JP1 Remotes

Hi everybody,

I've got a motorola DRC400 remote that I am trying to program. Here's my situation:

I have a DCT2000 cable box, a JVC VCR, and a mythtv frontend. The mythtv frontend is a homemade PVR running linux, which has a IR receiver built in to it. I can program it to receive any codes I want, and assign those codes to any function that I desire. The challenge is finding a set of remote codes that will use every button on the remote.

Before I decided to try the jp1 route, I had found that using the codes for a Primestar DBS receiver (code 0100) lets me use about 80% of the buttons, which was pretty good. However, I would rather use ALL of them, hence the need for JP1.

Thus far I have used IR.exe to save a backup of my existing setup. Then I try to use RM, but things get very confusing for me. Do I have to try to find the right upgrade file for the primestar that I am emulating, or for the DRC400 that I am programming? Will I end up having to reprogram all of the buttons?

In my perfect little dream world, since I can effectively use arbitrary codes in my setup, I would make up code for each of the unused buttons, map them, and send that info to the remote. However, I don't understand enough of what's going on to do that.

Mark

Different device modes (SAT, VCR, TV, etc.) have different buttons available to them. If you run KM, enter your remote type and go to the "Layout" tab you will see which buttons are available in each mode. Note that these are the "native" buttons and that you can still use other buttons but that they will be generated as KeyMoves (which is a good thing if you're tight on upgrade memory space but a but thing in an unextended remote with little KeyMove/Macro memory space).

Since you'll likely start JP1-ing without using an extender, you might find that SAT/CBL mode gives the most available "normal" buttons. It is, of course, different for different remotes. I find that it makes a big difference with the Euro Kamelon (most modes have two "screens" of buttons but DVD has only one) but not a lot of difference with the URC8910 using the extender.

Since you can use any code then use one which is easy (i.e. consistent, no funny toggle bits, protocol is built-in to remote, single-byte as opposed to 2-byte commands). Also ensure that its device number etc. is differnt from any other device in your setup. Panasonic, NEC etc. seem fairly straightforward.

If you're not stuck on the idea of using the code that you arbitrarily found, I would recommend that you pick the NEC2 protocol and enter some random device codes (such as main device code = 234 and sub-device code = 210). Then go to the Functions sheet and enter numbers for the OBC codes. If you're using KM you can just enter 0 as the first OBC and then enter the formula =B2+1 as the next OBC and then repeat fill this down the entire column. (In RM you would have to manually enter the OBCs). Then go to the Buttons sheet and assign something to each and every button.

If you were still a non-JP1 user, I would have suggested simply programming the extra buttons, that don't have a signal programmed to them, with random advanced codes.