Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Drat, looks like this is another subtlety that I've missed. When the user selects a favorite keyset, the current position in the favorite keysets list is marked. But the keyset that gets chosen when Pierogi starts up comes out of the user's QSettings, not out of the favorite keyset selector code. So, I've either forgotten to also check it against the favorites list, or I've made a mistake doing so... I'll try to get a fix for this into the next update. Thanks!

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Another small update on its way up to Extras-Devel right now. This one is just to fix the problem with Pierogi not recognizing when the startup keyset is a favorite keyset, and makes a first pass at some Manta DVB-T and DVD keysets.

I'm still plugging away at the more major updates to Pierogi; but, I don't yet have a good estimate as to when those will be done.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Is it possible to get a remote for Philips SP-080FM Home theater system? I lost the remote and not able to find a replacement as this looks like a very rare model. I've tried with all the possible Philips remotes in Pierogi.
Thanks.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Well, I can't find any config file specifically for that model, but there are a number of other Philips Home Theater config files available. With luck, maybe one of them will be compatible... Let me try and add them in. :)

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

@copernicus
Do you think you could add an autodetect wizard to try one function from all the keysets every 2/3 seconds until a keypress?

For example, i chose the "poweron" key and the wizard tries it from the all the keysets of all brands.
Then i could decide to try the "volume up", "program up"...and so on.

At the end, it should be possible to save the detected working codes to create a personal keyset. (that could also be exported to share it)

Concerning unsupported devices..
I suppose there could be a keyset that is already working with our unsupported device... but the hard part is to find which one could be... or accept that the working codes are mixed and shared between two different keysets.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

This is probably not very easy to do. While I do like to find families of related keysets, the truth is that most devices have fairly unique (and incompatible) infrared control systems. And this is a good thing! :) When you've got a room filled with audio and video devices, you don't want the controller for one accidentally triggering another. So, there are dozens of different control protocols, and even in each protocol, there are unique "device ids" that are supposed to keep remote controls from triggering the wrong device. It's generally only when manufacturers get lazy that you can combine device keysets. (The exception here would be Sony -- they've done an amazing job of making sure that their IR remote controls are all backwards compatible, forwards compatible, and yet still avoid interference between one another. I've gotta take my hat off to them.)

However, there is another possibility; if you could determine both the IR protocol and the device id value used for a given device, you could then run through all the possible command values. Most protocols only have 128 or 256 possible commands. This still seems like a lot of work to me, but I think it might be doable...

My hope is that, for the majority of cases, if there's an unsupported device that has a compatible keyset in Pierogi, it is because both device manufacturers are simply using the same IR hardware (and repackaging/rebranding it). And so, they should have identical keysets. In this case, Pierogi's current "Automated Keyset Search" should be enough to find the compatible keyset...

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

That's exactly what i wanted to ask you once i get the response for my query :D

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Copernicus, is there a way, or would it be possible to add a way, to call certain remote control commands from the command line? I'm trying to set up an old N900 with my TV as a desktop type machine, and being able to send controls signals from on to t'other using a script would be jolly useful.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Absolutely! :) I have yet to add such functionality to Pierogi, but the Linux Infrared Remote Control (LIRC) software was ported to the N900 long ago. It comes as a server that you run in the background, and includes a collection of command-line utilities that communicate with that server. You just need to feed the server a config file corresponding to your TV, and then call "irsend" to send IR commands.

(It's been a while since I last used LIRC myself, but another user just recently reported using it for their own N900 project...)

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Days after the wiki page protection expired spam has started again.
I have extended the protection but I may have to permanently protect the page next time.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Hello,

I use Pierogi with a Samsung DVD / Bluray player and I have looked for the "repeat" command in all Samsung sets available but found none. Did I missed it ?
Thank you in advance for your help

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Drat! Sorry, it seems I misclassified one of Pierogi's input panels when I put together the latest update. This is why some commands are missing... I've kinda fallen behind on my software updates this month, but I'll try to push out an update asap.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Thank you very much, it work with my ancient LG tv

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Panasonic, Sharp and Philips TV keysets don't seem to have a working Change Input To button.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

I've really only been adding the "Change Input To" option for keysets that include discrete controls for choosing alternate input options. So far, all of the Panasonic, Sharp, and many of the Philips TV remote controls only seem to have a single "input" button.

If it's helpful, I could provide a "Next Input" option for the "Change Input To" list, but without any discrete controls, that's all I can do for now. (If there are some better keyset configs somewhere, I'd be happy to add them. :) )

(BTW, I'm slowly working my way back to coding apps again, so I'll hopefully start putting out a few updates again in the near future...)

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

The Panasonic Viera remote I have has two buttons for input: TV and AV (they are connected by "Input" printed above). The TV button switches between analog and digital TV signal, and AV pops up a selection menu.

So how do I change the input using Pierogi?

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Interesting! Ok, I've started browsing through the Panasonic TV config files on the hifi-remotes website, and I have already found one Viera file that has plenty of discrete controls. (Apparently, I haven't done my homework on this brand... :) ) Let me update my Panasonic keysets and try to push up an update asap.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Well, I've finally managed to put together a small update for Pierogi. :) Version 1.1.37 is now making its way up to extras-devel. With luck, I'll get some more work done on my other apps soon as well...

The major change in this update is a complete overhaul of the Panasonic TV1, 1a, and 1b keysets. At first, it seemed as though I'd just missed a lot of the keyset data available from the hifi-remotes website for this brand, but on further examination, the whole keyset just had lots of problems. Long story short, these keysets now include discrete input controls, a few other missing controls (such as Closed Captions and many PIP buttons), and a few other bug fixes. The TV1a keyset supports a modern variant of the TV1 keyset (with just a few different buttons), and the TV1b is an older variant (with teletext support). (The TV2 keysets are for _very_ old Panasonic tvs.)

I should note that the TV1 keyset now also includes the "Service Menu" and "Factory Reset" commands for the Panasonic Viera line of TVs. As before, I don't have Pierogi buttons defined for these commands, but you should still be able to access them by creating macro buttons (as described in this post).

Also in this update, a new home theater keyset has been added for Sony.

As always, please be prepared for bugs! Thanks.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Panasonic TV1 and 1a keyset Inputs work partially with my Panasonic Viera:

The input menu on my TV has AV1-3, Component, PC/VGA, HDMI1-4, and TV.

With Pierogi, PC button works (both with the button and from the dropdown menu). S-Video button swtiches to AV3, which is where N900 plugs in. Composite button switches to AV1. All other buttons and dropdown menu choices don't seem to do anything.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

BTW, can you tell me if AV1-3 are all Composite inputs, or are some of them S-Video? (Or are they something else?) The config files I've been using only call those commands "Video", so I'm not sure what they really are. (I mapped half of them to Composite and the other half to S-Video. I suppose I could create yet more new buttons that just have the generic name "video"...) Thanks!

Hmm. My guess would have to be that I messed up when defining the "sub-device" number for the discrete inputs. Panasonic is using a fairly painful protocol that has a device number, sub-device number, and command number, all of which are sent in least-significant-bit order, along with three different checksum values... Let me try to wrap my head around the numbers again and see if I can't push up a quick fix...

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

AV1 and AV2 are as shown here:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/Panaso...ma-TV-photos-2
(second pic)

AV3 has a 3-color connector as used by the N900, above which is a round multi-pin connector marked "S-V". A white line connects the round connector to the three colored ones, so I guess they are somehow all AV3. I can't find a picture online; if needed I'll snap one and attach or send to you.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Cool, thanks! So, AV1 and AV2 here are SCART connectors, and AV3 is apparently a shared Composite/S-Video port. Hmm. I suppose they would use something other than SCART for models sold outside of Europe, which is why they only use generic "AV" labels here...

I suppose I'll have to just mark them all as "Video" inputs, rather than try to predict which command maps to which type of input. :)

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Ok, I've pushed a quick update to Pierogi, which should be in extras-devel soon. I'm still not sure I've got the Panasonic protocol right, but with luck, this time the discrete inputs should work. (Also, the "Aspect Ratio" button on the Utility panel, which is also using the same sub-device number.)

Honestly, my problem is that I've got two slightly different descriptions of the protocol, and the config files I've got don't seem to be using either of them. :( So, I'm kind of guessing here. I'll have to do some more research to determine exactly how this protocol works.

Also, I think the reason why the dropdown menu choices weren't doing anything for you is due to my UI design. I couldn't fit all the discrete input options into a single page of buttons, so I decided to place all the choices into a "combo box", letting you pick the specific option you wanted. However, in order to correctly mimic a remote control (which will repeat a given command as long as you hold down the button), I also created a separate push-button control. So, in order to switch to a specific discrete input, you first need to choose your desired input from the combo box on the bottom right, then press and hold the "Change Input To:" button on the bottom left. I'm sure there's a better way to do this! :) If anybody has some good UI pointers for me, I'd love to hear them.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

To be precise, in the menu on the TV, the labels are AV1, AV2/S and AV3/S. I don't know why AV2 has an S.

The two-step procedure to change the input is fine with me. I don't think one changes the input that often, no? In fact, that's how I thought it worked before I tried it.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Panasonic Viera feedback: Video1-3 switch to AV1-3 ok. Also PC still works. But the other commands do nothing. Also, there still is no way to switch back to TV input.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Ok then, it seems that I'm still sending the sub-device number wrong. (That, or I'm not calculating one of the checksum values correctly.) I'll need to do some more homework on this problem. :)

I haven't yet found a discrete command to switch to TV input. :( There is the "Input" command (which I thought was a TV/AV toggle button). Hmm. I guess I've got a variety of items to study this weekend. :) Thanks!

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Well, another iteration of Pierogi is now on its way up to extras-devel. :) For this one, I've gone ahead and rewritten the Panasonic TV protocol itself; my latest guess is that I was using a variant of the correct protocol, which only by chance happened to match the correct commands when the subdevice value was 0... Anyway, I think this version should work better. But yeah, please be prepared for bugs.

BTW, I think I know why AV2 on that TV includes an "S" -- on that photo, the first SCART port has "RGB" and "Video" labels above it (which I am guessing means it supports Component and Composite inputs), but the second one has "RGB", "Video", and "S-Video" labels. So, it would seem that the AV2 port can do more than the AV1 port can...

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

I also have a Panasonic Viera TV, in my case model number TH-42PZ8ES. FYI, it has 2 x HDMI, 2 x SCART (AV1 & AV2 of which AV2 supports S-Video), 1 x Composite & 1 x S-Video on the front panel (both of which share the AV3 input), and 1 x Component. See pics below. Anyhow, just updated to version 1.1.39 and it seems to work much better than the 1.1.37 build, so I think you're on to something, Copernicus :)

Testing with the "1b" preset the 1.1.39 build properly switches between AV1-AV3, HDMI1-HDMI2 but not to Component. As the "Antenna" button (I assume supposed to switch to analogue TV) was disabled, I couldn't test it out.

For reference, I took a few photos which might or might not be helpful, see attachments:
1. List of inputs available -- note that for AV2/AV3 you switch between "regular" and S-Video mode by pressing right and left (see the two boxes on the right).
2. Back panel showing input ports.
3. Front panel showing input ports.
4. Remote control, where the two buttons to the top-right control input -- "TV" switches between analogue & digital TV and "AV" brings up the list of inputs (pressing it repeateadly cycles through the list).

I really appreciate the continued development on this by the way, it's one of the most useful applications for the N900 in my opinion. Wish one could somehow crank the IR transmitter up a few watts in power, but that's probably not going to happen ;)

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Great! (I'm always nervous any time I make a significant change to the protocol code, as one little bug there can make entire keysets unusable...)

Hmm. I'll have to take another look at the component commands; they are using the same subdevice number as the HDMI commands, so I thought they would work. More homework for me. :) And yeah, the "Antenna" button should be a direct switch to the internal TV tuner, but I still haven't found any such command in the config files I'm using.

Just to ask, can you use the left and right buttons on Pierogi's "Menu" panel to switch between regular and s-video? (I'm hoping it should just work as normal...)

Aha! Ok, so I am definitely missing a command here. Hopefully, the "Input" button on the "Utility" panel should bring up the list of inputs. (I guess I should get this command onto the "Input" panel somewhere, shouldn't I...) I don't think I've found a command that switches between digital and analog tuners yet, though. More research for me, then. :) And thank you for the pictures!

Ah, I wish I could, but I think it'd require entirely new hardware. :) (BTW, a bit off topic, but I've put in a request for the upcoming Jolla tablet to add a CIR port so that it can be used as a universal remote. There's apparently a small chance that some changes to the hardware can still be made before they start being produced; and apparently, suggestions with more votes gain higher priority by the folks at Jolla. In any case, I'm certainly happy to see new Qt-based mobile devices entering the market...)

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Yep, definately better to take it slow and adjusting it bit by bit.

Indeed, left/right from "Menu" switches between "regular" and S-Video perfectly. And, yes, the "Input" button (i.e. "AV" on my remote) on the "Utility" tab properly shows the list of inputs, so essentially one can switch to each input via "Input" button and arrow/select buttons on "Menu" tab.

Probably is missing, yes. Tried with all three presets (1/1a/1b) and same thing. Maybe the other guys with Vieras here can confirm this as well? However, I would say fixing Component input is probably not the most important thing as many people, including myself, very rarely (if ever) use Component nowadays. Being able to switch back to tuner/TV/"Antenna" I deem much more important.

Yep, I know :) Would be cool with a >1W IR transmitter, but I guess a transmitter much more powerful than the one in N900 would probably not even be legal in most countries (?).

Ah cool, yeah I hope it makes it in. Being able to have IR tx/rx on a mobile/tablet device is such a rare thing, strangely enough.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Actually, I don't think that would be a problem. :) RF frequencies are regulated by governments because devices using them can so easily interfere with one another, but consumer IR is just using light waves; so long as you don't turn your device into a portable heat lamp, I doubt anybody would care how bright an IR flashlight gets. :)

Eh, it's just that IR is not the current fad any more. Well, actually, it is coming back now -- all the high-end Android phones now have CIR ports. I would imagine that as security becomes more of an issue, shorter-range and more controllable broadcast technologies like IR will be making more of a general comeback again as well...

Thanks for testing! I'll start on my hunt for the TV and composite buttons. :)

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

I see sowwhatyoureap's report surpassed mine in detail, very good.

I see now that the Input button on the Utility panel brings up the input list on the Viera. I can then go up and down the menu using the arrows. But other than that, my report still stands; I'm not sure why e.g. HDMI works for sowwhatyoureap's Viera but not mine. Also, using the arrows in the Menu panel does nothing (if the input menu is not shown yet on the TV).

Thanks for your hard work.

P.S. Maybe HDMI doesn't work for me, because, unlike sowwhatyoureap, I don't have cables plugged into HDMI inputs?

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Hmm, I definitely need to find some better keyset config files. :) (But I'm surprised about the arrow keys; they really should either work or not work...)

I suppose it is possible; I have seen that on high-end Samsung TVs, the TV is capable of recognizing whether an input is "active" or not. If so, this might also account for why sowhatyoureap isn't able to switch to the component inputs...

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Hmm, it's weird that it doesn't work quite as good for chill's device. I actually only have both of the HDMI ports occupied at the moment, and I'm still able to switch to all inputs -- including Component which is currently bugged out in Pierogi -- using the regular remote. Chill, I presume you have tried all three keysets (1/1a/1b)?

The problem switching to HDMI might, as you say, be due to no active signal (or at least no connected cable) but I'm not sure that is the case. If the behaviour remains when using the regular remote, it's obviously intended to be that way, so that might be something to test.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Yeah you're right, I was dumb in my previous post ;) It would essentially just be a non-visible torch, and arrays of IR diodes (maybe even > 1 W total) is of course used in night-vision applications for instance.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Yes, I tried all three keysets.

You're right about testing with the regular remote...I tried it and the behavior does not remain - the remote can switch to HDMI ok. So it's a Pierogi commands issue.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Alright, bit of a breakthrough here -- after browsing through another pile of Panasonic IR config files, I finally found one with the ever-elusive TV input button! I have my fingers crossed that it will work. :)

However, all of the config files seem to agree on what the values are for the component and HDMI commands. There are no variants. So I have no idea why some of the input controls are working on one model, while others work on another. :(

In any case, Pierogi version 1.1.40 is now making its way up to the extras-devel repository. I've also taken advantage of this update to add the "Input" button to the Input panel, which upon reflection, only makes sense. :)

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Very good work! Just tried the 1.1.40 build and the new state-of-the-art "Antenna"/TV button, and it seems to working correctly :D So, at least on my Viera, it now is possible to switch to every input except Component using the drop-down list, which is wonderful. I like the addition of the Input button to the Input tab by the way, because that way you could actually reach the Component input by repeatedly tapping the button.

As the "Antenna" button is now working, I can even switch between analogue and digital tuner by tapping it, so even one more problem solved. :) I don't know if that behaviour -- TV button switches between tuners -- is shared across all Vieras, but hopefully a few of them.

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

Two thumbs up for the Input button!

HDMI1-3 now switches correctly, but not HDMI4 (my Viera has it). The discrete HDMI button switches to HDMI1.

Antenna works, both discrete and from the menu.

Component does not do anything, either discrete or from the menu.

Great progress, Copernicus!

Re: [Announce] Pierogi - a universal infrared remote control app
 

hi copernicus
you might remember that i did request NEC projector keyset but none did work on this https://www.dropbox.com/s/zlpg8odi8d...-2077.jpg?dl=0