Can you query current device status in macros?

PeterSteele · Post by **PeterSteele** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 2:18 pm

Is there anyway using JP1 to query the current device status in macros? What I'd like to be able to do is say something like "if device is PVR, then do this, else if device is CBL/SAT do this." I assume the answer to this is no but I figure I'd ask.

johnsfine · Post by **johnsfine** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 2:34 pm

It's harder without an extender though the concept is the same. You can't exactly query the status in a macro but you can make the remote act as if you could.

You set up a different DSM (device specific macro) for each device that matters, all on the same phantom key. Then you use that phantom key inside the macro to achieve the desired conditional behavior.

Without an extender there are enough problems that it adds up to "not worth it" even though no one problem totally kills it. There are all sorts of unintended delays and it's hard to make a DSM work at the end of a macro and impossible to make it work right in the middle of a macro. With some extenders the delays are tiny and DSMs work right even in the middle of macros and DSMs are also simpler to define in those extenders than without an extender.

johnsfine · Post by **johnsfine** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 2:42 pm

BTW, I was using a simpler form of device conditional macro behavior even before JP1 and extenders. Maybe this way is enough for what you want.

Define the macro to do the parts you want the same for all devices mixed with a sequence of shifted digits (for non JP1 or phantoms for JP1). In each device mode define those shifted digits to be the parts of the macro that should depend on device mode.

If using shifted digits (rather than phantoms or shifts of undefined keys) and one side of the conditional is shorter than other side(s) you must use as many shifted digits as the longer side and provide null definitions to fill out the shorter. With phantoms you don't need null definitions.

PeterSteele · Post by **PeterSteele** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 2:57 pm

What I want is pretty simple, in concept at least. I don't have discrete codes for input selection so to switch from, say, TV to PVR (TiVo #1), I have to open the TV/Video menu and move the selection down to S-Video-1. To switch to CBL/SAT (TiVo #2) I have to move the selection down to -S-Video-2. I've got macros to do this, but it assumes that the current device is ANT. They look basically like this:

Switch from ANT to PVR: TV;TV/Video;MoveDown;Select;PVR
Switch from ANT to CBL: TV;TV/Video;MoveDown;MoveDown;Select;CBL/SAT

If, for example, the current device is PVR and I want to use the same macro to switch to CBL/SAT, it won't work. I have to assign a slightly different macro (with just one MoveDown) to a different key.

Switching from PVR or CBL/SAT to ANT poses similar problems. The macros I have are:

Switch from PVR to ANT: TV;TV/Video;MoveUp;Select
Switch from CBL to ANY: TV;TV/Video;MoveUp;MoveUp;Select

and these are assigned to yet different keys. All in all, it gets pretty ugly. What I'd like are macros that would allow me to switch from one device to another that would work regardless of which device is current. How feasible is this?

gfb107 · Post by **gfb107** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 3:15 pm

This is a common issue, and there is a common solutuion to it.

Most TVs will automatically switch to the Antenna input if you send a CH+ or CH-. You could use one (or both) of those as the first step(s) in your macro to always get the TV to a known state, then do what you have above.

PeterSteele · Post by **PeterSteele** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 3:23 pm

If only it was this easy but alas this won't work in my case. When the TV/Video menu is active, the CH+/CH- keys work the same as the MoveUp/MoveDown keys--they do not change channels. I've tried various things but have been unable to find any way to get my TV to switch automatically to ANT except by explicitly moving the cursor to the top entry using N MoveUp commands. So, that's why I need all these funky macros, and why I'm investigating the concept of conditions in macros.

gfb107 · Post by **gfb107** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 3:27 pm

What if the TV/Video menu isn't active? Can you make it go away by pressing clear or exit first?

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 3:40 pm

I was about to suggest what Greg suggested, in other words your macros would look like this...

Switch from ANT to PVR: TV; CH+; TV/Video; MoveDown; Select; PVR
Switch from ANT to CBL: TV; CH+; TV/Video; MoveDown; MoveDown; Select; CBL/SAT

Btw, what brand/model TV are we talking about here?

PeterSteele · Post by **PeterSteele** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 3:46 pm

If the TV/Video menu is displayed, pressing TV/Video again clears it, so that's easy enough. However, if the current video source is not ANT and I set the current device to TV on my remote, I believe I get the message "not available" when I use CH+/CH-. This was one of the test I had tried to get an implicit switch to ANT but it did not work. The channel didn't change and the video source didn't change.

My TV is a Samsung 50" DLP, HLN507W firmware v211. I can get discrete codes to allow me to switch the video source directly, but it's a $400 upgrade, plus it apparently takes months to get the work done. So for now at least I'm doing what I can with the hardware I have...

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 5:40 pm

Well, it sounds like you're out of luck, but your bestbet is try try every button combination you can think of to get your TV into a known state, then you can program the macros to take it from there.

Your next best option is to use device specific macros, as you will always know what the current device mode is with these.

PeterSteele · Post by **PeterSteele** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 8:04 pm

I did a quick look in IR on how to do device specific macros but there didn't seem to be anything obvious. Can you point me to some info on this? Thanks.

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 8:44 pm

You'll find them in the Special Protocols folder over in Yahoo (use the Special protocols spreadsheet)

PeterSteele · Post by **PeterSteele** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:23 pm

Found it. One question though. In the document it state:

The fixed parameter indicates in which registers the remote keeps track of
macros, and varies from remote to remote.
URC-7560: 6E
15-1994: 63
other remotes may yet again be different.

How do I find out what value I use for the 6131?

Man, quite the process to go through to get this remote tweaked the way I want it. I thought my days of programming in machine code were long gone!

Post by **The Robman** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:43 pm

Read the part in parens in my previous post.

PeterSteele · Post by **PeterSteele** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 3:55 pm

Okay, thanks. I had downloaded that file but never opened it. Shoulda realized...