VLC HowTo/Use with lirc

This page describes how to to use VLC media player with an infra red remote control on Linux.

Other "how to" pages

Note: This article is about advanced lirc usage with VLC. For basic stuff please see Documentation:Modules/lirc.

The aim is to have your remote behave the same way as for a television remote: program +/-, volume +/-, jump to position 3 when button 3 is pressed,...

Build-in lirc commands are only for basic control in the movie-playing mode, but I need to use other commands from RC Interface - mainly "goto x" function. So the goal was to be able to use goto function with lirc.

VLC

Use a VLC version with lirc enabled.

Start-Up Script

#start/stop script for lircd+vlc for Kubuntu 6.10
start() {
   echo "Starting lirc support..."
   sudo setserial /dev/ttyS0 uart none       #serial port down
   sudo /sbin/modprobe lirc_serial           #load module
   sudo /sbin/modprobe lirc_dev           #load module
   sudo /usr/local/sbin/lircd --driver=default --device=/dev/lirc0 --output=/dev/lircd --pidfile=/var/run/lircd.pid --listen  #run lirc daemon
   sudo chmod 666 /dev/lircd                 #access
   sudo irexec -d   #daemon to pass ir commands
}

stop() {
   echo "Stoping lirc support..."
   sudo /usr/bin/killall -w lircd                #kill lirc daemon
   sudo /sbin/rmmod lirc_serial              #unload module
   sudo /sbin/rmmod lirc_dev                 #unload module
   sudo setserial /dev/ttyS0 uart 16550A     #serial port up
}

restart() {
   stop
   sleep 2
   start
}

case "$1" in
'start')
  start
  ;;
'stop')
   stop
   ;;
'restart')
  restart
   ;;
*)
echo "usage $0 start|stop|restart"
esac
exit 0

Scripts

It is necessary to run vlc with rc interface to use all the supported commands (see vlc help). I use this script to run VLC with rc intf. Lircd is loaded and later unloaded. I have a desktop shortcut icon and I had to change properties of the shortcut to run in terminal. The other option is vlc --fake-tty option, but this uses 100 % CPU :-(

#/bin/bash
/home/ondra/.vlc/ovladac.sh start
vlc -I rc --rc-host localhost:12345 /home/ondra/playlist.m3u   
/home/ondra/.vlc/ovladac.sh stop

I use irexec to pass commands to VLC rc intf. Commands can be passed with netcat: echo "vlc_rc_command" | netcat localhost 12345 -q 1 (q means quit after 1 s). Commands are written in scripts, which are executed with irexec:

Here is a script, which is executed when remote button 1 is pressed. The others are similar.

$ cat play1.sh

#!/bin/bash
echo "goto 0" | netcat localhost 12345 -q 1

.lircrc

See also: An example .lircrc file included with VLC viewable online; it is not part of this guide but it may be more up-to-date

The last part of the .lircrc file.

There are defined actions for all requested buttons. irexec executes concerned shell script.

# remote numbers
begin
        prog = irexec
        button = 1
        config = /home/ondra/.vlc/play1.sh  &\n
end

begin
        prog = irexec
        button = 2
        config = /home/ondra/.vlc/play2.sh  &\n
end

begin
        prog = irexec
        button = 3
        config = /home/ondra/.vlc/play3.sh  &\n
end

begin
        prog = irexec
        button = 4
        config = /home/ondra/.vlc/play4.sh  &\n
end

begin
        prog = irexec
        button = 5
        config = /home/ondra/.vlc/play5.sh  &\n
end

begin
        prog = irexec
        button = 6
        config = /home/ondra/.vlc/play6.sh  &\n
end

begin
        prog = irexec
        button = 7
        config = /home/ondra/.vlc/play7.sh  &\n
end

begin
        prog = irexec
        button = 8
        config = /home/ondra/.vlc/play8.sh  &\n
end

begin
        prog = irexec
        button = 9
        config = /home/ondra/.vlc/play9.sh  &\n
end

begin
        prog = irexec
        button = 0
        config = /home/ondra/.vlc/play0.sh  &\n
end
begin
        prog = irexec
        button = Menu
        config = /home/ondra/.vlc/pause.sh  &\n
end

This is the complete list of supported keys in VLC 0.8.6:

Fullscreen -> key-toggle-fullscreen
Play/Pause -> key-play-pause
Pause only -> key-pause
Play only -> key-play
Faster -> key-faster
Slower -> key-slower
Next -> key-next
Previous -> key-prev
Stop -> key-stop
Position -> key-position
Very short backwards jump -> key-jump-extrashort
Very short forward jump -> key-jump+extrashort
Short backwards jump -> key-jump-short
Short forward jump -> key-jump+short
Medium backwards jump -> key-jump-medium
Medium forward jump -> key-jump+medium
Long backwards jump -> key-jump-long
Long forward jump -> key-jump+long
Activate -> key-nav-activate
Navigate up -> key-nav-up
Navigate down -> key-nav-down
Navigate left -> key-nav-left
Navigate right -> key-nav-right
Go to the DVD menu -> key-disc-menu
Select previous DVD title -> key-title-prev
Select next DVD title -> key-title-next
Select prev DVD chapter -> key-chapter-prev
Select next DVD chapter -> key-chapter-next
Quit -> key-quit
Volume up -> key-vol-up
Volume down -> key-vol-down
Mute -> key-vol-mute
Subtitle delay up -> key-subdelay-up
Subtitle delay down -> key-subdelay-down
Audio delay up -> key-audiodelay-up
Audio delay down -> key-audiodelay-down
Cycle audio track -> key-audio-track
Cycle subtitle track -> key-subtitle-track
Cycle source aspect ratio -> key-aspect-ratio
Cycle video crop -> key-crop
Cycle deinterlace modes -> key-deinterlace
Show interface -> key-intf-show
Hide interface -> key-intf-hide
Take video snapshot -> key-snapshot
Go back in browsing history -> key-history-back
Go forward in browsing history -> key-history-forward
Record -> key-record
Dump -> key-dump
Crop one pixel from the top of the video -> key-crop-top
Uncrop one pixel from the top of the video -> key-uncrop-top
Crop one pixel from the left of the video -> key-crop-left
Uncrop one pixel from the left of the video -> key-uncrop-left
Crop one pixel from the bottom of the video -> key-crop-bottom
Uncrop one pixel from the bottom of the video -> key-uncrop-bottom
Crop one pixel from the right of the video -> key-crop-right
Uncrop one pixel from the right of the video -> key-uncrop-right
Set playlist bookmark 1 -> key-set-bookmark1
Set playlist bookmark 2 -> key-set-bookmark2
Set playlist bookmark 3 -> key-set-bookmark3
Set playlist bookmark 4 -> key-set-bookmark4
Set playlist bookmark 5 -> key-set-bookmark5
Set playlist bookmark 6 -> key-set-bookmark6
Set playlist bookmark 7 -> key-set-bookmark7
Set playlist bookmark 8 -> key-set-bookmark8
Set playlist bookmark 9 -> key-set-bookmark9
Set playlist bookmark 10 -> key-set-bookmark10
Play playlist bookmark 1 -> key-play-bookmark1
Play playlist bookmark 2 -> key-play-bookmark2
Play playlist bookmark 3 -> key-play-bookmark3
Play playlist bookmark 4 -> key-play-bookmark4
Play playlist bookmark 5 -> key-play-bookmark5
Play playlist bookmark 6 -> key-play-bookmark6
Play playlist bookmark 7 -> key-play-bookmark7
Play playlist bookmark 8 -> key-play-bookmark8
Play playlist bookmark 9 -> key-play-bookmark9
Play playlist bookmark 10 -> key-play-bookmark10 

Can be extracted using this command:

$ vlc -H --advanced 2>&1 |sed -n '/--key/ {s/^\ *--//; s/^\(.*\) <[^>]*>\ *\(.*\)$/\2 -> \1/; h}; /^.*[^ ].*-> key/ p; /^ -> key/ { n; s/^[ \t\n]*//M; G; s/\n//; p}'

Version

This has been written by [User:J-b] using Ondřej Kuda's HowTo.

See also

• Original post on VideoLAN forum
• Gentoo Wiki's HowTo
• Enhanced VLC lirc remote control