The Plex HTPC documentation is pretty vague regarding input devices. It talks about using an “idmatcher” to identify different inputs but doesn’t say anything about what the idmatcher string is matched against. Where does it look for possible input devices? How varied can the types of input devices be? Is there some sort of API that can be used to send commands to HTPC?
I would like to use my phone as a remote and have been investigating ways to do that. One option that seems very promising is the TouchControl app that lets you design interfaces and provides a great deal of flexibility in sending commands to devices. It seems like it would be pretty easy to mimic a keyboard but I would really like to call the HTPC commands directly. Do you have any guidance on providing input from anything other than a keyboard, ir remote, or game controller?
But the Plex apps already give you the ability to do this. The Plex HTPC app allows itself to be controlled by the Plex mobile apps (you’ll find the option under the casting choices). You can’t click around on the TV using on-phone “buttons” of course, but the idea is if you’re holding your phone in your hand you can just browse and search content on the phone’s screen.
I missed that in the docs. I tried it and the experience is pretty good, better than using a keyboard, but not quite what I am looking for. I hope to use the remote to do more than just cast to the TV. So my original question stands. How do you use an input that is something other than a device you connect to your computer?
What kind of an “input” are you thinking about?
The command signal has to get to the player, which is running on the computer. So the most direct way would be an IR receiver which is plugged into the computer. Like a FLIRC.
