[ir] Web-based Remote Control

af123

Administrator
Staff member
I'm pleased to announce the release of a web-based remote control plugin for the Humax HDR-Fox T2 and HD-Fox T2 customised firmware.

ir.png


This is the result of many months work behind the scenes and the method for injecting commands was finally fathomed not by me but by philhdr. I built the web interface plugin around the work that he did and here we are!

The ir package is available in the repository now and it supports CFW 2.11 and above based on Humax firmware 1.02.20 and above. If your Humax currently has the undelete package installed, then please ensure that it is at least on version 1.4-2 before installing ir otherwise you will get a conflict error. A reboot is required following installation to activate the plugin.

Thanks to philhdr for discovering and sharing the injection method, to adrianf26 for the ideas that I borrowed from the FoxSat remote control package and to the beta testers who have provided valuable input during the development - 4291, Black Hole, brian, Chris Daniels, Ezra Pound, oijonesey, Wallace and xyz321.

Enjoy!

If you have changed your remote control mode from the default, for example to support having multiple Humax boxes in the same room, then you will need to set the remote control mode in the webif settings to match. To find out your current remote control mode you can hold down the OK and ZERO buttons on your real remote for five seconds and a message will appear on-screen which tells you the current mode, along with the option to change it.

This package also adds the option to disable the on-screen notifications of remote control mode changes which appear with later Humax firmwares and newer remote controls. The option is under Web-If >> Settings >> Remote Control Settings >> Options >> (scroll down to) 'Block remote control mode change icons' >> On >> Then reboot the Humax.

There is also a mobile device optimised version of the remote control available at the URL http://<your humax>/plugin/ir/m/ - that is fairly basic at present.

The package can be driven from the command line using the ir command and the latest web interface provides a status command which comes in useful too.

Code:
humax# status
Watching 7: BBC THREE - This Is BBC Three (05:30 - 18:58) [48%]

humax# ir SEVEN TWO OK
SEVEN (0x9)
TWO (0x4)
OK (0x13)

humax# status
Watching 72: CITV - Horrid Henry (12:00 - 12:15) [13%]
 
Oh wow! This is an unexpected development. I'll be installing this later today, whoo hoo. The mobile version should be handy too!
 
What would you use this for, other than annoying your kids/wife by changing their channels from next room. Other more creative uses?
 
Excellent, REALLY useful actually, never fails to amaze me what you guys do. Only better could be when you write a native android app. to go with the XMBC one etc.

Now surely that opens up the possibility to, say, enter some changes through the UI if needed, e.g. adding a timer "manually" to make it refresh the ones entered through the webif etc?

You wouldn't believe how many times the remote disappears for starters down the back of or under chairs, taken to different room etc. or plain hidden from each other by one of the kids. Tried this from tablet and phone and works great....except, on PC it works with everything I tried, but from a tablet and phone (both android) then it only accepts one key press from a button then it will show on the browser but nothing happens. Clearing the cache from browser and it lets that button work again, e.g.

Media - works
Exit - works
Media - nothing
But Info works
Exit - won't clear info, neither will info.
Back - goes to previous channel.
Clear cache and the buttons all work again once more.

Steve
 
, but from a tablet and phone (both android) then it only accepts one key press from a button then it will show on the browser but nothing happens.

Does the mobile device version work any better on Android? It must be something to do with the javascript engine in the browser - is it possible to turn on some sort of error console to see what's happening?
 
What would you use this for, other than annoying your kids/wife by changing their channels from next room. Other more creative uses?
I use it to remotely switch channel so the HDR starts accumulating the TSR buffer. It then doesn't matter when I go through to watch the intended programme.
 
@af123 - Not sure, sorry. Both were quick tries from Android built in browser - one on 4.x and other on older 2.x OS. This was from wireless on same LAN as the Humax. from PC on same subnet works fine.

The Android browser has very little config. available and is on defaults mainly. Javascript is enabled the remote shows the animation when pressing a button the second and subsequent times, it just doesn't send anything!

I don't have any other browsers on these devices at the mo. to try and too much on to play any more at the moment but will dig around when I have more time as to what is coming over the network, I assume though it just isn't leaving the browser.

The same happens for the non-mobile remote on the android browsers. Both full and mobile ones work fine from Firefox on PC.

If there is any data I can collect that will help just let me know and will do what I can.

thanks again.

Steve
 
Woohoo!! This is very exciting. While I enjoy finding out about and trying things people are working on from an early stage, you can't beat the excitement of something like this popping up out of the blue.

I've been using the Viera remote app for Android for some time and was wondering if a Humax equivalent would ever appear. I can confirm that the #1 attraction of this kind of app is MISCHIEF!!! ;)
 
What would you use this for, other than annoying your kids/wife by changing their channels from next room. Other more creative uses?

From experience:

1 - when I can't find the real remote
2- when it's too dark to see the buttons on the real remote I have the nicely backlit version on my phone
3 - macros - it already comes with a 1 button previous channel macro (by sending the i button followed by the Back button). Someone testing also set one up to pull up the Media list and set it to the Internal HDD, and another macro that auto switched it to his NAS drive
4- as already said when you're watching a feed from the Hummy in another room
5- turning the volume down without having to get out of bed when the kids put the TV on at 6 in the morning and the TV volume has been raised meaning the auto on volume setting is still too loud
6- MISCHIEF (as per RedEarths previous post) - this one could warrant a list all of its own!!
 
Nice one af123, works really well.:)
One very minor point to note. I'm using Mode 2 so as not to conflict with my Foxsat HDR. When revisiting the settings page to change Favourites I noticed that the true Mode status is not reflected in the drop down list. Shows Mode 1 (default) instead. I know it's a one-off setting but could /mod/boot/irmode be read back in order back to show the correct status ?
 
Now surely that opens up the possibility to, say, enter some changes through the UI if needed, e.g. adding a timer "manually" to make it refresh the ones entered through the webif etc?

Interesting idea, but specifically this one has not been needed for some time.
 
Nice one af123, works really well.:)
One very minor point to note. I'm using Mode 2 so as not to conflict with my Foxsat HDR. When revisiting the settings page to change Favourites I noticed that the true Mode status is not reflected in the drop down list. Shows Mode 1 (default) instead. I know it's a one-off setting but could /mod/boot/irmode be read back in order back to show the correct status ?
Yep, thanks, will do. As someone who has used the Foxsat version, is there anything else missing that you can see?
 
Yep, thanks, will do. As someone who has used the Foxsat version, is there anything else missing that you can see?
Not that I can see, apart from the layout yours has the same functionality. In fact yours has a little extra inasmuch that you can add delays in a macro sequence. Curious about the keycodes mentioned as alternatives to keynames in the ir usage ?

Code:
HDRFoxT2# ir
Usage: ir <keycode|keyname> [<keycode>|<keyname>]...
Available key names are:
  POWER          STANDBY        SOURCE        ONE            TWO
  THREE          FOUR          FIVE          SIX            SEVEN
  EIGHT          NINE          ZERO          TV/RADIO      MENU
  P-            P+            UP            LEFT          OK
  RIGHT          DOWN          EXIT          MUTE          YELLOW
  GUIDE          RED            GREEN          BLUE          VOL+
  VOL-          BACK          OPT+          INFO          AUDIO
  SUB            PORTAL        SLEEP          LIST          WIDE
  V-FORMAT      PLAY          REC            PAUSE          STOP
  FF            REW            SKIP/BACK      SKIP/FORW      ADDBOOKMARK
  BOOKMARKS      SLOW          TEXT          MEDIA          PVR
  TV            DVD            AUDIOD
HDRFoxT2# ir ONE
ONE (0x3)
HDRFoxT2# ir 0x3
Failed to find keycode: '0x3'
 
You need to prefix the key code with a hyphen. The help output needs a tweak. It's parsed by strtoul base 16 so expects hex and the initial 0x is optional.
 
This is just outstanding, thankyou all.

Been having trouble with my remote, would not be 'seen' by the hummy after a while, TV & DVD still working, switch off, cool down, stand on one leg, change the batteries over or something......... but now I can set record etc from the laptop, who needs the original remote?

Just looked at the url above properly (after trying to copy and paste in my browser - doh!), now have control via mobile - how cool is that.
 
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