From EventGhost

This article is a thank-worthy contribution by Benjamin Webb.

[edit] Introduction

The Panasonic universal remote bundled with a SA-HT700 surround sound system, as a remote of choice for this project

Yes, I’ve been there. You have your HTPC all set up to go. Then you realize that you have no way to seamlessly use your HTPC with your current living room set up. You may be sitting there with a wireless keyboard and mouse controlling it or you may be plopped down in front of your PC pressing return to select a different video to be displayed. There is still hope for you yet. There are many solutions today for giving you control of both your PC and the remaining elements of your living room. Currently, most universal IR remotes are up to the task of linking together most things in your living room except your PC. Many places offer niche products that are set up to control certain applications on a computer or record and emit a limited number of IR codes. I have long since searched for the ultimate of HTPC building: pressing a button and having it turn the TV on, and then go on to control your PC. There are many schools of thought as to how this should occur. This article teaches you one that involve an innovative, free program called EventGhost for Windows 2000, XP or Vista.

[edit] IR PC Control

I love basic IR PC control. It is inexpensive and thanks to EventGhost, easy to set up. The downside is pretty obvious. You need line of sight. You cannot turn up the volume when someone wanders in front of the TV as a result. People in general are used to the basic concept of IR, just point and click. It is inexpensive since you can use whatever remote you have laying around. One piece of advice is to try to get a remote that sends the same signal every time you click the button. Some remotes have a rotation of signals that they send to the device they control. This can cause problems when programming such a device. You can still program remotes like this but it’s annoying to put in all the other IR codes as actions that trigger events. There may even be some company out there that created a remote with a constantly changing IR signal that is interpreted by an algorithm on the device (I haven’t found one yet but they may exist). The reason for not keeping IR signal constant is to prevent universal remote from doing their job and forcing the user to use the device creators remote.

[edit] RF X10 PC Control

This is the current X10 remote I will test on EventGhost.

The program comes with an X10 remote plugin. This plugin, in theory, allows you to use any X10 compatible remote. I will test a Snapstream Firefly X10 remote in this article. I have tested this remote before and it will travel 35 feet through just about any wall excluding the cinderblock walls at my dorm. The software for this remote was very resource heavy and the main reason I was searching for an alternative program.

[edit] IR Device Control

EventGhost can be used with devices such as the USB-UIRT to transmit IR signals to devices you use with or without line of sight or simply use devices your remote is not programmed for. The USB-UIRT can be connected to objects placed away from line of sight. You just attach IR emitters to reach up to 300’ around your house. Without the emitters the device needs to be placed in front of the device it will control. In this review, I will test two IR emitters attached with a stereo splitter. The IR emitters I will test have a reach of 10 feet.

USB-UIRT (image courtesy of usbuirt.com)

This is the stereo splitter I will use to provide the connection to two IR emitters.

Mini stick-on IR emitter (image courtesy of smarthome.com)

[edit] Test Set Up

[edit] Objectives

• remote control GBPVR (a free HTPC program) as well as iTunes
• control a VCR with both the USB-UIRT and some third party IR emitters

[edit] Hardware Used

[edit] Receivers and Emitters

• USB-UIRT
• SMARTHOME IR emitters
• Firefly X10 Receiver

[edit] Remotes

• Universal Remote bundled with Panasonic SA-HT700 surround sound
• Firefly X10 Remote

[edit] Test System

• AMD XP2000
• 512 MB DDR2100 RAM

I realize that the test system I used was something many of you probably have sitting in your attic. It was given to me for free by my roommate who was throwing it out. It functions as an excellent PVR if you have a secondary unit to do the video encoding beyond what the capture card can handle (I have mastered removing all of the excess software out of the bundled software that comes with Compaqs ). I will never understand why Compaq thinks people need all of that stuff. I chose the USB-UIRT for its excellent reputation in the HTPC community as well as for the many programs that utilize this product. You have to download the drivers from the website. You then have to extract the zip and direct Windows XP to search for the drivers in that folder. Windows will do the rest and warn you that the driver isn’t certified. As for the Firefly, I simply uninstalled the Firefly software that I currently had running and made sure the X10 plugin was installed.

[edit] Connecting the Hardware

IR emitters connected to the back of the USB-UIRT.

Both the USB-UIRT and the Firefly X10 receiver simply jack into any USB connector. As for the USB-UIRT third party IR emitters, I simply used a stereo jack splitter shown before to connect both of them. They stick onto IR sensor of the device they control. I choose to use two different IR emitters to make sure that the device would function on multiple devices. The IR emitters are simple to install. Once you have located the IR sensor on your device just peel and stick.

[edit] What Do You Need To Do This Yourself

[edit] Supported Receivers for IR for EventGhost

You must pick one from a short but ever-growing list of IR Receivers before you can begin to take control of your living room. Keep in mind not all receiver can transmit IR signals.

[edit] Supported Remote for your Receiver

Whatever IR remote you can find that works (Universal remote may be helpful for controlling other devices)

[edit] X10 Remotes Known to Work

Make sure you are happy with the button layout and range of your X10 remote. Not all X10 remote are of the same caliber.

• ATI Remote Wonder
• SnapStream Firefly
• NVIDIA Personal Cinema Remote
• Marmitek PC Control
• Pearl Q-Sonic Master Remote 6in1
• Medion RF Remote Control

[edit] Programming

[edit] Basics

EventGhost is a very interesting program. You install plugins that enable different events to be displayed on the logger. Simply click the add plugin button to gain access to the plugin listing screen.

As you can see the plugins give this program capability far beyond what this article covers but before you tackle network control or speech control you must learn the basics.

An event triggers a macro and a macro consists of one or more actions. For example, I set up the disc button on my remote to launch iTunes. First, I installed the USB-UIRT plugin. Then, when I pointed the remote toward the USB-UIRT and pressed the disc button on the remote the IR code was displayed in the logger.

A typical IR event.

Make a macro by right clicking on the configuration panel (the group of stuff on the right) and select “Add Macro”. You will now immediately get a dialog where you can choose your first action.

After you have open up the action selection menu you just select the action of your choice.

In my case, I wanted to launch iTunes, so I opened up the system folder and selected start application. EventGhost will now ask for additional properties of the action.

Here is how you would configure the start program action to launch iTunes.

From there navigate the file path to the program you want to open. In my case, the path was C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunes.exe. After you have pressed the Ok button, you will see your newly added macro with the action in your configuration. Then drag and drop the IR event code you want to use from the logger to the macro you just created.

This is the final macro with the IR event present to trigger the launching of iTunes.

EventGhost names the macro automatically but you can also rename the item (for your sanity be sure the name makes sense to you)

[edit] Program Control

Now that you have the program open, there are multiple programming choices you can make. To simplify things, first, make a folder from which you store all of the instructions for controlling the program. This folder can later be called by an exclusive. I usually keep mine in the context folder, but anywhere will work. You name the folder which I conveniently called iTunes, then you precede by creating a macro for each action(s) you want to perform for iTunes.

Here are a few of the many macros I have programmed into my iTunes folder.

For example, if you want to be able to press next track then you open the iTunes folder and create a macro called “next track”. You press the button you want to use for the next track on the remote, and then insert the next track IR code from the logger into the next track macro. After this you need to add an action that involves a keyboard shortcut. To add the shortcut you right click and select add action. You expand the window and select emulate keystroke.

You then type in {Ctrl+Right} or use the “Special key tool” to compose the key combination you need. Now when you press the next track button the emulated keystroke will be sent. Finally, go through and do this to all the actions you would like to perform.

The keyboard commands are pretty straightforward in how to program.

Most programs have keyboard shortcuts to perform any action. If you want directional movement in iTunes {Up}, {Down}, {Left}, and {Tab} are useful emulated keystrokes to add to your macros in your iTunes folder. To go right you press tab twice and then press down.

Here is a listing of many of the macros that can be used to control iTunes present in my iTunes folder.

“Autorepeat current macro” is a useful action for repeating navigational commands. The action is available if you right click then select “add action” and expand the EventGhost folder.

This is the default set up for causing a command to be repeated at an increasing rate. You would use this to enable yourself to hold down a button and have that action occur at an tiered rate until the button is released.

From here I leave you to your own devices as to what you want to add. I’ve included the ir config.xml here for both GBPVR and iTunes with all my IR codes and macros that you can edit and replace with your own.

[edit] Enabling Exclusives

One of the meanings of exclusive is to grant a privilege to a selected group or single person. The concept remains the same here. An exclusive grants a particular macro or folder exclusive rights to be currently in control or active. Enabling exclusive is that action you take to activate the commands listed in the folder that you have chosen. It can also be used to call macros but keeping all you commands in one folder makes trouble shooting easier. It is available if you right click and select add action. You then proceed to open up the EventGhost folder. You have to select the folder/macro to make active after adding the exclusive.

Just select the folder that you want to make active as a result of the event in the macro.

The event you want to activate your folder with is a matter of choice. I installed the Task Create/Switch Events plugin to cause the folder to be enabled when iTunes is active. If you choose to activate the folder when you launch iTunes from the disc button this will also work fine. You can activate other folders when you close programs or press a different button also. The choices are all up to you.

This is how I activate iTunes when the program opens up. This is possible because of the Create/Switch Events plugin.

The program comes with examples from WinAmp and ZoomPlayer. If these are your media programs of choice then all you need to do is replace the events put there by default with the ones from your IR remote. I understand that this is a brief explanation but it should enable you to be able to perform most basic keyboard shortcuts with the program of your choice. EventGhost is mostly drag and drop or copy and paste. This EventGhost also includes an excellent mouse emulator that you can tweak to your satisfaction.

[edit] X10 Programming

IR remote and X10 remote instructions remain basically the same. The events are simply listed on the logger as with the IR. The mouse functionality was easily implemented by simply putting in the X10 event X10.MTVCR in the “switch to mode: Mouse Emulation macro” I then program in the directional keys. I was not able to completely fine tune the X10.xml to be activated by the opening of iTunes or GBPVR due to the death of my remote. Here is a perfect start for those willing to tweak some more.

This is a sample of some X10 events on the logger.

This is what I did to enable the mouse on the firefly.

[edit] IR Transmission Programming

This is basically more of the same. You simply create a macro with an event that triggers the IR transmitting action. This is available if you expand the USB-UIRT folder in the add actions menu.

After the action has been added you simply click on Transmit IR icon and select learn an IR code. Make sure that you position the remote closer than half of an inch of the USB-UIRT to learn the IR code. I found the code was not learned correctly otherwise.

If you are looking to control channel changing for your tuner, currently you have to rely on the software that does the recording to change the channel. With the USB-UIRT this is not usually a problem since most HTPC recording programs provide there own interfaces for programming this in. I’m sure with more advanced plugins and creative programming this may be possible. The IR transmission for my VCR is included with the ir config.xml above. This was fully functional for two days before this occurred. My xml should give you a good base to simply change the IR codes to your satisfaction.

By this stage you should be familiar with the add action menu.	Notice how the IR code is smaller when it is read wrong.
This is what a learned IR code should look like.	This is what the basic framework for IR control should look like.

[edit] Results

I consider the mouse function of EventGhost to be far superior to the Firefly’s original software. The speed of the cursor slowly ramps up the longer the button is pressed. One of the most refreshing things about this program is that it uses about 8 MB of RAM as compared to Snapstream’s 108 MB. This significantly improved the reaction time of this computer. The USB-UIRT worked as a perfect substitute for a X10 remote. The IR transmitting also worked perfectly. I highly suggest the stick-on IR emitters I purchased from SMARTHOME. Both IR emitters were able to transmit perfectly to the VCR. You do not have to position your USB-UIRT directly in front of the device you wish to control this way. This also leaves the USB-UIRT to be positioned perfectly as a receiver. I have not found any pitfalls in the software besides having to restart the program once the USB-UIRT has been connected.

[edit] Conclusion

I was able to adjust the software to my satisfaction. This did take a few hours and a bit of trial and error to get the hardware working correctly. I found this to be about the same as programming a universal remote once you got the hang of it but at least this way you don’t loose your settings when the batteries are pulled out. The main downfall of this software is that the users do not openly share the xml files that they have created. Everything must be done by you excluding the examples put in the program by default. The forum is extremely helpful and also prompt with answers. They are also adding new hardware support and plugins constantly. I found the wiki created for this program is a very poor source for beginners but considering the usefulness of this program I was able to work my way through it. This is intended to be a gateway article for those looking to enter the world remote PC control and the sky is the limit as to where you can go from here. As usual in the free software HTPC world you have to become your own hardware expert to pull off what your striving to do. This program cannot exceed beyond what the hardware is capable of. On a side note, I highly suggest donating or contributing to this project to ensure its future success. To find out how, simply check out the forum. If your device is not currently supported just check back at the supported hardware from time to time to see what they’re working on.