OSMC Remote Control Learning

Feature Requests
1

Hello

One of my favourite features of the Apple TV is it’s ability to learn commands from a remote control, so you can use your own instead of the included one and gain some extra functionality such as next chapter and rewind 30s etc.

I’ve looked around the internet for USB IR dongles for the Pi and how one would set up a remote control.

So I was wondering if OSMC would include Remote Control Learning or some such…sor if it does already?
The process on Apple TV is nice and simple. Basically it walks you through each commands (like play, stop, left, up etc.) and asks to hold down a button on your remote while it captures and learns it.

Therefore, I could use one of the inputs on my receivers remote.

I think this would be a great addition and user friendly.

Thank you.

2

It is supported via the ‘irrecord’ function in Debian.
There have been lots of talks about this internally in the crew chat the last couple of days in regards to remote support.

1 Like
3

I’ve always been keen of this idea and will investigate how plausible it is to implement

Sam

1 Like
4

Thank you for your responses.

I definetly think it is worth investigating as it would add an element of user friendlyness and customisability. And save us DIYers from ugly remotes.

At least until we can pick up nice remotes like the lovely Vero one :smile:

But as I said before, reducing remotes to use existing ones in a set up would be ideal. Especially in parents or wives hands.

Thanks again

5

Does your TV support CEC, then that would probably be the way to go if that is also supported in OSMC as it was in Raspbmc :slight_smile:

6

It does and I use it myself however its not always perfect and using it in my parents home could prove problematic. I’d rather an IR remote :slight_smile:

7

Any things that are not working perfectly when it comes to CEC support should be directed at the guys at http://www.pulse-eight.com/
I bet they would be glad to have some feedback on what’s working and what’s not. It would also help in making libCEC better in the future. :slight_smile:

8

If you want to get an IR receiver for your Pi, your best bet is to get a GPIO receiver - not only are they cheap and simple, they have the ability to work with nearly any IR remote using the above mentioned irrecord, or by using a lircd.conf that someone else has already already recorded.

You also get full flexibly to assign buttons to any function you want by editing the lird.conf file.

The problem with many USB receivers is they are only designed to work with one remote and can’t be used to learn an arbitrary remote.

At the moment to learn with irrecord you would need to run a number of commands via ssh or console and follow a few instructions.

When the remote support is a bit more finalised we can put up some information on the wiki on how to do this. (Assuming we don’t find a way automate this process inside kodi) Technically it is already working in Alpha 4 as long as you have the latest updates installed.