URC9960 Kameleon BETA Extender 1 & 2

Nils_Ekberg · Post by **Nils_Ekberg** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 10:18 am

I have uploaded the Beta Extender 1 for the URC9960 to the jp1 group file section

Beta no longer available

Although I have been running this Beta version on my remote for a few days I am not 100% positive that there won't be some problems. Based on this I would appreciate someone taking the initiative to test it for me.

This version includes:
Faster Macros
Macros on all buttons (except SCROLL)
Pause protocol
Device Specific Macros
ToadTog

This has been a unique experience in developing this extender due to the complexity of having to manage the backlight, screens and icons all at the same time. Thanks to John, Rob, David and Hal for there input.

Just incase it isn't documented clearly, the way to activate this extender is different than others since the unextended remote does not allow keymoves on the Power button. After installing the IR file in the remote you will need to press the TV button then the FORMAT button. If it installed OK there will be 4 flashes of the lower LED bar.

Good luck and have fun

Nils_Ekberg · Post by **Nils_Ekberg** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 11:35 am

While I am thinking about it if you use the Exinstall function to convert your current configuration to the extender, look at the keymoves and macros close as I had to juggle some of the upper buttons to make the device selection work.

ninjatech · Post by **ninjatech** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 3:21 pm

Ok, I have it loaded up.

I opted to re-do all my codes from scratch instead of converting from my old file. It didnt take long since I have all the devices saved individually from Keymap Master.

I haven't had any problems with the logic or functions yet, everything seems to work properly. I haven't tried any toadtog or DSM functions yet.

One thing thats weird is my remotes backlight doesnt turn on until I press a button now. I am not sure if the sensor is broken or if it has something to do with the extended. Maybe I missed something in your document files about setting this? Also, before I activate the extender (pressing TV, then format), the backlight doesn't turn off. Once I activate the extender, it does turn off after the timer expires.

I am going to load one of my pre-extender files to see if that changes anything.

Edit: I re-installed an old non-extended button mapping, and the motion sensor is back to normal. I'll be going over your docs to see if i missed something. I reloaded the extender and the same thing happened again.

Here are a couple typos I saw that I figured you can correct for the next release of the zip.
Readme.txt -> 'No backlight blightness control support'
Install.txt -> 'you can skip steps 1 though 8'
'incompatible protocols that it didn't replce;'

Another thing I noticed is that the default screen for TV is different now. This actually works out better for my purposes, so I am guessing you did it this way on purpose. From the screen where only PIP shows at the bottom, it use to reveal the other PIP functions when that was pressed, and that no longer happens.
Again, for my purposes I prefer the new way.

For audio, the default screen is now different, and the surround button no longer brings up the surround screen. This seems like something that can be fixed manually with some playing around, but in this case I think the default Audio menu is much better.

Excellent job, by the way, I was expecting the beta release to be unusable aside from testing purposes, but this is great and already does many of the things I wanted to add. Thanks again!

Nils_Ekberg · Post by **Nils_Ekberg** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:53 pm

The timeout value may be real low so check the setting on the general panel in IR. Scroll down to the Backlight timer in setting and set it for something like 76 for approx 10 seconds. You can set it anywhere from 0 to 255 decimal.

ninjatech · Post by **ninjatech** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 4:59 pm

The backlight timer is set to the default 76. When I press a key and the light comes on, it does stay for about 10 seconds. I don't know what else could be causing that, I thought there was a setting I missed.

Nils_Ekberg · Post by **Nils_Ekberg** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 5:24 pm

ninjatech wrote:The backlight timer is set to the default 76. When I press a key and the light comes on, it does stay for about 10 seconds. I don't know what else could be causing that, I thought there was a setting I missed.

I will take a look at the logic I put in for testing motion. Believe it or not the thing that gave me the hardest time was the backlight timer. I think my motion switch is very sensitive and maybe some are less sensitive and require less motion interrupts or something.

By the way, after you load the extender and before you activate it the backlight will stay on for a long time because I am preloading the register with the 76 and the original remote thinks anything over 5 is like infinity.

Another by the way, I was thinking of putting a user option in to disable the motion detection since I noticed some people are actually cutting the connection so motion does not activate the backlight to save batteries. Do you think it is worth doing?

I was kind of arbitrary on what screens came up first in each device. I opted not to add a lot of convoluted code to make it identical to the original. Instead I chose the screens I liked best and added the most functions at device selection. If you would prefer a different screen in each device let me know and I will see if it can be changed. Hey, maybe in a later version I can make it user selectable. I think the scroll command will work in a macro so you could put one or more on your device selection macro and make it go to any screen you like.

You did however point out an omission on my part related to what happens when you press buttons like PIP and Surround. I should be able to program those to work just like the original rather than having to use the scroll button.

I have a version running with LKP but the one I posted is more stable. The only time I have crashed that version was when I had bad references in macro's.

Oh yeah, I will spell check the documentation before the next release...

Nils_Ekberg · Post by **Nils_Ekberg** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 5:33 pm

Also, Ninja, I am happy it is working for you for obvious reasons. I did not want to release something until it had basic functionality and ran reasonably well

ninjatech · Post by **ninjatech** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 5:44 pm

Another by the way, I was thinking of putting a user option in to disable the motion detection since I noticed some people are actually cutting the connection so motion does not activate the backlight to save batteries. Do you think it is worth doing?

Hmmm, for me, I love the motion activation. However, if you could make it user defined, do you think it would be possible to make a toadtog function that would enable and disable the motion sensor with a shifted key on the remote?

I didn't realize you could control that at all, I assumed it was hard-coded that it activated the backlight. Your extender is breaking a lot of the molds that previously made some JP1 users frown on the remote.

As far as the motion sensor on mine goes, I will try some different backlight values to see if that is what is causing it not to work. I'll post my results when I find them.

Thanks for the quick and informative reply =)

This would be cool when playing a movie with a lot of bass, that tends to trigger the motion sensor.

Another small one.. I can't find O_HT to animate the HT icon at the top.

Another edit: Putting scroll in the macro worked perfect for getting the screen I wanted, thanks. I guess a default user-defined selectable for each would be cool. It all depends on how difficult and time-consuming it is to implement.

Nils_Ekberg · Post by **Nils_Ekberg** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 6:57 pm

ninjatech wrote: Hmmm, for me, I love the motion activation. However, if you could make it user defined, do you think it would be possible to make a toadtog function that would enable and disable the motion sensor with a shifted key on the remote?.

I am sure I can do it with a user option in IR so I guess it could be assigned to a button also. I will tinker with it some.

ninjatech wrote:Another small one.. I can't find O_HT to animate the HT icon at the top..

I did not have enough buttons to add the device functions for HT so there is no O_HT. I think it should be there so I will see what I can do.

ninjatech wrote:Another edit: Putting scroll in the macro worked perfect for getting the screen I wanted, thanks. I guess a default user-defined selectable for each would be cool. It all depends on how difficult and time-consuming it is to implement.

This is a good idea so I will see what I can do.

ninjatech · Post by **ninjatech** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 7:21 pm

Sounds good to me.

Is it possible the beta release has the motion sensor disabled? Thats a possible explianation of why it won't work for me unless I unload the extender.

Where are all the other 9960 lovers?!

Nils_Ekberg · Post by **Nils_Ekberg** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 7:46 pm

ninjatech wrote:Sounds good to me.

Is it possible the beta release has the motion sensor disabled? Thats a possible explianation of why it won't work for me unless I unload the extender.

Where are all the other 9960 lovers?!

The release you have should be fine. I just came home and reloaded it and the backlight works OK. Just for the heck of it shake the remote a little harder and see if it comes on.

The button and motion test are in the same area so if the button is working so should the motion.

ninjatech · Post by **ninjatech** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 5:05 am

Hmmm, no amount of shaking, rattling, or rolling will get the sensor to turn on the backlight.

Another quirk I came across... when TV is the selected device, my backlight never turns off.

Tomorrow I am going to reload the extender totally by itself to see if I have the same issue.

Nils_Ekberg · Post by **Nils_Ekberg** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 7:32 am

ninjatech wrote:Hmmm, no amount of shaking, rattling, or rolling will get the sensor to turn on the backlight.

Another quirk I came across... when TV is the selected device, my backlight never turns off.

Tomorrow I am going to reload the extender totally by itself to see if I have the same issue.

I will take a look at the turn off problem also. I noticed that sometimes it will stay in the idle function and not turn off until after a button is pressed. I will have to dig deeper into the motion detection either way just did not have a chance last night.

Do me a favor and upload a copy of your IR file that is not turning on with motion so I can see if the registers are set. I am wondering if there are a couple of versions of the ROM and may need a more generic test for motion.

Nils_Ekberg · Post by **Nils_Ekberg** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:31 am

Ninja

I uploaded a file to the jp1 Diagnostics file area called "URC9960 Extender Ninja.zip" for you to try.

I just tried a different approach to testing the backlight on routine but I am at work with no way to try it. Just load it as is and see how the motion and button press timer works. If this does not work I have another idea.

By the way, it also includes the LKP protocol if you want to tinker with it.

DaveJ · Post by **DaveJ** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 11:20 am

Nils,

Thanks so much for the 9960 extender. You da man!! I have one problem however. When I opened up the macro section of IR, I noticed that there is no entry in the "key name" column for CD or PVR devices. Instead, there is "channel where the CD key name should be and "theater".HT where the PVR device should be. I use the CD device for my X-10 commands. When I tried to edit the built in macro for choosing the CD ("channel) device, the editor allowed me to select CD but the key name column still showed "channel. When I returned to the macro sheet. I need to use the X_CD command in a macro for my x-10 controls but the "CD" part of that is not the X-10 device (as previously noted, it is "channel). Is this a glitch in the extender or did I somehow load the wrong RDF or is something else going on.

Thanks again for all you've done for us lowly 9960ers.