RMIR support for UEI Replacement Remotes

[mathdon]

Many of the UEI remotes that are currently available are classed as TV Replacement Remotes. These are manufacturer-specific remotes where the TV setup does not use setup codes but instead can be selected only by a search process. They appear to RMIR as an Activity with three button groups. The first group consists of the digits, volume and channel buttons together with the Power button, the other two groups containing all the other buttons. The setups for all three groups can be set independently, but the first group is restricted to a subset of the setups available for the second and third groups.

This sounds as if these are of little interest for JP1 users, but there appear to be three generations of these remotes, each having significantly more facilities than the previous one. The third generation seems to me to be of considerable interest. The differences are as follows.

The first generation, which uses a MAXQ610 processor, is simply as just described. It appears to RMIR as a fixed Activity with the ability to set the device for each of the three button groups by a search process, but that is all.

The second and third generations are JP1.4 remotes that use a Samsung S3F80 processor. The second generation adds an internal (so non-selectable) device button that has no internal setup codes available. However, the remote supports device upgrades that can be selected as the device for this internal device button. It is not mentioned in the documentation for the remote, but the remote has two modes of operation. The Activity mode can be turned off and then all buttons use the device upgrade selected for the internal device button,

The third generation expands this facility. These remotes have three internal device buttons which I have chosen to call TV, Cable and Audio. There are correspondingly three device types, again TV, Cable and Audio which are the default device types for these device buttons. Each device type has its own button map. The button maps for the TV and Cable device types each contain all the buttons on the device but in a different order. It seems plausible that these orders are suitable for TV and Cable devices since each includes all buttons.

The button map for the Audio device type, however, only contains the digit, volume, channel and Power buttons. The Audio device button has a special purpose. It is used for volume punch-through and is set by setup codes listed in the manual. Although there are no physical device buttons and no Setup button, you set the Audio code by holding the Vol+ and Vol- buttons together till the LED under the Power button gives two flashes. You then enter the 4-digit Audio code. The LED should flash twice on the last digit, which completes the setup. This volume punch-through overrides the setting of the first Activity group, so it is possible to have buttons sending signals from four different devices, three set from the Activity button groups and one by the Audio code.

As with the second generation, the Activity mode can be turned off. The TV device then becomes active for all buttons, with the Audio device providing Volume punch-through if set in RMIR on the Device Buttons panel of the General tab. Device upgrades can be used to set devices for all internal device buttons, but now there are internal setup codes available for the Audio type. In principle these can be set as the device for the TV and Cable internal device buttons, but this is not useful as the Audio setup codes assign data for only the buttons in the Audio device type.

Now for a mystery. There is also one internal setup code for the Cable device. It is the same one for all three of the third generation remotes that I have seen, which is Cable/4662. It is not mentioned in any documentation. I can find no way of selecting the Cable internal device button. It is possible to set the TV device to Cable/4662, which is the only way I have been able to check that this code works and that the Cable device does in fact use the button map of the Cable device type. I feel that there must be a way of selecting between the TV and Cable devices as otherwise the internal Cable device button seems pointless. If we can find it then these remotes would give us a two-device remote with a third device available for Volume punch-through, in which each device can be set from an uploadable device upgrade.

I have now posted development build RMIR v3.2.3 in the RMIR Development folder on SourceForge. This build supports all three generations, but as with all new remotes the support for each remote needs to be added by an expert. This build supports the following remotes.

First generation:
URC-1910 R00 for Samsung TVs (signature 257302)
Second generation:
URC-1910 R01 for Samsung TVs (signature 361302)
Insignia NS-RMTSNY17 for Sony TVs (signature 361701)
Third generation:
URC-4910 for Samsung TVs (signature 369302)
URC-4911 for LG TVs (signature 369401)
URC-4912 for Sony TVs (signature 369502)

The devices for the Activity groups are set as usual on the Activities tab, but the value in the Device column is a serial number for a built-in activity setup as they are not named. The serial number, starting at 1, is its sequence number when searching in the second and third Activity button groups. As explained above, the first button group can use only a restricted subset so only a subset of these serial numbers is available. When you select a value for any of the button groups, the following groups are set to this same value, so if you change group 2 then both groups 2 and 3 change. This is the way the selection process in the remote itself works.

The Devices tab displays both the activity devices currently selected in the Activities tab, listed by their serial number, as well as any selected built-in devices and uploaded device upgrades listed by their setup code. The two types can be distinguished as setup codes are always four digits but serial numbers are at most three digits. The settings of all devices can be viewed by clicking the Edit Device button on the Device Buttons panel of the General tab or the Edit button of the Devices tab, but only uploaded device upgrades can be edited. However, any built-in device or activity setting can be cloned on the Devices tab and then edited, with activity settings being converted to device upgrades.

Edit: The current RMIR release, v3.2.7, includes support for the above remotes and more. See the announcement for it for more details.