How to control omxplayer via LIRC?

Question

After searching different forums for integrating omxplayer with LIRC, still I haven't found answers to my problem.

I have successfully set up LIRC on my Raspberry Pi B+, and now I want to create a lircrc file for it, in order to actually begin controlling the device remotely. The following is an example I've written on lircrc file:

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = KEY_POWER
    config = omxplayer my_video.mp4 &
    repeat = 0
end

This file works OK; whenever I run irexec and press KEY_POWER on my IR remote controller, the omxplayer starts to play the video.

Now I want to add some features like increase volume, decrease volume, next, previous, etc. to the lircrc file. I know that pressing some keys like +, -, arrows, etc. on keyboard control the video playback on omxplayer; but I don't want to use the keyboard. I just want to do them all by my IR remote controller. (Although I don't want to use keyboard, I just found out that keyboard shortcuts like +, -, etc. don't work at all when omxplayer is running on irexec !!)

So what commands should I use to control omxplayer video playback?

I tried something like the following in the lircrc file to increase the volume:

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = KEY_POWER
    config = +
    repeat = 0
end

or even

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = KEY_POWER
    config = INCREASE_VOLUME
    repeat = 0
end

but unfortunately, neither worked!

How can I set my LIRC to control omxplayer?

What are the true commands for controlling the playback options in omxplayer?

Thanks for your time and support.

Answer 1

You should setup up omxplayer to use a named pipe, then have lirc talk to omxplayer over the pipe.

mkfifo /tmp/cmd
omxplayer my_video.mp4 < /tmp/cmd
echo . > /tmp/cmd #(initial wait for input via the fifo)
echo p > /tmp/cmd #(p will pause playback)

List all options:

omxplayer --help && omxplayer --keys

It's optional but a good idea to wrap it in a script and have lirc call the script (omxp.sh play my_video.mp4, omxp.sh pause, etc)

Answer 2

I installed omxd

https://github.com/subogero/omxd

which is a playlist daemon for omxplayer. It works great!

It is very helpful, and I recommend it to all omxplayer users.