Version 2.x documentation

• Prerequisites
• How to setup TV Remote
• Example of settings.txt
• How to use TV Remote
• How-to Video
• Developers
• Get support

Prerequisites

This program makes use of the IVTV project utilities to change channels. You can find a list of the supported TV cards by IVTV here.

If your card is supported then go ahead and use CSMonkey TV Remote, however if not then you can freely download the code and modify it to suit your TV program.

To install IVTV please check your Linux distribution or download the latest stable version from IVTV.

If you are using Ubuntu then you can easily install ivtv-utils from Synaptic Package Manager or the command line.

• Synaptic Package Manager:
• System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager
• Search for ivtv-utils
• Check the package and install

• Command line:
• Applications > Accessories > Terminal
• Enter the following command: sudo aptitude install ivtv-utils

The program uses Sun Java, therefore you need to have Java installed. If you are using Ubuntu, follow the same steps above but this time install this package: sun-java5-jdk

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How to setup TV Remote

1. Download CSMonkey TV Remote.


2. By default the program will use VLC with a pre-defined list of channels and TV device. Here's an example.
   If you have VLC then double click on the JAR file to run it. Most likely the archive tool in your system will try to open the JAR file so use open with to make it open always with Java.


3. To customize your channels, extract the package using your favorite tool or using the command line: jar -xf CSMonkeyTVRemote*.jar
   
   You should get the following:
   • META-INF/
   • resources/
   • com/
   • COPYING
   • README
   • generateJar.sh
   • settings.txt


4. Edit settings.txt to setup your TV player, TV device and channels, the file has four parts:


• First Line (Required): TV player and command
• VLC: vlc pvr:// :pvr-device=/dev/video0
• MPlayer: mplayer /dev/video0
• If you are using a different player then simply copy the command to the first line.


• Second line (Required): TV device
• Most likely the TV device is /dev/video0 but if you are using a different device add it here.


• Third line (Required): Startup channel
• Enter the channel number that you want the TV to start with.


• (0ptional) The rest of the lines are channel numbers. See the example below.


5. Once you have completed your settings, run generateJar.sh to create the JAR file which will run CSMonkey TV Remote. From the command line: sh generateJar.sh


6. That's it! Your customized remote is created. Delete all the extracted files and folders and start using the new JAR file.


7. If at later time you decide to change your settings: extract, edit settings.txt and run generateJar.sh

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Example of settings.txt

vlc pvr:// :pvr-device=/dev/video0
/dev/video0
12
2
4
6
7
9
11
12
22
23
24
25
26
27
29
30
31
32
56
57

The first line is the command to start the TV using VLC, the second line is the TV device and the third line is channel 12 which is the start up channel, the rest of the lines are the channels. Note that channel 12 appears twice because I want it to be the startup channel and one of the available channels too. The order of the channels is not required, I just like my channels ordered.

If you don't want any channels, just add the TV player command, TV device and the startup channel like this:

vlc pvr:// :pvr-device=/dev/video0
/dev/video0
12

See the screenshots.

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How to use TV Remote

Buttons:

• Start TV: starts the TV player.
• Set: set the channel to the number entered in the text field.
• Up/Down: changes the channel by one up/down.
• Go Back: changes the channel to the last channel watched.

To set the remote on top of other applications, go to: View > Always on top

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How-to Video

Version 1.0



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Developers

Please refer to the Javadoc generated files:

• Version 1.0 Javadoc
• Version 1.5 Javadoc

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Get support

Please send your questions and suggestions here.

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