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Using Flirc with Amazon fireTV


tonyski

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I am unable to record the Menu button via the command line. When I execute flirc_util record_api 0 101 from the command line, I do not get a prompt to press a key on my remote. It just ends without recording anything. I am using v1.2.7-rc.4  Thanks

 

When I try to execute the flirc_util command on OS X 10.9.4 from the osx directory, I get the following error:

 

dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/local/lib/libusb-1.0.0.dylib

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi Jason,

 

This is from my original post:

 

 

 

Programming the menu key requires use of the windows command line program. There seems to be some confusion in the forums about reference to the command line app. It is not part of Flirc or the Flirc GUI, but part of windows. Now my level of knowledge pales in comparison to many of the members here, but this is what I was able to decipher.

I  found this page to help me learn about the command line commands:

http://www.pcstats.c...eid=1723&page=2

As I mentioned, the command line program     cmd.exe   Is part of Windows.     You can get to it and number of ways depending on your version of Windows.

Use it to navigate to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Flirc  for 64 bit OS
or
C:\Program Files\Flirc    for 32 bit OS

then type:

flirc_util.exe record_api 0 101

It will then ask you to point the remote and press the button you want mapped just like the GUI.
Once you do that it will tell you that you were successful.

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Hi Jason,

 

This is from my original post:

 

 

 

Programming the menu key requires use of the windows command line program. There seems to be some confusion in the forums about reference to the command line app. It is not part of Flirc or the Flirc GUI, but part of windows. Now my level of knowledge pales in comparison to many of the members here, but this is what I was able to decipher.

I  found this page to help me learn about the command line commands:

http://www.pcstats.c...eid=1723&page=2

As I mentioned, the command line program     cmd.exe   Is part of Windows.     You can get to it and number of ways depending on your version of Windows.

Use it to navigate to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Flirc  for 64 bit OS

or

C:\Program Files\Flirc    for 32 bit OS

then type:

flirc_util.exe record_api 0 101

It will then ask you to point the remote and press the button you want mapped just like the GUI.

Once you do that it will tell you that you were successful.

Thanks for the quick reply, I appreciate it. 

 

I've got official support in the latest release candidate: 

 

This version has a ton of updates and improvements. This version will most likely go public.

 

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Before I got a flirc, I was using an Ortek Media Center PC Remote to control my Fire TV.  (I switched to a flirc because the Ortek does not support the menu key.)  During my time using the Ortek remote, I discovered some that some Fire TV apps support more remote commands than Fire TV's original remote offers.  For example, I found I could page up and down through Pluto TV's program guide using the Ortek remote's channel up and down buttons.  A side-loaded Xfinity app even supported the remote's mouse buttons.

 

How do I add these "secret" buttons to flirc's Fire TV Controller configuration?  

 

Great product, BTW.  Very easy to use and incredibly well designed.

 

-Randy

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think I'm too stupid to figure out how to "just teach it with the Flirc app."  Running the app and selecting the Controller->Fire TV menu option appears to limit me to teaching it IR codes for the Fire TV's basic 11 buttons only...

 

Screen-Shot-2014-09-15-at-11.32.15-PM.pn

 

How do I teach it Channel Up and Channel Down, for example, when there are no Channel Up or Down buttons to "record?"  Is there another app I should be using?

 

 

-Randy

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I think I'm too stupid to figure out how to "just teach it with the Flirc app."  Running the app and selecting the Controller->Fire TV menu option appears to limit me to teaching it IR codes for the Fire TV's basic 11 buttons only...

 

Screen-Shot-2014-09-15-at-11.32.15-PM.pn

 

How do I teach it Channel Up and Channel Down, for example, when there are no Channel Up or Down buttons to "record?"  Is there another app I should be using?

 

 

-Randy

 

Amazon offers you only those buttons on their remote. It's possible there are other buttons supported, but it's not clear which.

Since flirc is sending keyboard keys, just figure out which keyboard keys and functions you need to map. You can hook up a keyboard and try and figure out the keys, but each app could be different.

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I'm not having trouble figuring out what additional keyboard keys / functions various FireTV apps support beyond the basic 11; instead, I'm trying to figure out how I pass that info to the Flirc. In other words, once I figure out which keyboard keys and functions I need to map (as you say), what do I do with that information?

 

I'm sure I'm missing something really obvious here, so apologies for not grokking how I add keys/functions to the Flirc.  Hmmm, I'll bet it's as simple as choosing Controllers->Full Keyboard and recording additional functions through that GUI.  Am I right?

 

-Randy

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I'm not having trouble figuring out what additional keyboard keys / functions various FireTV apps support beyond the basic 11; instead, I'm trying to figure out how I pass that info to the Flirc. In other words, once I figure out which keyboard keys and functions I need to map (as you say), what do I do with that information?

 

I'm sure I'm missing something really obvious here, so apologies for not grokking how I add keys/functions to the Flirc.  Hmmm, I'll bet it's as simple as choosing Controllers->Full Keyboard and recording additional functions through that GUI.  Am I right?

 

-Randy

Controllers-> keyboard.

Then manually pair the key combinations

That make sense?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello from Germany!

 

Thank you very much for the Informations here in this forum and for the new Firmware with the FireTV Profile!

 

But I still have a problem:

 

I updated my Flirc to the newest Firmware and teached the Harmony One all the commands to act like the amazon controller. It works like a charm in the Amazon FireTV; but when I try to use SPMC on the FireTV some of the functions are gone. First thing I noticed was the select button. No function...

 

how could this be? SPMC together with the amazon controller works perfect.

 

Any hints?

 

kind regards 

Holger

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I had the same problem.  What I did was erase what I recorded as the remote button assigned to the Enter key found on the Flirc app's Controllers->Fire TV UI screen and then chose Controllers->Full Keyboard and assigned the desired remote button to the enter/return key.  That solved my problem.

 

I hope this explanation makes sense to you.

 

-Randy

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Hi Randy,

 

sorry for the delayed answer...

 

I tried it today - I started the Flirc setup program, clicked on erase and pressed the select button on the harmony. The setup program told me - erased! 

After that I programmed the enter button from the "Full Keyboard" layout as you suggested. Then I run to the TV to test it all and ..... same as before!

 

:-( ... I can navigate in the FireTV Menue as I can do it with the original remote. But when I try to use the Select button in SPMC it doesn't work. The original remote works like it should :-(

 

Any further hints ? ;-)

 

best regards

Holger

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Your problem still sounds identical to the one I had (I could navigate in the FireTV menu but the Select button in SPMC didn't work -- it acted more like a right-mouse button click).  You could try assigning the Select button on your remote to the Space bar and see what that does (this is a random suggestion that I have yet to try myself).

 

Sorry my original solution, which appeared to work for me, wasn't of any help.  Good luck.

 

-Randy

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I posted this at the bug section, but maybe I'm better off posting this here?

 

 

Flirc has a profile for firetv, I configured the return key, but when I use this in XBMC it responds differently then the return key on the official remote.

When playing a movie on xbmc and press return using the official remote, the movie closes. 

When playing a movie on xbmc and press return using the flirc remote, the movie keeps playing, but the xbmc launcher comes to the front.

 

It's a minor bug, but I just wanted to let you know that configuring flirc with the firetv profile isn't a 1/1 copy of the official remote. 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Guys

 

Thanks for all the useful information in this thread. I started on the journey with a harmony 650 and the flirc xbmc profile. The latest gui (3.1 at this point) takes away almost all the pain for XBMC.

 

The only place where I got stuck was -

 

The amazon fire home button - couldn't get it to work with the command line mapping to 101 - Solved

The back button for amazon fire (the return button works fine for xbmc) - Not Solved

 

If anyone is looking for a solution to home button not working with 101 - I ended up using 69 ( in the command  ;) ) as follows - 

 

flirc_util.exe record_api 0 69

 

The logic behind that number is this post here which maps all key presses to their codes - 

 

 

 

 

Additional details for logitech Harmony or anyone trying to troubleshoot remote key presses- 

 

As mentioned, I was working with a Logitech Harmony 650. I waanted to map the Menu button with Home and exit button with back for fire tv (not XBMC). For a while I tried a few other buttons and couldn't see any of them even registered on the remote as sending anything. 

 

If you understand the harmony remote universe, I was trying this within an activity for watching movies - i.e. while the remote was working in a combined mode of sending  key presses for volume commands to the amp and any media key presses to flirc+aftv etc.

 

To be able to see what exactly the remote was doing, I installed eventghost (free). If you have used it you would know what its for, if you haven't - suffice it to say it can be used to program your windows OS (and therefore XBMC on windows) to map remote buttons to specific actions.

 

So the setup was - My laptop running wondows + eventghost and flirc plugged in to the laptop. I also enabled the keyboard plugin on eventghost so that it listens and translates to flirc events as keyboard events. That would mean that any keypresses on my harmony were

  1. seen by flirc
  2. Passed to EG and
  3. displayed on screen as keyboard event they represented. 

 

Result - 

Part 1 - Event-ghost confirmed that the menu and exit keys on my remote were not doing anything. 

For this one, I used the harmony software to include these keys for my chosen activity (watch movies). The action on these buttons could be anything for now, as I wanted to just ensure that the keys were working. (For good measure, I also added these two menu options to the onscreen menu on lLogitech but you can ignore that )

 

Part 2 - Now that the buttons were firing, I needed to map them to send in whatever fire tv receives as a home button. 

I repeated the command line option in the thread so that the button press would be seen as F12. Maybe I tried it too many times but for some reason I couldnt get EG to report it as F12. It would either be registered as something else or an F12 followed by two returns. 

That is when I did some more digging and got to the post mentioned above with details on key presses and their numerical equivalents. Ultimately, I got to see F12 and it works. 

 

Part 3 - For some reason though, I still couldnt get the whole thing to work for back button.

It should be recognised as an escape key. As with F12, I have used the corresponding code for my harmony exit button as well as the screen option. It is received as an escape followed by two returns. It might be a case of flirc keeping the old values, although I've tried deleting it a few times. Or it might be a case of fiddling with the key repeat time etc. I was too tired to persist with it but will try again later

 

 

 

Hope all of that is useful to someone. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello, Folks.

 

My new FLIRC is on the way. It will be used with a URC MX-500 (actually an NXG NX-RM505 - same thing) along with a Logitech K400R to control a Fire TV.

 

I like to pre-educate myself as much as I can, and looks like almost everything has been done before me, so THANKS everyone for that.

 

It's possible I missed it, but what I haven't seen is a sleep/wake function. It's at the top-left of the keyboard and is labeled with the international symbol for a power button. Is anyone using it? Does it have to be mapped discretely?

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@sweller: The FireTV is always on, so there is no need for a sleep/wake-function!

 

Correct. I don't want to turn it on/off. I want to make it sleep/wake.

 

I'm neither roorted nor have plans to. But I am using FiredTV Launcher, which is perfect when it works. If it fails to launch itself, I use a macro to launch it when it detects the screen toggling from on to off. (sleep/wake).

 

Another reason is the incredibly bright white LED. If I've switched over to a different device, it's nice to have the ability to turn it off without waiting for it to time out. One more reason is heat. Ok, warmth. Not a lot, but not necessary. The box is luke warm in standby. Considerably warmer when "ready."

 

Anyway, this is what I was looking for:

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