Atlas PVR JP 1.2 (1025) extender beta testing comments

[Evan_s]

OK i think that makes some sense from what your describing and looking at the file. I can tell its going to take awhile to get my head wrapped around this extender stuff but it looks fun =)

EDIT
Ok I tried that out and it seems to work well. I guess I just didn't realize the LKP could be used as part of another macro. This is definitely going to be fun =)
END EDIT


Ok some other questions about the extender.

1) Left, Right and select/ok seem to be part of the Channel grouping rather than the Other grouping. Is this normal for an extender and if so why?

2) This is related to the device lights. Normally on these remotes the device button lights up when press a key to indicate what device you are controlling at the moment so to speak. If you press a volume key with the VPT enabled the correct device for the VPT lights up instead of your current device etc. The exception to this is the device keys. When you hit a device key that device key lights up not what ever device you happen to be selecting. With the extender when I press a device key the previous devices button lights up. It still executes what ever key I have setup but it's a little wierd not seeing the device key light up when you press it. I understand that in an extender the device keys are really no different than any other key but I still think the default behavior is desirable and I don't see any way to emulate that behavior.

[vickyg2003]

Left, Right and select/ok seem to be part of the Channel grouping rather than the Other grouping.

I'll check that out. The Left Right Select OK are supposed to be part of the Other grouping.

If you press a volume key with the VPT enabled the correct device for the VPT lights up instead of your current device etc. The exception to this is the device keys. When you hit a device key that device key lights up not what ever device you happen to be selecting. With the extender when I press a device key the previous devices button lights up

Yep the device key is part of the "other" group of the last device that was selected. There are courtesy macros in place, but the you can do DSM's on the device keys if you want different behavior if you choose DVD when you are coming from TV or DVD when you are coming from CBL.

Ok I tried that out and it seems to work well. I guess I just didn't realize the LKP could be used as part of another macro.

Yes I learned that from Elizabeth when she was testing by 7800 extender. LKP's only work when its the last key in the macro-buffer. LKP's really do a wonderful job on making device selection intuitive. A short press of the CBL button can set the remote to control the Cable, while a long key press can be used to set the TV for cable input. LKPs are very nice tools.

[Capn Trips]

LKP's really do a wonderful job on making device selection intuitive. A short press of the CBL button can set the remote to control the Cable, while a long key press can be used to set the TV for cable input. LKPs are very nice tools.

No, no, no! You've got it all BACKWARDS! SHORT sets up the HT system and all the inputs, while LONG merely shifts remote control to the desired device.

[Evan_s]

Left, Right and select/ok seem to be part of the Channel grouping rather than the Other grouping.

I'll check that out. The Left Right Select OK are supposed to be part of the Other grouping.

If you press a volume key with the VPT enabled the correct device for the VPT lights up instead of your current device etc. The exception to this is the device keys. When you hit a device key that device key lights up not what ever device you happen to be selecting. With the extender when I press a device key the previous devices button lights up

Yep the device key is part of the "other" group of the last device that was selected. There are courtesy macros in place, but the you can do DSM's on the device keys if you want different behavior if you choose DVD when you are coming from TV or DVD when you are coming from CBL.

Ok that makes sense with the behavior I'm seeing but is there any way to change it either with the way I am setting up the buttons or in the extender to make the device buttons light themselves up? It doesn't matter to me but just thinking about the Wife, kid, roomate acceptance factor and forseeing confusion.

Ok I tried that out and it seems to work well. I guess I just didn't realize the LKP could be used as part of another macro.

Yes I learned that from Elizabeth when she was testing by 7800 extender. LKP's only work when its the last key in the macro-buffer. LKP's really do a wonderful job on making device selection intuitive. A short press of the CBL button can set the remote to control the Cable, while a long key press can be used to set the TV for cable input. LKPs are very nice tools.

That makes sense since holding down a button with a macro on it acts like you are holding the button down. I'd assume a LKP used in the middle of a macro would always use the short keypress?

[vickyg2003]

No, no, no! You've got it all BACKWARDS! SHORT sets up the HT system and all the inputs, while LONG merely shifts remote control to the desired device.

Not at my house, where I've got a multiple remotes to operate the HT. We've got his and her remotes, plus I have one next to the phone and one in the kitchen.

But another No, no, no! I've got a problem with the HT selection keys and lots of things are going into the channel keys groups. This will be a very minor fix. I might hold off on this until Binky releases the new version of IR that handles the new Extinstall. Its so nice to be able to use IR with extinstall installed. Its an easy fix, but I want to take another look and make sure all the other HT settings are right.

[Evan_s]

No, no, no! You've got it all BACKWARDS! SHORT sets up the HT system and all the inputs, while LONG merely shifts remote control to the desired device.

Not at my house, where I've got a multiple remotes to operate the HT. We've got his and her remotes, plus I have one next to the phone and one in the kitchen.

But another No, no, no! I've got a problem with the HT selection keys and lots of things are going into the channel keys groups. This will be a very minor fix. I might hold off on this until Binky releases the new version of IR that handles the new Extinstall. Its so nice to be able to use IR with extinstall installed. Its an easy fix, but I want to take another look and make sure all the other HT settings are right.

Ok I thought that seemed odd grouping for the arrow keys. I'm working around it for now easily enough.

I've also got a couple different remotes. My roommate for some reason still seems to prefer the comcast 1067 remote. I've got a 6690 which at this point is pretty much been downgraded to a test/learning remote and I've currently got an assortment of Atlas remotes that I'm playing with.

Speaking of the 1067, any chance your working on porting the extender over to there now that it seems to be close to done on the 8820 and atlas 1025? =)

[vickyg2003]

is there any way to change it either with the way I am setting up the buttons or in the extender to make the device buttons light themselves up

Not that comes to mind. The device change doesn't happen until after the key press on the extender. On an unextended remote the device change happens before the key is lit up.

Speaking of the 1067, any chance your working on porting the extender over to there now that it seems to be close to done on the 8820 and atlas 1025? =)

I've looked at it. Its going to be challenging. There is plenty of unused memory, but its not where IR can get to it. So the extender will not increase keymove and macro space, and it will be a two step install. All in all quite challenging.

[mr_d_p_gumby]

is there any way to change it either with the way I am setting up the buttons or in the extender to make the device buttons light themselves up

Not that comes to mind. The device change doesn't happen until after the key press on the extender. On an unextended remote the device change happens before the key is lit up.

I also ran into this problem when porting the 6131 extender to the SA_7 Atlas. I ended up adding special code to detect device keys and set the LEDs.

[unclemiltie]

is there any way to change it either with the way I am setting up the buttons or in the extender to make the device buttons light themselves up

Not that comes to mind. The device change doesn't happen until after the key press on the extender. On an unextended remote the device change happens before the key is lit up.

I also ran into this problem when porting the 6131 extender to the SA_7 Atlas. I ended up adding special code to detect device keys and set the LEDs.

Vicky (and Mike)

you should look at the way that Nils did the screen change code on the 9960 Kameleon (and I copied on the 6960/9960B01 version) The code in my extender is better documented but in essence what Nils did was change the screen on an O_dev command. The code that does it is pretty simple, although it does rely on the ordering of the keysets properly. This is documented reasonably well in the 6960-9960extender source.

(I was planning on doing someing very similar when I write the Atlas JP1.3 extender but I'm running behind on that project.)

[vickyg2003]

Binky released a new version of IR that calls the new Extinstall and makes testing so much easier. The new extinstall preserves comments and handles the JP1.2 extender calls.

I hope to find time towards the middle of the week to at least update the HT groupings and repackage the Atlas. I'll take a look at what Mike did for the JP1 extender and see if it will translate easily. But I'm not making any promises there. That is only cosmetic after all.

[Capn Trips]

Question for vicky and binky:

My extender FAQ has the following caveat:

URC-6131/6131n/certain Atlas JP1 (not JP1.x) remotes:
The unextended IR files for the URC-6131/certain Atlas JP1 remotes do not merge well using extinstall if the unextended file already has keymoves. This is due to a variant Keymove architecture used in these remotes. See the extender readme. It's really simpler to start with the empty extended .IR file and forget .hex merge. The best procedure is to never even build an unextended setup on a 6131.

Is that now no longer true? If so, I'm happy to delete it.

[Capn Trips]

Question for vicky and binky:

My extender FAQ has the following caveat:

URC-6131/6131n/certain Atlas JP1 (not JP1.x) remotes:
The unextended IR files for the URC-6131/certain Atlas JP1 remotes do not merge well using extinstall if the unextended file already has keymoves. This is due to a variant Keymove architecture used in these remotes. See the extender readme. It's really simpler to start with the empty extended .IR file and forget .hex merge. The best procedure is to never even build an unextended setup on a 6131.

Is that now no longer true? If so, I'm happy to delete it.

Bump!

[unclemiltie]

Cap'n

The new version of Extinstall that I posted earlier in the week allows for conversion between the old:new formats. So any extender (like the 6131) that has the new format in the remote and the old format in the extender will be converted when using Extinstall. (there are other remotes that fall into this category)

I've not done exhaustive testing on this, but Extinstall now reads the advance codes in and stores them internally in the "new" format and then changes them on the fly on the way out if they need to be written in the old format.


So, after all that, yes, I think you can remove that restriction from the writeups

[Capn Trips]

Done.

[Capn Trips]

I've been tearing through the 3033 for the past few days and am going to give a go at porting the extender that I did for the URC-9960B01 to this beast. It looks like it'll port reasonably easily.

Bill,
Not to nag, but any progress/prognosis?