RCA RCRP05B extender V1.05

alkap · Post by **alkap** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:33 am

I have extender V1.05 on my RCA remote. The problem with is the volume and channel lock. The volume is set to TV and channel to CBL regardless of how you program the remote in MACROS.

The only way I found to solve this issue is by entering original volume and channel unlock codes, however, it messes up the extender.

I am sure someone has solved this issue, I just can't seem to find it.

Any help/guidance is appreciated

Alkap

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 12:00 pm

Sounds like extender isn’t activated.

Ed · Post by Ed » Sun Dec 09, 2018 12:37 pm

Just as support for mdavej's response, I've been running extender v1.05 on my trusty RCRP05B for over 5 years with no issues.

Edited to correct typos.

unclemiltie · Post by **unclemiltie** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 4:22 pm

If you can get into setup to enter the volume unlock codes the extender isn't activated. A long press of setup "might" deactivate the extender depending on the settings. I don't remember exactly since that is an older version of the extender for that remote.

The RCA extender has been merged into the common JP1.3 extender, current version is (I think) 3.04. you should be using that one since it fixes all known bugs in the extenders for all JP1.3 remotes.

The 1.05 extender for the RCA was a derivative of an earlier version for the Atlas remotes and thus it picked up bugs that were in that extender. IF you're just starting out I'd recommending shelving the 1.05 version and getting the common extender and installing it.

Then when you get it installed you'll want to make sure it's activated. On a virgin remote upload the extender RMIR file and then press TV-OK, you should see the LED blink 4 times. If not the extender did not activate for some reason.

Ed · Post by Ed » Sun Dec 09, 2018 4:31 pm

The RCA extender has been merged into the common JP1.3 extender, current version is (I think) 3.04. you should be using that one since it fixes all known bugs in the extenders for all JP1.3 remotes.

Just a quick note that I could not get the pause protocol to work on an Atlas remote using the common extender some time ago. I use pause a fair bit on my RCA, so I didn't bother trying to change it over to the common extender, as pause using the v1.05 extender works perfectly for me. YMMV, of course.

unclemiltie · Post by **unclemiltie** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 7:22 pm

I thought I fixed that bug in 3.02, it was related to the "interruptible pause" that I implemented that looked for keypresses while the pause was going on so that if you wanted to stop the pause you could press a key.

what version were you using?

Ed · Post by Ed » Sun Dec 09, 2018 8:07 pm

unclemiltie wrote:I thought I fixed that bug in 3.02, it was related to the "interruptible pause" that I implemented that looked for keypresses while the pause was going on so that if you wanted to stop the pause you could press a key.

what version were you using?

I was using v3.02. My experiences are documented here: http://hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic ... c&&start=0

I ended up using v2.11 in the OCAP and continue to use v1.05 in the RCA. I've had no trouble with either of them.

unclemiltie · Post by **unclemiltie** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 8:41 pm

Ok, so that's really weird. I just went back to look at the code in the RCA source file and the combined extender source and they are identical. This is for V1.05 of the RCA extender and V3.04 of the combined extender. The combined extender is a derivative of the Insignia extender which was a derivative of the RCA extender. IIRC the RCA was the first JP1.3 extender where I did an interruptible pause.

For reference:

R03 passes to the extender the number of 100ms pauses , this is provided by RMIR into the keymove that fires the Pause protocol
Delay100ms is a value for each remote that I did by timing the remote with various lengths of pauses to get it as close to 100ms as possible

In essence:

Code: Select all

Start:     LDW      RC2,R03             ;get pause count from keymove
Loop:      LDW      RC0,Delay100ms      ;load value for 100ms pause

           CALL     Delay_Scankeypad    ;delay WWO and scan keypad
           JRNC     Exit                ;if key pressed exit
           DJNZ     RC2,Loop            ;decrement delay count, exit if done

Exit:      RET

In the older versions of the Atlas source this is lightly different because it does not check for a keypress

Code: Select all

Start:     LDW      RC2,R03
Loop:      LDW      RC0,Delay100ms

           CALL     DelayWWO
           DJNZ     RC2,Loop

Exit:      RET

So there should be no difference in the common extender and the RCA 1.05 extender since the entry points and the code are identical. There might be an issue with another remote if Delay_Scankeypad clobbers RC2 but I don't think it does.

BTW, Version 3.04 of the combined extender has an update to the RDF that allows RMIR to disable the interruptible pause by selecting an option to do so. It does this by "patching" in the call to DelayWW0 and a NOP to kill the JRNC so in essence the Pause is excactly the same as the one that was in the first versions of the Atlas extenders.

Ed · Post by Ed » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:47 am

It sounds like all is well with v3.04 of the common extender and the RCRP05B as it relates to Pause. My only point was to caution the OP based on my experience with the common extender, albeit v3.02, on a different remote.

To be clear, I never tried v3.02 with the RCA because of the problems I had trying to get it to work with the OCAP. I never bothered to try v3.04 on either of my remotes because they were working just fine with the "pre common extender" versions.

Looking forward to hearing that the OP got his remote working properly.

alkap · Post by **alkap** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:09 pm

Thanks for all your replies.
Can someone tell me step by step how to load common JP1.3 extender on this remote and activate it? Thanks a bunch

unclemiltie · Post by **unclemiltie** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:27 pm

Download the common extender from the files section and extract all of the components.

Deactivate the extender (if any) in your current remote. Depending on which version you have the method will be different. See the readme for the extender that you have

Do a full reset on the remote (9-8-1 reset)
Download the erased remote with RMIR

Once downloaded find the right extender file for your remote (the RCA is the 31793179 signature) and install it with RMIR

upload the resulting file to the remote

activate with TV-OK, remote should blink 4 times

alkap · Post by **alkap** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 1:59 pm

I tried to do that, however, the RCA extender file name is 3X793X79 and RMIR errors out "no remote found that matches the merge file"
Thanks

unclemiltie · Post by **unclemiltie** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 2:04 pm

you have to install the RDF's into the place where the RDF's are stored for your rmir

that's probably the problem.

alkap · Post by **alkap** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 2:06 pm

I did define RDF path within RMIR (rdf directory which is part of RMIR download)

unclemiltie · Post by **unclemiltie** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 2:39 pm

yes, but I don't think that the RDFs that come with the extender are packaged with the RMIR download.

So you'll have to copy the RDFs that came with the extender distribution into that same directory and then restart RMIR