Remote control problems - GBPVR

[techguy]

My problem seems to stem around the GBPVR application. I see the application running on the task bar on the main screen, it runs full screen on the secondary allowing me to work on the primary screen.

However if I am in any other application working so GBPVR loses the focus then the remote does not work.

Alot of times I will be watching something, then go jump on the computer real quick for work, then go back to watching the movie and well discover the remote is not working. So I have to get up, go click on the GBPVR application and then go back to relax.

Is there any possible way around this?

[sub]

This is the normal behaviour, since most remotes will only work with the app that has focus.

There are work arounds for some remotes, but it depends what remote you're using. Third party HIP software should allow you to use an MCE remote without focus. There are some older posts on the forums which discuss using the Hauppauge remote this way...

[techguy]

I have the hauppauge 45 button remote. If anyone has a clue about making it work without app focus please let me know.

[rbelisle]

I have my 45 button remote set so that when I press the Green button, GBPVR gets focus. So if I'm working on the computer and then move back to the TV, having forgotten to highlight the GBPVR app as the 'Active' application, just press the Green button, and everything works fine.

[Ted the Penguin]

just to explain why most remotes need app focus to work.

most remotes send keystrokes, which pretty much means that it sends fake keyboard commands, to whatever application has focus. some remotes even change the keystrokes they send depending on what app has focus. the hauppauge remotes have this feature.

I am reanny not sure how other programs get around this, or at least not sure of the specifics, I know they send the messages directly to the desired application, but I am not sure of the method.

[kayak4ever]

I have the hauppauge 45 button remote. If anyone has a clue about making it work without app focus please let me know.

I had the same question and found this answer from tieke (sorry I don't know how to refer you to the earlier post). He said:
"The irremote.ini file can be found under your windows directory, and you can basically apply whatever keypresses you want to the remote buttons. The settings under the [Default] section near the top apply to all programs if there is not a program-specific mapping listed further down. ie if you just want it to affect GB-PVR, do a search for "GB-PVR" and edit that section, whereas if you want a mapping to be universal, edit the mappings in the [Default] section.

A good example is that if you want to assign the remote power key to start up GB-PVR/bring it to the foreground, you would place a mapping such as this in the [Default] section, as it needs to work when GB-PVR isn't active:

Code:
GRNPOWER={run(c:\Progra~1\devnz\GBPVR\GBPVR.exe)}{sleep(750)}{FindWnd(GBPVRWndClass,)}{fgnwn d()}"

In my mapping, I don't have "{sleep(750)}{FindWnd(GBPVRWndClass,)}{fgnwn d()}" because I found my instruction in an even earlier email. If you search "irremote.ini" and "focus" you should find all the solutions. Some solutions simply mimic the tab key and bring GBPVR into focus that way, but this solution always works (even if you have 3 applications working). Since GBPVR knows it isn't supposed to open duplicate copies of itself, it works really well.
"Note that if you do this, the green power button won't turn GBPVR off or make it go to sleep. However, since I don't want it to do that, this is the ideal solution for me. The power on button at the top of the remote makes the remote work whenever it "loses focus".

In addition, you may want to look at this wiki file: http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M...ardReferenc e
for other things that the remote does by default and find out if there is anything you want to modify. I also like having a button that equals the F7 key, that is, it changes the aspect ratio. This is because if you accidentally get the wrong aspect ratio for some unknown reason, you have the ability to fix the screen.

I hope this helps

[Carlito]

The menu button on the hauppauge remote will act like Alt+Tab if windows has focus. I have used this to give gbpvr back the focus.