Problem with Thomson cable STB upgrade

fichmana2003 · Post by **fichmana2003** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 1:36 pm

Hi all, good to be back.

I just got a Slingbox Solo, and trying to make a remote upgrade for my Thomson DCI46GC cable box. I've converted my old, working RMDU to Slingbox RV and.. no go. Or rather, a strange go. Some keys work, but only a few, and not where they're supposed to. Some Keys that work, work in columns - on the keypad, 1, 4,7 all transmit '4'; 3,6,9 are '5' and 2,5,8 are 'mute'. The other working keys (very little) are scattered all over. Most keys do nothing.

I've tried everything. I updated the RDF files for SlingPlayer 2.04, played with key placement, downloaded an RMDU from this site - They all behave the same.

Any help would be appreciated.

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 12:12 am

Which RMDU (URL) are you using ? I can try an build a BIN file for you just to see where the problem might lie.

fichmana2003 · Post by **fichmana2003** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 12:22 am

The file I am using is this (Which I uploaded to hifi in 2003):
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... le_id=1562

thanks

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 1:56 pm

OK, I installed the Thomson DCI-46GC on my Harmony Remote and checked the codes. I agreed with your protocol (Thomson, not surprisingly) and Device Number 3, but the OBC codes did not match the ones in your RMDU.

I've built a test remote based on my findings and uploaded it at https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... le_id=8227

Is that any better ?

fichmana2003 · Post by **fichmana2003** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 5:18 pm

No, same effect. Some work, most do not. Those that work are scattered.

I'm beginning to think this is related to my problem:
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewt ... ht=thomson

Coult that be it?

Post by **vickyg2003** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 5:53 pm

Yep, that could very well be the problem. The RV chip has the 004B:7 variant, so the RDF needs to be changed and then the RDMU needs to be regenerated.

However I just opened the RDMU and I'm seeing the OBC's repeat over and over, so this RDMU is not saving/opening properly in RM, which could be another problem all together.

alanrichey · Post by **alanrichey** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 12:37 am

vickyg2003 wrote:However I just opened the RDMU and I'm seeing the OBC's repeat over and over, so this RDMU is not saving/opening properly in RM, which could be another problem all together.

Interesting. I'm seeing that as well. Never experienced that before (I think)

fichmana2003 · Post by **fichmana2003** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 2:20 am

Ok, I uploaded a file called alx-CableRemote.zip to the diag area:
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... le_id=8229
which contains my old [working] upgrades for the Thomson stb. The last RM version I used to work on these was 0.81, back at 2003.

Hope that could be of any help.

thanks!

Post by **vickyg2003** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 10:01 am

I looked at your files and they contain the HEX, but I'm not sure which version of the PID this upgrade was built for. Changing Thomson versions seems to change the way the HEX is interpretted. We recommend you work with OBC's to handle multiple PIDS

if it was built for 004B:7 the HEX translated to these OBCsis

Code: Select all

0		046
1		032
2		034
3		033
4		048
5		050
6		049
7		040
8		042
9		041
vol up		033
vol down		042
mute		052
channel up		052
channel down	060
power		055
LANG{-/--}	048
RADIO{AV}	063
INFO		047
EPG		021
PVR		051
UP		037
DOWN		053
LEFT		045
RIGHT		061
OK		057
EXIT		055
RED		044
GREEN		038
BLUE		039
YELLOW		028

If the in turn the upgrade was built for the plain 004B the OBC's would be :

Code: Select all

0		028
1		000
2		004
3		002
4		032
5		036
6		034
7		016
8		020
9		018
vol up		003
vol down		021
mute		040
channel up		041
channel down	057
power	078	046
LANG{-/--}	033
RADIO{AV}	062
INFO		031
EPG		042
PVR		038
UP		011
DOWN		043
LEFT		027
RIGHT		059
OK		051
EXIT		047
RED		024
GREEN		012
BLUE		014
YELLOW		056

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 10:28 am

Hey Alex,
I see that your original RM file was formatted for the URC-8811, do you still have that remote? If so, could you learn a bunch of buttons from your Thomson cable remote using the 8811 and then post the IR file? That will help us get you sorted out.

Thanks,
Rob

fichmana2003 · Post by **fichmana2003** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 11:22 am

I do not have the 8811 anymore, since sadly it broke down. But I do have the upload bin file for this remote containing this upgrade only. I do have the RS-2117 remote, and I have the RMDU I built for the 2117 with the Thomson upgrade. I uploaded what I thought might be relevant to Diag section, file alexf-diag.zip:
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... le_id=8238

The RS-2117 is operational, so if there's some analysis that can be done with it, I'd be more than happy to do it.

thanks

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 4:37 pm

There appears to be a problem with the way RM saves Thomson files because even if you start with the correct hex codes, you get incorrect hex codes when you re-open the file.

Therefore, I have created a KM file for this STB here:
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... le_id=8239

You can open this file using RM and you can reformat it for the Slingbox (once you change the Slingbox RDF to use variant 7), but if you save it as an RMDU file, it'll be scrambled when you re-open it.

fichmana2003 · Post by **fichmana2003** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 4:54 pm

Thanks, Rob!

Regarding the current Slingbox [RV] RDF (I use the updated one, for player 2.04) - Does it use the old 6:6 variant or the newer 5:7?
What kind of change is needed to the RDF? am I correct to guess that my Thomson cable box uses the old, 6:6 split?

fichmana2003 · Post by **fichmana2003** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 5:05 pm

Rob, I loaded the KM file into RM, changed to Slingbox RV remote and exported into SBAV dir. Loaded the file into SB, and it still behaves the same as the others; '0' is power, '1' is 4, '2' is 6 etc. Most buttons do not work.

So I guess te RDF needs to be updated before I can enjoy my SB.

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 10:36 pm

If you don't edit the RDF before loading the KM file into RM, it won't work, so if that's what you did, it explains it. You need to change 004B to 004B:7 in the [Protocols] section.