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User

26.02.2013 21:49:55

Play/Pause on Apple Remote doesn't work

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

Apple remote (aluminum) works with RB on eyetv Diversity and iMac (late 2012)/OSX 10.8.2 with except for the play and select buttons, which don't do anything. Candelair appears to make no difference and the problem occurs in at least several applications (including VLC and DVD Player).

Pressing the buttons results in a signal. Any ideas?

These entries from the FAQ may be relevant to this topic:

Hardware

Remote Buddy does no longer react to button presses on the remote. (FAQ015E0222)
- Please make sure you have the latest version of Remote Buddy installed. If in doubt, download the latest version, quit Remote Buddy, delete it, empty your trash, then copy the downloaded version of Remote Buddy to your harddrive and start it from there.
- Please make sure, that you have installed the latest version of the Remote Buddy drivers. You can install the drivers using the Setup Wizard (=> access it via the Remote Buddy pulldown menu).
- Check your Remote Buddy settings in the Hardware category. Your remote control should be listed there and the lamp next to it should be green. If you don't find your remote control there, either the Remote Buddy drivers were not installed or installed in an outdated version - or - there is a general problem with the device. For USB devices, plugging the device to another port or resetting the PMU and/or SMC-unit of your Mac® (=> find guides on how to do this for your Mac® in the support area of apple.com) may help. If you can't find it under "USB" in the System Profiler (=> /Applications/Utilities) either, a hardware defect is as well possible.
- Check the batteries of your remote control.
- If your remote control has an on/off switch: make sure that your remote control is switched on.
- If your remote control requires additional receiver hardware: make sure that it is correctly attached to your computer and that it turns up in System Profiler.
- If you use an Apple® Remote, you should also check your system settings. Quit Remote Buddy, then open System Preferences.app > Security. Please make sure that the option to disable the infrared receiver is NOT active and click on "Unpair" should you have paired your Apple® Remote with your Mac®. After that, start Remote Buddy. If your Apple® Remote still doesn't work with Remote Buddy, please also check its preferences for the Apple® Remote. They can be found at Preferences > Hardware > Built-in IR receiver. If support for multiple remote controls is enabled there, ensure that your remote control is checked in the right table (=> you can find the correct entry for your remote control by pressing a button on it).
- If you are using a Keyspan™ RF Remote for Front Row, re-pair its remote control and receiver by simultaneously pressing the small knob on the back of the remote control and the knob on the receiver stick (the knob looks like the blinking LED, except it does not blink).

Hardware - Apple® Remote

After uninstalling/quitting Remote Buddy, my Mac® no longer reacts to the Apple® Remote. (FAQ015E0241)
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.
After updating to OS X 10.6.2, my Apple® Remote is no longer available for selection in Remote Buddy. (FAQ015E0236)
Please update your copy of Remote Buddy to version 1.15 or later.

Hardware - EyeTV Receiver

Which receivers are supported? (FAQ015E0211)
The latest info on hard- and software-requirements including info on support hardware can be found on the dedicated page for EyeTV receivers.

Please consider making use of the free Remote Buddy trial version to test your device for compatibility directly on your computer.

User

26.02.2013 21:56:01

Re: Play/Pause on Apple Remote doesn't work

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

Thanks for asking.

From the supported hardware page (http://www.iospirit.com/products/remotebuddy/hardware/#eyetvreceivers):

"* The Apple® Remote (Aluminium) can be used. With this receiver type, the seperate Select- and Play/Pause-buttons can't be mapped independantly, though."

Best regards,
Felix Schwarz

User

28.02.2013 19:47:37

Re: Play/Pause on Apple Remote doesn't work

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

Hallo and thanks for the quick response.

I had seen the comment you refer to, but I interpreted it to mean that the two buttons couldn't be programmed with 2 different functions rather than that they can't be programmed at all. Is there any chance that this will be fixed? The play/pause function is important (at least to me).

Thanks

Nick

User

01.03.2013 11:22:02

Re: Play/Pause on Apple Remote doesn't work

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

Thanks for asking.

You can customize the actions for the "Select" button, with the "Play/Pause" button performing the same action.

The problem at hand is that Apple used a smart tweak while adding the extra button: it sends the same IR code for both the "Select" and "Play/Pause" button, but sends an additional, special IR code when you press the "Play/Pause" button. These two IR codes are sent in such rapid succession that they're not always reliably received/decoded by EyeTV receivers.

Support could be added for the "Play/Pause" button, but it would not be reliable. If an estimated 50% of the time, the extra button is not recognized correctly, however, and another action gets executed, all that would cause is frustration. That's why there's no support for the additional "Play/Pause" button on the aluminum models.

That said, Remote Buddy does support the extra button with all other external receivers (f.ex. eHome/MCE).

Best regards,
Felix Schwarz

User

03.03.2013 20:01:33

Re: Play/Pause on Apple Remote doesn't work

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

Thanks for the answer. It sounds as though it's a hardware problem with Apple's remote. The obvious answer, at least to me, should therefore be to allocate the play/pause function to another button. I tried this though (to the Menu button, with the Remote Buddy Menu being assigned to 'Menu long') but this simply blocks the Menu button completely, i.e. neither function works.

The play/pause and select buttons don't seem to work regardless of which function is assigned to them, even when its the same function.

I'm setting the buttons in global settings rather than for individual programs. Remote buddy also seems to identifying my remote (Apple aluminium) as an Apple 1st gen. plastic remote. Could this be causing the problems?

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