Moving Device Button?

Capn Trips · Post by **Capn Trips** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 1:30 am

Well, this is beyond my skills, since I see NO MACROS AT ALL in your IR file. Just one keymove and a bunch of device upgrades. I also get a bad checksum error every time I open your file, so I wonder if I have the same RDF that you are using. I only have what was distributed in the RDF distribution zip file, and you may be using a custom rdf of some sort.

tbuck410 · Post by **tbuck410** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:29 am

I believe that IR itself gets modified by the extender. I rechecked the file I uploaded and there are 8 keymoves and 5 macros. Thanks for trying. I will keep looking at the 6131 posts.

gfb107 · Post by **gfb107** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:17 am

IR does most definitely not get modified by the extender.

If I had to make a guess about what has gone wrong, I would say the extender didn't get installed correctly.

tbuck410 · Post by **tbuck410** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:22 am

IR does most definitely not get modified by the extender.

If I had to make a guess about what has gone wrong, I would say the extender didn't get installed correctly

Was this based on viewing my IR file? If not could you please take a look at it. Maybe you could also tell if the extender was not installed correctly. I do get the VPT, TPT, & OPT that I expected after installing the extender and I do get the 4 flashes of the cable button when i push select after loading an IR. I am not sure why Capn Trips could not see my macros.

Thanks

gfb107 · Post by **gfb107** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:32 am

If you could post an IR file from your remote that does not have the extender installed, then I could go through the extender install process and compare that to what you have and see how everything compares.

Note that it usually isn't sufficient to just use IR's File->New to generate a valid .IR file. Your starting point should be a download from the remote. Once you've downloaded once, though, you can keep changing that modified image without having to download from the remote again.

Capn Trips · Post by **Capn Trips** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:56 am

Well, I downloaded the extender, and lo and behold, the Extender RDF file is NOT in the latest release of RDF.ZIP. So now I can open your IR file and see what you have done.

Side note: Can the maintainer of the RDF.ZIP file please add this RDF to the collection?

As to your file:

The lack of notes makes it difficult to guess what your keymoves and macros are to accomplish, but...
(0) My first observation is that you have a problem with your upgraded device4:2000. It has no protocol nor fixed data. If your DVD device is supposed to use this, I doubt that it'll do so. Whatever that upgrade is, I would re-install it.
(1) Your TV device (I don't know if it's really a TV or not) should control your VOL keyset all the time due to VPT set to TV and never assigning V-device anywhere. That seems normal;
(2) Your device key macros all set the O_device and T_device sets to the associated device, which also seems pretty normal;
(3) I think I see what you're trying to do with your Cable and Aux macros, but I'm not sure.
(a) The Pip+ and Pip- commands do exactly what? Are they TV input selections? They will execute the function assigned to Pip+ or Pip- on the TV (per your keymoves) ONLY IF YOU ARE IN CABLE, AUX, or TV mode prior to pushing CBL or AUX. If you are in DVD or AUD mode, they will do nothing - is that your intention?
(b) The Power function will also act on the PREVIOUS device that was active (you have it Prior to setting your active device commands). So it SHOULD turn off (send power signal) the device that was on (Cable or Aux), but won't turn on the device that was off until you press it again. If that's what you want, OK, but it's odd, (and NOT what you described).

Rather than assigning the same input select functions to Pip+ and Pip- in several device modes, here is how I would structure your macros:

CBL: O_TV, Power, Pip ch-, O_CBL , T_CBL, Power
AUX: O_TV, Power, Pip ch+, O+AUX, T_AUX, Power

You may still have problems with power toggles and getting out of synch. That's why I would search for (or create) discrete power functions. Then you create power on macros on your device keys that also line up your gear, and a single global power off macro which many put on the Power key.

tbuck410 · Post by **tbuck410** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:51 am

As to your file:

The lack of notes makes it difficult to guess what your keymoves and macros are to accomplish, but...
(0) My first observation is that you have a problem with your upgraded device4:2000. It has no protocol nor fixed data. If your DVD device is supposed to use this, I doubt that it'll do so. Whatever that upgrade is, I would re-install it. haven't really spent any time with this one yet 1) Your TV device (I don't know if it's really a TV or not) should control your VOL keyset all the time due to VPT set to TV and never assigning V-device anywhere. That seems normal; TV
(2) Your device key macros all set the O_device and T_device sets to the associated device, which also seems pretty normal;OK
(3) I think I see what you're trying to do with your Cable and Aux macros, but I'm not sure.
(a) The Pip+ and Pip- commands do exactly what? They are discrete inputs for TV Are they TV input selections? They will execute the function assigned to Pip+ or Pip- on the TV (per your keymoves) ONLY IF YOU ARE IN CABLE, AUX, or TV mode prior to pushing CBL or AUX. If you are in DVD or AUD mode, they will do nothing - is that your intention? yes, that is the intent - will use phantoms later for pip +/-, they are just dummy keymoves. easier to test with real keys and will use other phantoms to pass correct TV inputs to DVD and AUD. Just trying to get these two working first.(b) The Power function will also act on the PREVIOUS device that was active (you have it Prior to setting your active device commands). So it SHOULD turn off (send power signal) the device that was on (Cable or Aux), but won't turn on the device that was off until you press it again. If that's what you want, OK, but it's odd, (and NOT what you described).

Rather than assigning the same input select functions to Pip+ and Pip- in several device modes, here is how I would structure your macros:
So I wouldn't have to use keymoves to pass Pip ch- or + to all devices that I may switch from?

CBL: O_TV, Power, Pip ch-, O_CBL , T_CBL, Power
AUX: O_TV, Power, Pip ch+, O+AUX, T_AUX, Power

Please explain what each of these does and I think i can understand the order, which really seems to be the problem with what i have.You may still have problems with power toggles and getting out of synch. That's why I would search for (or create) discrete power functions. Then you create power on macros on your device keys that also line up your gear, and a single global power off macro which many put on the Power key.[/quote]

Thanks, I will keep trying.

Capn Trips · Post by **Capn Trips** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:41 pm

tbuck410 wrote:
CBL: O_TV, Power, Pip ch-, O_CBL , T_CBL, Power
AUX: O_TV, Power, Pip ch+, O+AUX, T_AUX, Power

Please explain what each of these does and I think i can understand the order, which really seems to be the problem with what i have.

Actually, it should be X_TV rather than O_TV leading off each of the macros. Anyways:

the X_TV(O_TV), Power, Pip ch +/- sequence sends the Power signal to your TV (presumably turning it on), and then makes the input selection;
the O_CBL, T_CBL, Power sequence assigns the keysets you want to CBL and sends the Power signal, again presumably turning it on.

Of course, if the TV is already ON and you press one of those, then it'll turn off, and you're out of synch. If you have no discrete power commands, then perhaps you're better off having a single macro on the Power key to turn everything on/off, and use the device keys to only select your inputs and device assignment.

tbuck410 · Post by **tbuck410** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 8:15 am

http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... le_id=2230

I followed your advice and removed the pip +/- keymoves and controlled the TV inputs just in the macros. We use the CBL and TV 90% of the time so I didn't put TV power in the device/TV input macros. I also wrote a macro to cycle power to CBL & TV with the CBL Power button with a keymove for TV power. Everytime I tried passing control from TV to CBL in the macro I would end up in a loop:
CBL Power =power;X_TV;O_TV;power. Can you tell me why?

The TV power keymove works but the CBL light stays on a long time.

I am trying to control power to CBL & TV independently of the others. I would also like to turn power off to the other devices when I switch back to CBL and I am not sure how.

Thanks.

Capn Trips · Post by **Capn Trips** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:22 am

I'm sorry, but I can't figure out what you're trying to do.

You have a macro on the power button, that executes, effectively, the following:

(1) Toggles power to whatever happens to be your active device; then
(2) Executes "phantom 1" for whatever happens to be your active device, BUT... you have defined "phantom 1" ONLY for the CBL device, so the net effect is this macro sends the power signal to whatever your active device happens to be and IF your active device happens to be CBL, then it will also send the power signal to the TV after it sends the power signal to the CBL device. I'm not sure I see how this can be useful.

Also, your VCR/DVD upgrade is still screwy. All of the keymoves call on a mystery device, and your upgrade says "VCR/DVD/VCR/DVD" which I'm pretty sure does not exist. Next time you upload, upload that device upgrade too. It appears to really be giving you problems that make no sense.

I know that you're trying to focus exclusively on the TV and CBL devices, but you really need to look at this as a whole. The only way that I have seen effective use of the power functions is as follows:

Method A: You have discrete Power ON and Power OFF commands for EVERY piece of gear. If some do not exist, then you create them with workarounds (Like Play/Stop for some DVD players) or the ToadTog protocol. Then you put only Power ON commands in your device selection macros, and Power OFF either in a global Power OFF macro, or you can (but I find this more cumbersome) put Power OFF signals for all of your UNUSED gear into each Device selection macro.

Method B: You use only TOGGLE Power commands - which is what you currently have, from what I can tell. In this case, it's very difficult to keep "in synch" with what you are tyring to do, by using Power commands in each device selection macro. The only use I've seen of this is to put ALL of your Power signals for ALL of your gear in a single global Power macro. Put all of your device selection and input selection on individual device button macros. Then you push Power to power everything ON. Ignore Power signals the rest of the time while switching inputs and device selections. Push Power again at the end to power everything off.

It's not clear to me why you are so insistent on powering off your other gear when you switch to watching cable or regular TV. Just leave it on, it does no harm, does it?