48 replies to this topic

[iPerplexed]

Hey All!

Check Out My Ultimate Mac Mini Theatre Setup!

Be sure and click the DIGG button if you like what you see.



Enjoy!

- that1guy

[jayman978]

You do know that Plex has a netflix plugin that is an official netflix app?

[iPerplexed]

You do know that Plex has a netflix plugin that is an official netflix app?

Ahahahh.. Yes, I am fully aware of this. I just like Boxee's Netflix plug-in better, for many reasons. The whole RemoteBuddy AppleScript idea was created to allow me to toggle between the best parts of each HTPC application. Press one button and you're there. That's the whole point.

I am a HUGE Plex fanboy though, don't worry. If it makes you feel any better, Plex IS Better than Boxee. No doubt about it.

Cheers!

[jayman978]

Ahahahh.. Yes, I am fully aware of this. I just like Boxee's Netflix plug-in better, for many reasons. The whole RemoteBuddy AppleScript idea was created to allow me to toggle between the best parts of each HTPC application. Press one button and you're there. That's the whole point.

I am a HUGE Plex fanboy though, don't worry. If it makes you feel any better, Plex IS Better than Boxee. No doubt about it.

Cheers!

Yes that makes me feel much better, thank you.

[jkm9000]

Nice setup

I've got something similar going, also using remote buddy. I know plex now supports the harmony remotes, but I'm still using the approach I wrote about here - http://funwithcomput...ilt-in-ir-port/ still works great for me and gives a bit more flexibility.

How about sharing those applescripts? Be nice to see how you put it all together.

[iPerplexed]

Nice setup

I've got something similar going, also using remote buddy. I know plex now supports the harmony remotes, but I'm still using the approach I wrote about here - http://funwithcomput...ilt-in-ir-port/ still works great for me and gives a bit more flexibility.

How about sharing those applescripts? Be nice to see how you put it all together.

So basically I built a Custom Action in RemoteBuddy that issues an 'X' keystroke first. (This stops whatever movie is currently playing in Plex/Boxee before issuing any AppleScrips) Then issue the following AppleScrips as the next step. Should look like this:

Be sure to apply this Custom Action to RemoteBuddy's global settings list.

Then you edit Boxee's keyboard.xml file, and added the following lines:

<p>RunApp(app://pandora/14000)</p>
<n>RunApp(app://netflix/14000)</n>

This keyboard.xml file is located inside the Boxee.app. (Right click boxee and select "Show package contents") Look in: /Applications/Boxee.app/Contents/Resources/Boxee/system/keymaps/keyboard.xml)
This little keyboard.xml hack will allow you to press the 'P' key to load the Pandora App anywhere within Boxee and the 'N" key to load the Netflix App if you want.

The End Result: Press one button on your remote and RemoteBuddy will; Stop the current movie from playing; run AppleScripts to launch/quit the apps of your choice; then issue one last keystroke to perform the active window call (in this case 'N' or 'P' in Boxee).

Nifty, huh?

(Sorry to mention Boxee so much, I just wanted to match my screenshots so not to confuse anyone. PLEX IS BETTER! You're dumb if you think otherwise!!!)

[iPerplexed]

Nice setup

I've got something similar going, also using remote buddy. I know plex now supports the harmony remotes, but I'm still using the approach I wrote about here - http://funwithcomput...ilt-in-ir-port/ still works great for me and gives a bit more flexibility.

How about sharing those applescripts? Be nice to see how you put it all together.

BTW. Great job on your RemoteBuddy write up! I definitely read over that site for help with my setup as well. Much appreciated!

[jkm9000]

BTW. Great job on your RemoteBuddy write up! I definitely read over that site for help with my setup as well. Much appreciated!

Thanks Hopefully it will be useful. And thanks for the info on the applescripts.

[Wassit]

Nice setup.

What are your harddrives plugged into? I can see what looks like a WD mybook in the middle but what are the ones on either side?

[acnlsn]

Hi there, I have questions about switching apps on your Mac Mini with the Harmony remote. I have a Harmony 880 and run plex well on with it. I don't yet have Remote Buddy. Could you help me understand how to set up the harmony activities to launch boxee and hulu? I'm up to speed on harmony software and plex, but don't know anything about apple scripts or remote buddy. Thanks!

[fhb]

download the thirty days trial of remote buddy. It's not that easy to make it work perfectly (as you have to manually edit every button on your harmony with Remote Buddy) but you can customize much more). I wouldn't use the above mentioned guide because Plex is integrated into the harmony software and already simulates ten different apple remotes. (You should read it for better comprehension though)

I guess you can't add applescripts in the harmony.xml file if thats not the truth please correct me. Then you would only need to know the code and could easily activate different apps with your harmony by editing the key mapping.

[Raindancing]

I guess you can't add applescripts in the harmony.xml file if thats not the truth please correct me. Then you would only need to know the code and could easily activate different apps with your harmony by editing the key mapping.

Oh, but you can!
The line in the keymap you need will be something like:

<F12>Plex.RunScript(Hide_Plex.applescript)</F12>

The script needs to be saved (as text) in the folder ~/Library/Application Support/Plex/scripts (where the ~ represents your user home folder).

Now, the problem with using applescripts to launch other apps is that Plex won't let go of the remote. So if what you want is to launch other applications, launching them directly from Plex is best:

<F10>ActivateWindow(10001,/Applications/DVD Player.app/,return)</F10>

Then when you quit, Plex relaunches, and reasserts control over the IR input.

[Nuno Lopes]

Hi,

I would like to thank the first poster for the video. 4 weeks ago it inspired me to buy a mac mini and here it is the Mini Harmony



You can also see a video at:



Or check the blog at: http://miniharmony.blogspot.com

Any feedback is welcome.

Thanks once again to all of you guys.

Nuno

[Noiz]

I really gotta find the time to get my harmony working on my mac mini

[iPerplexed]

Nice setup.

What are your harddrives plugged into? I can see what looks like a WD mybook in the middle but what are the ones on either side?

HDDs are plugged into these bad-boys!

[iPerplexed]

Hi,

I would like to thank the first poster for the video. 4 weeks ago it inspired me to buy a mac mini and here it is the Mini Harmony

You can also see a video at:



Or check the blog at: http://miniharmony.blogspot.com

Any feedback is welcome.

Thanks once again to all of you guys.

Nuno

Awesome stuff man! I really think the industry (and they way we access media in general) is moving in this direction. It's fun to know these home-brew systems can replace digital cable boxes and provide a fun hobby/challenge for us nerds.

[nerpissad]

beautifully done, nuno!

[Nuno Lopes]

Thank you guys for the cheers.

I had to learn a bit of AppleScript from 0 but no biggie. Also I was quite surprised that I could have the computer talking with me with the help of Growl.

The reason why it is needed is IMHO interesting ... well for a geek anyway.

I live in Portugal, so naturally I don't have access to Hulu neither BBC iPlayer simply by connecting to the Internet. Since my wife is Scottish and a big friend of mine is American, I had to have both, specially BBC iPlayer.

To provide this service to my wife I decided to go for the VPN approach to the access of these services.

Now, establishing a VPN link to the USA or UK takes up between 6 to 8 secs if everything goes well. This means that the time it takes to press a button say "Shows on BBC iPlayer" or "Music on Pandora" and get a reaction from the system by showing the App, it is about 9 seconds. This is enough time for my wife to think there is something wrong and start shaking her head in disappointment saying - "this does not work ....". Worst, she would start pressing buttons randomly in a blind attempt to solve the problem, so wasting even more time.

The solution was to have the computer providing feed back the moment the button is pressed in these cases. The least intrusive is to have the computer talking back. Actually it turned out to be quite cool

So tranparantly the system establishes VPN links according to the "channel" being used (opens and closes VPNs to either UK or USA). With some computer generated speech from the Mac OS everything looks natural to the user.

Cheers,

Nuno

[nerpissad]

how exactly did you implement the 'talking'? obviously using the SAY command I suppose, but how did you get the timing right?
can you show me (or us) one of your scripts that's executed when changing activities?

[Nuno Lopes]

how exactly did you implement the 'talking'? obviously using the SAY command I suppose, but how did you get the timing right?
can you show me (or us) one of your scripts that's executed when changing activities?

Sure.

You need to have Growl Installed.

Actually have the apple script for the all thing:

to growlNotify(theAppName, theTitle, theDescription)
	tell application "GrowlHelperApp"
		set the allNotificationsList to ¬
			{theAppName}
		
		set the enabledNotificationsList to ¬
			{theAppName}
		
		register as application theAppName ¬
			all notifications allNotificationsList ¬
			default notifications enabledNotificationsList ¬
			icon of application "Script Editor"
		
		--	Send a Notification...
		notify with name theAppName ¬
			title theTitle ¬
			description theDescription ¬
			application name theAppName
	end tell
end growlNotify

to repositionCursor()
	tell application "Remote Buddy"
		repeat 5 times
			behaviouraction actionIdentifier "input.mouse.cursordown" event "pressed"
			behaviouraction actionIdentifier "input.mouse.cursordown" event "released"
			behaviouraction actionIdentifier "input.mouse.cursorright" event "pressed"
			behaviouraction actionIdentifier "input.mouse.cursorright" event "released"
		end repeat
	end tell
end repositionCursor

to setVolumeToMax()
	set current_volume to output volume of (get volume settings)
	if current_volume is less than 100 then
		set current_volume to 100
	end if
	
end setVolumeToMax

to resetHTPC(theAppName)
	closeAllApps(theAppName)
	repositionCursor()
	setVolumeToMax()
end resetHTPC

to closeAllApps(theAppName)
	set appNameList to {"Boxee", "iTunes", "Hulu Desktop", "Plex", "Kylo"} // change for the app you have installed

	repeat with currentAppName in appNameList
		if ((currentAppName as text) is not equal to (theAppName as text)) then
			if application currentAppName is running then
				tell application currentAppName to quit
			end if
		end if
	end repeat
end closeAllApps

to switchAppWithVPN(theAppName, vpnCountry, activityName, sectionName)
	closeAllVPNs()
	
	if vpnCountry is equal to "the USA" then
		switchUSAVPN()
	else
		if vpnCountry is equal to "the UK" then switchUKVPN()
	end if
	
	growlNotify("HTPC VPN", "Establishing link to " & vpnCountry, "In a moment you will be able to " & activityName & ". Please wait.")
	
	delay 8
	
	resetHTPC(theAppName)
	
	tell application theAppName to activate
	
	delay 4
	
end switchAppWithVPN

to switchAPP(theAppName, activityName, sectionName)
	closeAllVPNs()
	resetHTPC(theAppName)
	if application theAppName is not running then tell application theAppName to activate
	delay 1
	growlNotify("HTPC", "Starting" & theAppName, "Welcome to " & sectionName)
end switchAPP

to switchUSAVPN()
	closeAllVPNs()
	delay 1
	if application "Viscosity" is running then tell application "Viscosity" to connect "USA" // change to you VPN connection name
end switchUSAVPN

to switchUKVPN()
	closeAllVPNs()
	delay 1
	if application "Viscosity" is running then tell application "Viscosity" to connect "UK" // change to you VPN connection name
end switchUKVPN

to closeAllVPNs()
	if application "Viscosity" is running then tell application "Viscosity" to disconnect "USA"
	if application "Viscosity" is running then tell application "Viscosity" to disconnect "UK"
end closeAllVPNs

to switchOff()
	closeAllVPNs()
	closeAllApps("")
end switchOff

So to switch apps say in a Remote Buddy, add a custom action and the following script:

property MyLibPath : ((path to scripts folder from user domain) & "Script Library:") as text
property htpc : load script (MyLibPath & "htpc.scpt") as alias

htpc's switchAPP("Plex", "View some Photos", "your Photo Album")

The above will start Plex and close any other Apps. If the App needs a VPN then it instead of switchAPP to call "switchAppWithVPN(theAppName, vpnCountry, activityName, sectionName)" basically the same thing.

This is just a quick hack made in half an hour.

To make it work for you You need to change for instance the list of apps to close and the name of you VPN connections.

I think that is all you need to change to suit your needs,

The point is that all scripts in remote buddy will look more the same as above. Don't forget to put the script in the "Script Library".

So after running this you need to go to Growl and customize the theme form the "HTPC VPN" application. The the app name is used by the scripts to "talk" to Growl. Customize it to speech and that is it! You can customize it to whatever you want, by I prefer speech.

Cheers,

Nuno