[mythtv-users] Getting lirc working on a Logitech Harmony

[Daniel Arfsten]

>On 04/10/2007, Harry Devine <lifter89 at comcast.net> wrote:
> > Nick Morrott wrote:
> > > 1. Just to be clear, do you have a blaster (transmitter)
or receiver?
>
> > I have an IR Blaster from irblaster.info (the one that they
say works
> > with Myth).  I ran dmesg and saw the following entries for
lirc:
> >                lirc_dev: IR Remote Control driver
registered, at major 61
> >                lirc_serial: auto-detected active high
receiver.
>
>Harry,
>
>Just to be sure we're not talking at cross-purposes here:
>
>i) my understanding is that you want to be able to control
MythTV (and
>other LIRC software) with your Harmony remote control.
>
>ii) an IR blaster (what you state you have, and why I asked)
is solely
>used to control an external device like a cable or satellite
box, by
>'pretending' to be a remote control. You configure LIRC to
mimic the
>remote's commands, and it can change channel on the STB
automatically
>via irsend.
>
>iii) an IR receiver (what you need to be able to use a remote
to
>control MythTV, and what I worry do not actually have)
receives the
>output from your remote control. When running LIRC with
MythTV, LIRC
>decodes these signals and passes them to MythTV to allow you
to
>navigate the menus and control playback etc.
>
>Only a combined IR receiver/blaster (transceiver) will allow
you to
>use a remote control and control an external device as
described
>above.

Harry,

correct me if i'm wrong, but what i'm reading from your posts is
that
you purchased an IR Blaster and have that installed.  your 'TV'
service has a set top box that you currently control with a
dedicated
remote.  you already have a wireless keyboard and mouse hooked
up and
working with your MythBox.

is that correct?

if so, (and list, please correct me if i'm wrong as i don't use
this
setup) you 'may' be able to use the IR receiver that your
keyboard
uses to get button pushes from your remote into Myth.  LIRC will
then
decode them and control the various Myth functions.  if you want
to
change channels on your set top box you will still need the IR
Blaster, so Myth can tell your STB to change channels.

forget the IR Blaster and the on order IR receiver for the
moment.
look over the wiki and in the archives for details on how to use
'irrecord' and 'irw' to create your own lircd.conf file.  it's
actually very easy to do, and then you can customize it for your
remote and your preferences.  try to use irw and irrecord to
capture
button presses from your remote pointed at your wireless
keyboards ir
receiver that you have hooked up to your MythBox.  if irw is
able to
receive signals then you can return the IR Receiver that you
just
ordered.  after you've played with and tweaked your newly
created
lircd.conf file (following the instructions on the wiki) you can
go
about setting up the IR Blaster to change channels on your STB
from
Myth using your harmony remote.

i hope i didn't muddy the water any with my comments.  i think
you
just need to start at the beginning and take it one step at a
time.
it sounds like you're trying to get too many different pieces to
work
at once.

hope that helps

I just went through this and it's not fun and as far as I am concerned there 
could be way better docs on the wiki for this. Setting up STB control using 
lircd is what I am talking about.

Just to be clear here, is your Harmony remote a learning remote? If it's 
not, you'll need a ir receiver that can capture the remote signals from 
whatever remote you use to change the channels on your Set Top Box (whether 
its directtv, dish or cable) You can create your stb lircd.conf using 
irrecord as stated above. If you Harmony is capable of learning the ir 
signals from your STB remote, then you can easliy make your harmony control 
your STB which is easier I believe. You'll still need to use irrecord to 
create a lircd.conf which will match the ir signal codes to button pressed 
on the remote. I actually created a seperate instance of lircd named 
differently for ir blasting my stb and have the original lircd running for 
"receiving" the ir commands from my pvr-350 remote. I followed this guide 
here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=550068
I used the latest 8.2 lirc version to do this and it works beautifully. The 
most important things are 2 different config files.
/etc/lircd.conf (this is the config for the harmony remote)
/etc/ledxmitd.conf (this is the config for the remote that was controlling 
the stb, so the stb receives the signals it's expecting)
/home/username/.mythtv/lircrc (this is the config that maps the remote 
button presses to functions within mythtv and can even control other 
programs like mplayer, xmms, etc etc.)

Daniel