JP1 Remotes

pottypigeon · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Northern Italy

Hello.
I'm DESPERATELY trying to find SBAV-files for my SB (PAL Version with IR blaster Ver. 4 - so no JU or PL bin files good for me, I think).

I've contacted many times Sling customer support, but they don't give much of any help towards this problem. They suggested the obvious (try different codes... and then headed to suggest usage of RM without any further support! I've read all the stuff here to "learn" how to use RM, but as far as I understood, I need something to base my upgrade file on, either some "pre-cooked" upgrade file or a learnt base made with an OFA-like remote.
I found no "good" file in here for this task and I don't have a learning remote like the ones mentioned here, so I'm really here BEGGING for someone in the forum to:
a) direct me to some solution to modify a "good" file that escaped my attention (possibly guiding me using RM... DAUNTING experience!), or
b) do the "dirty work" for me and "cook" the .sbav files I need for my SB having my eternal gratitude GRANTED FOREVER!!!

Please... HELP!

Andrea (possibly the first in Italy having a SlingBox/SKYHD Italy combo...)

zaphod7501 · Joined: 02 Aug 2004 Posts: 534 Location: Peoria Illinois

Do any of the files described here sound like they might be close?
http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload.php?action=category&cat_id=22
If so , then I can run off a .bin file fairly easily. We create .bin files that are put into the \SBAV directory and selected by typing the code into a box that pops up when "other" is selected.

Developing an upgrade for a new remote requires that someone, somewhere, has to learn the commands and decode the signals: might have to be you Mr. Green

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Just call me Zaphod (or Steve) --- I never should have started using numbers in a screen name but I just can't stop now.

pottypigeon · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Northern Italy

Zaphod,

First and foremost THANK YOU for replying so quickly. This is what makes the Internet worth something!

I've already checked the files section of this site and what I can say is that I cannot be sure that none of the PACE or Sky flavours will work, but by looking at post dates (quite old postings) for those files I'm pretty confident that it's very UNLIKELY that any file coming from 2004 or 2005 would work in a 2006 "machine". All the PACE or Sky codes built into SB software are newer and nevertheless they don't even make the "feedback" led on the decoder (the one that flashes when it receives a beam from the original remote) light up!
You said you can can run off a .bin file, but I think that for SB Player to "eat" new codes, they have to be in another format.
In my SBAV folder I have NO .bin files, but .sbav files. My IR blaster is reported as ver. 4, not 2.0 or 2.1... is this telling me that I have an RV "IR chipset" or something???
Anyways, I could have access to an original Philips Pronto (the first one... RU890). If I learn the codes of my decoder remote then what I can do?
Could I post some file to the forum and have some "angel" do the magic for me? Or have someone explaining what a poor soul can do with a Pronto file with some other piece of software (RM???) to export a binary for my darn SB???

Andrea

Capn Trips · Expert Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 3990

First regarding Sky boxes. Historically, regardless of manufacturer, all Sky boxes designed for the same function (Sky or Sky+) use the same IR remote codesets. Regardless whether they are Amstrad, Pace or Thomson boxes, they all use RC6-M-20N protocol with M=0 and Device=0.

Regular Sky boxes use Sub-Device=0
Sky+ boxes use the same parameters and commands, but the Sub-Device=12.

I suspect, therefore, that for the SkyHD box, it is likely that the same protocol, device and command sets will be used, but a different sub-device code needs to be identified.

Unfortunately, this still requires that you learn at least ONE function and decode it to determine the sub-device.

If you get it into a Pronto, you can post either the Pronto hex here or the entire ccf file and someone can decode it for you, or you can do it yourself using IRTool to decode the Pronto hex into Protocol, Device, Sub-device format that you can use. For this (or DecodeCCF, which will decode an entire Pronto CCF file) you will also need the latest DecodeIR.dll file in the same directory.
_________________
Beginners - Read this thread first
READ BEFORE POSTING or your post will be DELETED!

Remotes: OFA XSight Touch, AR XSight Touch
TVs: LG 65" Smart LED TV; Samsung QN850BF Series - 8K UHD Neo QLED LCD TV
RCVR: Onkyo TX-SR875; Integra DTR 40.3
DVD/VCR: Pioneer DV-400VK (multi-region DVD), Sony BDP-S350 (Blu-ray), Toshiba HD-A3 (HD-DVD), Panasonic AG-W1 (Multi-system VCR);
Laserdisc: Pioneer CLD-D704.
Amazon Firestick
tape deck: Pioneer CT 1380WR (double cassette deck)
(But I still have to get up for my beer)

Capn Trips · Expert Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 3990

Second, regarding Slingboxes. There are currently three known variants.

The two NTSC (US) boxes that are supported in the RDF.ZIP file are the JU and PL variants.

The known PAL Slingbox uses the RV rdf, which is not yet in the RDF.ZIP distribution package, but is available HERE, along with its map and image file.
_________________
Beginners - Read this thread first
READ BEFORE POSTING or your post will be DELETED!

Remotes: OFA XSight Touch, AR XSight Touch
TVs: LG 65" Smart LED TV; Samsung QN850BF Series - 8K UHD Neo QLED LCD TV
RCVR: Onkyo TX-SR875; Integra DTR 40.3
DVD/VCR: Pioneer DV-400VK (multi-region DVD), Sony BDP-S350 (Blu-ray), Toshiba HD-A3 (HD-DVD), Panasonic AG-W1 (Multi-system VCR);
Laserdisc: Pioneer CLD-D704.
Amazon Firestick
tape deck: Pioneer CT 1380WR (double cassette deck)
(But I still have to get up for my beer)

pottypigeon · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Northern Italy

Capn Trips,

You're talking Arabic, with Thai subtitles!!!
As I said in an earlier post I have access to an RU890 Pronto. I could let it learn all my SKYHD Remote commands (or one, whichever suits anybody's best), but from there on it's deep thick fog for me.
I'll read the posts you mention in your signature, but I'm afraid that it'll be a little beyond my capabilities to make good use of them...

Now I know what I'll do tonight!

PS: I'm a Mac/UNIX sysadmin... the first hurdle to overcome will be to install the old Pronto software on my machine...

Andrea

johnsfine · Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:07 am Post subject:

pottypigeon · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Northern Italy

That'll be GREAT!!!

How I will install Win95 software on a Mac will be MY pride in solving!!! (besides being indirectly part of my job).

I will do what you said and if everything will be ok, I'll throw a party with free beer and girls for everybody in the forum! (well... maybe not for every-everybody, since I don't live in a Bill-Gates-esque mansion...).

Jokes aside, thanks for all of your support present and future.

Andrea

pottypigeon · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Northern Italy

Ok folks.

In the "diagnosis area" there's a file named "skyhditaly.ccf" I made with a Philips Pronto RU890.
It's not been an easy feat to use ProntoEdit with a Mac, but in the end I won!
All the buttons have been successfully learnt by the Pronto and are indeed all I need to operate during common use.

The link is:
http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload.php?action=file&file_id=3730

For what is worth, I begin to thank you all for all your support...
Whatever will be the outcome.

Andrea

johnsfine · Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:42 pm Post subject:

Does that Pronto work to control the device?

That "Dreambox" protocol (that I see in your CCF file) is a real pain. Learning remotes, including the Pronto and various OFA, usually can't learn it correctly.

The device itself is tollerant of lots of big errors in the signal. But some small errors make it fail. Typical learned signals of this Protocol have enough errors to include something that makes it not work. When the error that matters is the only one present, there is enough redundancy in the signal to deduce the correct values. But often there are enough errors that they go beyond the redundancy of the signal and it becomes hard to guess the right signal.

All of your signals decode as incorrect Dreambox signals. DecodeIR can tell they were Dreambox protocol learned wrong but can't tell what they would have been if learned correctly.
So there is a fair amount of trouble to get from those learned signals to even knowing what they should have been.

Then Dreambox is a fairly unusual protocol. I forget what JP1 support there is (I remember enough to know someone did something). The slingbox has a low limit on the size of the executor and this is a complicated protocol that probably exceeds that.

I'll continue to help. Maybe slower than I guessed earlier. Any other experts who want to jump in, please do so.

I'll also search some threads at RC. I think I solved this same set of signals recently for someone who learned them with an even worse learning remote. That took a bit of experimentation to find out what signals would actually work.

Assuming the learned signals don't work in your Pronto, I hope ProntoEdit works well enough we can run a few experiments to see what signals do work. The Slingbox would be a much worse platform for such experiments.

And if it wasn't obvious yet, you can forget everything I said about "Sky" devices being simple and being consistent across brands. This apparently isn't one of those.

pottypigeon · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Northern Italy

johnsfine,

you were pretty much "sleeeping on the keyboard", as we say here when someone is so quick to reply!

As strange as it may sound, the learnt codes seem to work 100% with 100% reliability (no ONE miss, controlling the PACE).

So, you're saying that my codes look like being from a dreambox?
If this is of any help, here's the link to the product:
http://www.pacemicro.com/corporate/products/productDetails.asp?nav=products&fullid=products_DSAT&productID=DSAT-DS815NS

and here's the one to the specs:
http://www.pacemicro.com/media/corporate/PDF/manuals/ds815ns_spec.pdf

Thanks very much and keep me posted.

pottypigeon · Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Northern Italy

BUMP!

I know that bumping topics is NOT smart (or even permitted), but I'm just here to ask if any of this forum gurus has news for me...

Andrea

Capn Trips · Expert Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 3990

John,

I'm afraid I can't help pp solve the pronto decode question, but perhaps it's worth pointing out (stubbornly, on my part) that Dreambox codes sort of make no sense for a Sky product, so for what it's worth, is there any similarity between Dreambox and RC6-M-20N protocol? This is the only protocol seen with Sky boxes previously (afaik).
_________________
Beginners - Read this thread first
READ BEFORE POSTING or your post will be DELETED!

Remotes: OFA XSight Touch, AR XSight Touch
TVs: LG 65" Smart LED TV; Samsung QN850BF Series - 8K UHD Neo QLED LCD TV
RCVR: Onkyo TX-SR875; Integra DTR 40.3
DVD/VCR: Pioneer DV-400VK (multi-region DVD), Sony BDP-S350 (Blu-ray), Toshiba HD-A3 (HD-DVD), Panasonic AG-W1 (Multi-system VCR);
Laserdisc: Pioneer CLD-D704.
Amazon Firestick
tape deck: Pioneer CT 1380WR (double cassette deck)
(But I still have to get up for my beer)

johnsfine · Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 7:49 am Post subject:

I've gotten even further behind than usual on the JP1 things I've promised to do, and I don't have a list. So the bump was probably a good idea.

As for Dreambox vs. Sky:

1) I haven't had time to find and reread threads here, and the larger number at RC regarding the "Dreambox" protocol. So I don't recall what other devices use that protocol. I do recall that some things that are not Dreambox devices use the protocol. It may be that our choice of the name "Dreambox" for the protocol was not very wise.

2) It is a very distinctive protocol with no similarity to RC6-6-20n (the SKY protocol) nor to any other form of RC6. When DecodeIR decodes a signal as a mislearned sample of Dreambox protocol, I have a lot of confidence that that is exactly what it is.

Capn Trips · Expert Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 3990

Although it's not stated outright, I infer from THIS THREAD that the SkyHD box is operated by the same setup code as the Sky+ box. Have you in fact tried a Sky+ upgrade to see if it works?

Or it may simply be the fact that the Italian Sky boxes differ from the UK ones in this regard.
_________________
Beginners - Read this thread first
READ BEFORE POSTING or your post will be DELETED!

Remotes: OFA XSight Touch, AR XSight Touch
TVs: LG 65" Smart LED TV; Samsung QN850BF Series - 8K UHD Neo QLED LCD TV
RCVR: Onkyo TX-SR875; Integra DTR 40.3
DVD/VCR: Pioneer DV-400VK (multi-region DVD), Sony BDP-S350 (Blu-ray), Toshiba HD-A3 (HD-DVD), Panasonic AG-W1 (Multi-system VCR);
Laserdisc: Pioneer CLD-D704.
Amazon Firestick
tape deck: Pioneer CT 1380WR (double cassette deck)
(But I still have to get up for my beer)