Home Theater Power Macro on URC8811

[tau166]

About me: I'm totally new to JP1, but I've had an RS 15-1994 for a couple years that I've programmed without JP1. I've just purchased a URC8811 to learn JP1 with. I've read some of the documents, but haven't tried a whole lot yet and it's all still a bit overwhelming so I'm going to start with 1 question and go from there.

Can I put a macro on the Home Theater Power button? It seems like the answer is yes, but only with an extender from what I've read in the forums. If this is the case can someone give an example? I'm really confused. Thanks so much.

[usblipitor]

1. Welcome to the JP1 forum! (I'm not sure I am qualified to welcome you as I am relatively new here also!)
2. Your 15-1994 is also JP1able, you could practice with it, and many here would argue it is the best remote ever designed. But the 8811 is also very nice, I have several scattered around the house.
3. Perhaps it might be useful to not start with extenders (although some brave souls do) but rather to start with collecting device upgrades for your equipment (either find ones that are already done by someone else or create your own in either KM or RM) and personalize them by putting the functions on the buttons you like.
4. With extenders I believe the home theater key becomes just like all the rest of the device keys. What you do is put a macro on each device key that sets which key groups are active. For example, you might have a macro on your HomeTheater Key that would make the VCR transport functions control the transport keys (play, rewind, etc), the TV volume functions control the volume keys (vol+, vol-, mute) and the CBL channel functions control the channel keys (ch+, ch-, 0-9). This is from the readme.txt file that comes with extender 3 for your remote:

[quote=""John S Fine's Exceptional Extender's readme.txt file""] There are 7 Key sets: Pip, Menu, Channel, Volume, Transport, Other and
Temporary(X). There are 8 Device Indexes: TV, CBL, VCR, DVD, AUX, SAT, CD
and RCVR. There is one additional command X_Cancel.

To achieve simple device selection (no VPT, TPT or HT) you would put a 6
command macro on each device key, for example the TV device key would have
the macro:
P_TV; M_TV; C_TV; V_TV; T_TV; O_TV[/quote]

You can download the extender zip file if you want to get your feet wet. Happy JP1-ing!

[uwereinert]

Can I put a macro on the Home Theater Power button?

In short, sure. Without extender too. The Home Theater Button ist designed to turn all devices of your equipment on or off. You can put this macro on the button like described in your owners manual.

Uwe

[usblipitor]

The Home Theater Button is designed to turn all devices of your equipment on or off.

My manual says it is designed to "Instantly assign groups of remote control keys to their programmed devices." It can turn them on and off too? How do you do that without an extender?

If you set up the HT to assign keys to devices, and then you created a macro on the HT key to turn on/off your equipment, what would happen when you press the HT button? I woud think that it would run the macro and ignore the HT assignments. Am I wrong?

I am new to all this, so don't hurt me too much. OK, you can hurt me a little.

[uwereinert]

The Home Theater Button ist designed to turn all devices of your equipment on or off.

Oops..., a typo! I mean the Home Theater Power Button.

Uwe

[tau166]

The Home Theater Button ist designed to turn all devices of your equipment on or off.

Oops..., a typo! I mean the Home Theater Power Button.

Uwe

First, thanks for the responses. Second I've got most of my stuff up and running pretty well other than wanting to assign this macro, hence the reason I'm asking.

OK, so I want to put a macro on the Home Theater Power button. I can't figure out how to do this without an extender because I can't seem to find it in IR to program it. Do I just not understand the IR program yet or can I not do this without an extender?

[usblipitor]

Someone with more tenure here than I should review what I am saying to make sure I am not giving out wrong information, but as far as macros are concerned, they are generally global, unless you are using a protocol that lets you create device specific macros (DSM).

What this means to you is that if you put a macro on the "Home Theater Power" key, you are actually putting a macro on THE power key, which will now run this same macro no matter what device button you pressed prior to it. If you just want to turn on the TV set, and press TV and then the power button, your macro will still run and turn on every device. And while this may sound good, if your devices get out of synch, you may have to get up off the sofa and turn them on/off manually to get them back in synch, as your remote may have lost it's ability to toggle power for each individual device separately. I would consider putting this macro on some key other than the power key.

Expert opinion welcomed Please chime in anytime

[usblipitor]

..OK, so I want to create a macro. I can't figure out how to do this..

On the OFA-8811 to create a macro is easy:
Press and hold SET until two blinks
Press 9-9-5
Press the key you want the macro on, such as M1
(enter your macro here. like TV-Power-7-1 would turn on the TV and change the channel to 71;TV-Power-CBL-Power-DVD-Power would turn on the TV,CBL,DVD. well technically, it would toggle them, so if they were on they would go off, but you get the idea.)
Press and hold SET until two blinks. you are done.

..without an extender because I can't seem to find it in IR to program it..

Check under the macro tab in IR. It is not hard. Press ADD, then select a key to put the macro on, then select the keys you want in the macro. If you manually put a macro on a button as I described above and then you upload your remote to IR and then look at the macro tab, you will see your macro and it will make more sense.

edit: changed 9-7-5 to 9-9-5. Thank you Jim for noticing this glaring error on my part! My Bad!

[uwereinert]

OK, so I want to put a macro on the Home Theater Power button. I can't figure out how to do this without an extender because I can't seem to find it in IR to program it.

The RDF for your remote is missing the key code for the HT Power Button. You have to assign a macro manually without IR, then download your dump to IR, look at the macro tab and tell us the number of "Key?? = (e.g.)TV;Power;Sat;Power" or so. Nils can complete this RDF for you in the next release.

Uwe

[tau166]

OK, so I want to put a macro on the Home Theater Power button. I can't figure out how to do this without an extender because I can't seem to find it in IR to program it.

The RDF for your remote is missing the key code for the HT Power Button. You have to assign a macro manually without IR, then download your dump to IR, look at the macro tab and tell us the number of "Key?? = (e.g.)TV;Power;Sat;Power" or so. Nils can complete this RDF for you in the next release.

Uwe

I tried this last night and the remote won't seem to take a macro on that key. The Power key seems totally useless in Home Theater mode. I can't learn or program to it with just the remote and I can't find the key in IR. It seems like I need an extender to do this?

BTW, thanks to the others. I had figured out how to make a macro both on the remote and in IR, I just can't figure out how to put it on this specific key (I'm not that much of a newbie...I've programmed my 15-1994 to the limit without JP1 so hence my current interest in JP1)

[uwereinert]

I don't own a 8811 so if the HT Power Button really doesn't exist only an extender will take you forward.

Uwe

[usblipitor]

The RDF for your remote is missing the key code for the HT Power Button.

Uwe,
Hmm.. the .rdf says the HT keys is $38, and the Power key is $03. No remote that I am aware of has a button called "HT Power." What key are you talking about that is missing from the .rdf? The reason I ask is that I have several 8811s and if a key is missing from the .rdf I might be able to help.

[jamesgammel]

..OK, so I want to create a macro. I can't figure out how to do this..

On the OFA-8811 to create a macro is easy:
Press and hold SET until two blinks
Press 9-7-5

975 is the learn command. 995 is for creating macros.

Jim

[usblipitor]

Tau,
Have you tried creating a macro using the macro tab of IR and then uploading it to your remote? It works for me. What did you do and what happened?

[usblipitor]

975 is the learn command. 995 is for creating macros.

Thanks, Jim. My Bad.