JP1 Remotes

If the look at an image of the 15-1994 remote you will see that the SLEEP button looks like a device button, and it's right next to the CBL/SAT button, so it's completely logical for us to use P/CBL for Replay1 and P/SLEEP for Replay2. Then, if we need to swtich between the two Replays, we use the 2S and 3S buttons, and the switch is seemless. The macros ensure that the new Replay is on before they change the input on the video selector.

I used to have VCR2 on the AUX1 button, but when we bought the bluray player, I decided to put it there. We don't use the VCRs anymore anyway, but I decided to program them just for fun, so P/VCR fires up one of the VCRs, and again, the 2S and 3S buttons switch between them.

In each case, the 2S button will switch to the Replay or VCR that is physically on the left, and the 3S button will switch to the one that is physically on the right, so it makes sense to the end user.

For the DVD players, one of them is a standard US model, the other is an ancient Raite AVPhile 715 unit which dates from early 2000. This unit has been completely re-built by me several years ago (replaced burned out capacitors, diodes, etc, replaced the drive). One major problem with this unit is that it has a soft POWER button and the power supply is always on, which is what caused it to burn out originally. So, I cut the main power line and added a push button POWER button to it. The reason I keep this old unit around is because it is region free, so I can play British DVDs in it. The reason I mention all this is because, to turn this unit on, you have to physically push the button, and even then, it takes about 10 minutes before the remote starts working (it needs to "warm up" or something).

Even though we get digital TV through Comcast DTA boxes, the Replays are old fashioned and analog, plus out TV is 1999 vintage, so it doesn't have an ASPECT button, so all that stuff is not an issue for us.

Having said that, we can watch Netflix and Youtube thru the Blu Ray player (which is why we got it), and that unit does have the ability to change picture aspects, so can chose between letterbox and full screen.

Oh, and just in case you're interested. I use a Channel Plus 5545 Quad Channel A/V Modulator ($20 on eBay) to send the signal from both Replays to the upstairs TV, so we can watch them upstairs too.

Very nice. I've been toying with something like that Channel Plus for a 8 years, waiting for my cable company to require a box on every TV like Comcast does in FL. I even ran extra cat and coax wires to the main TV viewing area just for a situation like that. But now I think if they go to boxes, we'll only run one TV off cable and switch to OTA on all the other TVs.

I was really surprised at how much the OTA in Detroit has improved in the last two years. In 2008 when I lived in the Chicago area I had 22 watchable OTA channels, when we moved to the Detroit area there were only 6 watchable channels, so cable was almost a necessity. Fast forward to 2015 and this summer I'm picking up 36 watchable OTA channels in the Detroit area. If it were not for my DH's sports, I'd drop cable in a minute.

In FL OTA with an indoor antenna is not an option. There is absolutely nothing with out a huge high illegal antenna.

Do u have a DVR? If not, and you like getting your hands dirty (which I know you do), you could pick up some ReplayTV RTV5040 boxes for cheap on ebay. The ReplayTV mothership has gone under so now we get out channel guide by running our own Replay server on one of the PCs on our network, using a process called WiRNS. If u decide to give it a whirl, let me know and I'll walk you thru it.

ReplayTV users can send shows to each other over the internet using a process called IVS (Internet Video Sharing). Furthermore, if you have multiple units, you can stream shows from one unit to the other, so if you had an RTV unit by each TV, you could share shows across the house without needing a Channel Plus distribution box.

ARGH! You have no idea what you just did to me, lol.

I do have the hard drive DVR that lets me dump recordings to DVD, bought without the remote so cost next to nothing. I don't use it all that often, but when we get back from FL we will have 6 months of Music shows we can only get up north, down south the only music show seems to be Lawrence Welk!

My setup is definately not as versatile as what you have. That piping things around the house sounds really good to me. But that reminded me that last year in my failed attempt to get the Canadian HD hockey OTA I bought an HD OTA decoder that has a USB slot that I never investigated.

I spent the last hour looking for the user's manual. Sure enough, the box can use a flash drive as a PVR. It can timeshift and record.

Now the big question, is can my LG TV play those recordings through the USB port in the TV. I should certainly know enough about the LG Hack after answering all those posts, .

So first order of business is to record several episodes of Daniel Tiger tomorrow morning, and look up which models of TV use the Hack and which don't....... It would be nice to have Daniel Tiger to lure the kids in to take their naps. The animated version of Mr Rogers will sure put me to sleep!

I never even thought about this, now I have to investigate.

Well this was a VERY good exercise for me.

I fully explored the cheap HD decoder boxes I have. They were cheap and really poor quality, they don't even do daylight savings time. I only use them to supplement my viewing with 3 OTA sub-channels that are not carried by my cable provider. I retired one of these boxes, in favor of a dish network OTA but I still use one of the cheap HD boxes on a TV that doesn't have enough AV ports. I see that you use an AV selector, but I didn't consider that, since its so much easier using the inputs that the TV offers. So the only reason I use this box is for the HDMI output.

I know that mdavej talked about the USB recording from these boxes, but it wasn't something I was interested in at the time. So last night I stuck the spare USB flash drive into the box. It allowed me to record the shows by picking them from the EPG, which was great because as mentioned above, the unit doesn't do daylight savings. I made two recordings from the HD channel. The recordings were in .mts format, which is and HD format. The recording are huge, 2.3GB for a half hour! This other DVR I have records in SD even from the HD channels. The cheap box also reads all the multimedia formats that I use, so I can put my home movies on an USB and will play them.


Since I have US versions of the LG TVs, the hack is not something that would have worked for me, but in the reading the number of bricked TVs to do something that you can do with a $25 piece of equipment seems nuts. I would never have risked it. I'm way too conservative, it took lot for me to just plug in a $20 remote into a computer.

is this all from OTA or are you using cable too?

just for fun, you really should grab up one of the cheap ReplayTV units on ebay, just so you can have the experience of setting it up, and of course, once you have it set up we can share shows with each other.

just be sure to by a 5000 series unit, rather than one of the older models (like the Showstoppers). If in doubt, ask me first if the unit is a good one.

Back to the subject at hand, here is the latest iteration of my remote file:
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload ... e_id=13588

I dropped the AUX3 version of the Raite code and used the multiplexor instead, as I was having trouble selecting the right setup code. I also added an upgrade for the Samsung DVD and deleted the various keymoves that I had been using.

I also did some fine tuning with the TV. I did an auto scan with both VCRs on so that it registered 03 and 14 as the only channels. I also noticed that it supports Fav Channels, so I programmed one channel as the only fav channel, that way I can use Fav CH+ as a discrete code to get to channel 3 (for VCR1) and then use CH+ to go straight to channel 14 (for VCR2).

The Robman wrote:is this all from OTA or are you using cable too?

This was boxless cable, and OTA up here in MI. Twelve days from now I'll be in FL and then I'm dealing with cable boxes only.

The Robman wrote:just for fun, you really should grab up one of the cheap ReplayTV units on ebay, just so you can have the experience of setting it up, and of course, once you have it set up we can share shows with each other.

Oh yeah, like you'd want to watch what I watch,

I would like the ability to control the cable box with the box. That would be the main reason I'd be interested in a replay. I've been struggling with that aspect of cable boxes ever since they started encrypting the local channels.

The Robman wrote:I also did some fine tuning with the TV. I did an auto scan with both VCRs on so that it registered 03 and 14 as the only channels. I also noticed that it supports Fav Channels, so I programmed one channel as the only fav channel, that way I can use Fav CH+ as a discrete code to get to channel 3 (for VCR1) and then use CH+ to go straight to channel 14 (for VCR2).

So it looks like you did find some room for improvement.