| Author | Thread |
User 03.09.2010 09:19:39 | Plex issue, remote won't respond when in background | |
This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information. Currently I can't use the Apple remote when Plex is in the background. I have to bring Plex to the front in order for the remote to respond. On the other hand if I use XBMC, the remote works fine either way, whether XBMC is in the background or not. I'm not sure if this is a new issue because of Plex 9 or something else. Also, if I quit Remote Buddy, then it works fine, I can use the remote when Plex is in the foreground or background. Please advice. Last edited: 03.09.2010 09:40:10 Last edited: 03.09.2010 21:35:50
| These entries from the FAQ may be relevant to this topic: Hardware - Apple® Remote
To enable you to use all capabilities of the IR Receiver of your Mac®, Remote Buddy is using its own driver. In contrast, all other applications with integrated Apple® Remote support usually use the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem.
As long as you're running Remote Buddy, Remote Buddy and its driver are responsible for turning the received button presses into actions. As soon as you quit Remote Buddy, this task is again handled by the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem.
If other applications don't use the interface to the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem correctly, this can lead to the effect that nothing happens when you press a button on your Apple® Remote. For as long as you're running Remote Buddy, issues like this are covered by Remote Buddy and it's driver and are therefore not visible to you. However, as soon as you quit Remote Buddy, the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem is back in control and any issues caused in it by other applications become visible.
Therefore Remote Buddy is neither the cause of the issue nor is it responsible for it. Instead, the cause of the issue exists independently of Remote Buddy. It's located elsewhere and can also only be solved there.
Although our products can't cause any such issues, we're regularly contacted about such issues and asked for help. In order to make locating and fixing the cause of such issues as easy and efficient as possible, we've developed a free diagnostics tool: Remote Control Diagnostics. It can locate issues with a single click and will provide you with information about the issue as well as with instructions on how you can fix it.
Please update your copy of Remote Buddy to version 1.15 or later.
| User 04.09.2010 07:50:42 | Re: Plex issue, remote won't respond when in background | |
This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information. Thanks for asking. A few thoughts: 1) If you're using actions from the actual Plex Behaviour that comes with Remote Buddy: these haven't changed and Remote Buddy continues to send UDP packets like it also does for Boxee and XBMC. If Plex no longer handles/ignores these when in the background, this is a most likely a bug in Plex. 2) If you're using actions from the Virtual Remote to control Plex: again, these haven't changed in Remote Buddy and it'd appear that in this case Plex now turns off its Apple Remote support when in the background. This, actually, would be a good thing, because it'd match with how almost all other applications on the Mac use the Apple Remote. Best regards,
Felix Schwarz
| User 04.09.2010 08:48:13 | Re: Plex issue, remote won't respond when in background | |
This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information. The problem seems worse than I thought, this issue seems present in both Plex 8 and Plex 9. I'm using the default Plex behavior. Even if I use custom actions it doesn't work. Using the virtual apple remote actions doesn't work either. If I try "run actor" it does work, and Plex responds to commands while it's in the background. So it seems there is just a conflict over the apple remote between Plex and RB. I don't think that Plex turns off Apple Remote support in the background because when I quit RB, the apple remote works in the background for controlling Plex. And again, other programs such as Hulu Desktop and XBMC work with the apple remote while they are in the background.
| User 04.09.2010 15:15:46 | Re: Re: Plex issue, remote won't respond when in background | |
This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information. The problem seems worse than I thought, this issue seems present in both Plex 8 and Plex 9. I'm using the default Plex behavior. Are you sure the Plex Behaviour is actually active when Plex is in the background? I just tried with Plex 0.8.5 - and it works fine. Even if I use custom actions it doesn't work. Using the virtual apple remote actions doesn't work either. If I try "run actor" it does work, and Plex responds to commands while it's in the background. If you're using a Virtual Remote action in your Custom Action and it behaves like this, this for me is a strong hint that the Plex Behaviour is not actually active when you run Plex in the background. So it seems there is just a conflict over the apple remote between Plex and RB. Plex and RB can't conflict over the Apple Remote - they use two completely different subsystems that were designed specifically so that they can't conflict with one another: Plex uses the OS X Apple Remote subsystem - and Remote Buddy uses its own driver architecture. Conflicts over the Apple Remote are only possible between applications that use the OS X Apple Remote subsystem - f.ex. between Plex/Boxee/XBMC and other Apple Remote tools. Knowing how painful such conflicts are for users, I've gone to the length of implementing a completely own driver architecture for Remote Buddy, completely working around such issues altogether - and enabling advanced features like the only fully compatible Apple Remote emulation in the market (in the form of the Virtual Remote), way better responsiveness, complete support for the Aluminum Apple Remote and multiple remotes all in the same go. I don't think that Plex turns off Apple Remote support in the background because when I quit RB, the apple remote works in the background for controlling Plex. Ok. This was just an idea - since I didn't have a chance to look at Plex 9, yet. Please check which Behaviour is actually active when Plex is in the background (you can see this f.ex. in the Remote Buddy pull down menu that you reach via the Remote Buddy icon). Best regards,
Felix Schwarz
| User 04.09.2010 19:58:02 | Re: Plex issue, remote won't respond when in background | |
This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information. Thanks for the reply. Yes I tried manually enabling the behavior, and whenever Plex gets on the background, the Plex behavior gets deactivated. Also it seems hulu desktop behaves in the same way, it works in the foreground but gets deactivated in background. Note that I switch to the Finder, which shouldn't trigger behavior deactivation. What confuses me is that XBMC works differently, it works in both foreground and background. I understand that I could use "Manually activated Behaviours stay active until they are explicitly deactivated" but then I lose automatic behavior changing. If it helps, the "checked" behaviors I have in RB settings are: Boxee
DVD player
Hulu Desktop
Plex
XBMC Only one of these programs is launched, the others are quit to prevent conflict on RB automatic behavior switching.
| User 05.09.2010 17:46:11 | Re: Re: Plex issue, remote won't respond when in background | |
This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information. Automatic switching is independent of particular applications - including system applications like Finder, iCal & co. If it wouldn't treat all applications equal, people who want to create and use a Behaviour for the Finder (I personally know of some) would not be able to do so. So, with automatic switching, the Behaviour to be used is *always* re-determined whenever the active application changes (which - as said - of course also includes switches to system applications like Finder, iCal & co). This is what happens whenever the active application changes: 1) Remote Buddy checks whether it has a Behaviour that can control the currently active application. If it finds one, it is used. 2) When none could be found, Remote Buddy asks the Behaviours whether they are capable of controlling any of the running background applications. If several controllable applications are running, the application state is often taken into account to pick a Behaviour. If a Behaviour that can control a background application is found, it is used. Examples for Behaviours that can control apps in the background are - among others - the Behaviours for iTunes and DVD Player. An example for application state being taken into account: if both iTunes and DVD Player run at the same time, Remote Buddy will control DVD Player if a DVD is in a drive - and control iTunes otherwise. 3) If no Behaviour could be found in 1+2, the "Default Behaviour" is used. What Behaviour is being displayed as being the Active Behaviour in the RB pull-down menu when you want to control Plex in the background? Best regards,
Felix Schwarz
| User 06.09.2010 20:29:56 | Re: Plex issue, remote won't respond when in background | |
This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information. No behavior is active. So when Plex is in the backgroud, I invoke the RB menu, it shows Plex at the top of the list but it's deactivated. Also like i mentioned earlier, all other apps are quit, hulu desktop, xbmc, etc.
| User 09.09.2010 10:59:46 | Re: Re: Plex issue, remote won't respond when in background | |
This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information. That's interesting. I can't really see why this would happen, so I'll need more info to look into this. Could you please send me 1) a screenshot of this situation
2) the file runningApps.txt from your Dekstop after entering
COLUMS=1024 ps aux >~/Desktop/runningApps.txt
in Terminal.app?
3) your Remote Buddy settings files (~/Library/Preferences/com.iospirit.remotebuddy.*)
4) any custom RB Behaviours (~/Library/Application Support/Remote Buddy/Behaviours/*) to the info email address at iospirit.com, so I can have a closer look? Thanks in advance. Best regards,
Felix Schwarz
| User 20.09.2010 03:50:54 | Re: Plex issue, remote won't respond when in background | |
This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information. I've just emailed you with the requested files as well as a screencast. Thanks for your attention.
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