Which Remote to buy next

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:52 am

Over at the Slingbox forum we are thinking of rewriting the guide to building your own Remote file. At the moment we recommend the URC-8910 and a JP-1 cable. Unfortunately this remote is now getting extremely difficult to find, and cables have moved on to more advanced versions (1.1, 1.2..)so we need to update the recommendation.

Remember we are NOT interested in functionality, User-interface, bells and whistles etc, as we are are not using it is a remote. It's sole purpose in life is to learn codes from an OEM remote and upload them to IR.EXE.

Which remote would the Group recommend that is cheap, readily available and compatible with present JP1x cables ?

Al

Post by **The Robman** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:48 am

Given that most people are going to need a $29 USB cable for whichever remote they buy, maybe they should get a $29 IR Widget instead and not bother getting a remote at all.

http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9405

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:13 am

Funny you should mention that. I have actually bought one of those widgets from Tommy and it is sitting in my Mail box in the USA. Unfortunately I am stuck in the UK at the moment for personal reasons so can't test it out. I assume you simply plug it in and the associated software program will do the same job as IR.EXE ??

Post by **The Robman** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:29 am

I think that's the idea, though I haven't used one myself.

Where in the UK are you? Be sure to pick yourself up some great British candy before you come home. (like Maynard's Wine Gums, Rountree's Fruit Pastiles, Cadbury's Crunchy, etc)

Post by **vickyg2003** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:37 am

I LOVE my widget! It is absolutely great because it takes a step out of the loop. You point and shoot, if you have a bad learn, you can take care of it there and then. I had so many problems with the mechanics of learning to my remote. About 70% of my learns were bad, and 90% of the time, I lost track of which buttons I had learned where because I can't think right upsidedown. With the widget its a very easy operation!

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:56 am

I agree that the widget is the way to go. But if you want to go the remote route, AFAIK, the radio shack 15-133 is the cheapest, most widely available (in the US), learning JP1.3 remote these days. They're $20 and often go on sale for $10.

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:07 am

The Robman wrote:Where in the UK are you? Be sure to pick yourself up some great British candy before you come home. (like Maynard's Wine Gums, Rountree's Fruit Pastiles, Cadbury's Crunchy, etc)

Actually the UK is 'home' (in the county of Lincolnshire), but I have a house in Virginia as a result of a military tour in the Pentagon in the mid 90s, and try to spend at least 4-5 months there each year, normally the summer

Al

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:09 am

mdavej wrote:I agree that the widget is the way to go. But if you want to go the remote route, AFAIK, the radio shack 15-133 is the cheapest, most widely available (in the US), learning JP1.3 remote these days. They're $20 and often go on sale for $10.

Thanks to you and vickyg2003, that is exactly the sort of information I wanted.

What is the software package for the widget ? Do you have a download URL ?

Al

Post by **The Robman** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:18 am

alanrichey wrote:What is the software package for the widget ? Do you have a download URL ?

I posted a URL earlier.

unclemiltie · Post by **unclemiltie** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:20 am

It's called IRScope and works with the DecodeIR DLL's that you have for the standard tools. The pointer and discussion of the tool is here:

http://hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic ... ht=irscope

It is the answer. The only annoyance when you're using it for this purpose is that you have to turn of the waveform trace and check the box to clear before each learn (I wish that it would save that setting)

nuke12 · Post by **nuke12** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:39 am

mdavej wrote:I agree that the widget is the way to go. But if you want to go the remote route, AFAIK, the radio shack 15-133 is the cheapest, most widely available (in the US), learning JP1.3 remote these days. They're $20 and often go on sale for $10.

True that but if you think of a remote purchase and a JP1.x cable purchase, Tommy's price of $29 on the Widget looks pretty good. Most of the sling people have no hardware and aren't inclined to building it.

Hi Alan, I'm not following you around. I read these forums most every day also.

jetskier · Post by **jetskier** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:28 pm

Where's the new version of IRscope located? All I can find is the old one from last year? Tommy has a screen shot of the new one with decoding in the URL that Rob posted above, but there's no link for the updated program.

Post by **vickyg2003** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:41 pm

The documentation is here.
http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... le_id=5726

Inside that document, there is a link to the software
http://www.compendiumarcana.com/irwidget/irscope.zip

There is a link to the drivers
http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

jetskier · Post by **jetskier** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:03 pm

Thanks Vicky!

FYI: Your link has an extra "." at the end.

And a "," on the driver link.

Post by **The Robman** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:43 pm

and there was a space at the end of the first link, so all three were bad, but I fixed them.