This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.
Thank you so much for showing an interest in this.
On Thu, Mar 10, 2011 at 1:10 AM, Felix wrote:
Thanks for your extensive problem description. I'll still need this info to put your issue into context, though:
1) Which version of Remote Buddy are you running? (please look it up under "About")
Actually several versions: first 1.16.5, then upgraded to 1.16.6.
Yesterday also 1.11.4. Because I happened to have that version as a
backup. 11.4 was the initial version that had this new code. For each
version - reinstalled the kext. I am now back to using 1.16.6 because
in all versions the Remote fails to Re-establish a connection.
Behaviour in regards to my Sony BD Remote was the same across those
three versions.
2) Which version of Mac OS X are you running? (please look it up under "About this Mac")
10.6.6 Build 10J567 - always since I got the Sony BD Remote 1 week ago.
3) Which Mac are you using?
Intel Mac Mini 2007 model. Its Intel GMA950 board with 2Gb max ram, Core Solo.
4) Please send a screenshot of
a) Remote Buddy Preferences > Hardware > Bluetooth Receiver
b) System Preferences > Bluetooth
to info iospirit.com.
You will receive an email later this afternoon.
5) Which button (or button combination) do you press on your BD Remote to connect to your Mac? And for how long?
I have tried:
1) pressing any individual key
2) holding PS
3) holding the Pairing keys because 1) didnt work.
Any combinations will result in the Mac OS "Pairing Request" dialog
appearing instead.
What is interesting is that I have meanwhile also been collecting open
source code and putting it together into an example XCode project for
you Felix. Whilst the example is running (in XCode debugger), the OSX
pairing request dialog is not appearing, it seems to be suppressed in
the code I have. Instead the example program gets a callback for L2CAP
interrupt channel notification, but unfortunately not and data msg for
which keypress it was. So in other words (at the moment) L2CAP data
connection is not re-established. That example codes is very good for
debugging however. I shall provide a link for you in my email later
today.
6) When did you buy the BD Remote you're having this issue with?
About 1 week ago. Its a brand new official Sony remote. I think we
also need an OLD remote to make sure that Sony has not changed
anything in their production. My remote definitely has these issues,
and it is a very new one.
This is the Sony model number:
MODEL: CECHZR1E
I will also ask other forum members to provide their Sony Model number ^^
7) Since when did you use the BD Remote with Remote Buddy?
For the last 1 week. There was some suspicion that pairing with a PS3
first may affect the behaviour of the remote. But we arent sure of
that. Although I can report registering my remote with PS3 first of
all, I cannot say if that has any affect to this issue.
8) Since when did you start seeing the issue you describe?
From the very beginning. Ever since I noticed the batteries get
drained and had to enable the power saving features. As shown in the
screenshot. Thats when the pairing dialog would start coming up...
Before then the remote had been always connected so the issue did not appear.
9) Are you using the original Sony PS3 BD Remote - or a device that claims to be compatible with it?
Its a brand new, official Sony BD Remote, and came from Play.com,
sealed in official Sony PLAYSTATION (TM) box.
Its MODEL: CECHZR1E
10) Did you try with a completely fresh set of batteries? The BD Remote can behave very randomly when the batteries are low in power. Please keep in mind this is a Bluetooth remote and batteries can get empty *a lot* faster than is the case with infrared remotes. So even if you replaced the batteries two days ago, you really should try with a set of new batteries today - to simply eliminate this as a variable.
I became aware of the high power usage after 1 day so changed the
batteries for a fresh set. Of course then I had to enable the power
saving features in the screenshot. Before that there was no power
saving, "always switched on". I am sure the batteries are fresh. And
there is no weak signal / interference. During these tests I keep the
remote 18 inches near the computer whilst testing it. So the reception
good.
The issue is most easily reproduced simply by doing Quit / Restart of
RB program. Because that closes the connection. The issue can also be
reproduced by enabling the relevant power saving feature (disconnect
after X minutes) and simply waiting for the BD Remote to timeout and
be disconnected by RB after a while. Then the "pairing request" dialog
will appear for any button press. The connection can not be
re-established by any method except to re-run the pairing wizard.
Clearly just keeping it connected is not a possible choice because it
eats all of the batteries just like you say...
Several users have reported pairing problems between remote buddy and PS3 Remote. Even though remote buddy is known to be using the Apple Bluetooth stack, there still seems to be some kind of problems between Remote Buddy and these remotes.
What users are you referring to?
Because there are other RB users on this forum who have recently
reported "pairing" related issue. Sorry "pairing problem" is a wrong
statement - the problem is actually re-establishing the connection
after 1st disconnection.
If you're referring to users of this forum, it usually boiled down to wrongly set preferences (default settings work just fine) or button combinations that were pressed for too long, resetting the remote during the pairing process, thus making the establishment of a connection impossible.
Well... I can say that after my initial post I have been reading
through the archives. To begin with we dont know enough always about
what we are talking about - there are some mis-information. But there
is also some truth in these problem reports.
I had hoped by following all the detailed suggestions (by you Felix in
these previous archives) that the problem would just go away. However
even using all of the correct methods you describe, there is
absolutely no way I can get this remote to re-establish any connection
to Remote Buddy on the host computer. A single keypress should do it -
and that is when we get the pairing dialog on the screen.
Remote buddy does not receive any keypress event. I appreciate Felix
that there are also other users with the Sony remote who have not had
any issues...
Which is also what makes me wonder what the cause is?
Here is my priority list:
1) the version of the Sony remote
2) the bluetooth hardware of the host computer
3) the latest os-x bluetooth stack
4) the version of remote buddy program
The most frequently wrongly set preferences that regularly caused confusion was subsequently removed. And pairing could be achieved by holding the pairing button combination for a shorter period of time.
I hope that we have now established that its not a preferences issue.
4) Pair the PS3 Remote using the Remote Buddy Setup Wizard.
Remote buddy reports "Pairing Successful". And the PS3 remote begins to work whilst RB remains open. Over in the System Preferences (Bluetooth) Pane, the PS3 BD Remote now appears. It shows "Connected" and with a green status light. However in the Details it says "Paired: No". Heres the screenshot:
If the BD Remote Control appears in the list of devices, it's a known device to the system. Once it's in this list, the remote can initiate a connection to the computer by itself. Which is all that's needed here.
The status displayed under "Paired" is irrelevant in this context.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/588496/RB-PS3-REMOTE/004-system-preferences-after-rb-pairing.png
Yes we have now also established that this ^^ is not significant. I
apologise for placing any emphasis on that detail, but it may explain
the reason for why Mac OS decides to open the alert box for "Pairing
Request". That is what happens after disconnection, when we try to
press any single button on the remote.
I see a lot of extra info on the device in your screenshot that I don't see here. Are you using any additional tools?
If you are asking about the bluetooth system preferences pane - that
is the "show info" in the gears menu. Its the OS-X 10.6.6 official
release. NOT developer OSX seed image. No special diagnostic bluetooth
tools.
What I have now is an example Xcode project for xcode gdb debugger.
You will receive a link to download.
6) Quit Remote Buddy. The status in the Bluetooth Preference Pane will immediately change to this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/588496/RB-PS3-REMOTE/006-system-preferences-after-rb-quit.png
As we can see above ^^. As soon as we have quit remote buddy, then our BD Remote is no longer connected anymore. And it is still not paired either.
Since Remote Buddy tells the PS3 Remote to close the connection when it quits, this is what is wanted and expected. Keeping the connection open would be a waste of energy.
Okay, we have established that this is just a way to force the
connection to be closed, so we can more easily reproduce the issue.
7) Re-open Remote Buddy program again. Now we see:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/588496/RB-PS3-REMOTE/007-rb-2nd-launch.png
Which mean that the remote was not detected.
Sorry, but this is an incorrect assumption ..
Sorry - I just expected the Remote Buddy would initiate a connection
from host -> remote. We have established now that there can be correct
operation which the BD Remote as silent (powered down) until a key is
pressed. Sorry I did not know this previously but am now aware of
that.
This means that the pairing was either 1) forgotten. 2) Pairing was never completed. So un-finished pairing cannot be re-instated after the serial link / UART has closed.
... and these are incorrect conclusions :-)
I can assure you that Remote Buddy has neither forgotten your remote nor does this indicate that pairing "was never completed".
Yes - we I agree we have yet to find the real issue here.
Remote Buddy simply only shows those Bluetooth remotes here that are currently powered on and have established a connection.
To establish a connection from your remote to your Mac, simply shortly press any button on the remote. Do not use the "Enter + Start" button combination for this, however (that'll reset any open connection and put the remote in visible mode for pairing with new devices) - and don't press the PS button for a longer period of time (that'll turn off our remote).
Okay - this is where things go wrong for my setup. In my experiences -
after the connection is closed the 1st time it can never be
re-established by pressing any single button. When the button press
occurs some L2CAP Bluetooth event is received on the host computer.
However the result is Mac OS Pairing Request Dialog box.
RB may subscribe to or receive some of the notifications for L2CAP
interrupt channel and L2CAP control channel for the registered SONY BD
device. RB knows the Bluetoth Device ID (its shown in the list in RB
Preferences -> Hardware).
Perhaps some, but certainly not all of the required bluetooth
notifications are received or by RB program. Specifically, we may not
receive the following callback:
+l2capChannelData:data:length:
This is as far as I have gone using the example Cocoa App and
IOBluetooth notifications. I appreciate that much more knowledge is
needed to understand these L2CAP bluetooth channels.
Felix - I will email you towards the end of today with the screenshots
you requested. And the example xcode project. Many thanks.
Best regards,
Felix Schwarz
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