Several questions from a newb RE: URC-8820

[sanelson]

Hello everyone. I've had this remote (URC-8820) for about 6 months now, but I've only recently began to start playing with the JP1.2 modding of it. After several hours of reading and testing, I've finally figured out how to add my new DirecTV HR20 DVR as a device upgrade (not an easy task for this remote, as a also had to add a new protocol to get it to work), as well as a few other tweaks. I still have few questions and concerns, though that I was hoping someone might be kind enough to help me with, so here goes.

First of all, I seem to be having problems programming the M1 and M2 buttons. It does not matter which device I'm trying to program, the M1 and M2 buttons do not want to take any upgrades from IR. IR does list the key moves, but the remote just won't take the programming. I can learn functions directly from another remote on these buttons without a problem.

Second of all, RM seems to show several hidden keys (Key22-25, 3a, 3b, 3e, 3f) as well as Shift+ Keys for every button on the remote. Are these accessible? I've tried using the hidden keys, as well as the Shift+ Keys in macros to no avail. Also, I'm not sure how the shift keys are accessed manually. Long keypresses?

And finally, a question about adding discretes. I've managed to add discrete keys to most of my devices by creating a new device upgrade for each device. While this works, it seems like there should be a better way of doing this, but I'm not sure how. I only need to add one or two buttons, not the whole device, and these device upgrades are making me quickly run out of memory. Anybody have any ideas?

My RDF and IR files, etc., can be found here.

TIA,

Scott

[Nils_Ekberg]

I have not looked at your files but noticed right off you are using an old RDF.

Get the one labeled 3.3 that was updated by John Fine from the RDF file section. Get rid of the old RDF and then download from the remote using the new one.

You may notice that some keys are different so you may need to fix them in RM and reinstall them in IR.

Shift buttons are accessed manually by pressing the SET button and releasing it then the unshifted button.

You can use them in macros by just assigning something to them in RM or IR and calling the shift-button in a macro.

[sanelson]

Thanks, but that RDF file is not working for me. If I try to use the new one, I can't click on several of the buttons to assign functions to them (namely the fwd, rev, skip, etc. buttons). Although that file says it's for the 6820 and the 8820, the only profile that seems to work is the 10820.

[Nils_Ekberg]

You also need to use the latest map and image that matches the rdf for RM

[sanelson]

OK, well as far as I know, I am using the latest map files available. At least, they are the latest in the download area. Anyway, though, I was able to edit the map file, to make the button names match up with the names in the RDF file, and I can now use the newer RDF file. This also fixed the problem with not being able to program to the M1 buttons! Thanks! However, I still have problems.

I'm still not able to access the Shift+ buttons, either manually, by pressing SET+button, or through macros.

I'm also still curious as to whether or not the hidden buttons shown in the RDF are accessible in anyway, and as to whether or not there is a better way to add discretes to an already buit-in device without creating an entire new device and uploading it to the remote.

Thanks,
Scott

P.S. I updated the link to the files to reflect the latest files that I am using... hacked map file and all.

[binky123]

I'm still not able to access the Shift+ buttons, either manually, by pressing SET+button, or through macros.

I'm also still curious as to whether or not the hidden buttons shown in the RDF are accessible in anyway, and as to whether or not there is a better way to add discretes to an already buit-in device without creating an entire new device and uploading it to the remote.

Thanks,
Scott

Within IR's Macro tabsheet you should see a shift checkbox. Click this and the Bound Key becomes SHIFT-XXX. For the macro sequence, you should see Add Shift and Ins Shift buttons. These buttons will add/insert a SHIFT-XXX key to the macro sequence.

The hidden buttons are phantom keys that are usually used as macro placeholders for device specific macros.

If you know the EFC of your discrete, you can add in a Keymove that use this EFC without building a whole upgrade.

[sanelson]

Within IR's Macro tabsheet you should see a shift checkbox. Click this and the Bound Key becomes SHIFT-XXX. For the macro sequence, you should see Add Shift and Ins Shift buttons. These buttons will add/insert a SHIFT-XXX key to the macro sequence.

The problem is, let's say I want the slow mo. key to be shift+play. I map it to the shift+play key in RM, copy everything over to IR (which shows the command in the Key Moves tab) , and program my remote. I can't access the slow mo. key by pressing SET+PLAY on the remote. Likewise, if I create a macro that uses shift+play in it, it will simply use play, rather than the slow mo. that is mapped to shift+play.

The hidden buttons are phantom keys that are usually used as macro placeholders for device specific macros.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this. What I was trying to do was use these phantom keys to hold discretes, and then use these discretes in macros. Unfortunately, I can't seem to access these keys either from the macros. I see them in the list, and I can add them, but they don't do anything.

If you know the EFC of your discrete, you can add in a Keymove that use this EFC without building a whole upgrade.

Thanks. I think I see what you're saying. I'll have to look into this more later.

[Capn Trips]

(1) How area trying to execute a shifted command from the remote? For example, are you pressing both the shift button and the play button at the same time? If so, you are doing it wrong - they should be pressed in sequence, not simultaneously;
(2) I'm not sure about the macro thing, since your uploaded IR file uses no shifted commands in any of its macros. As for the macro executing the "underlying" unshifted command within a macro, that is a phenomenon called shift-cloaking, in which IF THERE IS NO COMMAND ASSIGNED to a shifted button, a macro or other (DSM, LKP) sequence calling on a shifted button will execute the underlying unshifted command, so it's behaving like you have not really assigned a function to that shifted button.
(3) You have a note in you IR file about EFCs seemingly not matching for your Pioneer Receiver. I strongly recommend that you use OBCs for your Pioneer upgrade. I had precisely that model receiver (before some @$$ stole it last December,) and had uploaded a complete upgrade for it to the file section.

[sanelson]

(1) How area trying to execute a shifted command from the remote? For example, are you pressing both the shift button and the play button at the same time? If so, you are doing it wrong - they should be pressed in sequence, not simultaneously;

I'm pressing SET then the button. There is no shift key on my remote, and I'm assuming from Nils' reply that the SET key is the shift key. I may be wrong though.

(2) I'm not sure about the macro thing, since your uploaded IR file uses no shifted commands in any of its macros. As for the macro executing the "underlying" unshifted command within a macro, that is a phenomenon called shift-cloaking, in which IF THERE IS NO COMMAND ASSIGNED to a shifted button, a macro or other (DSM, LKP) sequence calling on a shifted button will execute the underlying unshifted command, so it's behaving like you have not really assigned a function to that shifted button.

Yeah, I took them all out. I just tried a test macro, though, which simply adds Shift+Play (Slow Motion) to the end of the SAT receiver's startup sequence. The result, was that it simply inserted a Play at the end. I've uploaded this IR file here.

(3) You have a note in you IR file about EFCs seemingly not matching for your Pioneer Receiver. I strongly recommend that you use OBCs for your Pioneer upgrade. I had precisely that model receiver (before some @$$ stole it last December,) and had uploaded a complete upgrade for it to the file section.

I'm not sure what you mean by this, but the receiver works fine. It's actually a VSX-D711, but that was the closest upgrade I could find. I think I might have had to change some stuff around, though. I don't really remember. Anyway, when I get time I'm going to totally re-do all of those upgrades except the DirecTV one to make them more efficient. The remote already has all the devices other than the DirecTV one from the factory.

BTW, I'm sorry to hear that someone stole your receiver. That really blows. That receiver kicks @$$. Only thing it needs is a few more digital inputs.

[Nils_Ekberg]

Lets see. I don't have all the answers but I just tested the shift function on a 8820 and it worked fine manually and within a macro so lets try to figure out why it won't work for you.

First off, my apologies. The latest maps did not match the RDF perfectly. I forgot I had updated the map on mine to match the 3.3 RDF in prep for uploading a full set of new RDF's, maps and images so you were right it was not 100% correct.

So, here is what I suspect is now happening. The RM file was built with one version of the RDF and the IR file with another. Or they were corrupted by switching RDF's midstream. Even if you changed to the newest version for both it may not have solved the internal problem with miss mapped buttons. That makes me suspect that the shift-play is there just not on the shift-play button.

My suggestion is to:

1) do a 981 reset on the remote
2) make sure you have only the 3.3 version RDF in the RDF folder.
3) download from the fresh remote selecting the 8820 RDF if requested
4) in RM open your upgrades one at a time and do the following steps for each
- change the remote to something like a 2116
- change the remote back to the 8820
- make sure all the buttons are mapped the way you want them
- load the RM upgrade into the fresh IR device
5) Upload it to the remote from IR after you finish cleaning up all the RM upgrades.

Try it by just tapping the set button and releasing it then tap the play button. Ofcourse try it in a macro also.

Let us know how you make out

[sanelson]

Thanks for the reply. I just got home, and I'm tired, so I'll try to test this tomorrow and post the results back on here.

Thanks,
Scott

[sanelson]

OK, so I just tried this. I reset the remote, and downloaded the fresh remote to IR. I opened up the HR20 upgrade in RM, and switched the remote to the RS 15-2116. It removed a bunch of buttons, since the RS doesn't have the same buttons, so I re-set everything that was removed after I changed the remote back to the 8820. I added the device upgrade as well as the protocol upgrade to IR and uploaded to the remote. The shift keys still do not work; they only send the unshifted command. SET+PLAY, for example, still only sends the PLAY command, not slomo. BTW, I have IR and RM in the same directory, so they are always using the same RDF.

[johnsfine]

The shift keys still do not work;

Did we ever verify that you know how to use the shift?

1) Do a short press/release of the set button. NOT the long press of set used for programming the remote.

2) Within eight seconds after that, press the key you want shifted.

BTW, I have IR and RM in the same directory, so they are always using the same RDF.

Neither IR nor RM depends on RDF files in the same directory. They each have an RDFpath setting to tell them where the RDF files are. You are probably correct that they are using the same RDF files, but the fact that they are in the same directory doesn't indicate that.

In IR.exe, in the File menu, in the set directory submenu, there is a choice to examine or change the RDFpath setting.

For RM, the RDFpath setting is stored in the RemoteMaster.properties file. You can open that file in windows notepad to examine or change it.

[sanelson]

The shift keys still do not work;

Did we ever verify that you know how to use the shift?

1) Do a short press/release of the set button. NOT the long press of set used for programming the remote.

2) Within eight seconds after that, press the key you want shifted.

Yes, this is what I'm doing. Also, like I mentioned before, the shifted functions do not even work in macros that I create with SHIFT+KEY. Only the underlying key is executed.

BTW, I have IR and RM in the same directory, so they are always using the same RDF.

Neither IR nor RM depends on RDF files in the same directory. They each have an RDFpath setting to tell them where the RDF files are. You are probably correct that they are using the same RDF files, but the fact that they are in the same directory doesn't indicate that.

In IR.exe, in the File menu, in the set directory submenu, there is a choice to examine or change the RDFpath setting.

For RM, the RDFpath setting is stored in the RemoteMaster.properties file. You can open that file in windows notepad to examine or change it.

I just checked the RDF directories for both programs and they are the same as well.

[Nils_Ekberg]

Lets go ahead and upload your latest IR and RM files so we can get a look at them. Maybe something will jump out.