Figuring out the OFA URC7980

jts321835 · Post by **jts321835** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 2:32 pm

mdavej wrote:Remotes typically have a couple more buttons in their internal button map than are actually on the remote. These non-physical buttons we call phantoms. You can't make your own if they do not already exist in the remote. Since you assigned your macro to a real button, then it's not a phantom. The name for it is missing from the RDF.

Which physical button did you assign that macro to?

The macro is embedded into an activity there is a watch tv activity button which controls the sound bar and sat box when in that activity, however you can also embed a macro in the watch tv activity so when it is initially executed it will in turn launch the macro, in my instance switch the Tv on change input on the tv, I have the discrete code programmed to a key on the audio device as it has very few keys on the original remote, then turn the sound bar on and set its input to optical as it could be on aux or Bluetooth.

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 2:47 pm

@3FG,

Grasping at straws, but could the remote be adding $40 to the activity button code to point to the associated activity macro, similar to the way shift works?

jts321835 · Post by **jts321835** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 4:46 pm

mdavej wrote:@3FG,

Grasping at straws, but could the remote be adding $40 to the activity button code to point to the associated activity macro, similar to the way shift works?

Can I assist in any way with proving or disproving that chain of thought?

yaworski · Post by **yaworski** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 4:50 pm

I think it's connected to the way activity is selected on 7980. There's only one physical Activity button which toggles between one of 5 available activities. When there's a macro associated to an activity it's executed few seconds after selecting specific activity.

Maybe the phantom button 68 (dec) is just an internal representation of the Watch TV activity.

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 5:25 pm

jts321835 wrote:
mdavej wrote:@3FG,

Grasping at straws, but could the remote be adding $40 to the activity button code to point to the associated activity macro, similar to the way shift works?
Can I assist in any way with proving or disproving that chain of thought?

Sure

@yaworski

Could be. Would it be worthwhile for jts to add macros to every activity?

jts321835 · Post by **jts321835** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 5:39 pm

Interesting thing is the watch TV activity is called button68, the listen to music activity key is called Xshift-2 and the custom is called Xshift-ch+ according to RMIR.

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 5:57 pm

So we're on the right track. Shift and Xshift typically add $40 or $80 to the original button code. $28 doesn't exist, so it showed up as button68. Key 2 is $29, so rather than button69, it shows up as Xshift-2 (or whatever the Xshift bit turns out to be).

jts321835 · Post by **jts321835** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 6:14 pm

would it help if I report back on all the activity keys?

3FG · Post by **3FG** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 6:16 pm

I have a 7980, and I'll work on it tonight. I'm pretty sure these "buttons" name the activities.

jts321835 · Post by **jts321835** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 6:20 pm

Thanks 3FG, it's 1.20am here so off to bed, pleas let me know if there is anything I can do to assist in test & dev.

3FG · Post by **3FG** » Mon Jul 25, 2016 11:28 pm

Here's a possible improvement to the RDF file: Under [Buttons], after the line
TV=$E0:groupDevice,STB,BLU,AUD,DVD,GAME,MEDIA,S.BAR,
Replace the existing WatchTV line with

Code: Select all

WatchTV=$68:groupActivity,ListenToMusic,WatchMovie,PlayGame,Custom

For me, that provided a correct description of the macro, and allowed me to write macros which are defined on a Activity mode.

About the Pause executor, it looks like so far RMIR is not able to parse the TI2541 executors correctly, so we'll need to wait for mathdon.

jts321835 · Post by **jts321835** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 3:55 pm

3FG wrote:Here's a possible improvement to the RDF file: Under [Buttons], after the line
TV=$E0:groupDevice,STB,BLU,AUD,DVD,GAME,MEDIA,S.BAR,
Replace the existing WatchTV line with
Code: Select all
WatchTV=$68:groupActivity,ListenToMusic,WatchMovie,PlayGame,Custom
For me, that provided a correct description of the macro, and allowed me to write macros which are defined on a Activity mode.

About the Pause executor, it looks like so far RMIR is not able to parse the TI2541 executors correctly, so we'll need to wait for mathdon.

Thanks that works perfectly

jts321835 · Post by **jts321835** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 6:05 pm

I am probably jumping the gun a bit but keen to get my setup configured perminantly, do we think this remote will ever get toad tog functionality or am I better of getting an alternative remote?

3FG · Post by **3FG** » Wed Jul 27, 2016 10:47 pm

First, here is a special version of 2.04 Build 6 which allows RMIR to recognize TI2541 executors. With this jar file, the Pause executor is enabled. Overwrite RemoteMaster.jar and Protocols.ini with the ones in this zip file. Also included is an updated RDF file that has the correct executor variants listed. I tested that the Pause function works when embedded in a macro.

Now, about Toadtogs. The traditional way to achieve this capability is through an extender. The URC7980 is a new remote and it is the first to use the TI CC2541 processor, so we are some ways away from an extender, assuming that the remote becomes popular enough to justify writing one.

However, do you really need Toadtogs? I assume that you're hoping to combine a component that doesn't have discrete on/off commands with others that do. These days, components which lack discrete power commands are typically PVRs. And, in most cases, the act of turning one of these off is illusory: Turning one "off" may only blank the front panel display. I didn't believe this when I first read about it, so on our cable boxes I used a AC clip-on ammeter to measure the current draw and found no measurable difference between on and off. I suppose the units need to be basically on all the time to handle recording at odd hours, and perhaps to communicate with the provider. Of course, any component which can be turned on by IR command has not actually been fully off else it wouldn't be able to respond.

So I just leave the cable boxes on, and all the rest of our gear has discrete power commands. Note that even if the unit lacks a discrete power command, it frequently is possible to simulate discrete power by e.g. issuing a Play command to turn on a DVR or Bluray, and Play-Toggle Power to turn one off.

Post by **The Robman** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 6:49 am

Don't we also have Toadtog as a stand alone special protocol? So, if someone were to try re-writing it in TI CC2541 assembler, it would in theory be possible to add it.

But I agree with Dave's general point, I only installed Toadtog relatively recently and was able to use macros to turn everything on and off just fine, it just takes some careful planning.