Differences between 21 NE and 22 NO

Help & Support Remote Controllers
1

TOX3 S905x4 user here. Are there any major differences between how MCE remotes are handled between NE 21 and NO 22? Clean install on the latest nightly, even tried the NO 22 Alpha. All defaults, and using a Harmony with MCE profile.

NE 21 is fine with MCE, but on NO 22 the MCE remote lags badly. Obviously without using a remote.conf I can’t tweak delay / repeats. I’ve looked through the protocols via SSH and can’t see anything obvious. For testing I used the original TOX3 remote with a remote.conf and it’s really good, super slick on NO 22. Happy to test anything. Cheers

2

I don’t know about meson-ir differences between NE and NO (I’d wouldn’t expect any significant changes), but why not use amremote?

The meson-ir driver uses software decoding, amremote uses hardware decoding, so it should be a little more responsive. The main reason for meson-ir is when a remote uses an IR protocol that’s not supported by amremote. Google suggests MCE remotes use RC6 which is supported by amremote.

I’d create the MCE .conf myself, but I don’t have such a remote in my hands.

There’s a walkthrough of the process here. If you create it, then it can be added here for others too.

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3

Thanks for the detailed reply. I did think of creating a conf for MCE but the scan codes did not follow the syntax of the guide, I seemed to be going down a rabbit hole, if I’m explaining that correctly :blush: Specifically, the same key was producing different codes with each press.

Maybe I’ll revisit Amremote. I spent a good few hours trying to work around the lag, but just kept thinking…. It’s working in NE 21 so what gives. As NO 22 is still in active development this could also be a bug, but I see that discussion thread has been closed. My other older box, an S912, is still running Leia and the MCE remote is good there too - all stock with no conf.

4

Looking closer at the remote.conf files, they only support NEC even through the driver supports other protocols. So that’s not a solution if the RC6 protocol (MCE) is needed.

I haven’t used the meson-ir driver enough to know what might be the problem or difference between NE and NO.

5

I’d not noticed that detail, thanks for the info.

I suppose I could program my Harmony with a (any) NEC remote and then load or create the corresponding conf file. That’s a starter for ten.

6

I have harmony hub, I configured a device as Ugoos AM6.

Then programmed the IR commands from my UR02 to the available buttons. This gives good functionality of my Ugoos AM9

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vfd.conf (1.2 KB)

samba.conf (4.0 KB)

remote.conf (2.8 KB)

gen.xml (1.2 KB)

I load these 4 files when I set up a new Tox3. I currently am running 2 of. Both with harmonies.

I previously used the generic HP remote that didn’t require any file or programming changes but wanted to tryout the Tox3 remotes and got them to work ok :slight_smile:

I have found some buttons on the Tox3 remote can be used for other functions

They have been read into the key mapper app in CE to produce the Gen.xml.

I use an Harmony Smart remote and read most of the keys into its setup.

8

Thanks both. Good to hear from other harmony users.

bazzle, I have that same conf file right now, with the original tox3 remote.

Can I ask you both what version of CE you’re running?

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Im running latest Nighty NO 20260220

Working fine at the moment.

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10

Thanks, yea same here. Latest nightly.

Everything running fine, Tox3 is a really good box too, as others have said it runs really cool. Getting my Harmony working is the last piece of the jigsaw.

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11

I’m on the latest nightly 20260221 build, but my device is Ugoos AM9

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12

Quick update. I have a second brand new TOX3 box, the latest NO nightly is still laggy with MCE. What I’ve tested successfully is using a remote.conf for the Beelink and adding the Beelink device in Harmony. That works with zero lag.

The TOX3 isn’t in the Harmony Db so it’s a case of going through the remote repository to find a device that is, and also has lots of buttons. I tried learning the commands from the original TOX3 remote, using My Harmony software, but I always find it hit and miss.

13

When I first got mine I used Microsoft in the Harmony search. It uses MCE codes prob the same as you mentioned. It worked ok but lagged.

I then read in the codes to Harmony originally using my Laptop with Harmony app to read the ‘Tox’ remote as it was more forgiving.

I remapped some of the Tox remote buttons in Kodi (CE) later as a few have functions like Stop, Player Process Info etc.

It took a bit of effort but worked.

In CE I used the Remote.conf from my earlier post above to get it working.

MCE remote worked ‘Perfectly” in NE.

14

Yea, exact experience here. Very strange how it lags with NO on the same hardware. Thanks for confirming you experienced it too.

What I also did, was reduce the delays in MyHarmony to zero, the inter-device delay on the harmony remote to zero, and repeat in MyHarmony to zero. Just sticking with the delays inside the conf file (which are the same as the tox file you shared) works very fast.

Those same delays on Harmony still lagged with MCE so must be related to meson-ir

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15

Just tried using the Beelink.toml and updated the rc_maps.cfg

Beelink remote loaded onto Harmony, the lag is still there. The Beelink uses NEC so this does appear to point to ir-meson and not specific to MCE RC6

16

I can’t seem to find the answer to this. Can someone tell me the reason for the scancodes part of a conf file, as these are duplicated in the file as key_begin. Is it to force key codes otherwise CE uses defaults?

Eg

  fn_key_scancode    	= 0x00
  left_key_scancode  	= 0x51
  right_key_scancode 	= 0x50
  up_key_scancode    	= 0x16
  down_key_scancode  	= 0x1a
  ok_key_scancode    	= 0x13
  pageup_key_scancode 	= 0x55
  pagedown_key_scancode	= 0x54
17

I’m not certain, I think the scancode section is for IR mouse functionality, when switching to mouse mode. I don’t believe CE supports IR mouse functionality, so you can put all your button mapping between key_begin and key_end.

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18

Thanks, yes I also came across this. When I omitted fn_key_scancode the x00 button was sporadic. I guess that answers it.

https://discourse.coreelec.org/t/solved-key-code-0x00-always-switches-to-mouse-mode/12200/4

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