Dos_Box Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Well, my ZyXEL Media NAS arrived a coupel of days ago and is up and running I'm off down to CPC later to get a Raspberry Pi (with case: New product and manufacturers highlights | CPC) the only thing I want to know is about how to control it without having to resort to using my wireless KB). I have seen this video here: Raspberry Pi v2 XBMC Demonstration - YouTube and the guy seems to be using a media center remote control. My only question is, how on Earth is it communicating with the Pi? I have seen the XBMC software that utilises iPhones and Android devices (I can get that fine). But does the Pi have an IR connector?
CyberNerd Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 pi has an RJ45. Use the wireless or get a bluetooth dongle.
featured_spectre Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Wifi dongle and an Xbox remote. Seems to do the trick for my brother
Arthur Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 (edited) But does the Pi have an IR connector? Flirc? Then you can use almost any remote control. Flirc is a small USB device that plugs into your computer and pairs with your same television remote, or any remote that you want to use. It's basically a universal IR receiver. The best part about flirc is that it mimics a keyboard so every media center application understands it without any drivers. Flirc runs across all platforms. http://i.imgur.com/WauZG.jpg Edited January 5, 2013 by Arthur 3
Steve21 Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 My only question is, how on Earth is it communicating with the Pi? I have seen the XBMC software that utilises iPhones and Android devices (I can get that fine). But does the Pi have an IR connector? The HP remote comes with an IR sensor that plugs in via USB as I used to have one for my laptop, I'm guessing that's whats plugged into the USB socket. Steve
jinnantonnixx Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Use your phone as a remote: android-xbmcremote - Official XBMC Remote for Android - Google Project Hosting 1
Arthur Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Yatse is much better than the official XBMC remote on Android.
Ric_ Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Yatse is a good remote for Android. You can also use your old Media Center remote to control it.
dhicks Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 Flirc? Any idea where you can buy one in the UK?
Dos_Box Posted January 5, 2013 Author Posted January 5, 2013 Yatse is a good remote for Android. You can also use your old Media Center remote to control it. But how does the MC remote work? It's an IR remote. I also have a Logitech all-in-one but think that Flirc will be the way ahead. And my iPod Touch is so old none of the XBMC remote packages will install! Oh, and I got the Pi today. Amazingly fast install and configuration of XBMC I'm very impressed
Arthur Posted January 5, 2013 Posted January 5, 2013 (edited) Any idea where you can buy one in the UK? Online via Flirc.tv ($22.95 + $5.28 P&P) or Njoy (€27.77 + €16.47 P&P) are the only two I think. Edited January 5, 2013 by Arthur 1
SpuffMonkey Posted January 6, 2013 Posted January 6, 2013 I like the look of that! Can you recommend a "How To" guide as I might give it a go. Has anyone else done this and got the BBC iPlayer add on working on it? I'd appreciate a numpty's guide for that as well. Cheers
Ric_ Posted January 6, 2013 Posted January 6, 2013 But how does the MC remote work? It's an IR remote. It came with a big USB IR receiver thingy.
hit Posted January 6, 2013 Posted January 6, 2013 I can just use my tv remote, the tv sends the commands to the pi via the hdmi cable. It comes up about pulse eight or something when I boot the pi with xmbc. Have you tried this?
hit Posted January 6, 2013 Posted January 6, 2013 I like the look of that! Can you recommend a "How To" guide as I might give it a go. Has anyone else done this and got the BBC iPlayer add on working on it? I'd appreciate a numpty's guide for that as well. Cheers Download the zip file from Downloads - xbmc-iplayerv2 - XBMC Plugin for IPlayer - Google Project Hosting to a pen drive, plug it into the pi then navigate to settings -> add-ons -> install from zip file. That's all there is to it. 1
Dos_Box Posted January 7, 2013 Author Posted January 7, 2013 It came with a big USB IR receiver thingy. So did my HTPC case 4 years ago (built in). The IR receiver thingy I had went into the outside bin thingy after that. Yeah, hindsight and all that
Dos_Box Posted January 7, 2013 Author Posted January 7, 2013 I can just use my tv remote, the tv sends the commands to the pi via the hdmi cable. It comes up about pulse eight or something when I boot the pi with xmbc. Have you tried this? Yes, I tried that last night. No joy. Buying a cheap USB IR receiver will be the way ahead I think. On another note, is anyone else using XMBC on the Pi noticing very high CPU usage? I've seen it mentioned, but think a constant 92-94% is a tad heavy, but I am surprised to see that it isn't affective the performance of XMBC (and yes, I did install the latest version of the RC which went live over the weekend): Raspbmc
Steve21 Posted January 7, 2013 Posted January 7, 2013 Yes, I tried that last night. No joy. Buying a cheap USB IR receiver will be the way ahead I think. On another note, is anyone else using XMBC on the Pi noticing very high CPU usage? I've seen it mentioned, but think a constant 92-94% is a tad heavy, but I am surprised to see that it isn't affective the performance of XMBC (and yes, I did install the latest version of the RC which went live over the weekend): Raspbmc Aye we've been playing with it and found the same, however if you check the CPU "while" streaming, it goes down a lot, which is rather weird. I did read somewhere about it being a weird refresh rate on the original layout screen, and there are "mods" you can do to fix it, but seems everyone I tried broke it In the end left it alone, as it only does it while you're not viewing files. Steve
Ric_ Posted January 7, 2013 Posted January 7, 2013 @Dos_Box: I installed XBian on my parents' one. Much more lightweight. XBian | XBMC on the Raspberry Pi, the bleeding edge
Dos_Box Posted January 8, 2013 Author Posted January 8, 2013 I may just try that. It seems that some Raspbmc owners suffer from the high cpu problem which may be caused by the way that the whole screen is refreshed rather than just the parts that change.
Dos_Box Posted January 10, 2013 Author Posted January 10, 2013 I've found out why XBMC (I'm using Raspbmc) has high CPU usage listed on the Settings-Info screen. It is because you are looking at the Settings-Info screen! To be more precise it is because you are looking at the animation on the screen. If you simply go to the home screen and SSH in, then run the 'top' command you will see it listed as far lower. In my case about 50% which is still higher than that 20% idle speed it is supposed to be at though.
ianniow Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 There is full instructions here For iplayer, itvplayer 5 on demand and 4od. Although 4od has broken as channel 4 have changed the file formats
Domino Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 Does your TV support CEC? (most recent ones do to some degree) maybe look at these guys and their CEC controller - then use the normal commands being sent to the TV to control it ;-) Pulse-Eight. Control your TV from XBMC, or vice versa! USB - CEC Adapter
caffrey Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 Im not sure but I think the raspberry PI has cec built in.
Dos_Box Posted January 13, 2013 Author Posted January 13, 2013 Re: CEC. Yes, the Pi has it built in, but I have just found out you have to turn it on in XMBC by enabling the webserver. I did this yesterday to get my Android phone working as a remote (very well too!) and will try my TV remote once the kids are off to bed
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