newbie needs help getting started with Girder-5 and PIR-1

[Ron]

Well the tactics vary depending on how tricky the remote is. First you click "Learn IR". Typically you press and hold the remote. You should see a wave form appear on the screen. If you zoom out (mouse scroll wheel) you should see a repeated pattern. Either way click save as in the file menu and attach the file to your next post on the forum so I can have a look. (You might have to zip up the file for it to attach).

[Mark Weber]

Thanks. Here is the file.
I renamed the .pir into .txt to get past the watchdog.

[Ron]

Ah this is an interesting encoding. Can you copy and paste this CCF into a PIR-1 send action. Send it output out the front and see if it controls your hardware

0000 0049 0016 0005 0001 006E 0001 006E 0001 006E 0001 00DD 0001 006E 0001 00DD 0001 006E 0001 00DD 0001 00DD 0001 006E 0001 084A 0001 006E 0001 006E 0001 006E 0001 00DD 0001 006E 0001 00DD 0001 006E 0001 00DD 0001 00DD 0001 006E 0001 161B 0001 006E 0001 006E 0001 006E 0001 00DD 0001 2848

If it doesn't work on the first try increase the repeat count.

This page shows you how to create a PIR-1 send action: http://promixis.com/pir-1_doc.php

[Mark Weber]

In parallel with getting Girder to listen to my remote, I'm trying to get Girder to talk to VLC. I have VLC installed and it's working fine. The pre-configured Girder stuff that talks to VLC is not working. Some issues -

1) The controls are not able to find VLC. I've figured out how to use the window picker to get past that.

2) Should I enable the "use lau scripting" stuff under VLC? I don't know if that's how you guys set it up or not.

3) The "VLC | startup | focus" works, but nothing else I've tried does.

What is the general plan of attack? Use VLC lau scripting or keyboard spoofing or something else?

Also, after I've played with it a while, the "test action (f5)" command stops working completely. I have to reboot to get it working again.

[Ron]

Not sure why test action would stop working. Have you tried restarting Girder or VLC alone.

I remember seeing VLC releasing a new major release just recently. So yes I'm not surprised it's not working well. They redid the interface.

1. Good.

2. I don't think so

3. Ok.

General plan of attack. First make sure you have the 32bit version of VLC. Try using command capture feature in Girder. If that doesn't work go with keyboard. There are a few ways/options to do keyboard experiment. If that fails go with mouse emulation. If all else fails see if more advanced integration is possible (e.g. writing a plugin for VLC and Girder to communicate)

[Mark Weber]

I re-installed VLC; it is now 32 bit for sure (I think it was before).
Does the VLC interface work for you?

I tried using Command Capture but I get three dialogs in rapid succession -
"Watch" dialog, "Open file failed"
"Watch" dialog, "Memory map failed"
"Watch" dialog, "Capture Mute failed"

I tried the calculator example from the documentation; could not get it to work as described. The only application showing up in the command capture window is girder.exe

[Ron]

Note did you see the CCF code I sent a few replies up?

Calculator example won't work if you are on 64 bit windows. We are working on a solution to that.

Can you make sure that you are administrator when running Girder? Command capture of 32 bit apps should at least not give any errors (it doesn't on my windows 7 64 bit test machine )

[Mark Weber]

Because of all the trouble I've been having, I re-installed Girder without the driver updates.

Things now work quite a bit better; I'm not seeing the dialog boxes and the "test" command has stopped giving trouble. So either I didn't update correctly or there is something broken in the driver updates. To do the update, I simply expanded the zip file using Windows Explorer and copied the luascript and plugins folders and the boost*dll files on top of the corresponding files in the Girder install folder. Is this the right way to update?

I just saw your note about 64-bit apps. Yes, I am administrator while running. I guess it is possible that the trouble I was having was on 64-bit apps, but I don't know for sure. My Girder is new; should I still try to redo the update?


I have been able to create some controls that, when I hit the "test" button, do the right thing. I've still got a ways to go to get it working like I need, but making progress on the Girder to VLC side. I am creating a "My VLC" folder with the various controls in it. I created "play/pause", "mute", "application volume up", "application volume down" actions that, when I test, do what I want.

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Generally, the remote is set up in the Event Mapping Editor, right? It's confusing because the Learn in that editor does not seem as sophisticated as the "PIR | Send CCF" method on the main view.

I am still having trouble getting the remote commands to be recognized. The CCF string you sent me did not seem to work. Is the decoded name of the command supposed to show up somewhere, such as in the logger window? For "details", I'm getting hex codes. Any way to see if the codes are being interpreted properly?

You said this remote has an "interesting" encoding. Do you think it is going to work? It is a programmable remote; I've tried other settings, but can't get anything going.

I will be experimenting with another remote just to see if I can get it going.

[Mark Weber]

I have not been able to get Girder to recognize any buttons on other remotes. I've tried Learn on both the Event Mapping Editor and on the "PIR | Send CCF". The Event Mapping Editor claims to learn the buttons with one press, but the code does not work. I've tried copying the code from the Learn on the "PIR | Send CCF", but I'm apparently not getting the mechanics right. The <unassigned> string comes back after I paste something into the "Eventstring" window.

Is there a way to "Learn" then test immediately, without going through the other layers? I'm trying to narrow down the problem.

[Ron]

There are two different modes. IR reception mode which returns a hash for the received IR code. This is the normal mode the PIR-1 operates in. These hashes cannot be used for sending codes, only receiving. This is what shows up in the log window.

The second mode is learn mode. This is where you fully analyze a IR signal so you can send it back out again. You can use the built-in learn functionality as described here:
http://promixis.com/pir-1_doc.php

Or for a better analysis use IR studio and then copy and paste the CCF codes into the Send IR actions created above.

Start with fully learning IR codes.