Antec Fusion Case Fully Compatible with RC6 Remote?

[WMCEnthusiast]

When I first saw a picture of the famous Antec Fusion case around 2009, I fell in love with it instantly. There are many well-designed cases, but this one has always topped my list. Its aluminum front panel is pure elegance and it blends perfectly into a living room environment. It looks more like a Stereo amplifier than like a computer.

So after all these years of anticipation, I had to upgrade my setup and in the process got my dream HTPC case. It looks just beautiful beneath the big HDTV. An added bonus is the built-in RC6 receiver that should in theory work with my Microsoft MCE remote. I was stunned when I was able to cold boot it from the couch. However, I haven't been able to make some of the buttons work properly. When navigating through the WMC movie library, I used to press the number buttons on the remote to enter letters (1x2 for 'a', 2x2 for 'b' etc) in order to jump to a certain movie title. Now it will only enter numbers.

Furthermore, the four colored buttons at the bottom of the remote don't seem to have any function at all. I went into the iMON software that came with the drivers for the VFD and configured the buttons manually, but it didn't have any effect. Nothing happens when I press them during playback. I used to have the colored buttons assigned to certain commands in conjunction with the Media Control plugin as described here:

Advanced settings with subtitles in almost all video formats and MCP use possible

I know some members here have the Antec Fusion, so I was hoping to find some advice on these issues.

[newfiend]

In iMON add Media Control as one of the software options to control.

Then add the buttons/keyboard shortcuts you want to control the options in Media Control (ie: Red button = Keyboard shortcut + Keyboard shortcut = x)

Then uncheck the option for exclusive mode.

I'm not sure what tabs these options are on as I'm not in front of my machine at the moment but I think you can get Media Control working this way possibly.

As far as pressing buttons for letters... I'm not sure on that sorry.

I have this exact case. It's great. iMON software is tricky but once you figure it out it's not bad.
newfiend~

[WMCEnthusiast]

Thanks a lot for your reply. I had already tried to add the colored buttons in the iMON Manager under "Settings" > "Program Command". I only tried to add them to the Media Center entry though. Following your advice I have tried the same procedure with every executable in the Media Control folder, but still no dice. What is interesting to note though is that the VFD does show "Media Center - Green" when I hit the green button for example. That means the receiver does recognize the commands, only it doesn't compute them properly.

In theory there shouldn't be any need to additionally configure Media Control in the iMON Manager because in the Media Control Configuration, you have to check the boxes "Enable background plugin", "Enable remote control hook" and "Enable keyboard hook". This is done so that WMC can communicate with the Media Control plugin.

I've done some more research and stumbled upon this post from way back when:

The iMon IR receiver in the Fusion 430 will work with a standard MS Media Center remote, but it doesn't work perfectly. Triple-tap (where you press the numbers repeatedl, SMS-style, to enter letters) and Coloured Fastext buttons are not handled properly.

I ditched the internal IR receiver in my Fusion 430 and use an MS USB receiver instead.

I find it rather peculiar how an RC6 receiver would not be able to handle all the commands of an original MCE remote. I have two retail HTPCs with built-in RC6 receivers and all the buttons work out of the box. So I guess there must have been some discrepancies in how iMON implemented the RC6 protocol.

The good news is that it's not too much of a problem. Instead of entering the letters in the movie library, I can just as well go to "search Movies" (just love to browse through the cover strip). As for the missing subtitle control buttons, strangely enough when playback is started Media Control is indeed triggered and asks if I want to change audio/subtitle streams. I rarely change subtitles midway through the movie, but if I had to all I have to do is stop the movie and then hit resume to make the prompt appear again. A little inconvenient, but then again WMC wasn't designed for this kind of thing anyway. If push comes to shove I can always use the RC6 USB receiver again.

I still love the case, and besides the RC6 problems the VFD works quite well. It's gotten extremely bad reviews, but mine actually displays correct playback information including title and running time, as well as keyboard commands. Very useful if you are outside of WMC and change the volume. It can even be configured to display RSS feeds like weather and news.

[mercalia]

well I have 3 windows pcs Windows 7 and 8,1 running Media Center with the ANTEC VERIS BASIC 5 1/4" bay insert board that uses the IMON Software and it works well indeed, Really better than any settup box I have ever had. It works with any MCE remote - As part of the Imon set up you can chose that as an option or the bepoke one that my board came with. The only problem is getting hold of the software as the makers moved on long time ago. I have found the software to be sound and fault & bug free. The Imon software is highly configureable. The software can define most of the buttons to do what you want, some are set at default, I think for XP Media Center rather than Windows 7. You can also use the software to control other programs and if you hold the green MCE button down you can select the one you want to run ( eg PowerDVD) As you have found out you can turn the pc on and off, though with my board if you have pulled the power plug out you have to turn the pc on first time.

re subtitles you use the INFO BUTTON that calles up the MCE control menu that eg allows you to zoom or set spoken language/subtitles language/on/off (works for dvd files any way) But to activate you dont press the OK buttton just use the LEFT/RIGHT cursor button to move to next or previous menu. re fastext buttons since I dont have a tv tuner in my MCE I use them for other purposes.

my board -
https://lanoc.org/review/pc-hardware/12 ... tion-basic

[WMCEnthusiast]

Thanks a lot for your comprehensive response.

re subtitles you use the INFO BUTTON that calles up the MCE control menu that eg allows you to zoom or set spoken language/subtitles language/on/off (works for dvd files any way) But to activate you dont press the OK buttton just use the LEFT/RIGHT cursor button to move to next or previous menu. re fastext buttons since I dont have a tv tuner in my MCE I use them for other purposes.

The MCE control menu does work for DVDs. I was referring to scenarios with single container playback like .mkv with embedded or external subtitle files. For that I configured the Media Control plugin according to this guide:

Advanced settings with subtitles in almost all video formats and MCP use possible

The goal here is to map a Media Control command (e.g. switch subtitle stream/file) to one of the colored buttons at the bottom of the remote. This works on all my other machines with either the built-in or external RC6 receiver.

How did you map commands to the "fastext" (colored) buttons? I have tried to configure them through the iMON manager:



When I press the colored buttons during media playback in WMC, the iMON VFD even responds:



However the desired Media Control command is not executed. Is there any other iMON tool I need for this? All I could find online was the driver "iMON_8_12_1202.zip".

[mercalia]

"How did you map commands to the "fastext" (colored) buttons? I have tried to configure them through the iMON manager:"

I used the settings/custom command, but not as fastext buttons though. You would have to disable the buttons in the media center application I would think first.
I use these buttons to use in the old Media Browser plugin to eliminate losts of key presses
The software you found was the last I think

custom command to use the fastext buttons