JP1 Remotes

Using 8910 ext1

En route to tweaking my IR setup to a new level. Making back-ups along the way. One intermediate file works OK but still needs some work done on it to make it "perfect". Next stage of tweaking resulted in unusual behaviour in that the remote worked fine to begin with but then I noted that I had messed up the volume controls for one of the TVs. No big deal but the next bit was:

Press TV - code 1651 shows and buttons work as they should.
Press SAT and then M1 (attempt to change AV mode of TV).
Note that VPT "broken".
Check TV again - code has decremented to 1650!
Try SAT, M1 and then TV - code is now 1649 etc. etc.

Files in diagnosis area:
1]Pre-change
2]Immediately after change
3]Starts to decrement


Any help appreciated.

I was really looking forward to see that 1651 dropping like a rock.
Big disappointment. My 8910 crashed dead. Stuck on SAT.
On first change, SAT/M1 keymove is for TV/1615 (typo?).
Can't work unless 1615 is some good built in setup code.
I haven't peeked at anything else, but I see you had to suffer through a kitchen tv setup just as I did

I can't help with this issue, but I have to ask since I've got an 8910 with ext1 that I need to sit down with and replicate my 8811 extended setup. Are these isolated issues with the 8910 ext1 or is there something more systemically wrong with it?

Concerned,
jeff

Addison wrote:"Disappointment is the nurse of wisdom"

ElizabethD wrote:On first change, SAT/M1 keymove is for TV/1615 (typo?). Can't work unless 1615 is some good built in setup code.

Could well be a typo (common mistakes being common) but why did it cause the decrement if it couldn't be called? I was able to get down to TV/1648 before I realised what was happening and then tried to re-create things and capture the last known good IR (successful), the immediate 1st and 2nd weird ones etc. The problem is if the weird ones are changing the TV setup code then what else are they changing (enter Heisenberg's uncertainty principal).

The typo itself might be unrelated as this was an IR project in progress and the odd typo is to be expected and I'm sure there will be hinky macros and LKPs too.

Another thing I noted was that the time updated to 08:00 pm as expected but lost 2 minutes (that's only 2 minutes, way less than the duration of my experimenting) in the process. I'll try again tonight with new batteries etc.

greenough1 wrote:I can't help with this issue, but I have to ask since I've got an 8910 with ext1 that I need to sit down with and replicate my 8811 extended setup. Are these isolated issues with the 8910 ext1 or is there something more systemically wrong with it?

Concerned,
jeff

I wouldn't be too concerned if I were you. I had a perfectly useable extended 8910 remote setup and problems only started as I began to wade out of my depth. It's not even a major problem since I just go back to the last stable setup and make small changes at a time.

I have other remotes (Kameleon 8040, URC 7552, URC7562 etc.) and don't run an extender on the Kameleon because it's working 4 devices quite happily, don't run it on the 7652 because I use that for learning (and worrying the kids' Roboraptors) but find that the 8910 just becomes so much more useable with the extender (that Com Skip button can become more than just a useless nubble of plastic and there's acres of space for macros and keymoves.)

underquark wrote:... don't run it on the 7652 because I use that for learning

That's not a good reason not to use an extender, as it's so easy to revert to a non-extended image when you need to do some learning.

underquark wrote:(and worrying the kids' Roboraptors)

Did you ever give my RoboRaptor upgrade a try?

The Robman wrote:

underquark wrote:... don't run it on the 7652 because I use that for learning

That's not a good reason not to use an extender, as it's so easy to revert to a non-extended image when you need to do some learning.

To clarify, I now virtually ONLY use it for learning. My mainstay is the 8910 (can be used by me and 8-yr old son) and my Kamelon 4 (8040; blue-screen Euro one - can be used by wife ).

The Robman some more wrote:

underquark wrote:(and worrying the kids' Roboraptors)

Did you ever give my RoboRaptor upgrade a try?

Yes. I note that I posted to say thanks for the upgrade but forgot to feed back the fact that it works just fine. Roboraptors (for there are two in our house now) unfortunately both respond to the same codes so battling them isn't as much fun as one would think but synchronised prowling seems to work. Staying off-OP-topic-ish and regarding second-hand Christmas goodies, the kids find the Gameboy's I got off eBay (along with several cheap games bought in January) to be the most entertaining presents. Did you get a protocol and upgrade to get your DVD games things to work?

PS Anything to add on those IR files?

underquark wrote:Staying off-OP-topic-ish and regarding second-hand Christmas goodies, the kids find the Gameboy's I got off eBay (along with several cheap games bought in January) to be the most entertaining presents.

Both of my kids love their Gameboys, and both were obtained at reasonable prices from ebay. We keep them stocked with used games from "EB Games", the local used games store.

underquark wrote:Did you get a protocol and upgrade to get your DVD games things to work?

Yes, someone else captured the signals from their controller. It turns out that the TITLE button returns you to the main menu, then you can use the numeric buttons to select the game that you wish to play.

underquark wrote:PS Anything to add on those IR files?

I leave "extender" questions to the extender experts, I'm not even using an extender so I'm not qualified to answer questions on them!

I haven't bothered uploading your IR file into my HTPro (8910 clone) but will offer the following comments.

Regarding the SAT:1615 "typo" in the SAT/M1 keymove:
(a) a check of devices.xls indicates that this is NOT a (known) built-in setup code, and since you have no device upgrade by that name either, no one can really predict what would happen when you activate this keymove that points to "parts unknown". I'd fix that and see if the problem goes away, since it seems that (according to your description) the problem occurs only AFTER you attempt to use this keymoved "non-function";
(b) if that doesn't fix it then I have no advice ???? ;
(c) if you want to understand WHY the bad keymove resulted in that specific behaviour, then you have too much time on your hands (imho) .

Regarding the 8910 extender:
(a) I have been using it for a while and am greatly happy with it;
(b) As are ALL of the JP1 products available here, the extenders are amateur products without extensive product testing nor warranty support, so there are bound to be bugs - for example I discovered that if I assigned a keymove to x-shift phantom 3, it wouldn't work, so I avoid using x-shift phantom 3 . Why this happens - I don't know, and don't really care. Live with them, work around them, or fix 'em - apparently you're opting for the latter option. In my case, I will identify them, if I think they're significant, but if the author/owner of the product doesn't get around to fixing them, oh well, I'll work around it.
(c) I don't think this problem that you are experiencing is necessarily an extender problem, as you seem to presume, but apparently a problem with the mystery setup code "SAT:1615"

Bottom line - I still think the up-side of the extender FAR outweighs the occassional unexpected limitation that may be stumbled upon.

One big difference between an extender and the remote's regular firmware is that the extenders have far less protection against mistakes such as a bad keymove or nested macros, so it's not surprising that a minor coding mistake could cause bigger problems with an extender than without.

Yes, the rogue typo (TV:1615 assigned to SAT:M1) is the problem. Tried it again with new batteries and it started the countdown but I couldn't seem to get it to do the same thing twice; crashing sometimes immediately and others after it had got to 1648. Seems most stable when only pressing M1 then SAT key, back to M1 etc. but pressing other keys in between enters an unstable mode. I was just curious as to why it was happening (or why it should be possible for it to happen) in case it was a pointer to an anomaly that could eventually be exploited to advantage. Didn't even need "correcting", really, as I just backtrack to last known stable setup. Now working on setting up device keys to power-up and set up devices and reading Capn Trips' "Lounge" setup amongst others. Must go and read up on DEvice keys and LKPs again (after having a Doh! moment trying to set one on a KeyMoved key and another that called itself). Thanks for the interest shown. Hopefully I'll find something one day that lives up to LizzyD's high expectations.

underquark wrote:I was just curious as to why it was happening

I got curious as well, when I realized later that you were really asking about the interesting effect rather than advice to fix.
NDAs and/or lack of break-and-debug gear likely preclude getting an exact answer.

I also wonder why the same IR file on the same 8910, or mine, wouldn't do the same thing? BTW, I think you all would have liked, what I can't replicate, when the LCD display was in constant motion. Bad codes might be going to some ROM routine which messes up the address and/or pointers of what's to be displayed

It's tax return time in the UK so self-imposed limit on JP1-ing etc. comes into effect this weekend. I think my next step would be to strip out the "normal" stuff from those IR files one by one and see just how little it takes to cause the odd behavior. Then take notes as I do it (I wasn't looking for trouble the first time). Then try calling other non-referenced codes and seeing what happens. It would be interesting if ElizabethD's display-in-motion thing could be replicated; if it's displaying a repeatable pattern then this might reflect data in memory and (long shot) could potentially yield an animated display routine. Of course, it might all be completely random (like related to delay between key presses or something, which would be one explanation for non-reproducible behavior).