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Pinnacle Remote Control (Type B), usb 400e for DVB


tweiske

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I bought a Pinnacle PCTV SAT 400e, external sat receiver with USB connector, to watch TV at my notebook.

Along with the small box I got a remote control.

 

Everything looked nice but the shock came when I installed the Pinnacle software Pinnacle Media Center, it took endless long to install and I ended up with SQL-Server , an update to .net and lots of other programs. PMC is slow and not very stable. I tried to make a minimum install to get rid of SQL Server (what is Pinnacle storing there?) and the Media Server. But now PMC could not remember the channels... So I banned it from my disk. It took me another two hours to clean the registry with tools and by hand.

 

I came over DVBViewer after reading some message boards and bought it instantly. It works great out of the "box/download", no need to run a channel search and I am watching SAT TV on my notebook.

 

 

Pinnacle Remote

 

But how to get Remote Control working with DVBViewer?

 

I studied the DVBViewer board and tried some remote software and here are my results.

The external Pinnacle usb-box 400e includes the IR receiver. You have to point towards the box with the remote device.

I could not find lirc support for this solution. lirc needs a serial connected IR receiver.

 

So I decided to install the originally Pinnacel remote control software remoterm.exe and try to connect it to DVBViewer.

remoterm sits on the taskbar and dispatches the remote commands to the applications. The application is identified by its "window title".

Remoterm uses a profiles.ini file for storing the configuration of the remote keys.

 

How to get remoterm from Pinnacle CD

 

remoterm is included somwhere in the Pinnacle setup in one of the .cab files on the CD.

To extract it you need a tool called i6comp.exe. Google for it and download!

1. Copy the "Setup" folder from the Pinnacle PCTV CD to your disk

2. Copy i6comp.exe to this folder on your harddisk.

3. You need the command prompt to run it: Run "cmd" and "cd" to the setup folder .

4. "i6comp.exe e -r data1.cab" will extract the .cab files in Setup folder

 

You need two files: remoterm.exe and remot001.dll. For interest you can copy profiles.ini also, includes the Remote Key definitions for PMC.

Copy the files to a folder, e.g PCTVremote.

 

There is a documentation about the format of profiles.ini on your CD: \Documentation\Manual\PCTVMediaCenter_Remote_EN.pdf (auch in Deutsch)

 

 

Remoterm and DVBViewer

 

The missing piece now is a profiles.ini file that configures the Pinnacle Remote Control for DVBViewer.

I have created attached profiles.ini file that translates the remote control buttons to keyboard commands for DVBViewer.

 

1. Move the PCTVremote folder (that includes remoterm.exe, remot001.dll) to the "\Program Files\DVBViewer\Remotes" folder of DVBViewer installation.

So the folder structure should look like:

"\Program Files\DVBViewer\Remotes\PCTVremote ".

2. Save attached profiles.ini to the PCTVremote subfolder.

3. start remoterm.exe

 

If you start remoterm.exe it will ask for COM port, you can ignore it and press OK, since the IR receiver is connecetd via usb.

Now the yellow remoterm service sits on your taskbar.

Click right with your mouse on it and select "PCTV 400e USB IR".

Now the remote should work, you can test it via the test window of remoterm.

 

You can start remoterm manually, link it to Startup folder or register it as a windows service.

 

The remote-button-to-DVBViewer-function assigmnet is straight forward:

 

· If you press the big "P" button on your remote control it will bring up DVBViewer.

· Fullscreen will switch to Fullscreen mode.

· CH+/- or 0-9 will change the channel, VOL+/- the volume...

· REC will capture.

· DEL or TV will switch to TV mode or start the OSD menu (ESC).

 

If you do not like the button-function assignment edit profiles.ini. There is no need to restart remoterm, it will read any changes from profiles.ini instantly.

 

 

Remoterm profiles.ini file

 

The format is simple and easy to change. The .ini file is organized in sections.

 

Example:

[default]

; start DVBV with Remote Type B (this is a comment)

key1006=EXEC ..\..\DVBViewer.exe

 

If you press key1006 (the "big P") remoterm will execute DVBViewer located two folders above...

 

Example:

; mute audio

key1001=KEYBOARD m+^m

; red button(A)

key1009=KEYBOARD F5+^F5

 

Mute Button is translated into "press m" + "release m". ^ stands for release a key. The red button simulates F5 key.

 

Thats it.

 

 

Disclaimer

Feel free to use this document or any part of it.

profiles.ini

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

Seems it's not working anymore. Pinnacle is distributing remoterm utility without profiles.ini file. The code is hidden in dll. Do you have any ideas how to join software and PCTV remote?

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Wenn I start remoterm.exe it appears in the task bar with a red cross and it's not working. It does not ask for any COM settings. When I right click on the remote control symbol I see that "PCTV 400e USB IR" ist checked, which should by correct!? When I change it to "COM IR" than the red cross disappears, but of course it is still not working.

 

Any idea what's going wrong?

Edited by dgdg
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If I remember correctly the red cross means, that it didn't find the USB Device... is the 400e properly installed in the system? Maybe you need to reattach it (unplug it for a short time). That was necessary on nearly every reboot, for me, if the 400e wasn't resettet, too (for example by cutting it's power).

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Yes, I know about this problems with the 400e. But the 400e is found by DVBViewer and works as DVB device.

 

But I did not install the Pinnacle software, only the BDA drivers. I do not want to have the Pinnacle Media Center or TVCentral on my server.

 

Maybe additional drivers are needed?

Edited by dgdg
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I am one step further. remoterm.exe finds the USB receiver now.

 

The version of remoterm.exe I used yesterday was to old. Obviously it did not work together with the newer BDA drivers. I'm now using remoterm.exe from the actual TVCenter.

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My 400e remote control works now nearly perfect. But I would like to change the key mapping. Unfortunatly I can not find my original Pinnacle CD. Could anybody send me the PDF helpfile from the CD mentioned in the first posting which explains the structure of the profile.ini? German or English version does not matter.

 

Please send me an PM and I will send you my email address.

 

EDIT: I found the PDF file on the Pinnacle site.

Edited by dgdg
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If anyone is interested I figured out how to make any key work rapidly, not just one stroke per key press.

 

key[x]=FIRST COMMAND

key[x+64]=CONTINUOUS COMMAND

 

For example on my PCTV USB Stick 70e I did rewind like this:

 

key14=KEYBOARD RIGHT+^RIGHT

key78=KEYBOARD RIGHT+^RIGHT

 

Now I can hold my rewind button and the player rewinds until I let go.

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Thank you for this hint. I read this in the help file but I didn't really understand, how to use it.

 

I have 3 more questions:

 

1. Do you have an idea, why tweiske did use key numbers like key1001 in his remote.ini (in the first post of this thread)?

Such key numbers are not mentioned in the help file. I was confused and I thought that this had something to do with the repeat function.

 

2. I have one problem left. When I press for instance channel up or channel down, than DVBViewer often gets more than one key stroke. Same problem with the directions keys in the OSD. So it is very difficult to navigate in the OSD or switch channels. Is this normal? Any idea how to solve this?

 

3. What is the right keyword for backspace? The help file reads "BACK" but tweiske uses BACKSPC. BACK does not work her and BACKSPC confuses remoterm.

 

I use the Pinnacle typ A remote control together with the 400e DVB-C USB receiver.

Edited by dgdg
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  • 1 month later...
Thank you for this hint. I read this in the help file but I didn't really understand, how to use it.

 

I have 3 more questions:

 

1. Do you have an idea, why tweiske did use key numbers like key1001 in his remote.ini (in the first post of this thread)?

Such key numbers are not mentioned in the help file. I was confused and I thought that this had something to do with the repeat function.

 

2. I have one problem left. When I press for instance channel up or channel down, than DVBViewer often gets more than one key stroke. Same problem with the directions keys in the OSD. So it is very difficult to navigate in the OSD or switch channels. Is this normal? Any idea how to solve this?

 

3. What is the right keyword for backspace? The help file reads "BACK" but tweiske uses BACKSPC. BACK does not work her and BACKSPC confuses remoterm.

 

I use the Pinnacle typ A remote control together with the 400e DVB-C USB receiver.

 

1. I think tweiske just has different remote model with different codes... I can't think of anything else..

 

2. When I conf buttons in my profiles.ini and I don't have a "x+64" -command for particular button no matter how long I keep that button pressed on my remote it will never trigger more than once (and I won't get more than one channel change in DVBViewer) so you might have those x+64 commands somewhere and that might be the reason.

 

3. On my remoterm KEYBOARD BACKSPC+^BACKSPC works fine. Maybe try to get newer version somewhere? Also try changing the [DVBViewer] to [profiles.ini - Notepad] or something like that and try if the backspace works on the notepad.

 

Hope this helps

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  • 1 month later...
I bought a Pinnacle PCTV SAT 400e, external sat receiver with USB connector, to watch TV at my notebook.

I tried this on Pinnacle PCTV DVB-T 70e, DVBViewer pro recognized it, but the remote controller insists that there is PCTV 400e, to which it tries to connect, but to DVBT USB stick IR (which is the name of my device) it doesnot connect. How is it possible to solve this issue?

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