Ubuntu Manpage: irrecord - IR-codes recording tool for usage with LIRC

Provided by: lirc_0.10.2-0.8build1_amd64

NAME

       irrecord - IR-codes recording tool for usage with LIRC

SYNOPSIS

       irrecord [-f] [-n] [-H driver] [-d device] [file]

       irrecord -a <file>

       irrecord -l

       irrecord --help | --version

DESCRIPTION

       This  program  will  record  the  signals  from  your  remote control and create a config file for lircd.
       Although a good deal of effort is put in this program it is often not possible to automatically recognize
       all features of a remote control. See USAGE NOTES below.

       If file is not specified it defaults to "irrecord.lircd.conf"

       If file already exists and contains a valid config irrecord will use the protocol description found there
       and will only try to record the buttons.

OPTIONS

-a --analyse
Analyse a raw_codes config file, trying to convert it to a regular configuration.

-u --update
Add new buttons to an existing config file. No protocol information is updated.

-f --force
Force raw mode. Use this if recording fails otherwise. This creates a raw codes configuration file
which can be used as-is or converted using the -a option.

-n --disable-namespace
Disable namespace checks.

-l --list-namespace
List valid button names.

-H --driver=driver
Use given driver. -H help lists available drivers.

-d --device=device
Read from given device. Use mode2(1) --list-devices to list available devices for a driver.

-U --plugindir=directory
Load drivers from directory. See DRIVER LOADING.

-k --keep-root
Don't drop root privileges after opening device. See RUNNING AS ROOT.

-A, --driver-options key:value[|key:value...]
Set one or more options for the driver. The argument is a list of key:value pairs delimited by
'|'. The key can not contain spaces, but such are allowed in the value part. Certain characters
including '#' and ';' are used as comment markers in the config file and are not allowed anywhere.

-D --loglevel=level
Determine the amount of logging information. [level] can be a symbolic syslog level:
'error','warning, 'info', 'notice' or 'debug'. lirc also defines three additional levels 'trace',
'trace1' and 'trace2' which gives even more messages ('trace2' bringing the most). However, in the
log these messages are marked as 'debug'. The level can also be an integer in the range 3 (almost
no messages) to 10.

-O, --options-file <path>
File containing default values for all options. A relative path is interpreted from current
directory. See [FILES] below.

-h --help
Display this message.

-v --version
Display version.

USAGE NOTES

       The primary options are --driver and usually also --device (some drivers does not need  --device).  These
       could be verified using mode2(1) if irrecord runs into trouble.

       When  driver  and  device  is  known  it saves some work to update lirc_options.conf with the new values.
       irrecord uses the [lircd] section as a fallback, so with a proper lirc_options.conf irrecord could be run
       without command line options.

       Using an existing file as a template can sometimes be required for irrecord to work. If using one of  the
       generic templates it can also provide better timing. See PROTOCOL PARAMETERS AND TEMPLATES.

       If  the program fails to recognize the protocol of the remote control you could use the --force option to
       at least create a config file in raw mode.

REPEAT MASKS

       After recording some buttons with irrecord, you should check the repeat masks. These are needed in  order
       to handle repeated button presses, which are very common

       Using  the  config  file,  start  lircd  and irw. Keeping a button pressed down, you should see something
       like:<

               0000000000f40bf0 00 KEY_1 ANIMAX
               0000000000f40bf0 01 KEY_1 ANIMAX
               0000000000f40bf0 02 KEY_1 ANIMAX
               0000000000f40bf0 03 KEY_1 ANIMAX
               0000000000f40bf0 04 KEY_1 ANIMAX
               0000000000f40bf0 05 KEY_1 ANIMAX

       Note how the second field gets incremented. This must work for correct operation.

PROTOCOL PARAMETERS AND TEMPLATES.

irrecord actually works in two phases. In the first, it tries to identify the protocol used by the
remote. Although this often works quite well, there are advantages using an existing file as a template.

One reason to use a template is when irrecord fails to recognize the protocol in the beginning. In such
cases, try to find an existing configuration from the same vendor using something like:

$ irdb-get find motorola
# lots of remotes listed...
$ irdb-get download motorola/VIP_1200.lircd.conf # Pick any
$ cp VIP_1200.lircd.conf my_remote.lircd.conf
$ irrecord my_remote.lircd.conf

Invoking irrecord this way re-uses the existing protocol which usually works (vendors seldom changes
protocol parameters).

Another reason to use an existing file is to get more exact timing, important when planning to also
transmit (blast). In such cases, using a generic template found using irdb-get find generic has
advantages since the timing values here are hand-crafted from specifications. To use these, you need to
know which protocol your remote uses, though.

If decoding of IR commands does not work reliably you can try to modify the eps and aeps values in the
lircd config file to adjust the tolerance of signal lengths. aeps is an absolute value while eps is a
relative value expressed in percent. See lircd.conf(5)

TROUBLESHOOTING

   Multiple-personalities remotes
       Some remotes actually emulates two or more remotes. irrecord runs into trouble if  buttons from different
       logical remotes are mixed in the same run, in particular in the initial protocol identification. For such
       devices, irrecord must be invoked once for every logical device  using  only  buttons  from  this  device
       during the run.

   Un-printable garbage when using default driver
       If  there  is  various  non-printable  garbage on the screen when running irrecord when using the default
       driver the rc protocol needs to be set.  With a single device the protocol can be set and inspected using

               sudo sh -c "echo 'lirc' > /sys/class/rc/rc0/protocol"
               cat /sys/class/rc/rc0/protocol

   Physical disturbances
       As for physical disturbances, the primary source is fluorescent light. You should not have any such light
       around when using irrecord.  It's also important to have a suitable distance between the remote  and  the
       capture  device,  which  often is smaller than in typical, normal usage. However, making the distance too
       small might cause other problems.  At a first try use a foot or two.

DRIVER LOAD PATH

       Drivers are loaded dynamically. This is done  from  a  traditional  *ux  ´:´-separated  path  where  each
       component in the path is searched (leading part first, trailing last).

       The path used for this is determined by (falling priority):

       - The --plugindir option.

       - The 'plugindir' entry in  the [lircd] section of the lirc_options.conf file.

       - The environment variable LIRC_PLUGINDIR.

       - A hardcoded default (/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/lirc/plugins).

RUNNING AS ROOT

       In  many  cases  irrecord  needs  to run as root to access devices not available to regular users. On the
       other hand, running as root creates problems such as log files owned by root, security concerns etc.

       In order to cope with this, irrecord by default drops root privileges after  opening  the  input  device.
       This support is based on that root permissions are accquired using sudo(1) e. g., using

               $ sudo irrecord --device /dev/lirc0 --driver default

       If  not  using sudo, the same behaviour could be accomplished using the SUDO_USER environment variable e.
       g.,

               # SUDO_USER=$LOGNAME irrecord --device /dev/lirc0 --driver default

       The --keep-root option will make irrecord to keep root privileges for the complete run.

FILES

       /etc/lirc/lirc_options.conf
           The options file holding default values for command line options in the [irrecord] section. For  some
           values  including  debug,  plugindir, driver and device irrecord falls back to the [lircd] section if
           not found in [irrecord].

       -   The location of this file can be changed using the -O/--options-file command-line option or using the
           environment variable LIRC_OPTIONS_PATH.

       ~/.cache/irrecord.log
           Debug  output.  Setting  the   XDG_CACHE_HOME   environment   variable   relocates   this   file   to
           $XDG_CACHE_HOME/irrecord.log