Can I do this with Flirc?

[YonathanZ]

Hi,

Here's what I'd like to do:

Use a remote to turn my TV on, control my AV receiver's volume, and also tell my computer to launch JRiver and then enter Theater View. Now, Theater View has a keyboard shortcut so I believe I can configure Flirc to send the necessary keystrokes for that. What about launching a program, though?

And a question just to make sure I understand how Flirc works: you tell the Flirc program to send a certain combination of keyboard keystrokes when the device receives a certain IR signal from a remote?

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Jaaxx]

The Flirc program does nothing but program the Flirc itself.  After that the device is simply seen as a usb keyboard. 

As far as launching a program with keystrokes, that will depend on what OS you are using.  So what you really need to do is Google how to launch a program via keyboard with your chosen OS.  There are dozens of ways to do it in Linux; in Windows I haven't a clue.

[YonathanZ]

OK, I found how to launch a program with a keyboard shortcut. I simply go to the program's shortcut on the desktop or start menu or wherever, then right click and on Properties there's a field to type a keyboard shortcut.

The thing is, can Flirc take one IR signal and turn it into 2 keyboard shortcuts, with time delay between them?

I need to be able to press a remote button, then have Flirc run a keyboard shortcut, then the program loads for like 5 seconds, and only then should Flirc also run the keyboard shortcut for switching the program into fullscreen mode. Otherwise, the program freezes.

Can it do that, or is there a limitation to just one set of keystrokes per IR signal?

[yawor]

1st gen Flirc hardware (Flirc USB in plastic case and Flirc SE) doesn't support keystroke sequences and most probably won't ever (not enough space in the device for that).

The new, 2nd get hardware (Flirc USB in metal case) doesn't support keystroke sequences yet, but this is coming sometime in the future, but I don't think there's a plan for configurable delays in between keystrokes (but who knows, the feature is not here yet so everything can happen).

On the other hand you can use command line switches with JRiver. Look at this link:
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/The_Command_Line

You can modify your desktop shortcut by adding /Mode switch with the mode you want to the exe path and start the app into that mode right away, without the need to switch it later.

So you can use

/Mode Fullscreen

to start in fullscreen mode, or

/Mode Theater

to start in Threader View.

[YonathanZ]

1st gen Flirc hardware (Flirc USB in plastic case and Flirc SE) doesn't support keystroke sequences and most probably won't ever (not enough space in the device for that).

The new, 2nd get hardware (Flirc USB in metal case) doesn't support keystroke sequences yet, but this is coming sometime in the future, but I don't think there's a plan for configurable delays in between keystrokes (but who knows, the feature is not here yet so everything can happen).

On the other hand you can use command line switches with JRiver. Look at this link:
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/The_Command_Line

You can modify your desktop shortcut by adding /Mode switch with the mode you want to the exe path and start the app into that mode right away, without the need to switch it later.

So you can use

/Mode Fullscreen

to start in fullscreen mode, or

/Mode Theater

to start in Threader View.

Yes, a few hours ago I've discovered the command line options for JRiver and they work great. You don't type the word Mode by the way, but only the name of the mode itself. So in my case it's simply /Theater.

Also, it seems that Flirc will only ship to my country (Israel) via DHL or FedEx Express, for $44, which is absolutely ridiculous for such a tiny device. I bought a generic IR receiver for Windows on eBay ($2 with free shipping) and will use EventGhost instead. Less intuitive, but far cheaper. Also ordered a Logitech Harmony 650.

Thanks for all the replies.