JP1 Remotes

I am new to JP1 but very experienced in AV as a professional for over 25 years. I received a URC8910 and all went very well, everything worked. Thought I would try a 6131n and am having problems with macros not working on the device buttons. If I edit the macro and change the bound button to anything else, like play, guide, etc. the macros work fine. I have searched the forum for this problem but must have missed it. I'm sure it is something I am doing wrong. Any help will be appreciated.
Rick

You must install the extender in order to have macros on the device buttons work. This is a silly restriction enforced at runtime by the firmware in the 6131.

Nils, if you are reading, we should update the RDF for the unextended 6131s so that macros (and keymoves) can't be bound to the device keys. There probably are other remotes for which this would be appropriate.

Thank you for the quick response. Am I correct in reading that the extender would need to be reloaded upon a battery change? If that is the case it appears this remote would be a poor choice to use in any situation other than personal. Could this be correct?

Thank you,

Rick

The extender does not have to be reloaded upon a battery change. It does, however, have to be re-activated.

The extender must also be re-activated anytime the remote is reset. A reset happens when the batteries are changed, but also any time you upload to or download from the remote.

Activating the extender requires pushing the Power button while in PVR mode. PVR mode is the default device mode after a reset.

Greg

Thank you, you,ve been a tremendous help.

Rick

There are just 2 remotes that somehow slipped through the cracks at UEI which allow macros on the device buttons without an extender, and those are the 15-2116/7 and the URC-8910/9910. All other JP1 remotes require an extender to do that sort of programming.

You can, however, program macros to the shifted device buttons. This would simply mean that the user would have to press SETUP before they press the device button in order to activate the macro. You can only program macros like this using JP1 though.

If you're intending to program the remote to give to a non JP1-user, then it's not a good idea to install an extender as the user will not be able to do any programming themselves.

The Robman wrote: If you're intending to program the remote to give to a non JP1-user, then it's not a good idea to install an extender as the user will not be able to do any programming themselves.

Depends on what level of continuing support you're expecting to give with the remote. If the end user wouldn't ever be programming the remote anyway, then the extender is probably a good idea.

Programming these remotes the old way (via the buttons on the remote) is fairly hard. A lot of the people I might set up via JP1, wouldn't be able to do that and would need further help if anything had to be changed.

I was thinking that if you were settign up a remote for a non-JP1 user, you would probably add upgrades for all the devices that they currently have and assign them to the device buttons, and you might even program some keymoves and macros depending on just how much work you are doing for them. But at the end of the day, you give them the remote and the user manual. Now, if you have some sort of maintenance contract with them where every time they buy a new device you come around to re-program the remote that's one thing, but if it's up to the end user to add the new device, then I still think using an extender is a bad idea.

Furthermore, I can see alot of users getting tripped up by the need to activate the extender everytime the remote gets reset somehow, like the batteries falling ot, etc as this isn't something that you would normally have to do with a remote.