Android TV Remote - Kodi and Keyboard doesn’t work

Software Integrations
1

I currently have the Remote Two set up and working with Android TV (I use an NVIDIA Shield). I’ve noticed that two things don’t work correctly so far.

The most significant issue is that the remote seems undetected by the Kodi app in Android. Absolutely no buttons seem to work.

If you try to use the Google Play store, where you would normally get an on-screen keyboard for text entry, you instead get a message to use the keyboard on your device. This is definitely not optimal, is it due to the type of remote control it’s showing up as as one with a keyboard?

Anyone run into either of these issues and have any tips or fixes?

2

Did you find a solution to this? Same problem here, I tried disabling joystick support in Kodi, but that didn’t help.

The Google TV remote from my phone is working though, so it seems like UC is using a different input method?

3

Unfortunately no fix that I think is helpful. I realized that my TV can pass its own remote buttons to my Nvidia Shield via HDMI-CEC, so that’s a hack/workaround I’m using for now (Remote Two sending IR to my TV, which then passes to the Shield). I haven’t seen any acknowledgement of the issue from the developers yet.

4

Inside Kodi the Remote Two interfaces as a “controller” and each button needs to be manually mapped inside Kodi similar to mapping keys or controllers inside a PC game:

Using a functioning Bluetooth remote or keyboard navigate the Kodi UI:

Settings → System → Input

Enable controller support = On

Configure attached controllers:
Select each button then press the corresponding button on the Remote Two

A = center button
B = back
Up/Down/Left/Right

5

Thank you. That did work, somewhat. My other universal remote (Logitech Harmony) never required this kind of manual setup in Kodi.

It seems the keyboard issue in Android TV still persists. That is, Android TV doesn’t present an onscreen keyboard when the Remote Two is being used.

6

@cblume, I’m also coming from Harmony Hub system which uses Bluetooth to connect to AndroidTV and therefore has a more consistent user experience (works in all apps without a trouble) and also allows the use of a dedicated harmony physical keyboard and the remote’s battery life is several years from a CR2032 coin battery vs. R2’s 1 day battery.

I’m hoping that when the R2 receives the planned software update supporting Bluetooth remote functions that’ll imply we can ditch the WiFi implemented AndroidTV integration and get better battery life by using Bluetooth directly and also use the R2’s on-screen-keyboard for AndroidTV input… fingers crossed as there’s a lot of potential for R2 if the software can catch up with the hardware.

For now I’ve got the old Harmony system running in parallel with R2 until these kinks are addressed.

2 Likes
7

I’m also facing this issue with a ShieldTV and Kodi. I’ve remapped the Dpad with direction and color buttons as instructed above, but still not able to get to commands to work. Interestingly enough, my SofaBaton works just fine - there’s a driver in Kodi and ShieldTV that make it work fine.

What am I missing?

8

Same here (I mean I made it work with the arrow keys and back/enter), but the biggest issue is that one cannot access to the popup menu to change subtitles or audio language for ex. Usually the OK button makes the OSD appear in full screen video mode, but here it just pauses the video with no access to the OSD menu

9

I found a workaround through Home assistant :
create a script (see code below) in home assistant.
Then add it (show as an entity) to the remote through the home assistant integration. Then map a button to this entity. You can raise the popup menu with this hack
Just replace the entity_id below with yours.

alias: Shield OK
sequence:

  • service: remote.send_command
    data:
    command: ENTER
    target:
    entity_id: remote.shield
    mode: single