What are the differences between Hip and Girder, FAQ Options

[btmi]

I received an email that asked "what's the difference between Girder and HIP?"

A good question that I am sharing here.

While they exist for the same reason, there are a couple of key differences

1) Hip is Free, Girder is not
2) Hip is designed more from the Application point of view, whereas Girder is more from the input
3) Hip is easier and quicker to learn but Girder is more powerful
4) Hip has a limited number of supported input devices whereas Girder has them all
5) Hip has a limited support base (1 person) whereas there are people writing Girder pluggins all of the time.

I originally wrote Hip because I was not happy with the Girder implementation of the Keyboard interface (which is the basis of the VisionPlus remote) and it sort of grew from there....

So, while I would say the Girder will always be the best product of its kind, if Hip does what you want, then you will save yourself a lot of time (and a little bit of money).

[Guest_sbp_*]

Hi Thanks for your nice program.

I just have one question. Would it be possible for HIP to use the input plugins developed for Girder. I can see that many different input devices are supported through plug-ins in Girder.

Currently I'm using another remote program ARC2000 http://mikecrash.wz.cz/arc2000/arc2000.htm
Which is able to use any input device plugin developed for Girder. Unfortunately ARC2000 havent been developed for some years, and HIP seems much more advanced.

So do you think it would be possible to make this possible?

Thanks
Steen

[paul_ahb]

thanks btmi.

having tried both I believe that hip is superior. I haven't found any aspect that girder does better than hip. (EDIT: actually there is one thing. Mapping of virtual keys to input signal. that would be nice if hip could do that, so I could just Map FF to an input signal once and then just select "FF" instead of having to click the ff button for each applciation that does something with that button. a minor issue realy)

thanks for this application, it made my HTPC possible (allong with many apps of course)

Paul

[btmi]

I just have one question. Would it be possible for HIP to use the input plugins developed for Girder. I can see that many different input devices are supported through plug-ins in Girder.

Steen - that is a good idea - it would save me a lot of time writing plugins and is technically possible. The only problem being that Hip uses a numeric value for input values - but if I could write a routine that can parse a string to a unique numeric value than this would not be too much work at all! I will investigate (thanks for the suggestion).

Mapping of virtual keys to input signal. that would be nice if hip could do that, so I could just Map FF to an input signal once and then just select "FF" instead of having to click the ff button for each applciation that does something with that button. a minor issue realy

Paul - I guess this is a architectural difference but it would be possible to enhance the search facility to give you a list of all definitions for a key. Again this is worth lookin into.

Thank you for the feedback!

[paul_ahb]

Paul - I guess this is a architectural difference but it would be possible to enhance the search facility to give you a list of all definitions for a key. Again this is worth lookin into.

Not exactly what I had in mind but that sounds good to

What I meant was that there would be a configuration screen where you would programme each button on your remote to a name (string value)

eg.
Create a "Remote Control Profile" and give it a name eg "Sony TV Remote"
press Fast Forward on the remote and then name the input as "Fast Forward"
press menu on the remote control and call it "Menu"
...

then when I am configuring the remote control for a particuar programme, I just have to select the remote control profile, a remote control key then map it to a command. It would also be easier to see at a glance what remote control key does what.

Paul

[btmi]

Create a "Remote Control Profile" and give it a name eg "Sony TV Remote"
press Fast Forward on the remote and then name the input as "Fast Forward"
press menu on the remote control and call it "Menu"
...

Paul

Now I understand, but believe it or not, this was the solution I had for the Hip Girder plugin plugin and so expect this is a coming release.

Basically , I am going to create an "uber" interface that will allow you to use ANY/ALL Hip plugins along with Girder Plugins which will be map to a defined remote key (that can be displayed in Hip as a key or a value). I will provide some kind of conversion facility to help users migrate to the new system.

That way you can accept input from multiple sources simultaneously which is something I desperately need to try and maintain the existing Hip Plugins list.

[Guest_sbp_*]

Thanks btmi.

This would be very nice, if you could make it possible to use Girder input plugins.

The issue regarding different remote profiles as Paul suggested sounds very attractive - actually in the program that I'm still using = ARC2000 (I gave you the link before) you start by defining your remote excactly as Paul describes. Press the up-button and assign this value with the string UP. The you map all buttons with a meaningfull string. Save this profile as ie "Medion Remote" This way it is also easy to share the mapped remote files.

Then you start making a configuring file for your specific program ie Meedio: Here you define what you want to do. Ie you want to go UP, then you define UP and from a drop down list you have all the mapped buttons from you "Medion Remote"-file and offcourse you pick the UP-string and link it with the UP command in Meedio. Then save this config file as meedio.

In this way it is easy to share both a config file and a remote file, and it is extremly easy to change your remote, you dont need to change anything at all in your Meedio config file, only to make a new remote mapping file.

I hope what I have written makes sense.

Steen

[btmi]

Girder plugins may now be used with Hip.

[Guest_KenK_*]

Do you have a manual that explains with examples how to use HIP?


My Goal is to use my fusionHDTV5 USB GOAL remote with a program called
SnapStream Beyond TV.

I installed the software but don't have a clue what to do next.

thanks,
KenK

I received an email that asked "what's the difference between Girder and HIP?"

A good question that I am sharing here.

While they exist for the same reason, there are a couple of key differences

1) Hip is Free, Girder is not
2) Hip is designed more from the Application point of view, whereas Girder is more from the input
3) Hip is easier and quicker to learn but Girder is more powerful
4) Hip has a limited number of supported input devices whereas Girder has them all
5) Hip has a limited support base (1 person) whereas there are people writing Girder pluggins all of the time.

I originally wrote Hip because I was not happy with the Girder implementation of the Keyboard interface (which is the basis of the VisionPlus remote) and it sort of grew from there....

So, while I would say the Girder will always be the best product of its kind, if Hip does what you want, then you will save yourself a lot of time (and a little bit of money).

[btmi]

Do you have a manual that explains with examples how to use HIP?

Because Hip is designed to work with a huge number of remotes and all software, then it is not possible to write a manual that would cover every situation.

Basically you need to do 2 things:

1) Set up Hip so it can receive input from your IR device
2) Tell Hip what to do when it receives input from your device

Some users have done some step-by-step instructions for other devices and software like this one for the MCE remote and GB-PVR: http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Tips/HipGuide which may help you understand how this works.

In your case, you first need to work out how to get Hip to work. As I have told you previously I do not have this hardware and software combination, and so you should start with getting your remote and Hip to talk to each other. If you download the TestHID utility mentioned in the other thread you have posted in, you will be able to see if your device is in fact a HID device. If it is, then you should disable any divico-supplied software and run the Hip Setup Wizard and select the HID input plugin. If it is not, try the keyboard plugin and see how you go.

Then you add Beyond TV to the list of applications, and because that is not directly supported you will have to tell Hip what to do when a key is pressed on the remote. This is all covered in the Hip help file.

[Guest_KenK_*]

I have changed directions in what I would like to do and could use some new help

What I am doing now is using Windows Media Encoder 9 to stream video and audio over
the internet. I feed the channel 3 signal of my cable box to my USB adapter. This
works great and I can watch whatever channel my cable box is tuned to from anywhere I
have an internet connection. The home pc is the server.


What I would like to do is find a way to send a command from the internet back to my home
pc out of my home pc converted to an infrared signal to change channels on my cable box.

I have been searching for several weeks trying to figure out how to do this easily without having
to be a software programmer. Any assistance would be appreciated

KenK

Because Hip is designed to work with a huge number of remotes and all software, then it is not possible to write a manual that would cover every situation.

Basically you need to do 2 things:

1) Set up Hip so it can receive input from your IR device
2) Tell Hip what to do when it receives input from your device

Some users have done some step-by-step instructions for other devices and software like this one for the MCE remote and GB-PVR: http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Tips/HipGuide which may help you understand how this works.

In your case, you first need to work out how to get Hip to work. As I have told you previously I do not have this hardware and software combination, and so you should start with getting your remote and Hip to talk to each other. If you download the TestHID utility mentioned in the other thread you have posted in, you will be able to see if your device is in fact a HID device. If it is, then you should disable any divico-supplied software and run the Hip Setup Wizard and select the HID input plugin. If it is not, try the keyboard plugin and see how you go.

Then you add Beyond TV to the list of applications, and because that is not directly supported you will have to tell Hip what to do when a key is pressed on the remote. This is all covered in the Hip help file.

This post has been edited by KenK: Jun 1 2006, 12:41 AM

[btmi]

What I would like to do is find a way to send a command from the internet back to my home
pc out of my home pc converted to an infrared signal to change channels on my cable box.

You can do this with Hip via a number of ways, either through a remote control program or directly with the Hip Web server. The biggest problem you will have is that there is no feedback whether or not the channel change was successful...

[Guest_KenK_*]

I would think the feedback I would get would be the channel changes???
Windows Media Encoder 9 uses Windows Media Player to watch TV. What I would
like is something on the player screen of the computer I can click bring up and then click
the up/down buttons and have it change the cable box channels at my house.

Same idea as how the product called slingbox box works instead of a dedicated slingbox
I am using my PC with an add on IR sender.

There must be a simple program to do this. Has anyone heard of IRCommand2 ?
This seems to have less features but geared to control IR equipment with an easier setup.
Most of the other programs have so many features it's not obvious the 1 or 2 I need are there.

I don't need to design a fancy remote on the computer. Anything with an up/down and digit entry
is good enough for what I want to do.

Ken

You can do this with Hip via a number of ways, either through a remote control program or directly with the Hip Web server. The biggest problem you will have is that there is no feedback whether or not the channel change was successful...