Bluetooth remote with mic and IR? - Nexus Player Accessories

Bluetooth remote with mic and IR? - Nexus Player Accessories

Has anyone found a Bluetooth remote (preferably with keyboard) but most importantly with a programmable IR blaster to control the other home theater equipment and a mic for voice control on Nexus Player?

I personally haven't tried with the nexus player yet but if anyone is willing to give it a shot, might i suggest this:
http://www.amazon.com/Rii-mini-i13-...TF8&qid=1447105809&sr=8-6&keywords=rii+remote
Had it for PC for awhile before I gave up on wireless air mouse (air mouse kinda sucks on a PC to me) and gave it to a friend, but I did try on my nexus 5 via usb OTG adapter and worked pretty well for what it was worth on the little screen. Heres what I remember about it:
the IR function allows you to program up to 8 devices via IR. to program you point the IR lights at eachother and hold down the corresponding button on the rii13 until the blue light flashes, then press the button you want the rii13 to learn on the other remote. This was nice and essentially allowed full customization of the IR side of the remote, but made programming take a little more time than finding a code and pressing it to match the device you want to program. Only real downsides i found to the IR side of the remote was the IR emitter was kind of weak. Depending on the device, you had to sometimes point either real close or aim just right to get the remote to work. Devices with good IR receivers werent much of an issue. For example, my Samsung tv was easy to aim and control, but my remote control tower fan was always tricky to point at, even directly aiming. the other downside was rapid Ir blasting was lacking. for example, my samsung tv i could press the volume down button rapidly or hold it down to make volume turn down quickly. on the rii13, input works, but was rather slow. there would always feel like a short pause between presses.
keyboard and mice work well on the rii13. keyboard side was pretty responsive, and mouse featured 3 different speed settings. downside was that whenever the mouse/keyboard function would be turned off, the speed setting reset back to default when turned on. The device also has microphone/speaker output. speaker wasnt that great, but worked. microphone wasnt awful but left a bit to be desired. it was as though there was feedback preventing the voice software on my pc to properly detect what i said. interestingly i dont recall this issue on my nexus 5, but then again i only played around with it on there, so dont have much experience. the mic does not have a push to talk button. I think its always on, as i recall simply saying "okay google" on my nexus 5 to activate it.
Now I know this all sounds awful, but i dont have much to compare it to other rii branded devices. for all i know, the other rii devices could have the same IR issues, etc. maybe i had a faulty unit. But I think it might be worth a shot to try and play with on the nexus player if anyone is curious or interested. Perhaps you dont care about the mic/speaker functions, in which case maybe the IR "issues" i had might not bother you that much.

Related

[REQUEST] PS3 Remote

Since PS3 controllers use bluetooth to connect, can we find a way to turn the phone into a fancy touch screen remote for the ps3?

I'd really love that

I've been wondering kind of the same thing but just the opposite. I want a way to connect the ps3 controller to our phone like we can do with Wii remotes. I think that would be kind of nice
Sent from my iPhone 4

bfgarzilla9k said:
I've been wondering kind of the same thing but just the opposite. I want a way to connect the ps3 controller to our phone like we can do with Wii remotes. I think that would be kind of nice
Sent from my iPhone 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
agree!

I hope someone takes this project on I'd definitely pay for this...

Would for sure pay for this!
Features that I would like to see
-Movie mode. gives all the option like fast forward rewind, title etc
-controller mode. all controls mapped onto the screen.

Pretty sure the phone would need better HID support before this would work wouldn't it? It would be pretty handy though. My old Sony Ericsson W900 had some quite good custom Bluetooth HID profiles in it which I used to control various devices which was pretty handy, the equivalents for Android all seem to be server/client WiFi based things.
I suspect there may be improved HID support in Gingerbread, so we might be lucky and it becomes relatively straightforward to implement then.

I'd love this but i think the ps3 uses proprietary bluetooth calls not that has stopped people before

bewA said:
I'd love this but i think the ps3 uses proprietary bluetooth calls not that has stopped people before
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, PS3's bluetooth is pretty standard. You can sync a regular Bluetooth keyboard or mouse with it and they work fine. Their media remote might use some odd signals, but you can duplicate what you need with the right keys on a keyboard profile.

Yeah, I want this!
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

gotwake424 said:
Would for sure pay for this!
Features that I would like to see
-Movie mode. gives all the option like fast forward rewind, title etc
-controller mode. all controls mapped onto the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like this.
How about taking it one step further and allowing remote desktop like you can with the PSP?

I believe that's what is being done with open remote play now. I have that running on my laptop instead of my cfw'ed PSP.

I'm pretty sure this has been done with the Nokia N900/Maemo. So wouldn't a port be feasible? Like with psfreedom?

Adding in my support for any dev who jumps on this. I've been wanting this ever since I got a PS3 but nobody seems to want to make it work.
Since the PS3 will work with a regular keyboard and mouse, all that should be required (theoretically) is to set your phone to think it's a BT keyboard with a trackpad built in. I would love to be able to tie my phone's BT to my PS3 and use it as a trackpad to navigate the browser or use the android keyboard to be able to type quick messages to friends. The onscreen PS3 keyboard is a joke.
I can see a lot of PS3 owners spending at least $5.00 for something like this. Hell, throw it in the market and watch the money roll in. I just wish somebody would create the app...

i'd pay for an app like this too.... just putting that out there

The one and only - one remote for ALL ur devcies

hey guys
dont know if anybody has explained that but its possible to create one remote for all (with most common used commands)
in my case i control my sagem iptv stb, onkyo av reciever and my samsung LE46C750
create a remote with manual adding comands and use the remote from device of ur needs
example
sagem remote for channel up,down,epg,...
onkyo remote volume up, down, sound modes,...
samsung only the menu, input and dvb input...
try it it works too with oldern devices, maybe some parents active here, the tablet is the ultimate parental control ^^

I think it's a good idea. Universal remote for basic commands then just register the device by itself for more complex commands.

Now we need a way to trick it to do macros. I'll need one icon tap that'll turn on my Sat receiver, amp, and TV, as well as sets them to the proper inputs for that activity. Another icon to tap for my BlueRay player, amp, and TV. Etc.. Until then my Logitech Harmony wins the Sofa award.

4dthinker said:
Now we need a way to trick it to do macros. I'll need one icon tap that'll turn on my Sat receiver, amp, and TV, as well as sets them to the proper inputs for that activity. Another icon to tap for my BlueRay player, amp, and TV. Etc.. Until then my Logitech Harmony wins the Sofa award.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ +1 agreed. Macros would make this unbeatable!

Hmmm... I used to have a 20 something dollar sony remote that was programmable for macros. I wonder if that eoyuld work in this case...although my hrmony app for google tv does the job just fine.

There will be an update coming for the remote software either later this year of beginning of next... In the mean time, to set up one universal remote you can just add a device, sect learn from remote, choose "other" then teach it controls from all your other devices and label the buttons what you like, takes time but saves switching between devices.

What if I send a all ready made "macro signal" from my logitech multi remote to the tablet for example the on/off button?

try it out!

I tried to send a macro command to the sony tablet from my harmony remote that should turn my tv on switch it to hdmi, turn on my popcorn hour and turn on my stereo. It recognised the command but only applied the first 2 steps.
So i think the tablet is able to learn macros but not on several devices.....
Sent from my Optimus 2X using XDA App

Bluetooth Remote To Control An Android Phone

Hello, i've done a quick search on the forum here for what i'm looking for but all the posts are old and everyone seemed completely clueless at the time so maybe someone will have an answer now.
I have an LG Ally which is running Android 2.22 if I recall correctly. I currently have a setup so that I plug my phone into my stereo through AUX so I can use my phone to play music, and as a GPS when needed. I use the Music system that's built into android phone, but when i'm driving it's very hard to change the songs and still drive. I know they make bluetooth headphone that allow you to pause, skip, etc so there must be a bluetooth remote control that I can pair to my phone so I don't have to take my eyes off the road in order to change a song.
To make this clear, I am NOT looking for an app, nor am I trying to turn my phone into a remote control. I can't stress this enough, because a lot of posts I read while looking into this a lot of people where getting confused and thinking the person wanted to use their phone as a remote and this is not the case.
I would greatly appreciate some help finding something that would work, since i've not seemed to be able to find anything.

Sony Liveview
Check out the Sony Liveview to use as a bluetooth remote for you android based phones.
I would post a link but since i am a new member it will not let me so just google Sony liveview

Sony Smartwatch
Looks like the Sony Liveview is the older version so may want to look at the newer Sony SmartWatch

Maybe a Bluetooth game controller? Probably still need a helper app.

Not yet
I'm looking for the same exact thing, looks like it is such a small market that there are no products to suit the need.

There is a remote called Satechi BT Media remote that is compatible with iPhones.
If it works like like a Apple Bluetooth Keyboard, media functions should work with Galaxy Note, but I don't know about LG. Every company use different Bluetooth stack.
youtube.com/watch?v=sne9B0j4Z64

androbo said:
There is a remote called Satechi BT Media remote that is compatible with iPhones.
If it works like like a Apple Bluetooth Keyboard, media functions should work with Galaxy Note, but I don't know about LG. Every company use different Bluetooth stack.
youtube.com/watch?v=sne9B0j4Z64
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So i know this thread is a little old and i realize this doesnt directly help the OP, but could an IR remote, plugged into a USB host like a moto dock or one of those cables that enables the host command through the mini usb port possibly work? I suppose youd still need some sort of software to control the function...
I was thinking about this the other day when i had my phone attached hdmi to the tv, watching netflix. Once the episode was over, id have to get up and pick something else. A remote or a bt mouse might be a decent solution, but a mouse isnt very sexy as youd have to move around and click, as opposed to just using a directional pad or an arrow key.

dog199200 said:
Hello, i've done a quick search on the forum here for what i'm looking for but all the posts are old and everyone seemed completely clueless at the time so maybe someone will have an answer now.
I have an LG Ally which is running Android 2.22 if I recall correctly. I currently have a setup so that I plug my phone into my stereo through AUX so I can use my phone to play music, and as a GPS when needed. I use the Music system that's built into android phone, but when i'm driving it's very hard to change the songs and still drive. I know they make bluetooth headphone that allow you to pause, skip, etc so there must be a bluetooth remote control that I can pair to my phone so I don't have to take my eyes off the road in order to change a song.
To make this clear, I am NOT looking for an app, nor am I trying to turn my phone into a remote control. I can't stress this enough, because a lot of posts I read while looking into this a lot of people where getting confused and thinking the person wanted to use their phone as a remote and this is not the case.
I would greatly appreciate some help finding something that would work, since i've not seemed to be able to find anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was looking for exactly the same thing, for the same purpose.
I wasn't aware of the bluetooth HID protocol until now and hence I was thinking about a different solution:
I thought about using a bluetooth headset for media control as these often include all the media control buttons.
However I only wanted to use the media buttons of the bluetooth headset while I was playing music through the headphone jack in my car.
Therefore I was seeking for a solution to connect the bluetooth headset in a way that its buttons can be used for media control but no music would be streamed to the headset or could be muted.
I think it's possible but some android hacking might be involved.
But that's a thing of the past with this new Satechi Bluetooth Remote, the amazon sales description states that Android devices are supported as long as they support Bluetooth HID. The customer review section also includes a guy who succesfully paired the Satechi with his Galaxy III.
The Satechi was introduced a couple of months ago so maybe other manufacturers will introduce similar and cheaper devices.
If your Android OS supports Bluetooth HID you can also use some Bluetooth HID devices which are advertised to work with iOS only (ie Apple Bluetooth Keyboard).

hampox said:
I was looking for exactly the same thing, for the same purpose.
I wasn't aware of the bluetooth HID protocol until now and hence I was thinking about a different solution:
I thought about using a bluetooth headset for media control as these often include all the media control buttons.
However I only wanted to use the media buttons of the bluetooth headset while I was playing music through the headphone jack in my car.
Therefore I was seeking for a solution to connect the bluetooth headset in a way that its buttons can be used for media control but no music would be streamed to the headset or could be muted.
I think it's possible but some android hacking might be involved.
But that's a thing of the past with this new Satechi Bluetooth Remote, the amazon sales description states that Android devices are supported as long as they support Bluetooth HID. The customer review section also includes a guy who succesfully paired the Satechi with his Galaxy III.
The Satechi was introduced a couple of months ago so maybe other manufacturers will introduce similar and cheaper devices.
If your Android OS supports Bluetooth HID you can also use some Bluetooth HID devices which are advertised to work with iOS only (ie Apple Bluetooth Keyboard).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i want the EXACTLY function as u said, just plain media control to pair with my buttonless in ear earphone, only Satechi available now? kinda bulky consider i just need the media control alone.. haiz..

hampox said:
I thought about using a bluetooth headset for media control as these often include all the media control buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much.
I'm using my Sensation with a Harman Kardon Go+Play and therefore had the same problem as OP.
I read your post and realized that I already own a Logilink BT0019 for other purposes.
I paired it and voilá, the music plays via the Harman Kardon, but the BT0019 media buttons still work.
Only Play/Pause and Next/Previous Song though because the sound level Buttons only change the Headsets volume which means that I do now need two remotes (the BT0019 +the provided Harman Kardon Remote for volume control.) but okay, cool.
I got the BT0019 for 22€, so it's a decently low priced solution too, even if I would not need the Headset for other purposes.

I know it's not bluetooth but the Mele F10 air mouse can do the trick via USB OTG.

I'm looking for a similar solution to control the media playing on an Android tablet for my daughter while on road trips. We have a Nexus 10 currently and will probably be getting a Nexus 7/Kindle Fire HD/Nook HD+ soley for her uses. Are there any android apps that might also achieve this using bluetooth? If I could control the media on the tablet using my Galaxy Nexus phone, that would be even better.

I succesfully managed to get what the OP asked for with an old TomTom bluetooth remote like this one (www ebay com/itm/331084156246) thanks to the informations provided by Norvan Gorgi at norvangorgi blogspot it/2011/10/using-tomtom-bluetooth-remote-with.html (insert dots as required ), and it worked brilliantly with both my SGS3 and my first gen Galaxy Note.
Basically, the remote is recognized as an external keyboard, so all you need is to remap its keys (the tomtom remote has 10 buttons) according to your needs, as per the instruction provided by Norvan in his blog.
Thing is, this stopped working when I installed CyanogenMod 10.2 on both my mobiles, appearently because android 4.3 now does not recognizes the remote as a keyboard anymore, but rather as an 'input device', ie with a nice 'joystick' icon next to it (and my own keyboard definition files won't work anymore).
Anyway, once paired with a 4.3 device the four directional keys and the central 'ok' one will sitll work, so it might still prove useful for someone, even if it does not have proper 'direct' media functions as it would have when set up as a keyboard.

Satechi Remote Control
I recently purchased the Satechi remote control because even though it says its specifically made for iOS, people in the reviews said it works on android and also because it works on 3rd party applications like spotify.
I have two Samsung devices, my phone which is Samsung Galaxy Note II and a Samsung Galaxy Player 4.2 which is just used to download my spotify playlist for the car. since the Galaxy Player 4.2 only has 512mb of ram its really annoying when i want to change song, very slow and I realised I pay a lot of attention to the device while driving and that isnt good!
so I bought the remote thinking it would help. now the problem is it doesnt connect to android devices because it requires bluetooth HID, according to a few posts found on this website and a few others, I downloaded bluetooth keyboard easy connect and on my phone it worked fine. however on my galaxy player it didnt work. it just keeps TRYING to connect, the device is running 2.3.6.
my question is, is there any other application i can use or anything I can do to use this remote on my mp3 player?

I realize this thread is very old but I found this thread searching for the exact same thing. I have not ordered this yet, but the Amazon reviews seem to suggest this item is exactly what I have been looking for!
Amazon link

Any current suggestions?
Do remotes just work as a HID keyboard or keyboard-mouse combo?

[Q] Using USB Gamepad plugged in PC to control phone

Hello to all, sorry for the long title but i wanted to make it clear.
Here's the situation, I sometimes play emulated games on my Galaxy S3 and as you may realize, the virtual on-screen gamepad isn't very comfortable when on my home (it gets the job done if i'm using it as a portable console) so I decided that i wanted to use an USB Gamepad i own to play my games in a more comfortable way. I know i can just go and get an OTG cable, and i will try to get one these days, but I fear they might not sell them here and I'm not a fan of buying stuff online.
My initial solution was to use My Mobiler for Android , as it allows to use the pc keyboard and mouse on the phone after connecting via wifi or usb, together with Xpadder, a software to map my gamepad to keyboard keys. While this gets me to the point of being able to navigate my phone using the gamepad, when i try to set up the Input in the emulators they will make a distinction between the arrows and Return keys (which seem to be taken as the Hardware DPAD buttons, that's why i can navigate the phone and use those functions in-game) and the other keys in my physical keyboard, which won't work if mapped to game buttons (A,B,L,R, etc) but will work if mapped to emulator options such as Savestates or Fastforward.
This is really disappointing as I actually thought i could save on the OTG cable by using this, but being things as they are, I'd like to ask if anyone can give me a hint on how to make this work the way I want it, or if by any chance someone (devs specially) would be up to the task of developping a server/client app that would work as Gamepad-to-Phone version of Xpadder (mapping the gamepad buttons as Phone-Hardware keys (Camera, Power, Back, Menu, Volume Up, Volume Down, DPAD) with MyMobiler's capabilty to connect with the phone via wifi and send remote input to it by installing an "Input Method" as well. I know this might require root but my phone is rooted already so that'd be fine for me, and I'm sure I'm not the only one that would use such an app to play games more easily without buying extra cables, which is why i'd ask anyone that decides to take on such a project to make it free because it isn't a very profitable project as people would rather buy an OTG cable or use other bluetooth/wireless controllers to play instead.
So any help/suggestion/advice will be greatly appreciated

Sorry for the double post, but I thought this would be better for those who already saw the topic, in case they're interested on doing the same I did.
In the end I managed to make it work with My Boy (Gba emulator) by using MyMobiler's hardware mapping for volume +/-, back, search and menu buttons and the DPAD (F10,F9, ESC, F2, F3, arrows and Enter) and now i can more or less play emulated games, as long as they don't require any buttons aside from select, start and 4 other buttons. As I said, emulator's own actions such as save, load, fast forward or opening emulator settings can be mapped to any other non-hardware key.
Still it would be great if there was an Input Method that would make the emulators recognize other hardware keys (as if there was a complete hardware keyboard for example), I've tried GBC.Emu with my workaround and it's useless.. It recognizes the volume +/-, menu and search buttons as Virtual; and only the Back and DPAD as mobiler_keyboard. making it unplayable this way (you'd need at least 4 buttons aside from the Dpad).

Exactly what I was looking for....
This is somewhat similar to what I am looking for.I am searching for a tool that would send information to my android over local Wifi (same router) via usb. For example, I want to connect my xbox360 controller to my pc and use it as a game controller for my android over wifi. I tried OTG, but unfortunately my hardware dont support it...and I wondered if at all this idea would work. Any help here?

WORKING: Sony NSG-MR5U Bluetooth Remote

I was able to successfully pair my Sony NSG-MR5U Remote (from my old Google TV NSZ-GS7)
Keypad works great, directional pad works but the center button on the pad does not function as the "select" button. If you press the "
Enter" key, that serves as the select button as well as the play/pause option on youtube. The mouse/touch pad also does not seem to work as well. The back button and the home button work fine as well. Still playing around with it trying other buttons to see what they do in other apps.
To enable or force pair mode:
Hold Fn + the center button between the navigation arrows on the remote side. you will notice the green light flashing in a slightly different pattern than while pressing the buttons.
The 1st try found the remote but failed when trying to pair. I played around with the Fn + center button a couple more times during paring mode and it finally paired successfully.
This will more than likely work with NSG-MR7U as well.

chibluboy said:
This will more than likely work with NSG-MR7U as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can verify that all that you have said is true for the NSG-MR7U as well. Tried it all this morning.

Someone from the kodi forums seems to have worked on a patch for the Linux Kernel, but it seems abandonned as the last threads are pretty old.
Here is the informations I've found :
The kodi forum (look the jflatt post where he says everything but the accelerometer works) : http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=153504
The patch (by Jason Flatt, or jflatt) : http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-input/msg26324.html
I don't have any coding abilities, maybe some xda-dev could help create a working module for Android.

Yes...mine works as well, however the center ok button on the directional pad does not work for some reason...very annoying.

Select/OK Button
Well I got the select button in the middle of the direction pad working by installing External Keyboard Helper an app in the play store (web play store!). I then created a custom keyboard layout and programmed the select button as enter!!! Almost perfect, but still no mouse!

I would totally buy one of these if there was a way to get the mouse working! This remote was very well designed and would go great with my NP

I had been trying to get this damned remote to work with my stuff for years. short of finding a developer to create a proper working driver for it, i dont think we will have much success getting it to work completely functional with anything.
Although, i wonder if anyone with the original google tv player this remote works with, can somehow find and pull the android drivers from it? maybe someone here can tweak the driver to make the mouse and other functions work with the nexus player?

I've been playing around trying to figure something out with a different device, and found that in the root directory, going into /system/usr/keylayouts brings up a few files with a .kl extension to them. Its in these kl files that some devices are configured with scan codes. If we can find the proper scan codes for this remote, as well as the device and vendor ID, I think we might be able to create our own kl file specifically for this remote to make it do whatever we want. I think for everything except the mouse/touchpad unfortunately.
Personally im busy and wont be able to jump right onto looking into this, but if anyone is willing to beat me to it, a little research might help configure it. i dont think the mouse/touchpad is affected by this file though: there was only one other file in the folder for a device with an existing mouse/touchpad (the logitech revue, to be exact) and i dont recall seeing any sort of settings related to a touchpad or mouse other than the left and right mouse buttons, but its a step in the right direction.
You can find the device and property ID by pairing the remote to your windows pc, going into device manager and looking in properties for the remote. Not sure how to find scancodes, but if anyone is familiar with Event Ghost, I seem to recall being able to play with the remote in that program (paired to my pc) and i think i was able to pull up scancodes through the programs log. not positive though. just mentioning all of this because unless someone beats me to it, i might not be able to get to it for another month myself.

do you all think that a PS3 or PS4 remote will connect to the nexus player

Not working for me
Any idea why?
I Hold Fn + the enter key between the navigations buttons on the NSG-MR7U, hit the "add accessory" button on the Nexus Player, but it just goes on searching for accessories without finding anything. The led on the remote's side panel is blinking quickly, but as said nothing seems to be happening.
Thanks,
Roy

With the Sony Nsz gs7 remote, will I be able to control my TV & Sony audio system all by itself without connecting the Sony google tv? I understand Sony google tv has loop through and IR sensor which could be programmed for our devices. My requirement with TV & audio system is going to be very limited like power, input toggle & volume controls. Can anybody please confirm?

shahul_555 said:
With the Sony Nsz gs7 remote, will I be able to control my TV & Sony audio system all by itself without connecting the Sony google tv? I understand Sony google tv has loop through and IR sensor which could be programmed for our devices. My requirement with TV & audio system is going to be very limited like power, input toggle & volume controls. Can anybody please confirm?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will not be able to control other items of equipment like you did when it was connected to the NSZ-GS7. The remote is a Bluetooth remote only. It was able to do so because the NSZ-GS7 had the ability to transmit IR. I use it connected to my media server PC, which also has an IR receiver/transmitter, and Event Ghost to turn on/off my system, control volume, and switch inputs (and d-pad and transport controls if I'm using Windows Media Center or Power DVD). But it can only be connected to a single device at a time, so I still use the stock remote to control the Nexus Player. Yeah, it's not a single remote solution, but it's the best I could come up with.

ninja_rancher said:
You will not be able to control other items of equipment like you did when it was connected to the NSZ-GS7. The remote is a Bluetooth remote only. It was able to do so because the NSZ-GS7 had the ability to transmit IR. I use it connected to my media server PC, which also has an IR receiver/transmitter, and Event Ghost to turn on/off my system, control volume, and switch inputs (and d-pad and transport controls if I'm using Windows Media Center or Power DVD). But it can only be connected to a single device at a time, so I still use the stock remote to control the Nexus Player. Yeah, it's not a single remote solution, but it's the best I could come up with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the detailed response. I hoped Sony ps3 remote would solve my problem but unfortunately I was not able to pair to Nexus player because of the pairing code issue. If only it had worked it would have been my ideal single remote.

---------- Post added at 05:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:11 AM ----------
ninja_rancher said:
You will not be able to control other items of equipment like you did when it was connected to the NSZ-GS7. The remote is a Bluetooth remote only. It was able to do so because the NSZ-GS7 had the ability to transmit IR. I use it connected to my media server PC, which also has an IR receiver/transmitter, and Event Ghost to turn on/off my system, control volume, and switch inputs (and d-pad and transport controls if I'm using Windows Media Center or Power DVD). But it can only be connected to a single device at a time, so I still use the stock remote to control the Nexus Player. Yeah, it's not a single remote solution, but it's the best I could come up with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much for this info. I am yet another person who loves this little remote. I have the MR7U and am attempting to use it with my windows 7 Pc running Kodi. So far I got it paired to my Samsung Note 5 just to play around with. I still need a Bluetooth dongle for my PC, are there any you recommend? Also, I am interested in what you used as an IR transmitter for your PC. I read about Eventghost and have an idea of what it's about. I did notice what you said about the "ok" button not working. I have a harmony remote with IR and RF but I really need the keyboard so I've committed to the idea of using the MR7U and retiring the Harmony. I'm confident I can get the MR7U to do what I want with kodi, but I want to be able to use it to also transmit IR to my Sony receiver and Bravia TV. Can I use the PC IR transmitter to turn on the TV, control the volume on my receiver and control Kodi simultaneously? Any info shared is greatly appreciated!

Jaygatesny said:
Thanks very much for this info. I am yet another person who loves this little remote. I have the MR7U and am attempting to use it with my windows 7 Pc running Kodi. So far I got it paired to my Samsung Note 5 just to play around with. I still need a Bluetooth dongle for my PC, are there any you recommend? Also, I am interested in what you used as an IR transmitter for your PC. I read about Eventghost and have an idea of what it's about. I did notice what you said about the "ok" button not working. I have a harmony remote with IR and RF but I really need the keyboard so I've committed to the idea of using the MR7U and retiring the Harmony. I'm confident I can get the MR7U to do what I want with kodi, but I want to be able to use it to also transmit IR to my Sony receiver and Bravia TV. Can I use the PC IR transmitter to turn on the TV, control the volume on my receiver and control Kodi simultaneously? Any info shared is greatly appreciated!
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Click to collapse
Even though it's slightly off-topic for using the MR5U/MR7U with the Nexus Player, I'll try and answer some of your questions. First, as far as the PC Bluetooth dongle goes, I just bought a generic cheap one off of eBay for under $5 (USD). Just search for 'usb bluetooth dongle' or 'usb bluetooth adapter'. As far as the "OK" button not working, I believe that was only when it was directly paired with the Nexus Player. All buttons seem to work fine for me when paired with my PC.
Second, I am using a Gateway USB IR receiver (like http://www.ebay.com/itm/GATEWAY-USB...967892?hash=item33ad7cc714:g:PUIAAOSwnH1WWmvY). Also cheap, also off of eBay. It used to be used for receiving IR as well when I had the Sony NSZ-GS7 and I had it blasting its TV and receiver IR codes to my PC instead. But now I just use it as an IR emitter controlled by EventGhost.
You should be able to do everything you want as far as device and app control. The only gotcha I encountered is that I had to disable the Windows 'Human Interface Device Access' service (hidserv). Because the remote pairs as a HID device, there are some buttons that Windows was interpreting automatically. Like the volume and menu buttons. If you want volume to control your receiver, then you need to disable the service to prevent Windows from adjusting its own volume. But it's all very doable. I use the MR5U remote to power my enter system on (TV, receiver), change volume of my receiver, switch inputs on my receiver, and control Windows Media Center or PowerDVD when I have to switch away from the Nexus Player to watch live TV or play a physical disc that I haven't ripped into Plex yet. Just have to have the time and the determination to do it.

ninja_rancher said:
You will not be able to control other items of equipment like you did when it was connected to the NSZ-GS7. The remote is a Bluetooth remote only. It was able to do so because the NSZ-GS7 had the ability to transmit IR. I use it connected to my media server PC, which also has an IR receiver/transmitter, and Event Ghost to turn on/off my system, control volume, and switch inputs (and d-pad and transport controls if I'm using Windows Media Center or Power DVD). But it can only be connected to a single device at a time, so I still use the stock remote to control the Nexus Player. Yeah, it's not a single remote solution, but it's the best I could come up with.
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ninja_rancher said:
Even though it's slightly off-topic for using the MR5U/MR7U with the Nexus Player, I'll try and answer some of your questions. First, as far as the PC Bluetooth dongle goes, I just bought a generic cheap one off of eBay for under $5 (USD). Just search for 'usb bluetooth dongle' or 'usb bluetooth adapter'. As far as the "OK" button not working, I believe that was only when it was directly paired with the Nexus Player. All buttons seem to work fine for me when paired with my PC.
Second, I am using a Gateway USB IR receiver (like Also cheap, also off of eBay. It used to be used for receiving IR as well when I had the Sony NSZ-GS7 and I had it blasting its TV and receiver IR codes to my PC instead. But now I just use it as an IR emitter controlled by EventGhost.
You should be able to do everything you want as far as device and app control. The only gotcha I encountered is that I had to disable the Windows 'Human Interface Device Access' service (hidserv). Because the remote pairs as a HID device, there are some buttons that Windows was interpreting automatically. Like the volume and menu buttons. If you want volume to control your receiver, then you need to disable the service to prevent Windows from adjusting its own volume. But it's all very doable. I use the MR5U remote to power my enter system on (TV, receiver), change volume of my receiver, switch inputs on my receiver, and control Windows Media Center or PowerDVD when I have to switch away from the Nexus Player to watch live TV or play a physical disc that I haven't ripped into Plex yet. Just have to have the time and the determination to do it.
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I'm determined! Haha. I'm going to be ditching cable TV for a few months so Kodi and ps4 will be my only devices. I'm following everything you've said and am very confident at this point. The last question I have is, how do you make the PC's IR emitter send the correct codes to the TV and receiver (on/off, volume, input)? Is there software I would need to learn/program the correct codes to blast? I'm mean there has to be right? Thanks!

Jaygatesny said:
I'm determined! Haha. I'm going to be ditching cable TV for a few months so Kodi and ps4 will be my only devices. I'm following everything you've said and am very confident at this point. The last question I have is, how do you make the PC's IR emitter send the correct codes to the TV and receiver (on/off, volume, input)? Is there software I would need to learn/program the correct codes to blast? I'm mean there has to be right? Thanks!
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There are a couple of ways to accomplish this--assuming you are using EventGhost. The most fool-proof way is if you can find the Pronto remote HEX codes for the device(s) you want to control (the Files section of remotecentral.com is your friend). EventGhost has the ability to enter these codes for emitting IR. Otherwise, depending on the IR receiver/transmitter you buy, the IR plugin for EventGhost will allow you to "learn" a code from a remote. I've found this route to be a bit trial-and-error, though. As there are things that can affect the accuracy of the capture, like distance, the time you hold the remote button down for, etc. If you use this method, expect your workflow to be capture/test until you actually get the captured waveform to control your device.

ninja_rancher said:
There are a couple of ways to accomplish this--assuming you are using EventGhost. The most fool-proof way is if you can find the Pronto remote HEX codes for the device(s) you want to control (the Files section of remotecentral.com is your friend). EventGhost has the ability to enter these codes for emitting IR. Otherwise, depending on the IR receiver/transmitter you buy, the IR plugin for EventGhost will allow you to "learn" a code from a remote. I've found this route to be a bit trial-and-error, though. As there are things that can affect the accuracy of the capture, like distance, the time you hold the remote button down for, etc. If you use this method, expect your workflow to be capture/test until you actually get the captured waveform to control your device.
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You have been an extraordinary help. I think I'm ready to start ordering what I need and getting my hands dirty. One last thing. Does the IR emitter you have come with software or just drivers? The only gap in my fully understanding this is how to tell Event Ghost to tell this emitter what codes to push once I have them? Thanks again, and I will report back with any info I encounter that could help others.

Jaygatesny said:
You have been an extraordinary help. I think I'm ready to start ordering what I need and getting my hands dirty. One last thing. Does the IR emitter you have come with software or just drivers? The only gap in my fully understanding this is how to tell Event Ghost to tell this emitter what codes to push once I have them? Thanks again, and I will report back with any info I encounter that could help others.
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Click to collapse
There are no drivers or software for the IR receiver/emitter. Windows is able to recognize it directly. From EventGhost, you will use the 'Microsoft MCE Remote - Vista/Win7' plugin (plus a service that it installs) in order for EventGhost to generate events on incoming IR and to send out IR (either from Pronto HEX codes or via capture). To use the MR5U/MR7U, you will use the 'Generic HID' plugin to perform actions on the button press events. The list of EventGhost plugins can be found here: http://eventghost.org/docs/pluginlist.html (some have links to individual documentation posts). So neither the IR receiver/emitter nor the Bluetooth dongle needed any extra drivers...they just worked out of the box.

ninja_rancher said:
There are no drivers or software for the IR receiver/emitter. Windows is able to recognize it directly. From EventGhost, you will use the 'Microsoft MCE Remote - Vista/Win7' plugin (plus a service that it installs) in order for EventGhost to generate events on incoming IR and to send out IR (either from Pronto HEX codes or via capture). To use the MR5U/MR7U, you will use the 'Generic HID' plugin to perform actions on the button press events. The list of EventGhost plugins can be found. (some have links to individual documentation posts). So neither the IR receiver/emitter nor the Bluetooth dongle needed any extra drivers...they just worked out of the box.
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Understood. I watched some tutorials about event ghost and have a basic understanding now. Also won that gateway ir blaster just now. Just gotta order the bluetooth dongle tonight. Should be good to go soon! Will report back in a couple weeks. Thanks greatly!!

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