Harmony confusion with Rasplex

[explainer]

I have my Plex server set up and streaming tv, movies, photos, and music.  I am running a headless Ubuntu 14.04 amd64 server, and am very pleased with the performance and features.

I have a Raspberry PI model B+ acting as my set top box, running Rasplex.  It is currently NOT overclocked.

I have purchased a Vista MCE Remote Control VRC-1100 (IR), which comes with  a USB dongle containing the IR sensor, which is plugged into a USB port on the PI.

 

This configuration works, sort of.  While I can navigate the Plex menus, I only have partial function of the Play panel.  I have Play, Pause, and Stop, but the Skip to End, Skip to Beginning, Fast Forward and Fast Reverse don't work.  To be clear, Fast Forward will show the progress bar along the bottom of the screen, and will show 2x, 4x, 8x, ... as the Fast Forward button is pressed, but the video does NOT move faster.  I would like to know how to fix this problem.

 

In order to try to reduce the number of distinct remotes my wife is required to use to view a show, I purchased a Logitech Harmony 350 IR remote, and am having trouble identifying the Raspberry PI to the Harmony.  Under the Plex manufacturer entry in the database, there is a 'Raspberry PI Computer', for which Logitech demands a model number.  I have tried a variety of model numbers (B and B+ for the PI, VRC-1100 for the remote I am using), but nothing satisfies 'The Great Logitech Device Database in the Sky'.

 

I am hoping that someone else has a similar setup and can give me some pointers on how to proceed.

[system]

This configuration works, sort of. While I can navigate the Plex menus, I only have partial function of the Play panel. I have Play, Pause, and Stop, but the Skip to End, Skip to Beginning, Fast Forward and Fast Reverse don't work. To be clear, Fast Forward will show the progress bar along the bottom of the screen, and will show 2x, 4x, 8x, ... as the Fast Forward button is pressed, but the video does NOT move faster. I would like to know how to fix this problem.

Had you searched the forums you would have found that it is a well known fact that FF/RW/Skip does not work in Rasplex, it will in the future when the OpenELEC base is upgraded.

there are also a number of posts regarding Harmony Remotes in this sub forum.

Regards

[keithskaggs]

I have a similar setup, Server 2008R2, Rasplex on Original Raspberry PI 512MB.  My wife and I have matching Icon X10 Universal Remotes.  I wanted her to be able to use the Rasplex with the same remote and same buttons that she had used with the Roku 3 that the Rasplex replaced.  I bought a Universal IR USB Dongle from flirc.tv.  With this Dongle, I just programmed it to react to the existing Roku commands already in my remote.  I did not have to reprogram either of my two Icon remotes.  I just set them to Roku and the Rasplex responds to the same commands.  This is convenient also when I take the PI down to tinker with things, try a new SD card, or do a major upgrade.  I still have the Roku 3 sitting next to it disconnected so when I swap them, the remotes still do the same thing with no change for the user.  Just the screen is different.

As for FF and RR, be patient.  The fix will come.  In the mean time, right and left arrow will advance or go back 30 sec at a time.

Keith