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?
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.
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
@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.
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.
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
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
If you do not get a pull down menu for apps you can simply enter the package name in the input/source line. If you do not know the package name go to the play store on a PC, search for your app and go to details. The package name is part of the URL in your browser. Very few apps cannot be started this way but a majority.
Did you try the command context menu for context menu?
which launch apps on the Shield using HA scripts (entities exported to the UC3).
My question is whether this can be done directly using just the Android TV Remote integration (without HA). But for the Android TV Remote I only get to choose from this list of commands:
Disney+ is predefined in the integration. For Apps not defined you need to know the package name and then simply enter the package name in the source line like this:
You said you are using the Android TV integration which is part of the firmware. If it looks different on your side I assume you used Bluetooth and not Android TV. Starting apps only with Bluetooth is not directly possible but with an additional integration.
I got it working now as you have - using the native Android TV integration, thanks!
Curiously, for some of the predefined apps - Apple TV and HBO Max - the input source command failed to open them. Replacing, say HBO Max with com.wbd.stream improvees the situation, but still only takes me to a window where I have to select ‘open’ to open the app.
But anyway this is a big improvement over my previous clunky setup using HA scripts.
I have and those are the ones I am using. As I wrote, it nearly works as it should for all apps, but for a few, it opens not the app but a window with a button to open the app. It is a minor annoyance which it would be good to get rid off.
