Are you tired of getting out of your seat every time you want to
pause your movie, increase the volume etc. ?
If so, this is the guide for you. It will explain everything you
need to know on how to remote control your computer.
This guide will explain how to build your own infra red receiver
and how to set up the software.
It focusses on BSPlayer because that's my favourite movie player.
Once you've got the hang of this, you can use the knowledge here
to control other programs.
The Receiver
Building a receiver is not that hard. It only requires a handful
of components and a bit of soldering.
All information and schematics are taken from the
LIRC
and WINLIRC
pages. You can check there for additional information.
The circuit looks like this :
The pinouts of the components is more clear on the figure below
:
What do you need ?
The heart of it all is the infrared receiver IC. Personally I used
a Vishay TSOP 1738., but other ICs can be used as well. Here is
a small list of ICs that have been successfully used to build a serial
port receiver. Be aware that not all of them have the same pin-out !
The total cost of the components is below 5 euros. It all
depends on your finishing touch. Since it was the first time I was building
such a device I decided to go for a bigger casing. I added a LED and
a resistor between DCD and GND to have an indication that the device
is turned on and working properly. I also added a switch to turn it on/off
and a transmitter circuit, but untill today I have never used the transmit
function (except for the initial tests).
The remote
This is the beauty of it all : you can use almost any remote control.
I am using the word "almost" because there might be problems with
certain remotes, but I have tested a few and all of them were compatible
with the receiver.
Setting up BSPlayer to work with the remote
Here you have 2 options : you can go with BSPlayer's built-in support
for WinLIRC or you can use Girder.
Both programs have their own (dis)advantages, but I will go into
that later.
Personally I prefer Girder, but I will explain them both. Starting
with the easiest of the 2, WinLIRC.
WinLIRC
At first I started out with WinLIRC. The main advantage of WinLIRC
is that BSPlayer has built in support.
Goto the WinLIRC homepage, which is located at
http://winlirc.sourceforge.net
Download the lastest version and while you are at it grab a config
file four your remote over here
http://www.lirc.org/remotes
And this is the biggest disadvantage of WinLIRC : if your remote
is not in the list, you will have great difficulties in making your own
config.
Personally I never succeeded in making my own, so I'm not going to
explain how to do this.
If your remote isn't supported, I suggest you skip this part and
go for Girder.
WinLIRC doens't need a setup. Unzip the files to a directory of your
choice.
For the ease of use I suggest you make a shortcut to the main program
"winlirc.exe".
The first time you start WinLIRC it will give you an error. This
is normal. Just press OK to continue.
You are now in the WinLIRC configuration window.
Choose your COM port and browse for your remote config file. (in
my case a Philips VR510).
Leave the other settings to their default.
If you already want to test your remote (or the receiver) at this
point, press the "Raw Codes" button.
Once the window "Learn Remote" is open, press a button on your remote
and you should see pulses coming in.
If this is OK, close the window and press OK to start using WinLIRC.
You will now see a grey button in the taskbar.
From now on WinLIRC acts as a server on port 8765, waiting for commands
from its client (BSPlayer).
Therefore you always need to start WinLIRC before you start BSPlayer.
Start BSPlayer. Goto the preferences and in the general tab, uncheck
"Don't use WinLIRC".
Close the preferences and restart BSPlayer. (because of the client
/ server thing).
All that is left now is mapping the WinLIRC commands to the BSPlayer
commands.
Open the preferences again and goto to the last tab "Key definitions
and WinLIRC"
Select the command you want to train (eg. play) and then click on
the bar below "WinLIRC button name".
When the cursor is in that bar, press the button on your remote that
you want to assign.
The name of the button will appear in the bar (it is taken from the
WinLIRC config file).
Press ENTER to confirm.
Repeat this for all the commands you want to use and you are all
set.
I suggest you try this for a while.
Note : also Winamp has support for WinLIRC, but I consider this out
of the scope of this article.
Girder
Girder is very powerful program which can control basicly every
program. The program doesn't even have to be written to interface with
Girder (unlike WinLIRC).
I have a feeling that I haven't discovered all the features of
Girder yet, but more than enough to convince me to use it.
This guide will not explain you how to make command groups (maybe
I will do that in another article). Check the out the documentation that
comes with it instead.
Goto the Girder homepage, which is located at
http://www.girder.nl
Download the latest version and the Igor Plugin as well.
Install Girder, but do not run it yet.
First unzip the Igor Plugin to the Girder plugin directory.
Once that is done, you can run Girder.
The first thing you have to do is configure the Igor Plugin.
Goto File / Settings, in the tab "plugins" select the Igor SFH-56
Device and check "Auto Enable Input Device".
When the boxes are checked press "Apply". This enables the "Settings"
button.
Press the "Settings" button. Choose your COM port and put the Input
Signal to "DCD".
Press OK and Girder is ready for action.
The only thing left to do is tell Girder what to do when a button
is pressed on your remote control.
To keep things simple I already made a so called "command group"
to interface with BSPlayer.
You can download the gml file for version 1.0 and above over
here
(right click / save target as)
The gml file for older versions is over
here
(right click / save target as)
Since I'm not a Girder expert this command group is not perfect
and it will need some adjusting.
Feedback is always appreciated.
You can put this group anywhere you want, but I think it's a good
idea to put it in the Girder directory.
If you want this group to load when you start Girder, goto File
/ Settings and in the General Tab browse to the command group and check
"Auto Load".
In case you want Girder to start with your windows also check "Launch
Girder on windows startup" and uncheck "Show Splashscreen"
Press OK to return to Girder.
The next time you start Girder the group will be loaded automaticly,
but for now you will need to do it manually.
Goto File / Open and load the command group.
You will see a tree structure, just like the windows explorer. Expand
the folders and you will see the commands.
Now you need to train Girder to work with your remote control.
From the tree on the left select the command you want to train (eg.
Play) and press the "Learn Event" button on the top right.
The button will change into "Cancel Learn" and at the bottom of
the window you will see "Waiting for IR code".
Now press the button on your remote that you wish to assign to the
play command.
When Girder receives a valid IR command it will fill in a code on
the led display beneath "Igor SFH-56 Device".
Also notice the "EventString" in the Command Tree.
Remote controls will keep on sending their commands as long as you
press the button. If you only press the button for a very short while,
you will probably have sent the IR command a few times. Since you only
want the command to be executed once, you will need to set an "Antirepeat
wait time".
For me an antirepeat time of 200 ms works just fine.
Repeat this for all commands you plan to use. Save the command group
and you are done.
You can now enjoy BSPlayer with remote control.
I hope this tutorial will bring added value to your movie experience.
Feel free to contact me for questions, remarks and improvements.
