OARUSB04G Questions

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:01 pm

I haven't used that remote in a while, but seems like long is about 1 second.

One of the two assignments is short, the other is long. I always forget which is which. When we first made the RDF for this one, I suggested adding "(short)" and "(long)" to the button names, but I lost that argument. IMO, this is a very unintuitive remote to use. So it's not just you who is perplexed by it. If mine sits in a drawer a couple of weeks, I forget how it works and have to read the manual again.

Ed · Post by Ed » Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:23 pm

One of the two assignments is short, the other is long. I always forget which is which. When we first made the RDF for this one, I suggested adding "(short)" and "(long)" to the button names, but I lost that argument. IMO, this is a very unintuitive remote to use. So it's not just you who is perplexed by it. If mine sits in a drawer a couple of weeks, I forget how it works and have to read the manual again.

I'm actually converting my RCRP05B to an OARUSB04G right now as well, so I'm actively watching @bevhoward's experiences for hints and standing by to contribute my experiences if they might be helpful.

The short press of the arrow keys are step forward and step backward. The long press of those keys (around 1 second) is FFWD and REW.

I like this remote, but I agree it's a bit unintuitive. There are too few physical buttons but the extender is excellent (thanks mathdon!) and provides lots of shifted buttons. It's backlit and feels good in the hand. It's just tough to remember what I've assigned to the physical buttons sometimes.

I'm anxious to see how @bevhoward makes out installing the extender. Mine is a "4000" variant and when I tried to ultimately upload the extended file to my remote, I ended up with a "WriteRemote returned -1" error. I determined that if I used the unextended setup.bin file packaged with the extender to reset the remote then install the extender on top if it, all was well.

bevhoward · Post by **bevhoward** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:39 pm

so I'm actively watching @bevhoward's experiences for hints

I've been so damm lost the past couple of weeks, I wonder if that is wise to follow me, but the contributions from others are invaluable.

extender

It's unlikely that I will try to install that in the near future as I don't currently have the need at the location where the OARUSB04Gs are being used, but I am following the relevant thread.

The long press of those keys

That's a total surprise to me. Didn't have a clue, so, wonder what else I am missing?

A related question, the *asterisks after the <dash> and <arrow> buttons? What do they represent?

I have a suspicion that tinkering with those buttons lead to the problem with the backlight not turning off.

Some closure on that issue; Since rebuilding the RMIR file (several times) the code 974 now appears to the be <toggle> between hand sense and button press to activate the backlight.

Beverly Howard

Post by **The Robman** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:51 pm

I always thought the 2 buttons were the upper and lower halves, and not liking that idea, I assigned the same function to both, but now that I hear that it's really a long vs. short press, I might revisit that.

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Wed Jan 02, 2019 9:37 am

I'll try to summarize some of the hidden (to me at least) features of this remote (no extender):

- Power - short press = selected device power, long press = master power macro
- Macro/List - short press = List function, long press = assigned macro steps
- Skip fwd/ffwd and Skip back/rew - short press = skip, long press = ffwd/rew
- TV Input/- and Audio Input/arrow up - in Watch TV or Watch Movie mode, TV Input cycles through TV inputs and Audio Input cycles through Audio inputs.

Watch TV and Watch Movie (Combi buttons / Activities) each map transport/menu/channel/volume/power key groups the selected set of devices, i.e., vol to Audio, channel to STB, etc. In addition to this, if you assign macros to these keys, they will execute those macros AND do the key group mapping.

Extended remotes retain all of the above functionality plus add all extender functionality (DSM, LKP, DKP, Pause, Toadtog, Multiplex), including increasing the number of devices from 4 to 12 and the number of Activities from 2 to 6.

This is why I keep having to dig out the manual. There's a lot of functionality packed into this remote.

Original: https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=12385
Extender: https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=13501

bevhoward · Post by **bevhoward** » Wed Jan 02, 2019 11:30 am

Thanks for that comprehensive information. A few days ago, primarily because of the backlight/battery problem, I was ready to switch to a different remote.

Thanks to this forum, I'm back to a completely functional setup for my needs which include a Vizio M55-F0 TV, Pioneer VSX515, Windows MCE, and X10.

I have built and tested what I hope is a clean Vizio TV rmdu file for the OARUSB04G founded on device code 2757 and added a number of functions from the VizioQWERTY rmdu including CC, discreen on, off, and input selections

The filename is VizioDevCode2757wDiscrete.rmdu and has been uploaded.

fwiw, I have a Vizio M55-F0 TV, but, over the past several months I have found that the basic TV commands are common to all of the Vizio models I have been able to test on.

Beverly Howard

bevhoward · Post by **bevhoward** » Wed Jan 02, 2019 11:33 am

Since I have successfully addressed the backlight/battery drain problem, is there any reason to upload the rmir file that contains the problem that was keeping the backlight on all of the time?

Beverly

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Wed Jan 02, 2019 12:32 pm

Go ahead and post it if you don’t mind. I’d like to find the culprit in case this ever happens to someone else.

bevhoward · Post by **bevhoward** » Wed Jan 02, 2019 1:19 pm

Uploaded in diagnostic area under the name OARUSB04G-BacklightProb.rmir
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=25496

Following may be related;

I was uploading the "good" rmir file with some final tweaks to my two OARUSB04G 4000 remotes when I got a "write error"

I tried the upload again and got;

Code: Select all

"The signature of the attached remote does not match the signature you are trying to upload.  The image you are trying to upload may not be compatible with attached remote, and uploading it may damage the remote.  Copying the contents of one remote to another is only safe when the remotes are identical."

I then tried to issue a 981 factory reset on the remote, but it appears to be completely bricked.

The other OARUSB04G is having no problems.

Beverly

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Wed Jan 02, 2019 3:54 pm

Bev,

Slap some fresh batteries in your bricked remote and try loading this clean settings file:
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=25497

bevhoward · Post by **bevhoward** » Wed Jan 02, 2019 4:41 pm

Thanks...

That "unbricked" it, but when I tried to upload the same file that's on the other OARUSB04G I gtt the same

Code: Select all

"The signature of the attached remote does not match the signature you are trying to upload."

After reset and upload rmir indicates OARUSB04G (no 4000) and the RAW DATA showed a signature of 257601

I then copied the settings file from the good OARUSB04G 4000, copied that to the problem remote, and it now shows as a OARUSB04G 4000 with the signature of 257604

That seems to indicate that the settings.bin files are not swappable between the 4000 and non4000 versions.

I'll keep that remote on the suspect list, but, in the mean time, you kept the remote usable.

Thanks,
Beverly

Post by **The Robman** » Wed Jan 02, 2019 5:46 pm

bevhoward wrote:I have built and tested what I hope is a clean Vizio TV rmdu file for the OARUSB04G founded on device code 2757 and added a number of functions from the VizioQWERTY rmdu including CC, discreen on, off, and input selections

The filename is VizioDevCode2757wDiscrete.rmdu and has been uploaded.

fwiw, I have a Vizio M55-F0 TV, but, over the past several months I have found that the basic TV commands are common to all of the Vizio models I have been able to test on.

Posting the name of your RMDU file won't help anyone, what you need to post is a link to the file. Never the less, I found the file by searching for your user id and I see that you also used the physical file name as the name of the file entry too. What we really want to see is the name of the device, which in this case is "Vizio M55-F0 TV", so I have renamed the entry for you.

Also, you refer to 2757 as a "device code" when in fact it's a "setup code". We use the term "device code" to refer to the device codes that are in the IR signal itself.

Here's a link to your file:
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=25495

bevhoward · Post by **bevhoward** » Wed Jan 02, 2019 5:52 pm

I'm swimming as fast as I can!

Beverly

mdavej · Post by **mdavej** » Wed Jan 02, 2019 6:03 pm

bevhoward wrote:That seems to indicate that the settings.bin files are not swappable between the 4000 and non4000 versions.

Correct, they are not. That's why they have two distinct RDFs. You should use the settings file I posted as the basis for your configuration (add your devices to it, rebuild your macros, keymoves, etc. manually). Do not ignore the signature mismatch warning in this case.

bevhoward · Post by **bevhoward** » Wed Jan 02, 2019 6:27 pm

Sorry, I don't understand.

This remote identified itself as an OARUSBO4G 4000 for at least the last two weeks until it froze up today.

When I downloaded the settings.bin file from your link, the remote was functional, but incompatible with the rmir files that it had been loading for the last two weeks and showed that it was a non4000 remote (257601).

When the settings.bin file from the functional remote was copied to the remote, it then identified itself as a OARUSBO4G 4000 remote and accepted and runs the rmir files without problems.

Beverly