JP1 Remotes

RichardP · Joined: 17 Jan 2004 Posts: 108 Location: UK

I've been using my 8060 and 8040's with extenders for some time without too many problems. One of the annoyances with my system, which is nothing to do with the remote or the extender, is that the media centre PC has no discrete on/of commands.

However, since I got an IR keyboard I have been able to emulate discrete on and off commands using the following :

1) Set the action of the 'Sleep' button to 'Do Nothing'
2) Create a shortcut to a program that I wrote that causes the PC to enter sleep mode on the desktop with a shortcut key assigned (in my case Z, so Ctrl+Alt+Z causes the PC to go to sleep).

With this setup I can use the IR keyboard to wake up the PC using the power button as this is acted on by the BIOS and the Ctrl+Alt+Z key combo to put the PC to sleep.

Now I'd like to be able to use my various remotes (8060 and 8040's) so I can use them in various rooms around the house.

With the unextended remote I can learn the Ctrl+Alt+Z command (it's very difficult to actually get the full thing, as Alt and Ctrl are commands in there own right) and assign it to a single button on the remote, but the learned command is not decoded in Decode IR (2.29), this is what I get :

Sent Repeatedly While Key Is Being Held :

The Robman · Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 8:08 am Post subject:

There's not enough information in just the timing data, we would also need to know the IR frequency. Also, most experts would rather see the IR file itself rather than a quoted sample.
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Please don't PM me with remote questions, post them in the forums so all the experts can help!

RichardP · Joined: 17 Jan 2004 Posts: 108 Location: UK

Sorry, the IR file is here

johnsfine · Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 8:48 am Post subject:

I can't figure it out from one sample. I'm not sure I could figure it out from a lot of samples. IR keyboards are tricky. You're never learning enough to see the whole pattern. Usually you need to try a bunch of different ways to capture a fragment of a learn in order to deduce what the whole thing looks like, then experiment in order to find a practical subset of the signal structure that a JP1 upgrade can generate and the device will accept.

What does that single learned signal do? (used from an unextended remote) Your message is almost self contradicory on the question of whether that is the whole Ctrl+Alt+Z or just the repeat part after Ctrl and Alt signals are sent seperately.

Do any of the Keyboard commands decode in DecodeIr?

Why do you need an Ir Keyboard? Isn't there some file on the PC that gives the meaning of each command in the MCE protocol? I thought there were some other threads about people adding new commands into THAT file and associating them previously unused OBC numbers of the basic MCE upgrade. Can't that method be used to run whatever external program you're now triggering with the IR keyboard?

RichardP · Joined: 17 Jan 2004 Posts: 108 Location: UK

The Robman · Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:39 pm Post subject:

Hey Richard,
Give this upgrade a try. Your function is programmed to the POWER button.

Upgrade Code 0 = 0F D0 (Cable/2000) MCE Keyboard Temp (KM v8.35)
FF 00 11 20 20 00 E8 20
End

Upgrade protocol 0 = 01 FF (S3C8+) PB v3.11
47 93 41 8B 13 87 C5 10 08 04 00 98 00 84 00 98
00 84 96 23 05 78 00 00 8D 01 46
End
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Rob
www.hifi-remote.com
Please don't PM me with remote questions, post them in the forums so all the experts can help!

RichardP · Joined: 17 Jan 2004 Posts: 108 Location: UK

Rob, that works perfectly! You're a genius!

RichardP · Joined: 17 Jan 2004 Posts: 108 Location: UK

Now that I've got this working, where is the best place to post a description of how to do it so that others may benefit? I'm sure there must be other people who could use discrete on/off capability for Media Centre. I'll need to upload the program that I wrote that is called by the shortcut to shutdown/hibernate/sleep the PC, I assume that this is OK, but where is the best place to put it?

Thank you immensely for your help, lack of this capability has been bugging me ever since I started with JP1 remotes nearly 2 years ago.

The Robman · Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 10:39 am Post subject:

I suppose the best thin to do is to zip together all the files related to this device and then load it into the Misc folder under the device's name.

As for creating the upgrade for you, all I did was plug the timing values into the Protocol Builder spreadsheet, it didn't even need any custom code.

The one thing that might throw off a beginner with this signal is that it's bi-phase, in other words the "0" time is sent reversed. So the pairs are really...

1 = +304 -304
0 = -304 +304

The reason this might be tricky for a beginner to spot is because when two OFF times, or two ON times, come back to back, you'll end up with one bigger OFF time. For example, the timings for 101 would be..

+304 -304 -304 +304 +304 -304

but this should show up as...

+304 -608 +608 -304

I wrote a beginner's guide to PB here...
http://www.hifi-remote.com/files/help/Protocol-Builder.zip
_________________
Rob
www.hifi-remote.com
Please don't PM me with remote questions, post them in the forums so all the experts can help!

ElizabethD · Advanced Member Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Posts: 2348

MajorWoody · Joined: 16 Oct 2006 Posts: 46 Location: Brooklyn,NY

Great idea for MCE DiscreteON and DiscreteOFF. I would like to try it on my ReplayTV 5000 2k remote. Would it be possible to post links for KM files so I can change device code?