Hauppauge remote control issue (HVR-4000)

Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick)

OUTDATED: go to http://archive.pfb.no/2010/12/14/fully-working-remote-control/

I have been quite frustrated over the lack of being able to navigate in media center menus for a long time since the back/exit button has failed to do the desired response, namely navigate back / go up one level / go to parent dir / go to parent menu.

Since kernel 2.6.17 there has been some built-in support for the Hauppauge remote. It is handled by the module ir_common. Because of this, a few buttons works out of the box by simply connecting the ir-receiver on the back of the Happauge card. Now, the big problem relies when one would like to assign functions to other buttons in for instance a Media Center. Most media centers (xmbc, Enna, Elisa/Moovida) are handled through LIRC, hence, the ir_common module is blocking the wanted input (for now).

A simple solutions for this problem is to blacklist ir_common module in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
Restart computer.
(Chances are you can still se it as loaded with the command lsmod, but I does not respond to remote control buttons anymore. At least in my case.)

To be able to use your remote control, simply install LIRC and follow simple procedures from the various media center distributions in order to manually configure button layout.

:~$ sudo aptitude install lirc

Select default on the questions that pop up. We need to reconfigure it anyway.


# /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
#
#Chosen Remote Control
REMOTE_MODEL="Hauppauge-HVR4000-Remote"
REMOTE_VENDOR="Hauppauge"
REMOTE_MODULES=""
REMOTE_DRIVER="devinput"
TEMPIREVENT=`ls /dev/input/by-path/ |grep event-ir`
REMOTE_DEVICE="/dev/input/by-path/$TEMPIREVENT"
REMOTE_LIRCD_CONF="/etc/lirc/lircd.conf"
REMOTE_SOCKET=""
REMOTE_LIRCD_CONF=""
REMOTE_LIRCD_ARGS=""


The rest of the fields may be as they are.

Another option to set the REMOTE_DEVICE variable is to create a udev rule like this:

/etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules
KERNEL=="event*",SYSFS{vendor}=="0x14f1",SYMLINK="input/irremote"

and alter it accordingly in the hardware.conf file:
REMOTE_DEVICE="/dev/input/irremote"

To map the keys to understandable names paste this into the /etc/lirc/lircd.conf file ( or /usr/share/lirc/remotes/hauppauge/lircd.conf.hauppauge and incude it in /etc/lirc/lircd.conf ).


#/etc/lirc/lircd.conf

begin remote

  name  Hauppauge-HVR4000-Remote
  bits           16
  eps            30
  aeps          100

  one             0     0
  zero            0     0
  pre_data_bits   16
  pre_data        0x8001
  gap             133325
  toggle_bit_mask 0x8001001C

      begin codes
          Power                    0x0074
          Go                       0x0161
          TV                       0x0179
          Video                    0x0189
          Music                    0x0188
          Pictures                 0x016F
          Guide                    0x016D
          Radio                    0x0181
          Up                       0x0067
          Down                     0x006C
          Left                     0x0069
          Right                    0x006A
          OK                       0x001C
          Back/Exit                0x00AE
          Menu                     0x008B
          PrevCh                   0x019C
          Mute                     0x0071
          Vol+                     0x0073
          Vol-                     0x0072
          Ch+                      0x0192
          Ch-                      0x0193
          Rec                      0x00A7
          Stop                     0x0080
          Play                     0x00CF
          Pause                    0x0077
          Rewind                   0x00A8
          Forward                  0x00D0
          Replay                   0x00A5
          Skip                     0x00A3
          1                        0x0002
          2                        0x0003
          3                        0x0004
          4                        0x0005
          5                        0x0006
          6                        0x0007
          7                        0x0008
          8                        0x0009
          9                        0x000A
          0                        0x000B
          Text                     0x0184
          Sub/CC                   0x0172
          Red                      0x018E
          Green                    0x018F
          Yellow                   0x0190
          Blue                     0x0191
      end codes

end remote

:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/lircd restart
:~$ irw

And you should see some input..

References:
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Hauppauge_WinTV-HVR-4000
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.17/+bug/67399