Android streaming box with mouse functions

[dtrump]

I recently received a RUPA Android streaming box to review for Amazon Vine. Capturing a few commands, it is using NEC1 Device 0. The remote itself has a nice tactile feel but some buttons don't always issue a command on a click making it very frustrating. To add to the frustration, some screen navigation options require going into a "Mouse Mode" that moves a cursor around the screen. I don't know if that is inherent in the Android OS that is being used, but combined with the up/down cursor keys that are intermittent, it is a bad experience trying to use this thing.

I have a 2.4 GHz capable keyboard & mouse combo with a dongle and those do work better than the remote, but using a mouse in my recliner isn't a good option.

Has anyone dealt with such an animal in the JP1 world? I think it defies being useful if I rely on the OEM remote but even if I program a remote button to toggle to mouse mode, I don't like it.

Dick

[dtrump]

I have since found that many "Android TV" remotes include "Air Mouse" functions with a dongle for the mouse functions. That suggests that what I am seeing with my device is typical except that the mouse function is a toggled mode on the remote that only allows up/down and left/right moves. There are multiple 3rd party remotes that support the air mouse capability along with a dongle. Many include a QWERTY keyboard on the back side, definitely a plus when dealing with log-in of paid subscription streaming services.

Many of those remotes offer learning capability, so presumably even if the default IR mode does not conform to the same protocol I observed, it could be learned to work with my device. Obviously, with the near demise of available JP1 remotes, the chances of a versatile - do everything with anything - fully customizable remote is - well - remote.

I still invite any comments from users that have dealt with this type of device in the JP1 world.

Dick

[The Robman]

Many years back, we had an Apex DVD player where the original remote had a "shift" button that you had to press to convert certain buttons into arrow buttons, and then you'd have to press it again to un-shift them when you were done navigating. Needless to say, people found that annoying, so we invented a custom executor that would send the shift button, followed by the arrow button, then the shift button again. It was quite popular, so much so that UEI even adopted it as an official executor.

If you think something like that would be useful here, let me know. I'd need to see the full list of OBCs for the device first.

[dtrump]

Thanks, Rob.

It might be useful if it supported repeat of the function while in "shifted" status. I would have some concern that it might get out of sync since the shift is a toggling command with on-screen display of what it just did.

I'm inclined at this point to use this in my office where I have a 22" TV that doubles as an extended desktop of my PC. I already have a Tivo mini that serves most of my viewing. But the Tivo has a limited number of apps which is why we have a Roku on our main system, a fairly new 65" LG OLED. I definitely won't be replacing the Roku with this Android device on that system. It is an open floor plan and we have 3 Harmony remotes strategically placed that would never handle this Android device as well as it can the Roku.

Since most of my viewing in my office is at my desk, I can keep a wireless mouse for navigation of the Android device, supplementing my URC-8820 that handles everything else.

I've described two of our viewing areas, so I'll describe the other 1.5 areas that I'm rather proud of the configuration. In our newly finished walkout lower level, we have our older Toshiba 42" equipped with another Tivo mini and a Roku that run through a simple 3x1 HDMI switch. That is controlled with a 3680 programmed with JP1. In an adjacent unfinished area we have a treadmill with a 22" LG fed by an HDMI extender over CAT cable that includes IR extension back to the transmitter. A 3660 controls the LG and the other 3 devices back in the main room. In the future, if we upgrade either TV, we need to be sure that the two TVs are different brands so they don't conflict.

Dick

[dtrump]

For future reference, my device, a RUPA Android streaming box uses the same protocol as the Nexbox A95X as posted by Paul608085 in 2020.

I had learned enough keys to get most of the way there, but found the Nexbox matched what I had learned. Some commands exist in the Nexbox file that don't exist on my remote, but otherwise it matches quite well.

Since the RUPA remote had some poorly functioning buttons, my URC-8810 works much better. I still think some kind of real (desktop or air) mouse is a better way to operate this device.

Dick

[The Robman]

For future reference, my device, a RUPA Android streaming box uses the same protocol as the Nexbox A95X as posted by Paul608085 in 2020.

The best way to refer files to us is to simply post a link to them:
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=26090

I recently received a RUPA Android streaming box to review for Amazon Vine. Capturing a few commands, it is using NEC1 Device 0.

The file above uses NEC1, dev 0, sub-device 223, are you sure this is the same? Assuming the original "NEC1 Device 0" was a typo, I see the Nexbox uses OBCs in the range 1-95, so the Apex 1100W's logic of using the MSB will still work. However, I see that that executor only supports 1 device code, but that appears to be an RM limitation rather than an executor limitation. That means I would need to update the protocols.ini entry for this.

Since the RUPA remote had some poorly functioning buttons, my URC-8810 works much better. I still think some kind of real (desktop or air) mouse is a better way to operate this device.

So, the idea behind the Apex executor was that it would give a way to access the arrow buttons without needing to hit SHIFT first. In your case, these are "mouse" buttons, can you really replicate a mouse with a remote? Are are the mouse buttons in this case, really arrow buttons? I looked in the Nexbox file and don't see a SHIFT code.


Here is the new code for protocols.ini:

[Apex 1100W]
PID=00 46
VariantName=2
CmdParms=Style:Norm|Shift=0,OBC:7=0
CmdTranslator=Translator(lsb,comp,1,7,0) Translator(comp,0,1,7)
Notes=This executor sends ordinary NEC1 if Style is Norm. If Style is set to Shift, 3 NEC frames are transmitted. The first and third send the Shift OBC, while the second sends the normal OBC. This 3 frame signal does not repeat
DevParms=Device Code=4,Sub-device=251,Shift OBC=5
DeviceTranslator=Translator(lsb,comp,0,8,0) Translator(lsb,comp,1,8,8) Translator(lsb,comp,2,8,16)
FixedData=DF 20 5F
Code.S3C80=43 8B 31 8B 12 CF 44 08 08 01 13 01 0A 01 13 03 3E D2 DC 11 94 08 B6 76 06 01 6B 0B 46 29 4D E4 06 05 60 06 8D 01 49 46 06 01 58 05 68 06 59 06 F6 FF 3E 69 05 69 06 F6 FF 3E 59 05 59 06 60 06 8D 01 46
Code.HCS08=20 15 22 47 31 CF 44 08 08 01 12 01 1E 01 12 03 52 D2 F0 11 93 08 CA 01 63 0B 6E 4D A3 4E 63 62 33 63 CC FF 5C 10 63 55 62 35 56 4E 56 63 AD 0E 4E 57 62 4E 57 63 AD 06 4E 56 62 4E 56 63 33 63 CC FF 5F
Code.MAXQ610=32 69 31 0e 15 00 16 00 15 00 41 00 1f 10 58 01 ac 00 02 31 01 81 1c 04 15 d3 d3 01 62 44 24 70 71 72 f2 62 44 24 70 71 73 f3 62 44 04 70 71 72 f2 00 62 d4 04 70 71 73 f3
Code.TI2541=01 06 01 21 31 0E 15 00 16 00 15 00 41 00 1F 10 58 01 AC 00 02 31 01 81 1C 04 15 05 05 01 62 44 24 70 71 72 F2 62 44 24 70 71 73 F3 62 44 04 70 71 72 F2 00 62 D4 04 70 71 73 F3

[dtrump]

Rob - I'll respond in sequence but not quote your comments.

Sorry about the file reference. Yes - that is the correct link.

Yes - NEC1, dev 0, sub-device 223. I had looked at other Android devices that had different sub-device numbers. There may be other matches, but I haven't downloaded all possible devices.

The up, down, left, right buttons become mouse movements in the Y and X axis when in mouse mode. The SHIFT function is shown as Mouse in the Nexbox description, HEX 3F, Function 35. The limitation of moving in only the two axis makes it a tedious process to select an on-screen button.

One of the limitations of the UI is that some navigation needs to be accessed via normal arrow buttons - or - using a scroll wheel on a conventional mouse. If the arrow keys are dedicated to "mouse" moves, anything that requires the screen to scroll is inaccessible. I haven't explored some of the functions that aren't mapped on my remote, so maybe the Page buttons provide that capability. Those could logically be mapped to Ch+ and Ch- buttons. But because of the awkward XY movement of the cursor, it is much less efficient than using the more normally mapped cursor buttons. That suggests that the current "Mouse" button (mapped to Format on my 8820) is the better approach if not using a real mouse.

So when you say "new code for protocols.ini", is this the existing code for the Apex and would only support a single button? That's what it looks like to me. That would be of no use to me and I'm not encouraging you to expand the capabilities unless you think it would benefit others.

While exploring whether there might be an "air mouse" capable remote available, I found a 3rd party one made for the NVidia Shield. But since that uses a different sub-device, it would be of little use for me. FWIW, the actual real "mouse" capability is always supported by a plug-in dongle and is independent of the button programming.

Dick

[dtrump]

FWIW, I have explored all the additional available functions in the Nexbox RMDU that were not previously mapped on my remote. I only found one function that did anything useful and it did perform a function available on the OEM remote - just not something I thought important enough to include.

So, no paging or scrolling capability that I could find. Obviously, I haven't explored all other possible functions out of the those possible, but I'm not encouraged if the more extensive Nexbox device doesn't have anything helpful.

Ironically, when I ordered this RUPA device, there were 2 or 3 other similar boxes that didn't have as many buttons on the remote. I chose the one with the most buttons, but maybe the others had air mouse capability. Since those other devices have disappeared from Vine availability, I can't look back on what I might have missed.

Dick

[The Robman]

If you need the real arrow buttons and the mouse arrow buttons, that does make this a bit more tricky. For the Apex, they used shifted numeric buttons as arrow buttons (ie, 2=up, 4=left, 6=right, 8=down), so with this modified upgrade, they could have numeric buttons AND arrow buttons. I don't know if that's what you meant by "only support a single button".

So, your options are to either (a), program MOUSE to a button and use it to shift the relevant buttons into mouse mode, or (b), use the Apex protocol to program shifted buttons to actual buttons, so there's no need to shift them to use them.

[dtrump]

I thought you might have hit on something with the numeric buttons. In fact, the 2, 4, 6 & 8 are marked with the corresponding arrows, so it seemed logical that when the unit was in mouse mode, those might work as normal cursor buttons. Not so. They continue to work as numeric buttons.

I suspect this remote was copied from a unit that included that shifted numeric button capability. Maybe in a firmware update in the future? I'm not holding my breath.

Bottom line is that I've come to grips with what can be done with this and it will be fine in my home office. My 8820 works better than the OEM remote, so I'm (moderately) happy.

Dick

[The Robman]

Let me know if you need anything else here.