JP1 Remotes

Mitsubishi included this feature called NetCommand with their newer
projection TVs.

Basically it seems like the TV wants to be a super intelligent media hub,
a/v switcher, universal remote, video stream director, etc. It wants know
about all the devices connected (dvd, vcr, cable, amp/receiver, etc.) to
it so it can be the central commander.

The TV has IR repeater, IR blaster, IR learning capability along with a
bunch of devices it knows about. You even setup your recordings on the
TV and the TV tells your VCR or other recording device when to record
and pipes the correct video to that device. It'll even do this for digital
video streams over ieee1394 links.

I have a friend who picked up a Mitsubishi WS-65713 TV and had it setup
by the installer. I think the guy spent hours programming the TV to
understand all the devices.

The TV works OK, but there are a few issues.
1) all the device programming customization is stored in the TV and if it
somehow got lost, there's no way my friend could recreate it
2) the remote that came with the TV doesn't have discrete input selects
so my friend needs to go to some pretty 3d window and scroll left/right
to select DVD, CBL/VCR, etc. He'd rather have discrete inputs.
3) when the TV switches inputs it takes like 4 seconds before the video
actually shows up. I'm thinking (thought I'm not sure) this has to do
with all the overhead of NetCommand going through it's lookup table of
attached devices and figuring out what IR to send to activate a device
(basically a complex macro in JP1 terms)
4) there's so much indirection and pretty UI as to be actually more
confusing to anyone using the TV except the person who initially set it up.
Maybe it just takes getting used to, but I prefer the simplicity of a well
designed 15-2117 remote running an extender.

Anyway, I'm thinking about having him switch over to a 15-2117, but
I'm worried that at the end of the exercise, I'll have egg on my face.
It seems I'm duplicating a lot of the functionality of the NetCommand
and my nightmare scenario is to spend hours programming the 15-2117
and then have my friend say he liked it better the other way, or there's
something NetCommand could do that the 15-2117 setup could not.

Does anyone have some experience with both NetCommand and JP1
implementations of home theatre control? I'm looking for a brief analysis
of why one would choose one over the other, ranging from NetCommand
is great, I'd never go back to JP1 because it can't do XYZ, to NetCommand
is too confusing, I went the JP1 route because of ABC.

Appreciate any help.

I don't have any direct experience but apparently some models have a hidden sequence to find the commands. The thread describes how to generate the discrete commands for SOME models. It would probably worth searching at RC for Misubishi and NetCommand:

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mb ... d.cgi?1280

You can learn these commands, have IR decode them and then put them in a device upgrade. Those commands may well be the ones that are already posted at RC in the discrete command section.

I believe that the RS 15-2117 or most any OFA Remote with JP1 can fully control a Mitsubishi RPTV or any other consumer electronic equipment as well as any other remote out there.

I have a 2 year old Mits with an earlier version of NetCommand. I much prefer what I can do with my 2116. Page down on my cable box is a long keypress on the down arrow. Let's see NetCommand do that.

If you already own a 2117 and are willing to invest the time in programing it for your friend - do it. You can reload you own configuration for your home at any time. Load his trial configuration and let him try it for a few hours and see if he thinks it is worth the switch. Then, and only then, it will cost him $30. Of course this plan assumes you are willing to throw away some hours of your time in case he doesn't like it.