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Expanded support for Harmony Remote with LiveTV on AndroidTV App


psubsee2002

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psubsee2002

I am trying to ween my wife off of Windows Media Center and transition my main video box to my NVida Shield (currently, I have my Windows Media Center PC and my Shield running in parallel).  I recently tried to push the transition a little more quickly by removing the only cable card from my Ceton Infinitv in the WMC PC to my HD Home Run (which is yet to set up my Media Center PC).

 

After she used it in Emby a little, I did encounter some serioues resistance.  My wife's initial objections were all about the remote control and the lack of some basic functionality that existed with Media Center for Live TV (and with most cable boxes).  Some of the specific items she mentioned were:

  • Harmony remotes have a "guide" button to bring up the channel guide that doesn't work with the Emby app
  • When looking at the "Guide" or "Channels" tabs, you cannot jump to a specific channel by keying in the channel number.  This makes jumping to specific channels impossible.  This is especially a problem for channels that are near the end of the channel list as you have to manually scroll down the entire channel list to get to them
  • There is no page up or page down when looking at the "Guide" or "Channels" tabs, so you have to manually scroll.

Is there any support for mapping some expanded remote control functionality that doesn't exist on the stock remotes for the AndroidTV or Roku devices?  I have a Harmony Hub with the non-elite remote, so I have a pretty standard set of buttons I can map - just need to know if/how to map features to the remote.

 

If not, is this a features that can be entertained?  I can't imagine users who are used to cable boxes, in which the above functionality is standard, would be able to easily adjust to a more simplistic interface, especially when dealing with LiveTV and channel guides that have several hundred channels.  I know I can filter channels to "favorites" or manually remove channels from the HDR when setting it up, but if the users has dozens or even a several dozen channels that they like, this can make finding the specific shows they want more difficult.

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pir8radio

I am trying to ween my wife off of Windows Media Center and transition my main video box to my NVida Shield (currently, I have my Windows Media Center PC and my Shield running in parallel).  I recently tried to push the transition a little more quickly by removing the only cable card from my Ceton Infinitv in the WMC PC to my HD Home Run (which is yet to set up my Media Center PC).

 

After she used it in Emby a little, I did encounter some serioues resistance.  My wife's initial objections were all about the remote control and the lack of some basic functionality that existed with Media Center for Live TV (and with most cable boxes).  Some of the specific items she mentioned were:

  • Harmony remotes have a "guide" button to bring up the channel guide that doesn't work with the Emby app
  • When looking at the "Guide" or "Channels" tabs, you cannot jump to a specific channel by keying in the channel number.  This makes jumping to specific channels impossible.  This is especially a problem for channels that are near the end of the channel list as you have to manually scroll down the entire channel list to get to them
  • There is no page up or page down when looking at the "Guide" or "Channels" tabs, so you have to manually scroll.

Is there any support for mapping some expanded remote control functionality that doesn't exist on the stock remotes for the AndroidTV or Roku devices?  I have a Harmony Hub with the non-elite remote, so I have a pretty standard set of buttons I can map - just need to know if/how to map features to the remote.

 

If not, is this a features that can be entertained?  I can't imagine users who are used to cable boxes, in which the above functionality is standard, would be able to easily adjust to a more simplistic interface, especially when dealing with LiveTV and channel guides that have several hundred channels.  I know I can filter channels to "favorites" or manually remove channels from the HDR when setting it up, but if the users has dozens or even a several dozen channels that they like, this can make finding the specific shows they want more difficult.

 

I used a usb FLIRC dongle to use my existing DirectTV remotes to make my family happy..  With the flirc device you can use ANY IR remote and map the button pushes to keyboard commands.  See the video in the below post. Notice the guide button works..   :)

 

See this post for a demo (video at the bottom of this post): https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/50444-client-hardware-cable-box-replacement/?p=486111

See this post for the flirc config: https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/50736-keyboard-shortcuts-android-tv/?p=485850

Edited by pir8radio
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  • When looking at the "Guide" or "Channels" tabs, you cannot jump to a specific channel by keying in the channel number.  This makes jumping to specific channels impossible.  This is especially a problem for channels that are near the end of the channel list as you have to manually scroll down the entire channel list to get to them
  • There is no page up or page down when looking at the "Guide" or "Channels" tabs, so you have to manually scroll.

 

Hi these two items are implemented in the latest version of the app (which has been out on Fire for a while but just very recently rolled out on the Google platform).

 

To go to a specific channel, you would hit "back" once to get to the toolbar above the guide and then select the '#' button and enter a channel number.

You can page up or down in the guide with either the FF/Rew buttons or Channel Up/Dn buttons.

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  • 9 months later...
sradner

Thanks for the PgUp / PgDn functions, much appreciated.

 

I'm still struggling with favorites. I'm using a Harmony Elite with Emby for Android on a new Sony Bravia which gives a limited set of options for Live TV favorites.

  1. Send Numbers only
  2. Send Numbers + One additional Key
  3. Send Two Digits
  4. Send Three Digits

I'm not sure if there is some other situation in the Emby Interface where numbers have a particular meaning, but it seems most of the UI ignores them.  Would be nice if numbers + one key would jump directly to a channel in Live TV.

 

For consideration please.

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Thanks for the PgUp / PgDn functions, much appreciated.

 

I'm still struggling with favorites. I'm using a Harmony Elite with Emby for Android on a new Sony Bravia which gives a limited set of options for Live TV favorites.

  1. Send Numbers only
  2. Send Numbers + One additional Key
  3. Send Two Digits
  4. Send Three Digits

I'm not sure if there is some other situation in the Emby Interface where numbers have a particular meaning, but it seems most of the UI ignores them.  Would be nice if numbers + one key would jump directly to a channel in Live TV.

 

For consideration please.

 

It is possible for the future but the logic to accept direct number entry is not trivial and this feature would be used by a very small subset of users since none of the remote controls for these devices have number keys.

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pir8radio

It is possible for the future but the logic to accept direct number entry is not trivial and this feature would be used by a very small subset of users since none of the remote controls for these devices have number keys.

 

none of the factory remotes..  lol   I don't know about the rest of you,  but the factory remote is the first thing to go when i get a new device i have a rubbermaid box full of my factory remotes..  who has 5 remotes on their coffee table any more?  Dark ages...    :)  I've used harmony remotes for years now, one remote to rule them all.....

Edited by pir8radio
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Sammy

none of the factory remotes..  lol   I don't know about the rest of you,  but the factory remote is the first thing to go when i get a new device i have a rubbermaid box full of my factory remotes..  who has 5 remotes on their coffee table any more?  Dark ages...    :)  I've used harmony remotes for years now, one remote to rule them all.....

 

I'm in this group too.

 

If Emby LiveTV could more closely mimic WMC it'd be a win! I miss being able to re-map the OK button or just use the OK button to go to the last channel for one thing. Another is when pulling up the mini-guide, Emby shows the top of the lineup but should show the channels immediatelly before and after the current channel, same for the "on now" horizontal view.

 

Thanks.

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Sammy

I am trying to ween my wife off of Windows Media Center and transition my main video box to my NVida Shield (currently, I have my Windows Media Center PC and my Shield running in parallel).  I recently tried to push the transition a little more quickly by removing the only cable card from my Ceton Infinitv in the WMC PC to my HD Home Run (which is yet to set up my Media Center PC).

 

After she used it in Emby a little, I did encounter some serioues resistance.  My wife's initial objections were all about the remote control and the lack of some basic functionality that existed with Media Center for Live TV (and with most cable boxes).  Some of the specific items she mentioned were:

  • Harmony remotes have a "guide" button to bring up the channel guide that doesn't work with the Emby app
  • When looking at the "Guide" or "Channels" tabs, you cannot jump to a specific channel by keying in the channel number.  This makes jumping to specific channels impossible.  This is especially a problem for channels that are near the end of the channel list as you have to manually scroll down the entire channel list to get to them
  • There is no page up or page down when looking at the "Guide" or "Channels" tabs, so you have to manually scroll.

Is there any support for mapping some expanded remote control functionality that doesn't exist on the stock remotes for the AndroidTV or Roku devices?  I have a Harmony Hub with the non-elite remote, so I have a pretty standard set of buttons I can map - just need to know if/how to map features to the remote.

 

If not, is this a features that can be entertained?  I can't imagine users who are used to cable boxes, in which the above functionality is standard, would be able to easily adjust to a more simplistic interface, especially when dealing with LiveTV and channel guides that have several hundred channels.  I know I can filter channels to "favorites" or manually remove channels from the HDR when setting it up, but if the users has dozens or even a several dozen channels that they like, this can make finding the specific shows they want more difficult.

 

We need all of these implemented..

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Another is when pulling up the mini-guide, Emby shows the top of the lineup but should show the channels immediatelly before and after the current channel, same for the "on now" horizontal view.

 

The Android TV app already does this.

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