Unbranded MCE remote

Unbranded MCE remote


There is no manufacturer's name on this remote or the manual, and it is sold via numerous Asian resellers, but on the PCB of the receiver you can read the OEM name www.tigerfly.net. It can be used with Logitech Harmony Remote Software by picking Computer>>Media Center PC>>Chinavasion>>CVSB-983.

They are available on Ebay and DealExtreme for as little as ~$10 including shipping (often marketed as e g $2 for the device and $8 for shipping but since the cost for two is $20 this is just a trick). It's cheap and feels a bit flimsy, but it works well enough. It simulates the MS Media Center keypresses and will work out of the box on Windows, Linux and probably OSX. It also simulates a mouse including mouse buttons, although it's no match for a proper mouse or trackpad.

It isn't very configurable and certain buttons don't work as they should: The fast forward and rewind buttons skip forward or backwards instead of moving gradually. This is because they send a bunch of keypresses (ctrl, shift, arrow, letter "B" etc). If the software is set to detect ctrl + arrow (left or right) it probably works.

If you want to add mappings for the four coloured keys here are the entries you need in keyboard.xml. Every button can be mapped, with one possible exception (the red Power button).

Update 16th Jan: the rewind button sends three keypresses, left, then ctrl-left, then ctrl-shift-B. The left press causes the video to jump back 30 seconds. With the later releases of XBMC the ctrl-shift-B then starts the rewind (release v9.11 ignores ctrl-keypresses).

Update 1st Nov 2010: Requires a minor kernel patch to support all buttons in Linux. See patch in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/607062. Once patched, works well with Linux.

Update 12th June 2011: I've bought one recently. They must have changed hardware or whatever because mine works well with XBMC out of the box both on Win7 and Linux Ubuntu. Most keys are functioning correctly and 4 colored keys can be mapped by adding the following entries in keymap.xml:

Update November 6, 2011: This remote works out of the box on a vanilla install of Ubuntu (11.1). It is auto-detected as a keyboard and mouse. It is no good for typing. It is only slightly better for moving the mouse pointer around the screen. The buttons are dependable though, and if you are looking for a cheap remote that does the job this should be a candidate. Here is a more complete map for every key on the remote except the Red Power Button. These changes go in your keyboard.xml file. Make sure that there are no duplicate mappings (with PVR settings). The default behavior is to pop up a notification with the key combination passed. You should probably replace this behavior with what you want.

XML above tabulated : And yes, sometimes between then and now, the command for color button changes. f1, f2, f3, and f4 becomes one, two, three, and four caused by keyboard.xml auto update from the repository.

Update December 28, 2013: This remote works out of the box with Openelec 3.1.x. No configuration is needed. Some additional info regarding the red power button of this remote:
 * Only this button is able to wake-up the HTPC from sleep mode. Pressing other buttons have no effect on a suspended machine.
 * This button sends three keypresses. However it is possible to map it to switch off the system directly instead of showing a menu. See this example below.