JP1 Remotes

hansdegit · Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 7:54 am Post subject: Been on holiday

Hi Rob,

THANKS.

And sorry. I've just returned from a trip to Souh Africa, therefore I can understand your last posting.

I will test this upgrade today and will let you know, alright?

I hope this takes away a little of your disappointment.

hansdegit · Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 5:37 am Post subject: IT WORKS

Rob and John,

You're the best!

Thank you very, very much.

Is there a way to integrate your protocol upgrade in the spreadsheet?

hansdegit · Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 7:58 am Post subject:

Doing some extended tests, I found out this:

it doesn't always work....Can't get my finger behind this:
- Plug in the power cord, press the Power button of the device upgrade -> computer wakes up.

- Put the computer in Hibernation -> it doesn't wake via the device upgrade, but it does wake with the original remote.

- Shut down the computer -> same..it doesn't wake via the device upgrade, but it does wake with the original remote.

- Put the computer to sleep -> same..it doesn't wake via the device upgrade, but it does wake with the original remote.

My guess is that:
a) the signal is not exactly the same...But hey, that's why we're testing
b) the iMon receiver is less picky when it wakes from a powerloss.

I'll see what I can do about item b).

By the way: what sequence of events is fired when the remote sends a learned command? As Pjigar earlier suggested, maybe we can build a device upgrade that containts the learned command, or does that sound a little crazy? On the other hand: that would be like throwing the towell, don't you agree?

hansdegit · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:48 am Post subject: IMPORTANT UPDATE (i think)

I stumbled across the Silverstone Website. They have actually put together some sort of guide on how to compose the IR signals:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/de/downloao/installation%20guide/ir%20data%20spec.pdf

John / Rob :Could this be of any use?

The Robman · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 1:57 pm Post subject:

I've only glanced at the doc, but it does look like it would be very useful in understanding this complicated signal. However, this task has fallen off of my "to do" list, so I doubt that I will be able to re-visit this for quite a while.

So unless anyone else steps up to the plate, you're on your own with this one I'm afraid.
_________________
Rob
www.hifi-remote.com
Please don't PM me with remote questions, post them in the forums so all the experts can help!

hansdegit · Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:48 am Post subject:

Just to clarify: the link in my previous posting was only to help you guys perfecting the Power signal.

So, if the ski-slopes are closed and you can fnd a few minutes.....

And you're all doing this work Pro Deo. Truly amazing!
What would be the best way to thank you guys?

The Robman · Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 8:07 am Post subject:

But even to just fix the POWER code, given that it is already a pretty close copy of the original, I would need to load the upgrade into a remote, try re-learning it using another remote, compare the output with the original learned signals, compare it also with the newly found spec, then try tweeking the upgrade code in PB. All in all, I would be looking at several evenings worth of work and I just don't have that sort of free time available.

So, your options are...

1) Wait and see if anyone else jumps in to help
2) Figure out how to tweek the code yourself, using PB
_________________
Rob
www.hifi-remote.com
Please don't PM me with remote questions, post them in the forums so all the experts can help!

lnoland1 · Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 38 Location: Chicago suburbs

So, I was just passing through and sort-of got interested in this thread even though I don't have any personal interest in it (I don't own any Silverstone hardware). While perhaps I don't have a good enough grasp of the problem (and I certainly don't have the technical prowess to understand all the issues regarding protocols and such) as I understand it, your basic problem is that you would like to use your OFA remote with your HTPC and have used an alternative IR receiver to allow you to do that with the exception of the power button. The reason you can't use your alternative receiver there is because it is handled by the OS (which is not active when the PC is shut down) and the special IR receiver in the case only passes signals through when the operating system is active, anyway.

Since the passthrough is effective when the OS is active, does power down, at least, work through your alternative interface?

Since the whole protocol mess is proving so intractable (this thread has been going on for months) could one, perhaps, simply bypass the problem? For instance, does Wake-On-Lan work properly with your HTPC housed in this special case? How about other ACPI wake-up methods? If so, perhaps you could brainstorm a way to activate one of those events by remote control more easily than trying to reverse-engineer this protocol. Powering down by remote might be a little trickier if this isn't accomplished by your alternative interface. I don't know what it is but presumably there is a system function one can call to accomplish this so one could always cobble together some software which could be triggered through your interface (depending on how your interface interacts with the system). Since uninterruptible power supplies have the ability to trigger a shutdown through hardware, mimicking that mechanism is an angle one might pursue.

I don't know if those suggestions are helpful or not -- implementing them might prove as difficult as the problem at hand -- but I thought I'd toss the idea out there in case you hadn't thought about exploring alternatives to mimicking the native remote.

- Les

pjigar · Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 26

I was never successful in using power button upgrade that Robman crated for us. Thanks to Robman and jhonsfire for helping.

The final solution I resorted was to install a USB-UIRT into my HTPC and not use built-in IR receiver. The $50 investment helps me create a HTPC that acts like a standalone AV equipment. I can power it on and off with JP1 macros.

Happy hunting.

The Robman · Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 1:30 pm Post subject:

Actually PJ, as I recall, after I created the upgrade for you and tested it myself to verify that it pretty much matched the original, we never heard back from you so say whether you tested it or not. In fact, this is your first post since I posted the upgrade.
_________________
Rob
www.hifi-remote.com
Please don't PM me with remote questions, post them in the forums so all the experts can help!

gadgetmind2 · Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 2

I have registered just to post this in the hope it will help someone in future.

I bought a SoundGraph iMon Inside PC remote unit assuming my UC MX500 remote would just work, but it refused to reliably learn the remote codes. Sometimes the buttons would work, sometimes they wouldn't. Googling and searching here just showed loads of other people with the same problem. Sad

Fortunately, I found a PDF on the web that gave the format of the signal. It's 38KHz modulated with 32 pulse timeslots and a 32-bit data format. All the codes are then encoded into these 32 bits with some bits being fixed at 0 and 1 to ensure clocking. The MX500 was sending with a 16 pulse timeslot but the pulses were all over the place and the edges being in the wrong place was throwing off the clocking causing the bits towards the end of the signal to get corrupted.

File format is here -
http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload.php?action=file&file_id=3848

I used this to write a simple bit of Python that takes the desired 32-bit code and creates the on/off pulse values for entering into MX500Learn. I got the codes from a lirc.conf file for the iMon rather than re-inventing the wheel. There are plenty enough codes to cover every button on the MX500 including both pages of LCD buttons.

I tried to program in one button, and it worked first time and the button was totally reliable! Amazing!

I then wrote a new lirc_conf with all the names matching the MX500 buttons and created my own lircrc file to generate the mplayer commands I needed.

If anyone ever needs any of this, and they promise not to comment on how revolting my Python code is, I'm happy to send all my bits to them, however the pulse on/off codes will need mapping to whatever the JP1 stuff uses.

Mail me - ian at foxhill dot co dot uk

Ian

gadgetmind2 · Joined: 08 Jun 2007 Posts: 2

Oh, and timing is critical. If the sender is more than 0.7% slow or 2.1% fast, then the bits at the end gets corrupted. No reclocking!

I have therefore tweaked the speed of modulation upwards to nearer 39KHz then 38Khz. This works fine on two of my remotes, but the other two need lower numbers. I guess ceramic resonators aren't that accurate!

Anyway, it's now working for me. A chap emailed me regards him producing a JP1 solution and I've dumped my knowledge on him.

Ian

jptheripper · Joined: 02 Aug 2004 Posts: 36

well after a year and 2 broken harmony remotes (had to try) I am back to jp1 Smile

AMazon has the 9910 on sale for 32 shipped, hard to pass up.

I also have the Imon inside (from soundgraph) that came with the pad remote. Range is about 3 feet directly on.

DId we ever find a successful solution for the Imon upgrade through jp1? I thought i read that OFA had actually released a working upgrade but ill be darned if i can find it.

Thanks
Jeff

hansdegit · Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:06 am Post subject:

Does anyone know whether the upgrade Rob has created can be ported easily to a URC 10820?

hansdegit · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:23 pm Post subject:

Yes, Binky123 knows!