useful?  It is frustrating to jump around without having two or three different time frames to skip forward and backward like Kodi utilizes with successive key presses increasing the amount of time skipped.  Also, I think that since Kodi works so well in this department, somebody should to copy their way of skipping forward and backward.  At the same time, I do see the benefit of the new way of skipping around in NextPVR by executing the skip time with confirmation of the "ok" button on MCE Remote.  I get way less stutter and audio is less likely to get out of sync with only one skip used.  Occasionally, I do have to skip forwards and/or backwards to re-sync audio but that probably has more to do with the K-lite codec pack in use and recording signal quality.  I mainly skip during sporting competitions and commercials.  30 seconds is about the right amount to skip to next play called in football games.  1 minute skips work well for commercials.  Sometimes, 10 seconds can be useful as well for some football games and for replaying a segment. 

If nobody has any experience with the FLIRC, I may ask for one this Christmas and see what it could do.  I also use the Logitech K400 a lot for typing and find it is a great alternative for media centers.  I did get a Logitech Harmony many years ago at Christmas and found that it really was useless and took just as many key presses to accomplish the same tasks.  I have found my Yamaha receiver has the four colors that can be mapped to control of 2/3 different things and that is very useful just to change inputs quickly and very smart feature.

Also, if you didn't already know, sometimes pointing your IR remote at the ceiling is quicker and works better than aiming in forward such as when under a blanket.  The performance Firesticks actually do seem to help in Kodi by re-syncing audio more quickly when seeking.  Have not noticed much difference apart from Kodi.

Hardware:  HP MCE Remote / USB IR Receiver (circa Windows XP/Vista Era)
Setup:  Kodi via Firestick (Bedrooms) and Nextpvr App in Windows (Living Room)

[mvallevand]

I suggest renaming you poll since i think it is relevant to Hauppauge users too. Basically may on us long time users were weened on the many key remote and I personally still love them

Recording the new way of skipping the old way is still available just enable Immediate Skip in settings. To tell you the truth I don't know if that is available in NextPVR.exe but it is available in UI clients. I actually don't use thumbnails so my setup pretty much works the way it did before, with long/short skips, number skips and this combination I find better than Kodi, I long skip with the DPAD too. Using yauiclient with gives all the NextPVR keys plus even more advanced skipping that Kodi doesn't have.

I do have a FLirc and have configured it with MCE and Hauppauge remotes. Basically it is an IR receiver that converts to a USB-HID (ie a keyboard) and it is not 100% plug and play and the software is mediocre. For me the biggest advantage to MCE/Hauppauge with NextPVR was the practical use of colour keys. That isn't available.

Instead of a Flirc, my current preferred remote is just a dedicated USB-HID remote the advantage here is no ceiling required they aren't line of site they use RF. Pretty much the first thing I do when I test a new box, is plugin the ethernet and the USB dongle and it just works. There are some good Bluetooth remotes if your client supports it and you don't even need the dongle.

Most of the new features in NextPVR are for the new users who don't even have number keys on their remote. I am glad that sub took the time to support old and new users.

Martin

[jobby99]

Martin,
I appreciate all the information you have given me.  I kinda forgot about my RF remotes that are hidden away.  I may have a Hauppage remote somewhere.  I have used several of their cards over the years.  I was playing around with the idea of using my WinTV software serial to try and get free guide data as it actually has data for stations that schedulesdirect told me they cannot get right now.  I have not figured it out yet.  I am not sure how to edit the poll, but it could definitely be opened up to all the old IR remotes that came with TV tuner cards.  I remember the days when I had an FM tuner with the Analog TV tuner in my Pentium II at college.  I had buy a Sound Blaster card for gaming port.  I saved having to carry a separate TV up four flights of stairs.  I am going to have to try the UI client out again.  I am just so used to the original client over the years.  I do like the original still.  However, I have yet to try yauiclient.  I will have to review all the settings available on GitHub.  I was hesitant to get the Flirc as absolutely no tech news about it has come my way.  I assumed the hardware was good, but not surprised that software is mediocre.  I kind of like the cheap accessories on eBay as it is very generic and may work with more open source software.  My eyes really don't like the 10 foot interface at least on my IPS Sony TV.  Going into vegetation mode and watch some football.

[fla]

No MCE remote. On my HTPC I still use a hauppauge remote that came with my PVR-150s and its old IR receiver/blaster dongle plugs nicely into my HDPVR2.

I'm considering a Flirc USB for my secondary TV kodi windows PC client. Currently using a Pulse-Eight usb CEC adapter which works well but fails when I switch TV source and back to the PC. Need to power cycle the TV to get CEC and changing source working again. It's a pain...

With Flirc I could disable CEC on the TV and keep using my STB's IR remote that I have muscle memory with kodi. Martin doesn't love Flirc above but is it acceptable in my use-case?

[fla]

Has anyone tried the FLIRC USB devices and thought they were useful?

I went ahead and bought a FLIRC to control kodi on my windows PC. To avoid the software issues, reviewers suggested using only the "Full Keyboard" mode to program it.

I looked at kodi keyboard controls and with the "Full Keyboard" mode a few minutes later my usual remote was controlling kodi like a boss. Probably a simpler use case than most but I'm very happy with the result.