JP1 Remotes

TennesseeTitan wrote:
RE: 8 device remote with only 5 device keys
3 shifted?

These 3 devices are what we call Phantom devices. Often we expand the number of devices with multiplexing, where we change the setup code on the fly, but phantom devices are really great because they hold their own set of keymoves.

Rob wrote:
Plus, of course, once the Xsight finally hits the street, which it should any day now, we'll have a new breed of USB connected remotes, which will open up a whole new challenge for us.

I hadn't heard of the xsight, so I went and googled it and found an article from last year talking about it over at remote central, but nothing about a U.S. release. It looks like some sort of kameleon hybrid. What have you read?

unclemiltie wrote:Oh, one more thing. It doesn't appear that the setup codes have an "offset" like the last RCA remote (RCU810). The default for the TV is $0560 which is an RCA TV setup code in standard UEI remotes.

I can confirm the lack of the offset.

I've been using the ol' RCU810 as my main remote since back when the JP1 discussion forum was still on Yahoo Groups, but I've been keeping my eye out for a suitable replacement/upgrade the last several years as some of the buttons my 810's were starting to get a little flakey.

I picked up the RCRP05B from BestBuy on Wed, and did some good old fashioned manual setup on it while waiting for my new JP1.3 cable and the RDF file to be created. And I had to adjust all the device codes from my old remote down by 17 -- the offset on the 810.

vickyg2003 wrote:

Rob wrote:
Plus, of course, once the Xsight finally hits the street, which it should any day now, we'll have a new breed of USB connected remotes, which will open up a whole new challenge for us.

I hadn't heard of the xsight, so I went and googled it and found an article from last year talking about it over at remote central, but nothing about a U.S. release. It looks like some sort of kameleon hybrid. What have you read?

We have discussed the XSight in this thread, which you apparently stopped following after an early comment. I have had a European (OFA not AR) XSight for a few months and it is not unlike the Harmony ONE, with the exception that you are not REQUIRED to use the web-based interface to program it (although it allows you to do much more than just from the remote's keypad). Further along in that thread I make a few preliminary observations that are pretty harsh, but since then I have come around to kind of liking it, but since I got the Harmony ONE programmed, I haven't invested the time to fully set up the XSight. I hope to find more time after I retire later this year.

The last post in that thread points to an eBay auction for <$100 for an XSight, but although the PICTURE is of an XSight TOUCH, the listing is the model number for the XSight COLOR (no touchscreen nor RF), so I'm not sure what the guy is selling.

Thanks Captain, I must have blocked that from the memory bank after seeing $200 shipped. Expensive remotes, hold absolutely no appeal for me, after the way DH has destroyed nearly every OEM remote we ever had, while viewing exciting sporting events. That's why I have never put my 8910's in use, I'm afraid of those LCDs are going to be fragile.

I did a buton-by-button comparison between this remote, an Atlas OCAP URC-1056, and the UEIC Titan Cable remote. I don't believe that the JP1 community has yet taken a crack at the Titan, but it looks like it'll fit right into the JP1.3 collection. Visually, I find this RCA remote similar to the Titan. I especially like the arrangement of the transport key array - probably the only significant advantage I would give it over the OCAP, which has the same nine buttons is a 3x3 square layout.

Anyways, the main differences are (taking the OCAP as the baseline):
(1) Neither the RCRP05B nor the Titan has TWO SEPARATE buttons for "Menu" and "Settings" as the OCAP does. I use them both so that's a big deal for me.
(2) On the other hand, the RCA has separate buttons for "Live" and "Jump Forward" where the OCAP and Titan have only a "Live" button. (I've LKP-ed both functions onto that single button on my OCAP)
(3) The Titan does not have an "INPUT" button which the other two have.

Aside from that, all three remotes are pretty similar, apart from some minor layout and nomenclature differences. The most significant of these are
(1) the location and distribution of the aforementioned transport key array; and
(2) the location of the Day +/- and Page +/- keys, which have a weird array I don't care for on the RCRP05B.

So the OCAP and the RCRP05B have the same number of buttons, while the Titan has two buttons LESS.

As for the 8 devices, I notice that the RCA has the three middle device buttons "double-labelled", if you will. Does the manual discuss anything about programming two devices on these device buttons or "stacking" devices somehow?

See manual here and printable version here.

it appears that UEI has thrown us yet another curve ball on this remote.

In figuring out the Channel lock and Volume lock, I found something that I haven't seen before

For example, on volume lock the values at $62D through $634 are all $01 at initialization or a 981 reset. However, if I disable volume lock they all change to $00 through $07

What this appears to be is that for each of the 8 devices, there is a device ID associated with volume control. When volume lock is disabled, the device ID is set to the ID of the device. When it is enabled for the devcie, it is set to the device ID for the device for volume lock.

Same goes for Channel lock at $636 thru $63C

has anyone seen this before? Will we have to modify IR and the remote descriptions to deal with this?


I now have all of the key values, the device setup codes (it does have 8 devices) and enough to make a prelim RDF, but this channel lock and volume lock stuff has thrown me for a loop.

Forgive me if this is a foolish suggestion, as I haven't spent that much time in the guts of the JP1 apps. But at least for the short term, could these be exposed in the RDF as just 16 different [Settings] -- 8 for VPT and 8 for ChPT? You know, something like...

TV VPT Device
DVR VPT Device
...
AUD VPT Device
TV ChPT Device
DVR ChPT Device
...
AUD ChPT Device

True, it'd mean more work for the IR user who wanted to set up a global VPT, as they'd have to manually change it for all 8 devices. But at least it might get a workable RDF out there with minimal changes to existing software tools, which could always be enhanced later.

Edit: If the remote actually lets users set VPT/ChPT independently for each of the 8 devices, then exposing the 16 settings separately might be for the best anyway, just in the interest of maintaining maximum flexibility.

yes, there are always these kinds of workarounds, which is what I will do when I finish the RDF for the remote (hopefully today) But we may want to think about enhancements to the tools that make this easier.

I've just uploaded a preliminary RDF for the RCRP05B remote here:

dload.php?action=file&file_id=7069

I've successfully loaded the virgin remote file and changed a few things around in IR, all seems to work. I have not tried it with RM yet, but wanted to get this here so that others can use it if they have the remote. Thanks to Mike England for the section on the protocols, button maps and key lists.

I haven't yet put in the setup code validation stuff yet that IR 8 knows, that'll come in the future. There will likely be other changes as I discover more about the remote.

I just uploaded a RemoteMaster image/button map, along with a slightly tweaked RDF file that ties to said map.

dload.php?action=file&file_id=7071

A preliminary OARP05S manual can be downloaded at:http://www.oneforall.co.uk/uploads/supp ... 0b569f.pdf
The content seems to be similar to the RCA version, but the layout is a bit different (or perhaps just an earlier version).

unclemiltie wrote:I've been working on it. Remote "feels" a lot like an Atlas from how it uses memory. That's good from an extender standpoint.

Hey, I've been meaning to ask... Once you've completed the extender, any chance I could get a copy of the source?

I haven't monkeyed around in assembler since my undergrad days, but I'd like to try to dust off the old skills and take a peek at what goes on under the covers of one of these things.

Anyone found how to do keymoves on this remote. Nothing in manual about them and code 994 doesn't work like the older remotes.

Do you mean that one key can't be copied to another, or that EFCs can't be assigned to a key? I think we expect that this remote will require 5 digit EFCs.