Help With PrediWave PDV4100 - IR blaster 2 JU Slingbox Pro

[Capn Trips]

You mistake an inability to solve your problem using the data you have provided for an unwillingness to do so.

The issue is not that anybody is trying to sell you a remote, nor that anybody is unwilling to help you. It is simply that this is a JP1 forum. Therefore MOST of the knowledge and support (which is provided free) is based on JP1 remote controls and the tools developed here to exploit their capabilities.

In some (many) instances, there is sufficient breadth of expertise here to assist when the poster is NOT a JP1 user, and tools have been developed for translating from other IR formats (like CCF files), but the data you are providing are in a format that is, unfortunately, alien to most of the folks here (certainly to me) and therefore there is no help forthcoming.

It has been pointed out that the SIMPLEST (not necessarily CHEAPEST - but not particularly expensive, either) way to get the information you seek is by LEARNING the signals from your OEM remote into a format that somebody on this forum can recognize/decode. I know of TWO options for doing this:
(1) Get a learning JP1 remote and cable, learn the signals and download them using the free JP1 software available here, and build the upgrade for your Slingbox using the JP1 tools; OR
(2) Even LESS costly than a $20 remote and $15 cable, build the CaptureIR interface and capture your OEM remote signals with it and its associated software, post the file here and someone will decode it for you and build your Slingbox upgrade.

By the way, what IS a PrediWave PDV4100? (THIS PAGE indicates they are having some bankruptcy problems)

[hjeng]

Dear Expert, thanks for your help...

I'm not trying to make your life harder, if it can't be done, or you feel you're unwilling to spend too much time if it's not JP1 related, it's fine, but what does it mean it's not JP1 related? I thought the chip used in Slingbox is somewhat JP1 related..or maybe not because it must involve the process of using One For All remote controls to learn the ir codes...

C) Almost any IR receive device for a PC plus the free LIRC software (check that there is LIRC support for the hardware you choose, but there is LIRC support for most IR receive devices made for PC's). Then any of the experts here can figure out the codes from an lirc file (from training LIRC from the original remote).

The reason I posted the files, is because of the quote above, and because I want to save $40. Yes, I know JP1 remote is great, but I dont' have much use of it...the only thing I need is to record one command, channel up...I don't need all the fancy stuff.....i just need channel up. There's people who loves this fancy universal remote, but there's people who just need a simple remote, in this case, I just need channel up or down.


I thought the file I provided is LIRC format, but probably not...and I'm sorry to take any more of the experts time.

Anyways, I will try again later, but again, there are two options given:

(1) Get a learning JP1 remote and cable, learn the signals and download them using the free JP1 software available here, and build the upgrade for your Slingbox using the JP1 tools; OR
(2) Even LESS costly than a $20 remote and $15 cable, build the CaptureIR interface and capture your OEM remote signals with it and its associated software, post the file here and someone will decode it for you and build your Slingbox upgrade.

So if I do #2, is somebody going to tell me just to do #1?

To answer your question:
PrediWave PDV-4100 is a PVR device used by a satellite company called PiTv, which probably is an umbrella company of Prediwave. If PrediWave has bankruptcy problem, then I think PiTV probably will file bankrupt soon, I still have like 18 month prepaid ... so maybe it doesn't worth you experts' time to do any of these...

again thanks, and sorry

[Capn Trips]

Again you are inferring that we are not willing to help. I have tried to explain to you that, unfortunately, the expertise is not (apparently) present in this forum to convert the signals in the (rcdev) format you have provided into a JP1-usable format.

I thought the chip used in Slingbox is somewhat JP1 related..

Yes, the chip is JP1 related, as that functionality of the Slingbox is manufactured by UEIC, which also makes ONE-for-All remotes. The challenge remains identifying the signal you need and translating it into a JP1-usable form. I have tried to point out other methods that may yield better or quicker results for you. Just because nobody here knows how to interpret your file doesn't mean we don't want to help.

or maybe not because it must involve the process of using One For All remote controls to learn the ir codes...

C) Almost any IR receive device for a PC plus the free LIRC software (check that there is LIRC support for the hardware you choose, but there is LIRC support for most IR receive devices made for PC's). Then any of the experts here can figure out the codes from an lirc file (from training LIRC from the original remote).

Right, John Fine wrote that, yet you did not provide the signal in LIRC format, but in rcdev, which nobody here knows how to decode.

The reason I posted the files, is because of the quote above, and because I want to save $40. Yes, I know JP1 remote is great, but I dont' have much use of it...the only thing I need is to record one command, channel up...I don't need all the fancy stuff.....i just need channel up. There's people who loves this fancy universal remote, but there's people who just need a simple remote, in this case, I just need channel up or down.

Again, nobody is trying to sell you a remote. We are just explaining the best means available to accomplish your goal..

I thought the file I provided is LIRC format, but probably not

It is not.

So if I do #2, is somebody going to tell me just to do #1?

No. IR signals captured using CapturIR are in a format that an expert here CAN convert into JP1 format

again thanks, and sorry

There's no need to be sorry, but there's also no need to be so defensive. If you don't like the explanations or options provided, I apologize, but we can only do what we can do, and we cannot do that which we cannot.

[The Robman]

Hi hjeng,
You seem to think that the JP1 experts are not helping you for some attitude related reason, which is not the case. The reason that we are not helping you is because we don't know how to. What is it you think we should be doing? You have a device for which we don't know what the signals look like, so how can we create a Slingbox file for you?

How much is it worth to you to get this fixed? Obviously it's not worth $40 to you, so I would have to assume that it's not that big a deal. Maybe you can use your Slingbox with some of your other devices and it's not that important that you get it working with the PrediWave. In most other cases that we've seen, people desperately need their Slingbox to work with a specific device, in fact they usually consider the Slingbox worthless if it doesn't work the device in question.

[johnsfine]

(2) Even LESS costly than a $20 remote and $15 cable, build the CaptureIR interface and capture your OEM remote signals with it and its associated software, post the file here and someone will decode it for you and build your Slingbox upgrade.

So if I do #2, is somebody going to tell me just to do #1?

Fewer people are using CaptureIR than are using learning remotes with JP1, so we have less experience on how it behaves on various PC's. Also the install instructions for the CaptureIR software aren't the best.

I hope CaptureIR would work for you the first try, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it doesn't. I also wouldn't be too surprised if some other expert reacts to a report that CaptureIR didn't work by saying a learning remote would be easier. I would not react that way. I would try to ask enough questions about how you set up and used CaptureIR that if you answered them I could deduce what went wrong and help you fix it.

I don't know whether anyone has tried CaptureIR and failed and given up on it. If they have, it is for lack of responding to my offers of help, not for lack of available help.

Once working, CaptureIR is easier and better than a learning remote for getting info on IR signals.

As for the non LIRC file you posted, I looked at it and made a decent effort to deduce the format. If you find documentation that describes the internal structure of that file I can look again. But as Capn Trips explained, it's unfair to complain that our reaction to an rcdev file wasn't the reaction we promised for an LIRC file.

[The Robman]

I have moved the CaptureIR discussion discussion here...
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewt ... 2908#p52908

[hjeng]

I think my frustration came from after posting this message, no one replies for a long period of time...but either way, I think I will ended up getting the remote. I probably lack of the knowledge to go other way...
I will try the above mentioned methods, thanks for the help and the patience.

here's the file:
http://www.hansonweb.com/prediwave.zip

I believe the ir code learned is in /IRCodes/TV/Sony

I have
0-9
channel + -
up down left right and enter
recorded.

thanks again

Hanson

[The Robman]

I think my frustration came from after posting this message, no one replies for a long period of time...

You have to keep in mind that this is a free, user driven, forum, we're not customer support for Slingbox or anybody else. So, you need to come to forums like this with a different frame of mind that you might use to approach customer support. Sometimes it's necessary to bump a thread if it appears that nobody's answering. Most of the experts here just bring up the threads that have new posts, so un-answered threads can quickly fall off of our radar. In this case, I bet most experts (like me) downloaded and looked at the file that you posted and quickly concluded that we know nothing about it's contents, so we moved onto the next thread. I guess we all could have posted "sorry, don't know anything about this file" but we probably hoped that somebody else would have some idea what the contents really were.

However, if you come back with a "so what, now you're not going to help me" kind of attitude, you're only likely to piss us off, in which case we won't even look at your posts, let alone try to help you, so be careful.

[binky123]

Another option is to mail(pre-pay) the remote to an expert and have them capture the signals for you.

What device did you use to capture the original signals in rcdev format anyways?

[hjeng]

Most of the experts here just bring up the threads that have new posts, so un-answered threads can quickly fall off of our radar. In this case, I bet most experts (like me) downloaded and looked at the file that you posted and quickly concluded that we know nothing about it's contents, so we moved onto the next thread. I guess we all could have posted "sorry, don't know anything about this file" but we probably hoped that somebody else would have some idea what the contents really were.

THis is probably the case, sorry if I sounded anything rude.

However, if you come back with a "so what, now you're not going to help me" kind of attitude, you're only likely to piss us off, in which case we won't even look at your posts, let alone try to help you, so be careful.

I apologize for any attitude I had. I do admit my attitude was, "so now no one is going to help me" kind of attitude. and that's how I felt. Again sorry about that.

[binky123]

What hardware do you have access to? You really only need two wires to capture the IR signals. If you can open up your PrediWave box front-panel to get access to the IR sensor, then you can hook up two wires to sample the IR signals through your PC's parallel port.

[hjeng]

What hardware do you have access to? You really only need two wires to capture the IR signals. If you can open up your PrediWave box front-panel to get access to the IR sensor, then you can hook up two wires to sample the IR signals through your PC's parallel port.

which two wires do I use? Where do I get them?

I have a prediwave remote, and prediwave box. I would prefer not opening it up, but if it won't fry their box, then I think it should be fine.

[binky123]

How did you capture the prediwave signals in the rcdev format?

You have to find two small wires to hook up to the IR sensor on the Prediwave box. The other ends of the wires go to the parallel port of your computer.

In the CaptureIR discussion a few posts back, you take one wire and hook it up to Vout of the IR sensor. The other wire goes to Ground which can probably be the metal case of the Prediwave box. The IR sensor converts the IR signals into +5v and 0v on the Vout pin. We are using the parallel port and the CaptureIR software to periodically sample the Vout pin and save this into a file for for analysis.

You can probably go to a Radio Shack store to look for thin wires with an alligator clip on one end.

If you can't find two small wires then you'll have to look at other options to capturing the IR signals.

[hjeng]

How did you capture the prediwave signals in the rcdev format?

just read back...I'm not supposed to discuss NON-JP1 things here..

You have to find two small wires to hook up to the IR sensor on the Prediwave box. The other ends of the wires go to the parallel port of your computer.

How does the other ends of the wires go to the parallel port?
wire connect to which pins?

thanks for the help

[binky123]

We are trying to capture the signals(this also has nothing to do with the Slingbox either). The other equipment you used to capture the signals in rcdev format might be easier to open up to get access to the IR sensor.

Anyway, you can hook up the Vout of the IR sensor to pin 9 of the DB25 parallel port and GND of the IR sensor to pin 25 of the DB25. You should click on the above CaptureIR thread and read up on CaptureIR. In the CaptureIR program, you can specify which pin you used. The default is pin 9.