One For All Mosaic on the XBox

I bought a One For All Mosaic aka URC-9990 universal remote control to try and make sense of the mess of remote controls on my table.

Primary concern was compatibility with the xbox specifically to use with XBox Media Center (XBMC). The remote itself is nice enough, UI leaves a bit to be desired during the setup stage but I guess you can't have it all in a £40 remote.

Getting stuff going in the XBox though was another story, the Mosaic has a internet download function that plays a WAV file through your speaker into its microphone, bit like a 300 baud modem without any handshaking or carrier. I downloaded their XBOX profile this got the basics going but since the actual XBox remote control lacks volume, mute etc these were not added.

The Mosaic has a learn function like most of these remote controls I guess but I am sure there is a limited capacity for learned codes so I wanted to not use these if at all possible. It also has a Key Magic system that lets you enter codes manually, the hassle though is that they have obfuscated the codes and what actually gets sent. They say the Key Magic thing is patented etc and you need to speak to their customer support to get the right Magic key to your remote codes. Well thats just b/s all it is is a lookup against one set of numbers that will output the real number out via IR. IR only has 255 valid signals so its not that difficult.

I set the XBMC into debug mode where it shows the IR signals it receives and so made a table of Key Magic codes to actual codes, I also put in what default codes are in use on the XBox remote controller. View the full entry for the table of codes. It was actually very easy there are easily detectible patterns in their mapping from Magic codes to actual codes.

XBMC has in its latest version a global volume control that can be activated in all screens, it also has short cuts for accessing Videos, Movies, Weather and so forth, all accessible by the remote if you know the codes and can program it correctly. The keymap.xml defines what happens when keys or IR signals gets sent. The definition for the global volume up is:

   <action>
      <description>volumeup</description>
      <id>88</id>
      <gamepad>rightthumbstickup</gamepad>
      <remote>volumeplus</remote>
      <keyboard>+</keyboard>
    </action>

Simple stuff, so to activate the volume button on the Mosaic I simply assigned a Magic Key using the table below and put the actual value that the Magic Key sends in the keymap.xml like this:

   <action>
      <description>volumeup</description>
      <id>88</id>
      <gamepad>rightthumbstickup</gamepad>
      <remote></remote>
      <remotecode>129</remotecode>
      <keyboard>+</keyboard>
    </action>

Notice that I cleared out the <remote></remote> blocks and added the <remotecode></remotecode> ones. Actual code 129 maps to Magic Key 262. Using the same simple procedure I also added quick access keys for movies and music and activate the mute button.

I am not sure why One For All feel they need to obfuscate something so fundamental to the operation of the remote control, but I hope this helps you use the device you paid good money for without having to waste additional money and time by having to call or mail them.