Upgrade memory Opinion

Post by **vickyg2003** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 10:40 am

How much upgrade memory is enough?

On the 8820, I'm dividing up the learning memory between upgrade and advanced codes. Currently after the hometheater macros and special protocols have been added, I've got area 2400 bytes free for the keymoves and macros, 670 bytes free for additional upgrades.

Since my own remote applications are rather simple, I don't know if this is a good ratio. Should I move more of the keymove-macro space into the upgrade partition?

Capn Trips · Post by **Capn Trips** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:53 am

Well, doesn't IR now basically not have any upper boundary on upgrade memory (since it can move overflow upgrades into Keymove/Macro and/or Learned memory locations)?

If it was up to me, I'd keep upgrade memory relatively low, since you have that "get-out-of-jail-free" card in IR.

johnsfine · Post by **johnsfine** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:54 am

I thought IR.exe changes quite a while back had eliminated the problem of making such a choice.

Upgrades can overflow into KeyMove memory.

Make KeyMove memory very big and upgrade memory quite small (but not zero, I forget the exact minimum) and it all works out.

A 2400 - 670 split is probably OK also. I don't think anyone needs more KeyMove/Macro memory than that.

Post by **vickyg2003** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:52 am

I didn't know this, thanks for pointing that out. I guess I'll move the upgrade boundry back where it was.

Thanks

Jerbo · Post by **Jerbo** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 7:53 pm

johnsfine wrote:I thought IR.exe changes quite a while back had eliminated the problem of making such a choice.

Upgrades can overflow into KeyMove memory.

Make KeyMove memory very big and upgrade memory quite small (but not zero, I forget the exact minimum) and it all works out.

A 2400 - 670 split is probably OK also. I don't think anyone needs more KeyMove/Macro memory than that.

Hi -- I am using 15-2104 remote with an extender and loading some upgrades. I am out of "upgrade" room on my remote, but I do have some extra keymove memory (learning memory has been disabled).

I think the answer to my question is in the above quote, but I want to make sure I don't screw up my remote (and I wasn't sure if the above was referring simply to allocating LEARNING memory to the other buckets, which has already been done by my extender in this case) --

with an extender and all my learning memory already allocated to keymoves/upgrades, if IR tells me that I am out of upgrade space but do I want to use "keymove" memory instead... is this OK? (So long as I don't exceed the available keymove memory that is left over).

(Right now I only have 30kb for upgrades but over 100 for keymoves. I am trying to load a Denon-K upgrade which is both a protocol and device upgrade and requires over a hundred KB).

As always, thanks for the help!

Post by **vickyg2003** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 9:31 pm

As you know the extender converts the learning area into keymove macro space. Now IR has been changed to allow upgrades to overflow into this area too.

If IR puts the protocol in another area, the worst that would happen, is that the protocol wouldn't work.

I've overflowed the upgrade area on several of my remotes and they all work just fine.

Post by **The Robman** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 11:49 am

When was the last time that you did any house cleaning on your remote? Do you have any upgrades in there for equipment that you no longer have, or never use?

Jerbo · Post by **Jerbo** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 11:38 am

The Robman wrote:When was the last time that you did any house cleaning on your remote? Do you have any upgrades in there for equipment that you no longer have, or never use?

Just to follow up on this and provide a tip that might benefit other users down the road --- Yes, I had cleaned out the remote of old protocol upgrades and device codes and almost started from scratch. What I needed to keep was: My extender, DSM, Pause, and the following upgrades: Denon-K, XMP, Kenwood Combo, Denon Combo (excludes Denon-K), and Tivo. All of these required protocol upgrades (maybe not the Tivo, can't remember?)

Since I use a multi-zone setup (hence Denon and Kenwood audio upgrade files), what I realized was that I was only going to assign the KENWOOD to the device button and I was going to keymove the various Denon functions that I needed (not all of them) into the same device button (the "AUX" button). Using device combiner was not possible because both of my upgrade files were 2-byte files.

So, what I wound up doing, was scratching the "Denon-combo" upgrade file, which required a protocol upgrade, and creating 2 new upgrade files: one for Denon subdevice2, and another for Denon subdevice12. I got lucky that no subdev 4 codes were needed in my setup. Creating the two separate device upgrade files cut down the size immensely because now a protocol upgrade wasn't needed, saving me about 75 KB. (In fact, each of my separate upgrade files were only about 15 KB). So, I simply uploaded the 2 separate upgrade files I created, did NOT assign them to a physical button, and simply keymoved the functions I needed to the AUX key's unused buttons. (maybe this only worked because I was only using about 12-15 of the denon functions, whereas in a typical device upgrade file there are at minimum about 40 functions in there if you assign all the buttons).

There might be a better way, and if so, I am always up for some enlightenment (as are others, no doubt). However, the above workaround worked successfully for me, and I now have my "extended" RS 15-2104 up and running smoothly and my macros run much faster than on my old implementation. My final statistics: 1 KB left of keymove/macro space, and 1 KB left of upgrade space. I just made it!

Post by **The Robman** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:00 pm

Jerbo wrote:Since I use a multi-zone setup (hence Denon and Kenwood audio upgrade files), what I realized was that I was only going to assign the KENWOOD to the device button and I was going to keymove the various Denon functions that I needed (not all of them) into the same device button (the "AUX" button). Using device combiner was not possible because both of my upgrade files were 2-byte files.

The reason those upgrades use 2-byte files is because they are both use combo protocols. If you want to use the Device Combiner, the correct approach would be to split out each of the device codes being combined above and re-combine them using the DC. For example, the Kenwood upgrade probably combines NEC1 device code 184 with different sub-device codes. Likewise, the Denon upgrade probably combines Denon device codes 2 and 12.

Jerbo · Post by **Jerbo** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 9:29 am

The Robman wrote:
Jerbo wrote:Since I use a multi-zone setup (hence Denon and Kenwood audio upgrade files), what I realized was that I was only going to assign the KENWOOD to the device button and I was going to keymove the various Denon functions that I needed (not all of them) into the same device button (the "AUX" button). Using device combiner was not possible because both of my upgrade files were 2-byte files.
The reason those upgrades use 2-byte files is because they are both use combo protocols. If you want to use the Device Combiner, the correct approach would be to split out each of the device codes being combined above and re-combine them using the DC. For example, the Kenwood upgrade probably combines NEC1 device code 184 with different sub-device codes. Likewise, the Denon upgrade probably combines Denon device codes 2 and 12.

Great tip, thanks. Don't know why that didn't occur to me. However, I was under an impression from reading some threads / info (don't remember where) that there are certain upgrades you simply cannot use DC with, because they are too complex to start with (i.e. a device utilizing the byte-2 column that is not a combo to start with?). Would the Denon-K device be an example of this? Was my impression just flat out wrong, or are there circumstances where DC simply cannot be used, and if so, what are they?