New Xsight Color user questions

3FG · Post by **3FG** » Mon May 04, 2015 11:33 pm

mathdon,
It looks like all of the 01B5 executors ignore the lower nibble of the 3rd fixed byte, so your addition of the FixedDataMask if the correct thing to do. Please check in the change.

Post by **mathdon** » Tue May 05, 2015 4:31 am

3FG wrote:your addition of the FixedDataMask is the correct thing to do. Please check in the change.

Done. This change will be included in build 3 of RMIR v2.03.

MrMoody · Post by **MrMoody** » Wed May 06, 2015 10:35 am

Question: If I wanted to start over from scratch and set up my Nevo C2 using only RMIR, would I be better off to:

1) Just use File/New in RMIR and start from there. Does this work 100% correctly with this remote?
or
2) Factory reset the remote, download it into RMIR and start from that. Resetting doesn't lose the firmware update, does it? Should I use the menu option under Settings or some hardware method (I see a pinhole in the back)?

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Fri May 08, 2015 11:47 am

1) is prohibited in the latest RMIR for Xsight/Nevo
2) 981 reset would be fine. Doesn't affect the firmware. Pinhole in the back does nothing. Not sure why it's even there.

Post by **mathdon** » Sat May 09, 2015 7:46 am

Further to mdavej's reply, it is not obvious how to do a Factory Reset (981) on the XSight/Nevo. From the Settings menu, select Reset so the screen says "Press below to reset" and has a Reset button at the bottom. Now enter 981 at the keypad. The button will change to Factory Reset. Press this one to do a full factory reset.

File/New in RMIR is strongly discouraged for all remotes, and not allowed with the XSight Touch/Color and clones. I really must put in a warning message. For most remotes there is some settings data controlled internally by the remote that is not re-created by File/New, which can cause remotes to misbehave. It is there because it was in its predecessor, IR.exe, and was requested for RMIR by experts who found it useful for testing with remotes they don't have. It is not intended for general use.

MrMoody · Post by **MrMoody** » Mon May 11, 2015 12:06 pm

Thanks guys. I thought I remembered there were problems with File/New on certain remotes although I've used it on my older ones with no apparent issue. I never actually tried it for this one to find out it was disabled.

After mdavej's post but before mathdon's, I did a search and found the factory reset thread which gave the method for this remote although mathdon's description is better. Worked just fine.

Next question:

I see you can assign a macro to the Power key in each Activity. This will be great to make a system power down function for that activity. But under Macros it looks like each macro has to be assigned to a key. I want the Power button to function normally as a power toggle in each Device mode, so I don't want to assign the macro to it, correct? Is there any way around this besides assigning the macro to a soft key? Seems like a duplication/waste of a key.

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Mon May 11, 2015 1:02 pm

Those are just key group assignments. Activities usually end up controlling several devices, so you need a way to pick which device each key group controls. You just happen to be able to assign a device or a macro. Macros must be assigned to at least one key in order to exist when you first create them. You can then assign them to other keys as well if you want. If I had to guess, the reason you have the option to assign a macro to the Power button is for devices that require multiple or held button presses for power, like projectors and a few TVs. Otherwise, I don't see the need for yet another macro on just the power button since running the activity would usually take care of all necessary macro steps.

On Xsight, power down should be an Activity, not a macro. With EZ-RC, a "Good Night" activity is created by default. In RMIR, use the same concept to create a power down activity.

I personally find very little need for macros on Xsight. I have a few utility macros for toggling subtitles and AVR mode switching, but that's about it. Activities do all the heavy lifting since they have more features, like key group mapping.

MrMoody · Post by **MrMoody** » Mon May 11, 2015 2:30 pm

Sure, but Good Night (which I had seen) is 2+ key presses (depending on whether you have to flip through activities to get to it). Doing it my way does work with a single key press, and to me makes more sense than having a power toggle in an activity.

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Mon May 11, 2015 6:20 pm

Pick your poison. Still gotta press another button to run the next activity.

I don't really follow what you're asking anyway. First you say you want the power button to function normally as a toggle for one device. Now you say you want a power down macro. Can you rephrase the question?

In any case, you're free to do either. My family finds the activity model easier to remember. My wife would freak out if an accidental press of the power button shut down the whole system.

MrMoody · Post by **MrMoody** » Mon May 11, 2015 7:21 pm

I already got it working, that's not the question. When in a Device mode the power button acts as a toggle. When in an Activity, it executes a power off macro which turns off the devices that are on and then goes back to the Home menu.

The only side effect is that it creates an unneeded soft key which the macro is bound to in order to avoid binding it to the power key, so what I was wondering is if there is some other way. I don't see one in either RMIR or ez-rc, and there probably isn't. I was just hoping someone had come up with something creative. What I wanted is a macro not bound to a key. It's too bad there are no phantom keys. All I need is one.

I suppose I could add another unused device although that would clutter up the Devices menu, so not really helpful. Is there any way to add a device that doesn't show? I doubt that either.

Pick your poison. Still gotta press another button to run the next activity.

If you end the macro with "Button: Home", the remote goes back to the Home menu, just like the goodnight activity. Then the next activity is the same key presses either method.

Post by **mathdon** » Tue May 12, 2015 6:56 am

MrMoody wrote:It's too bad there are no phantom keys. All I need is one.

Well, I have a suggestion for you to try. I don't seem to be able to test it myself, as I cannot get a macro on the Power button of an activity to work properly. I have created a macro on a soft button, selected the macro in the drop-down for the Power button group, but what my XSight Touch sends is the Power signal for the device of the first entry in the macro. The macro itself on the soft button works OK, but everything except the device of the first entry seems to be ignored when the macro is run from the Power button in the activity. We haven't before seen differing behaviours for the various XSight clones, but I think this may be one.

Anyway, what I then did was create a few phantom buttons. A phantom button is nothing other than an unused keycode that the remote will treat as a key, even when there is no physical key that generates that code. So I edited the RDF to insert in an extra line in the [Buttons] section thus:

Code: Select all

Dev13, Dev14, Dev15, Dev16, Dev17, Dev18,
Phantom1=$80,Phantom2,Phantom3,
Activity0=$F0:groupActivity+AllBind, Activity1, Activity2, Activity3,

where the middle line is new. I then edited the macro to put it on Phantom1. I still got the same behaviour on the Power button in the activity, i.e. it still sent the Power signal of the first device (which I had deliberately made to be a device not used elsewhere in the activity group assignments). So I think the macro was still being recognised, as far as my remote did recognise it, and the soft button was no longer present.

You might like to try this with your macro. I see no reason why it should not send the whole macro from the phantom button, since it does so for you when it is on a soft button. If you try it, please report in this thread what happens, whether or not it works.

MrMoody · Post by **MrMoody** » Tue May 12, 2015 8:33 am

Trying it as you have it written, it didn't work. The power key makes the red indicator on the screen light as long as the button is pressed, but doesn't blink like the macro did or have any effect on the equipment. I suspect it's not actually sending anything.

So, assuming I'm reading the rdf correctly, I thought I'd try some other unused codes. Changing the code to $70 behaves the same way. When I tried $06, Eureka! it works except it breaks Button:Home; the remote stays in the activity.

So for one last shot, I tried $4F and removed phantom2 and 3 (because $50 is used).

Works perfectly!

As an aside, Button:Activities never worked (in macros or activities), even if preceded by Button:Home and still doesn't. I'm assuming Button:Devices and Favorites wouldn't work, either.

Also, I see Dev16-18 several places, should these be removed or do they actually work on a "15-device" remote?

MrMoody · Post by **MrMoody** » Tue May 12, 2015 8:57 am

mathdon wrote:I cannot get a macro on the Power button of an activity to work properly. I have created a macro on a soft button, selected the macro in the drop-down for the Power button group, but what my XSight Touch sends is the Power signal for the device of the first entry in the macro. The macro itself on the soft button works OK, but everything except the device of the first entry seems to be ignored when the macro is run from the Power button in the activity.

Here's a long shot. On my Nevo, "volume lock" (in device mode) wouldn't work from RMIR until I enabled it in the remote menus which seemed to permanently fix it.

So I suggest you try creating a power key macro in ez-rc and load it into the remote. Create the macro first under Advanced, assign it to the soft key area, then modify an activity and it will show up under Key control assignment for the power key.