Squeezeplay IR Remote

[JimbobVFR400]

I'm using Roobarbs excellent SqPOS on my wall mounted joggler with an optical port soldered on to connect to my DAC/Amp. All very nice and IMO better than a real Squeezebox Touch for a fraction of the price.

However the one thing I find I miss is the ability to just pick up my Pronto Remote for quick actions like skipping a track. I do mainly use Orange squeeze or squeeze Commander on my phone or Nexus7 but it's a faff to do something simple.

Has anybody got an ir receiver working with squeezeplay at all? Also I'm in the UK so can anybody recommend a suitable receiver.

• As cheap as possible, don't mind Ebay or Amazon Sellers of necessary and happy for delivery from overseas, but would prefer a UK seller if possible
  
  Preferably a small one but with an extension or flying lead as my joggler is in a partition wall.
  
  My remote can learn any commands or I can download files with codes in. So I'm not fussed about getting a remote with the receiver or not or what codes it uses.
  
  Cheap (I know I listed this twice)

I've seen this http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewit ... 0912854677
Recommended on the raspberry pi thread, does anyone know if this would work with SqPOS and Squeezeplay.

[pete]

Here I am still using the older HP MCE type IR devices. I did find this this morning on a google search.

http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Remote_Cont ... s#VRC-1100

and

http://flirc.tv/

Personally the smaller the better.

[JimbobVFR400]

I've been doing a little searching since my OP and it does seem LIRC is the way to go. I was surprised to discover LIRC seems to work with just about any receiver so I might give the Ebay one above a go anyway, it's so cheap it's worth a go. In fact I have an old HTPC somewhere in the loft I built a while ago which I think might have an iMon receiver in it which is claimed to work with LIRC on the website so I might not even need to buy anything. Which is a bonus.

[roobarb!]

You're probably onto a winner with this one, as SqueezePlay is pretty keyboard friendly, and I'm assuming that it's that sort of control data that's going to be needed to have IR control working. Please keep us up to date!

[JimbobVFR400]

I fully intend to. Ordered one today but it's shipped from Hong Kong I believe so it will be a little while.

As a bonus the cheap one above actually identifies itself as a standard keyboard and mouse so should just be plug and play, no drivers required. Bonus. My only worry is a few reviewers on Amazon have had issues with a learning remote learning the codes, although Harmony remotes do have the codes in the harmony database.

Edit: the Hong Kong one was 4 quid but I found a UK based seller on Amazon for 6 quid, so cancelled and ordered with them so it'll hopefully be here this week. Just wish I could be more patient but WTH for less than £2 extra who cares.

[ARJunior]

Hi JimbobVFR400,

I used IR remote in the past with my Joggler.
Take a look at this thread for further information

Regards.

[JimbobVFR400]

Well The cheap Chinese remote has arrived and it works out of the box.

This is like the remote I bought http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140912854677 but I got mine from Amazon from a UK seller

Its cheap and it feels it TBH, The remote itself isn't too bad and the receiver is quite cheap, mine had a crack oin the casing from the packaging. However mine is hidden away so can't be seen but the IR emitters in my Pronto are easily enough to operate it, even with it hidden away pointing up at the end of my table. I've attached an image showing what I mean, you can just see the receiver pointing upwards to left of the Joggler





The following functions all work and are now programmed into my Philips Pronto

Direction Arrows - in Squeezeplay up and down selects the menus, right is OK and left goes back a page

Volume - Controls the Volume slider on screen

Play, Skip backwards and Forwards

Page Up and Page Down scrolls quicker through lists

So basic control which is what I wanted from my Pronto.

I've yet to experiment with getting anything else working as I don't really need it at the moment

If anybody needs the Pronto Codes or HEX codes for use with other remotes (JP1 capable etc) then I found them here http://forums.logitech.com/t5/Remote-Co ... d-p/457695

If you have a Harmony remote I believe they are already in the Harmony database

[gegs]

That's pretty cool, although I'm happy enough with the controller app on my Android phone and iPad.

I do, however, think I'll give one a whirl with XBMC on my Raspberry Pi. My kitchen TV doesn't have HDMI-CEC so I can't control the RPi with the TV remote; I use Yatse on my phone instead. I'm hoping this might do the trick.

Why am I content to use my phone for the Joggler but would like the IR remote for the Pi? I suppose it's just what we're used to. Most of my video device controllers don't have a screen display so I'm used to the button-pushing method and reading menus on a big screen. I like the Logitech controller on my phone or iPad because my kitchen is quite large and it's sometimes easier to read menus on a device in my hand than the small Joggler screen at the other end of the room (my eyesight ain't what it used to be). I'd lose that with a push-button IR controller.

[JimbobVFR400]

Don't get me wrong the majority of my use is either Squeeze Commander or Orange Squeeze on either my phone or my Nexus 7 but I just found i missed the ability to press a single button to skip a track quickly. This has given me the best of both worlds and was the last small missing piece of the jigsaw to me.

If I didn't have everything else controlled by my Pronto Remote I'm not sure I'd have bothered but the fact I do means not being able to control the Squeezebox with the remote bothered me sometimes.

[gegs]

That's a great little piece of kit you've found anyway. Ultimately I'd like a Harmony remote to control all devices too but I'm not sure how useful it would be for my Joggler use due to the aforementioned dodgy peepers.

The only downside is that it's IR and therefore needs "line of sight" to operate. My son's head, my wife, the dog, even my own crossed legs would frequently interrupt the signal when using the Apple TV. This annoyed me so much with the Apple TV IR remote that I bought a Bluetooth keyboard, originally used with the BTstack hack but now officially supported with the latest iOS version. The big plus for Bluetooth and network controllers is that you don't have to point them directly at a receiver. I'll probably buy one of the IR controllers for the Joggler too - I'm sure it will be useful to the younger members of my household (i.e. the rest of them).

[JimbobVFR400]

TBH it's not that much of a problem with a decent remote. I did use an apple remote once at a mates house and found them very directional. The pronto on the other hand has 3 higher power emitters and seems to scatter and bounce around the room very well. As you can see above the receiver for this device is hidden away pointing up behind the end of the table but the Pronto still works anywhere in the quite large kitchen/dining room even pointed in the wrong direction.

If you do go for a Harmony check out the reviews of remote central, they do a "fluffy blanket" test for IR strength. Plus you can get RF extenders for the more expensive models which don't require line of sight. I personally have an extender for my Pronto in the lounge to control all the sources via RF in the dining room.

[ilovemyjoggler]

Jimbob, OT but how the heck did you get the joggler flush against the wall?

[JimbobVFR400]

That wall is a false wall I built on the chimney breast so I could inset the TV and in wall speakers above. My amp is in an inset box in what would have been the fireplace originally below the table.

The jogglers guts are in the wall itself with the front screen part (the glossy part) basically stuck on the front. There's a hole cut in the plaster board behind the screen part. The 4 plastic bits the screws go in handily rest on the straight bottom bit of the hole in the plasterboard.

I had a roll of sticky black mastic type "stuff" spare in the garage that sticks the screen in place but still allows it to be carefully unstuck for access to the main part of the joggler.

The only downside is that I've lost auto brightness as the sensor is on the main part of the joggler so permanently in the dark.

I'll post a picture that will explain it better later.

[ilovemyjoggler]

Wow. You've obviously put in a lot of effort building a false wall and the end result is definitely worth it as it looks great!

[hawsey]

Looks cool. nice job there speakers look nice flush to the wall