Echoes of the underwater world

One can choose a very wrong path when trying to fix an easy problem. While trying to get my Apple remote to work nicely with our Fluendo Media Center I immediately tried configuring lirc which ended up as being a very stupid solution.

Indeed the Apple remote generates keyboard events and the Volume up/down shortcuts working by default on Ubuntu Gutsy should have been a serious hint to help me.

Anyway the easiest way is to just map the remote control keys to standard Keyboard Symbols and you will control your Fluendo Media Center perfectly fine.

Just add that .Xmodmap file in your home directory (yes the dot matters) :

keycode 144 = Left
keycode 153 = Right
keycode 158 = space
keycode 162 = Return
keycode 174 = Down
keycode 176 = Up

Enjoy.

We wanted to release them for Christmas but we missed that release date by 2 weeks. Anyway the Fluendo team is proud to announce that we have updated the codec packs available on Fluendo web store (https://shop.fluendo.com).

People who acquired one of the codec packs have a 1 (one) year support contract giving them free access to updates on their product. Just log in with your account, click the view button on the previous order list and download the updated product at the bottom of the order summary page.

For those interested, here is a list of changes in this update :

- Windows Media Video now supports Windows Media 7 and 8 on top of previously supported formats Windows Media Video 9 and VC1. Additionally this codec has received a lot of optimization love which makes it possible to play big HD clips on smaller hardware. Products including that codec : Complete set of playback plugins, Windows Media playback bundle, Windows Media Video.

- Windows Media Audio now supports Windows Media 10 and Windows Media Speech on top of previously supported formats Windows Media 7, 8, 9, Pro and Lossless. This codec has been optimized and consumes almost 50% less CPU. Products including that codec : Complete set of playback plugins, Windows Media playback bundle, Windows Media Audio.

- MPEG2 Video decoder has been optimized to reach similar performances than other competing decoders. Products including that codec : Complete set of playback plugins, MPEG playback bundle, MPEG2 Video Decoder.

- H.264/AVC and AAC have been added to the Complete set of playback plugins. You can now play your AAC songs or watch QuickTime movies using a highly optimized set of decoders for those formats. Products including that codec : Complete set of playback plugins.

- MMS network source has been thoroughly tested with a lot of Internet streams. Lot of improvements were done to support as much streams as possible. Products including that network source : Complete set of playback plugins, Windows Media playback bundle, Windows Media MMS.

Fluendo’s team wishes you a happy new year for 2008.