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 ADD A LINK TO DOCUMENTATION HERE.
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 neccesary 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
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 complet list of supported keys in VLC 0.8.6:
Fullscreen -> key-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.
