JP1 Remotes

[unclemiltie]

I've uploaded an extender that supports both the URC-9960B01 and the URC-6960B00 here:

UPDATE: Beta2 uploaded 3/8/07

http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload.php?action=file&file_id=4328


This is a beta and is my first extender. I've done limited testing on this so please be nice.

The extender is a port of Nils' 9960B00 ex2 with some differences that are mentioned in the readme. But most of the important stuff is there (ToadTog, DSM, LDKP, Pause, all of the pseudo-device processing, nested macros, etc) There are some differences in the screen handling.

Please report any bugs in this thread, if I can't recreate them I'll send you a PM asking for details.

One downside is that Extinstall doesn't like these remotes because of the FF section terminators so the only way to get this extender is to use the IR files that I distribute in the download. That means that you're going to have to re-create all of your macros, keymoves, etc if/when I release a final version of this extender. If I can find some time, I may try to fix extinstall but I also have to start to do other things around here.


enjoy!

[unclemiltie]

One of the things that has been a question in my mind the entire time I've been writing this extender is the topic of the "remapped" keys in the remote. For example, on one of the audio screens, the keys up,down,right,left (29,2A,2B,2C) are remapped to test,front,center,rear (69,6A,6B,6C I think) so that the remote can have two separate keys and thus two separate commands.

In designing the extender, I had to make a decision of where to put the pseudo-device keys (there are a lot of them). I could have either put them in the $C0-$FF range and not built in Xshift support in the extender and leave the remapped keys where they were or I could ignore the remapped keys and put the pseudo-device keys in the $40-$7f range. I chose the latter.

the beta version of the extender does not have support for this additional set of keys (details: these are the arrows/OK in an audio screen, the digits in another audio screen and the Menu button on the PVR screen (this turns out to be mapped to Dish Network PVR-Menu or the list of recoreded devices))


now, I can remap the keys myself, although I'll be one short, AND these will have to be keymoves and not the built-in/upgrade keys. RM and probably KM will still be able to see the old keys since they're in the list of valid keys for matching devices so that is a bit confusing.
(is this something that we can do in RM, ie: if the RDF doesn't have a name for a key that's in the list of valid keys, can we not show it?)

If I do the remapping myself, it will make the upper EEPROM part of the extender bigger as I have to build in the table and code to do this. This scheme may not fit in RAM, but assuming it does the 9960B01 shouldn't care since there is lots of space in upper EEPROM but on the 6960 this is more of an issue.

So, to those who use this remote and this extender, what are your thoughts here. What's more important Xshift or this set of keys?

[ElizabethD]

Unclemiltie,
I do not have the remotes for which you've built the extender. But I though I'd add my 5 cents about the need for recreating keymoves and macros. But I'm only guessing! The procedure might be to use ECC (extender code calculator). It just might work quicker than manual labor. Save keymoves to clipboard in IR. Paste into ECC. Make whatever changes needed. Export it out back into ECC. Ditto for macros, but they might need a temporary excel sheet to work. Macros are accepted in ECC. I haven't done this for a while, so this is just a guess for a possible approach. Bear in mind that if someone is going from unextended to extended remote, the changes need to be pretty big anyway and redesign required.

Hmm, I wonder, editing this, whether ECC knows about the new remotes. I think it might, because it uses RDFs.
_________________
Liz
Tweeking 8910, HTPro/9811, C7-7800, 6131o, 6131n, AtlasOCAP-1056B01, RCA-RCRP05B and enjoying the ride

[tg0905]

Thanks unclemiltie! The extender works fine. I did have to delete one device and protocol to make room for my devices and protocols. Although Extinstall isn't supported, by opening two instances of IR, the copying of keymoves, macros and devices wasn't too bad. I can finally use the FAV key and ToadTog on my 9964 (9960-B01)!

[unclemiltie]

There is a bug in the RDF for the 9960B01 extender that doesn't enable the Xshift functions.

To fix, add

XShift=$C0

immediately after the line

EFCDigits=5

in the RDF file (KASAKASX)


I'm in the middle of doing some other mods to make the code smaller so I'll include this fix when I upload that stuff.

[unclemiltie]

More on "remapping" keys

First what I mean on this so that everyone is on the same page.

On the Kameleon remotes (specifically 9960B01 and 6960) there are some keys that have two possible keycodes depending on what screen is active. For example, let's say I'm using a PVR. When I push the menu key on the first screen for a PVR the keycode used is $14. However, if I hit the PVR-VOD button, a different set of keys are lit and if I push the menu button the keycode used is $54. This allows me to have two different IR commands mapped to the same button, depending on context. there are others as well including the digit keys in Audio (tuner) mode and the arrows keys in surround sound setup mode.


Well it looks like I may not be able to build my own remap the keys on the 9960B01 after all. It works on the 6960 but there is one slight difference in the way that the remotes validate that a key is lit on the screen (the 6960 does it from the un-remapped key codes before remapping, the 9960 does it with the remapped keycodes after remapping)

I've implemented this on the 6960 and it appears to work, I can't do it on the 9960 since when I remap the keys to somewhere different, the remote will always tell me that the key is not lit and thus should not be processed.

So, to the 9960B01 users, my questions remain.

1: I could do this by not doing Xshift and then retain the ability to have a remapped keys.

2: I can ignore this and leave the remapped keys out of the extender (the current version in the files area does this) Since the extender has both Shift and Xshift functions, you can already have three IR commands on each button so is this really a huge loss? (my feeling is that it is kind of cool and some of the built-in codes do use this)


There is not enough room in the keycode range of $40-$7F to fit all of the pseudo-device control keys AND the remapped keys.


I'm leaning towards leaving the remapped keys out of at least the 9960B01 extender (the 6960 is a much different conversation but it appears that no one other than me is using that remote)


thoughts?

[unclemiltie]

one other thought:

I could put the Xshift keys in the $40-$7F range and not allow Xshift onto the keys that get remapped but allow Xshift on all of the others. The remapped keys are:

- digits on audio screen $0D
- arrows (rear, center, front, test) on audio screen $0B
- OK (surround) on audio screen $0C
- menu on VCR/PVR screen $01


Would this work? You'd lose the Xshift on those keys but you'd get back another set of context-dependent versions of those keys

hmmmm..... maybe I have the answer here!

[rindertp]

Unclemiltie,
Thanks for creating this extender. I want to use the extender only for puting some macros on the device buttons, but appart from the M, C, V, T and O_xxx macros, I can't get anny macros buttons to work on them. I am an extender beginner. (used the 8910 extender before) So I asume I am doing something wrong and this is not a bug.
Can you please help me?

Rindert

[unclemiltie]

can you upload an IR file to the diagnostic area so that I can take a look at it and see what the code is doing with your macro?


upload and post a pointer here.

[rindertp]

I have oploaded the ir file

http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload.php?action=file&file_id=4284

[unclemiltie]

can you tell me which macro in your file does not work and what it does? (if anything) I'm assuming that it's the Macro1 key that's trying to load a nested macro?


thanks

[rindertp]

None of the macros on the device keys work. The one on the macro1 key is just an attempt to see if at least an traditional macro (as in an unextended file) would work. It is not. All I try to do (for now) is to select a device and set the audio and tv settings.

[unclemiltie]

OK, a thought here.

First some background on the pseudo-device keys and how they work. The O_,M_,C_,T, and V_ keys will put entries in a device table that are later used for every key press. When a non-device selection key is processed, the device table entry is fetched and set as the current device then the key is processed as normal. This gives you the complete flexibility in device and "punchthrough" control that we all know and love in the extender.

The X_ command overrides the table until it is cancelled. The cancellation comes either (1) with another X_ command, (2) with an X_Cancel command or (3) when the extender has finished processing ALL pending keys. If the X_xx device is valid, every time the extender checks a key for a keyset, it ignores checking the keyset and just uses the X_xx device

So, you have:

Macro1: AUD, Input, 2, CD, Exit
AUD: X_DVD,M_AUD,C_AUD,V_AUD,O_AUD,3
CD: X_CD,M_CD,T_CD,O_CD,X_AUD,2,X_CD,Play

This translates into for Macro1

X_DVD,M_AUD,C_AUD,V_AUD,O_AUD,3,INPUT,2,X_CD,M_CD,T_CD,O_CD,X_AUD,2,X_CD,PLAY

So what happens here is that you hit the X_DVD and until you hit the X_CD in the second macro, the commands other than device selection are going to the DVD device. (it should see a 3, then input, then 2)

After you hit the X_CD, you hit another X_AUD, then a 2, then X_CD, then Play

Thus the commands you will get are:

DVD devcie: 3, input, 2
AUD device: 2
CD devide: Play


Is that what you intended?

[unclemiltie]

I looked around for a while last night and built some more complex macros on my 9960B01 and couldn't make it fail. If I get a chance tonight or over the weekend I'm going to try to take your macros and put them into my device config and give it a whirl.

[rindertp]

I’m sorry I was not able to explain my problem more clearly. This probably has to do with my problems of grabbing the logics of the extender and perhaps even a language barrier.
I ‘ll try to be more precise
What I really want to do is by hitting the remote’s
- DVD key: My receiver is put in the DVD mode (4), the receiver is in the
analog/cinema mode(input), the TV is put on channel 0 and
the DVD drawer opens (exit)
- VCR key: My TV is put on the 0 channel, the TV sound is muted (MUTE),
my VCR and starts playing
- AUDO key: My receiver is put on the receiver mode (3)
- CD key : My receiver is put in the CD mode (2) and the CD starts
playing (Play)
The macro1 entry was just an experimental one and has nothing to do with what I wanted to achieve (sorry for that).

With the 8910 extender I could achieve this by making a macro like this:

DVD key: DEV_AUD;phantom1;4;input;DEV_TV; phantom1;0;DEV_DVD;
phantom1;exit

The phantom key holds all the key sets.

I presumed I could achieve the same in the 9960B01 extender by replacing the DEV command by the X_xx commands and phantom1 by the O_,M_,C_,T, and V_ keys
This is not working. I can however use the O_,M_,C_,T, and V_ keys and even mix them around.

I hope this makes things more clear