JP1 Remotes

I have several URC-8910 remotes. Despite years of using JP1 remotes, I find that I need for the first time to write some macros. I have an original manual for the 8910 and I've scoured this site looking for FAQs, guides and how-to threads, but I'm still a little confused about how to do what I want:

===================
Macro 1 (Watch Regular Cable TV)
Triggered by: Shift-TV
-- Set TV input to TV
-- Set Receiver input to Game/TV

Macro 2 (Watch DVD)
Triggered by: Shift-DVD
-- Set TV input to Receiver
-- Set Receiver input to DVD

Macro 3 (Watch ReplayTV)
Tiggered by: Shift-AUX
-- Set TV input to Reciver
-- Set Reciver input to VCR/DVR

Macro 4 (Watch Network Media Tank)
Triggered by: Shift-SAT
-- Set TV input to Receiver
-- Set Receiver input to Tape

Macro 5 (Watch Roku Netflix Streamer)
Triggered by: Shift-CBL
-- Set TV input to Receiver
-- Set Receiver input to CBL/SAT
========================

My reason for making each macro triggered by a SHIFTed key is that I can imagine sometimes wanting to change modes on the remote without changing inputs on the the tv and receiver at the same time.

IR.exe has a Macro section where, obviously, you can build macros. I can sort of understand how it works, but not completely. For example there is a command called "TV" and a command called "DEV_TV." What's the difference? What does "DEV_Cancel" do? Or the various "Set" commands (like SET_TRANS_KEYS, SET_VOL_KEYS, SET_CHAN_KEYS, etc.)? Is any of this documented anywhere? I've looked, but I can't find any guides, FAQs or how-to threads on macro building.

If you're seeing things like DEV_TV you are using the extender's RDF, but from your other posts I gather that you're not really using the extender, so I don't know what's going on.

For a non-extended remote, to select TV mode you just need to include the TV button in the macro.

If you have discrete codes, you should also include some discrete on codes in those macros.

I have programmed my remote in the same fashion (using shift-device macros) and I use shift-POWER to turn everything off.

gstrickland wrote:IR.exe has a Macro section where, obviously, you can build macros. I can sort of understand how it works, but not completely. For example there is a command called "TV" and a command called "DEV_TV." What's the difference? What does "DEV_Cancel" do? Or the various "Set" commands (like SET_TRANS_KEYS, SET_VOL_KEYS, SET_CHAN_KEYS, etc.)? Is any of this documented anywhere? I've looked, but I can't find any guides, FAQs or how-to threads on macro building.

Macros are nothing but a recording of which buttons to push to accomplish some task. Most of your confusion is because you are using them for the first time with an extender. Instead of thinking there is a command called "TV", you should think there is a button called "TV".

In an unextended remote, a macro to watch DVD might be something like:
RCVR
[whatever button has receiver's DVD input function]
TV
[whatever button has TV's receiver input function]

Because the extender removes all built-in meaning from the device buttons (like TV), it needs to provide a way to switch the remote to TV mode. It does so by providing a series of "invisible" buttons whose names are DEV_TV, etc. The extender also has other special invisible buttons to assign groups of buttons to each of the remotes modes (like SET_VOL_KEYS). These are all discussed in the extender's readme file.

The Robman wrote:If you're seeing things like DEV_TV you are using the extender's RDF, but from your other posts I gather that you're not really using the extender, so I don't know what's going on.

No, I'm not using an extender... and I have no idea how I managed to load/use the RDF for an extender... hmmm... <scratches head>

EDIT: I checked and every single RMDU I've used in IR.exe to build anything has the remote set to "URC-8910(New)" As far as I know, the only place you use an RDF is in RemoteMaster, so I'm not sure where/how I've accidentally introduced an RDF which assumes I'm using an extender. However, all of my RDMUs were built using someone else's RDMU which I downloaded from hifi-remote.com. So far, I've never downloaded an RDMU which coincidentally was built around an 8910 (any version; new or old; regular or extended).

The key question is how did you build your original IR image? Did you start by downloading from the remote, or did you start by selecting New in IR? I suspect you did the latter and that is when you accidentally selected the extender RDF.

It doesn't matter in RM whether you use the regular or the extender RDF as long as it's for the right remote.