[mythtv-users] Slightly OT - IR Remote control help required

[Stephen Worthington]

On Fri, 17 May 2013 15:40:18 +0100, you wrote:

>Hi
>
>I have a Hauppage Nova T 500 Dual tuner DVB-t card that I'm struggling with
>the remote for.
>
>Basically it works but it just feels clunky.  The remote only seems to
>respond to me releasing a button so I can press the down arrow (for
>example) and hold it for as long as i like, but nothing happens until i
>release it then the down action occurs on screen.
>
>Also none of the buttons repeat which is a pain when Im trying to scroll
>through a big list of recordings to something that starts with M for
>instance.
>
>My ~/.lircrc look like this
>
>#Custom lircrc generated via mythbuntu-lirc-generator
>#All application specific lircrc files are within ~/.lirc
>include ~/.lirc/mythtv
>include ~/.lirc/mplayer
>include ~/.lirc/xine
>include ~/.lirc/vlc
>include ~/.lirc/xmame
>include ~/.lirc/xmess
>include ~/.lirc/totem
>include ~/.lirc/elisa
>include ~/.lirc/irexec
>
>
>And ~/.lirc/mythtv contains the following
>
># LIRCRC Auto Generated by Mythbuntu Lirc Generator
># Author(s): Mario Limonciello, Nick Fox, John Baab
># Created for use with Mythbuntu
>begin
>    remote = NOVA-T500
>    prog = mythtv
>    button = Go
>    config = Return
>    repeat = 0
>    delay = 0
>end
>
>begin
>    remote = NOVA-T500
>    prog = mythtv
>    button = Guide
>    config = S
>    repeat = 0
>    delay = 0
>end
>
>begin
>    remote = NOVA-T500
>    prog = mythtv
>    button = ArrowUp
>    config = Up
>    repeat = 500
>    delay = 125
>end
>
>begin
>    remote = NOVA-T500
>    prog = mythtv
>    button = ArrowLeft
>    config = Left
>    repeat = 0
>    delay = 0
>end
>
>Now as you can see i have made changes to the repeat numbers for the
>ArrowUp key and rebooted but this key still does not repeat.
>
>I think its all to do with the key press not registering until the button
>is released.
>
>So any ideas?
>
>Chris

That sounds very much like what happened to me after upgrading
Mythbuntu to the version with the kernels where the IR drivers were
moved into the kernel.  I forget which version that happened in, maybe
Mythbuntu 11.10?  Anyway, I had to completely reprogram my IR setup to
fix it all, and it took ages to work it all out.  This web page was a
great deal of help as it details how the IR drivers and lirc all work
now and what tools to use to debug each step in the process:

 http://linhes.org/projects/linhes/wiki/Architecture_and_Customization

That page is for LinHES, and some of the files go in different places
in other Linux versions, but most of what is there is relevant.

I have working config files for making my Hauppauge Nova TD-500 PCI
card remote work on Mythbuntu 12.04 on my mother's MythTV box.  They
also work for my Hauppauge HVR-900R2 USB tuner remote on my laptop
with Mythbuntu 12.04, 12.10 and 13.04.  I have put the files here on
my web server:

  http://www.jsw.gen.nz/mythtv/Nova-TD-500-lirc.bz2

The files are:

  /etc/rc_maps.cfg
  /etc/rc_keymaps/hauppauge
  /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
  /etc/lirc/lircd.conf
  /usr/share/lirc/remotes/devinput/lircd.conf.devinput
  /home/<your home dir>/.lirc/mythtv
  /home/<your home dir>/.lirc/mplayer

I think that is all the files I had to change - but I could have
missed something.  If so, let me know.

Note that <your home dir> should be the home directory of the user
that runs mythfrontend.

You may need to install the ir-keytables package also - I think it is
not installed by default.

I also have a similar setup for running my MCE remote on my own MythTV
box if anyone needs those files.

I have the mythtv file set up to do autorepeat on the useful keys,
such as the arrows and PgUp and PgDn.  You may need to adjust the
autorepeat rate to suit your tastes.

I have all my remotes on /dev/lirc0, courtesy of a udev rule.  There
are other ways of configuring the device name, but whichever way you
do it has to match the device name used in the /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
file.  The udev rule I use is in /etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules:

# Hauppauge Nova TD-500 remote control
SUBSYSTEM=="input", KERNEL=="event*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2040",
ATTRS{idProduct}=="8400", SYMLINK+="lirc0"

(There are two lines, the comment and the rule - the rule line is long
enough that email clients may wrap it).