Posted 17 February 2020 - 11:55
Hello,
I wonder if anybody else tried to install any third party Android IR remote apps which works with vuplus and/or dreambox, maybe other stb devices.
There are a lot of android smartphones which have IR ports on the market and can be used as remote controls and/or keyboards over IR, as the input device from our boxes have a lot of more events than buttons on our remote controls.
Best regards,
Marc
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Posted 17 February 2020 - 12:59
Hi,
I used the remote of my Galaxy S5 but not for my boxes. The vu will be a problem as they use a toggle signal.
Ralf
Posted 17 February 2020 - 13:55
Thanks @Trial for your input, i think you refer by toggle bit which probably it is used in almost any new IR consumer devices which let the receiver distinguish between successive key presses or if anything is interrupting the IR beam. If not, can you please give some more details?
I will try to build a new android app for this and all infos will be helpful.
Edited by serdeliuk, 17 February 2020 - 13:56.
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Posted 17 February 2020 - 19:13
Hi,
I meant the toggle bit. A lot of universal remotes have problems with it so I assume that a simple smart phone might also have problems with it.
Ralf
Posted 17 February 2020 - 19:59
Thanks Ralf, i am not sure what this toggle bit is, do you have more info regarding this? Maybe a link to docs or something to read? Probably i will hit this at some point 
so better to be prepared
Marc
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Posted 17 February 2020 - 20:54
I have installed sure universal remote on my android device and it works well with my vuplus solo 4k over IR, but is not what i want, i want to build or install an android ir remote app which have not only standard IR keys but also PC keyboard keys as F ones, crontol, shift, etc.
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Posted 18 February 2020 - 09:11
Hi,
there is no 1 standard there are X standards like RC5 or RC6 and each company can do what they want with these codes.
Ralf
Posted 18 February 2020 - 09:40
Well. indeed, it seems that out there is a harsh world in IR consumer market
But, as far i am concerned, in the STB world at least they obey dreambox standard, regardless IR transport protocol, so all remotes receivers are "dreambox advanced remote control (native)" with more or less keys/buttons/events implemented in kernel responsible module (which unfortunately it is closed source) so no other keys could be added beside the ones put available by the producer, however there are plenty more keys/events than the RC buttons so why not use them some kernel modules have even F-keys.
My Vu+ Solo4K RC has 45 buttons but 91 events, so if i could find/build an android app i can use all events over IR.
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Posted 18 February 2020 - 14:03
No, VU+ RC protocol is really different to DMM. On more than one level.
Edited by Erik Slagter, 18 February 2020 - 14:03.
* Wavefrontier T90 with 28E/23E/19E/13E via SCR switches 2 x 2 x 6 user bands
I don't read PM -> if you have something to ask or to report, do it in the forum so others can benefit. I don't take freelance jobs.
Ik lees geen PM -> als je iets te vragen of te melden hebt, doe het op het forum, zodat anderen er ook wat aan hebben.
Posted 18 February 2020 - 14:32
No, VU+ RC protocol is really different to DMM. On more than one level.
I have doubts that is very different as long as they didn't bothered to change the name of the device, evtest on my vuplus say...
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Posted 18 February 2020 - 14:36
And this is not from enigma2 it is from kernel module
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Posted 18 February 2020 - 15:57
Hi,
but this does not tell you what the driver receives and which event it creates. The pure IR signal from VU and Dreambox and most other boxes is different. The events might be the same. As I said it should be RC5.
Ralf
Posted 18 February 2020 - 16:19
Well... i don't really think it matters this as long as i am able to control the VU from my phone via IR. Now i need to figure out how to add the missing buttons on the phone there are two approaches, i build a new android app or i find one which allow me to add buttons.
But just to continue the discussion, because it can be constructive, if they use code from dreambox it is possible to use at least for the receiver same IR chip, then for transmitter it is possible to use same chip as on the dreambox remotes, then there is only a matter of modulation between those two (receiver/transmitter) to be different between stb models, however the encoding does not matter anymore as long as we know that my phone can control the receiver, at least Vu+ Solo4K, possible all models, including dreamboxes because we know that they use at least same demodulating software.
Edited by serdeliuk, 18 February 2020 - 16:20.
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Posted 19 February 2020 - 14:29
I had laying around a nesdr usb-dvb stick used for sdr from time to time, but i remember that this small device has a IR receiver so installed "ir-keytable", loaded all available keymap tables, started to listen for events and voila
Pressing number button from 1 to 0 and the last one OK, basically the protocol is philips rc6_6a_32, now lets build a small android app to send back those codes
Edited by serdeliuk, 19 February 2020 - 14:29.
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Posted 29 February 2020 - 11:49
Hi,
I meant the toggle bit. A lot of universal remotes have problems with it so I assume that a simple smart phone might also have problems with it.
Ralf
I started to poke around documentation, unfortunately for RC6 does not exists much, however, i understand now what this toggle bit is and is not so scary anymore
It represents a single bit which can have a value of 0 or 1 and it depends if the key was pressed once or twice, the toggle bit can be set also in case you press a key and quickly press other one to form 12 from pressing button 1 and button 2, basically detects two successive buttons press.
I started to work on an android app to test sending RC6 command, i will keep you posted.
We can easily see the toggle bit in action in my output above changing overall value in the middle 21 vs 29
Edited by serdeliuk, 29 February 2020 - 11:52.
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Posted 29 February 2020 - 12:48
Just to recap, i do not want to build another IR android app but an app which will send all events/buttons accepted by kernel module.
In my case on Vu+ Solo4K the evtest output is as following and it means that i can have an android IR keyboard which is full qwerty, plus a lot of extra buttons as enter, minus, equal, semicolon, left and right shift buttons, left and right alt buttons and so on.
Edited by serdeliuk, 29 February 2020 - 12:49.
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Posted 29 February 2020 - 16:14
Heheee, it seems that my driver has also events for touchscreen/joystick, this could be used in conjunction with android motion sensors
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Posted 29 February 2020 - 16:16
If you wonder at what possible this could be used i have ported dosbox on my solo4k and any PC-DOS game could be played without attaching a keyboard if i succeed building this ir app, actually any PC-DOS app works, but games are nice...
Edited by serdeliuk, 29 February 2020 - 16:18.
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Posted 5 March 2020 - 14:15
Why the requirement of using IR? Is the box not on the same network as your phone?
You might use the webinterface instead and send commands over your network like http://dreambox/web/...ontrol?command={command} as described here
This is also used by the webinterface itself to emulate the remote control.
Posted 5 March 2020 - 15:11
Hi @Sjaaky the requirements is to have all keys accepted by the kernel module, not only the keys from remote control, in my case beside the remote control keys the kernel module allow over IR another 50 keys, almost a full qwerty keyboard plus touchpad/joystick over the same IR.
I know, i can use an USB keyboard instead, but why to not use the existing IR port if possible.
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