680005 and 680106: URC-2068bc2-0780-0002-R

[mathdon]

I must say I am impressed at how fast you were able to figure out this remote

Thank you . Have you tried it yet? What are you hoping to be able to do with this remote? Are you interested in its RF support, or only IR? I hope to investigate the RF support myself, but that will be a longer-term and non-urgent task unless you or any other users are wanting to make use of it.

[HamburgerHelper1]

No hurry I just thought it was an interesting remote that has RF and a jp1 connector.
Then to top it off it has a new processor that you figured out.
That info may come in handy someday if or when we ruin into other remotes
with that processor

[mathdon]

As far as I can see, the instruction leaflet with the URC-2068BC2 does not include the instructions for RF pairing. They are in the UEI website for the remote if you look hard enough, but they are not very obvious. So I thought it worth copying them here. They are

Step 1. Press and hold SETUP until the LED blinks twice.

Step 2. Press the MENU key on the remote and the remote will begin blinking as it attempts to pair.

Step 3. If you are pairing with an RF adapter, refer to the RF adapter instructions to complete pairing.

Step 4. If a PIN number appears on the TV screen, enter that number using the remote numeric keys. The LED on the remote will blink twice.

I doubt that it will pair with my UK cable box, but I have confirmed with a packet sniffer that step 2 sends an RF Discovery Request command.

[3FG]

I tried to pair the URC-2068BC2 with a Xfinity X1 cable box. It didn't work. The RF remote that Xfinity provides for that box, the XR15, does pair correctly. The XR15, BTW, is said to use the GP565 processor--it can be voice controlled.

[HamburgerHelper1]

When attempting to pair does it blink continously and then time out?
When i do that procedure what my remote does is blink 3 times fast
with the 3rd blink being cut off short then one longer blink

[3FG]

I didn't look carefully at the blinking pattern. However, the pairing operation with the Xfinity box is fairly simple: put the box into pairing mode and then the remote into pairing mode. With XR15 (which uses a different pair of buttons to enter pairing mode), the box then immediately displays a 3 digit code which one needs to enter with the remote's numeric buttons. Using the URC-2068BC2, no three digit code appears nor is there any indication from the Xfinity box that it recognizes a pairing attempt. I doubt that we should expect it to work; the box and the remote certainly weren't designed to work together.

[mathdon]

I have tried pairing with my Virgin Media box, too, and that also fails. Using the packet sniffer I see that the box doesn't even respond to the Discovery Request, which is the first stage of a the exchange needed for pairing.

I know exactly what data should be in the Discovery Request, as I sniffed the entire pairing exchange between the box and the official Virgin Media remote. That is the file VMTestPairing.psd in the RFToolsTest folder of the RMIR distribution and the file can be opened in the RF Tools panel that opens if you press the RF button on the toolbar. RMIR can be used to partially customize the Discovery Request sent by either the URC2068BC2 or the URC2125BC0, but there is some data in that packet that cannot be changed. Unfortunately I can make both those remotes send a Discovery Request that differs little from that of the official VM remote, but the few differences seem to be enough to prevent the cable box from responding.

I have also tried to fool the URC2068BC2 into believing that it is paired (with a fictitious cable box), by creating data segments modelled on those in the URC2125BC0. It is enough for my code in RMIR to believe that the remote is paired and for the RF Tools to display the pairing data, but it doesn't fool the remote. The remote still will not send any RF signals other than the Discovery Request. So this looks like the end of the road as far as investigating its RF support .

[mathdon]

So this looks like the end of the road as far as investigating its RF support

Unless someone has one of these remotes that is paired with a cable box. If so, please post a raw download made with RMIR 2.12.4 or later. Then we might be able to proceed further.

[HamburgerHelper1]

If im lucky i hope to run into the cable box that this remote goes with
and get it paired
I will report here if i ever find one

[mathdon]

If im lucky i hope to run into the cable box that this remote goes with and get it paired

Thanks, I was hoping that you would say that .

[HamburgerHelper1]

well i have the correct cable box and a remote that came with it
unfortunately it will not pair with the remote.
The box must have the cable service working and or the box activated first before you can do any thing else