THANK YOU "jrhees" for a really good product

[rcdash]

I have been using USBUIRT as a receiver only to remotely control my HTPC via girder and my MX500 remote control. There were some discrete codes not on my original remotes that I wanted the MX500 to be able to transmit. I found the Pronto codes on the net but was stuck on how to get it into the MX500.

I spent *dozens of hours* trying to figure out how to get my Ocelot to accept Pronto discrete codes for my HT equipment (with the plan to retransmit to the MX500). I finally got it to work only to learn that the Ocelot could not handle transmission of repeating codes - aargh.

I then thought about the USBUIRT and remembered it had a transmitter. After 30 mins of google searching to figure out how to use the Girder plugin to learn Pronto codes and 5 more mins of effort with my MX500 remote, I had taught my MX500 all the Pronto codes I had gathered. And they all work, including the ones I needed it to repeat when holding the button down. WOW!

Thanks for a high quality product with great support and software - really. If you advertised that you had a software tool to allow any 'ol remote to learn published Pronto codes, you'd get alot more orders (though it seems you are backordered as it is).

[jrhees]

rcdash,

Thanks for the kind words. As it turns out, I'd be stupid *not* to support Pronto capability, since there is such a vast repository of Pronto codes out there...

Anyway, thanks again!

-Jon

[Guest]

Jon,
I echo rcdash's praise for your great support and will ask once more for you to help me with something.

I've been able to find discreet power on and power off codes for everything except for my 37" Mitsubishi XC-3717 Megaview monitor that I use for my display device.

Is there any way to take the power toggle code and "guess" at what the discreet codes might be? Is there some standard convention that is followed where I could change one part of the code for the on and another for the off? Here is the learned power toggle IR code:

Code: Select all

Code 1
R0350815880AC1616164016161616151616161616154116161516164
11516161616401641151616161616154116161516161616401616164
0164115161641154116401616164016
Code 2
075C81585616

I found a couple of .ccf files on the RemoteCentral site for a similar model Mitsubishi monitor, but they do not have discreet codes listed and I am not sure if I know how or if it is possible to convert the short IR code listed with the power on and power off button in the .ccf file to a recognizable USB-UIRT code. Here's an example of what I was able to extract out of the .ccf file:

Code: Select all

Power Off
5001 0000 0002 0000 0010 000c 0002 0000

Using the learn function and import gave me the same code after it was "converted". Also within the same .ccf file I found this code:

Code: Select all

8000 0000 0002 0000 0001 0084 0001 0000

It would not import...I got an error stating that pronto codes had to be learned and start with 0.

Here is the URL for the pronto .ccf file.
http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/files/dl.cgi?file=ccf_templates/televisions/mit-tv-xc3730c.zip&area=pronto


Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated (once again!)

thanks,

Murray

[MurrayW]

oops, I forgot to log in. The previous post by guest was really me!
Murray

[Guest]

Murray,

I have potentially bad news for you. In my experience, if someone has not already found the discreet codes for a device over at remoteCentral, there's a good chance the device does *not* even support them. Your absolute best resource would be to ask in the remoteCentral forums. There are people dedicated to methodically going through all possible IR codes and know the art of looking for discreet codes.

-Jon

[MurrayW]

Jon,
Thanks for the quick reply. I'll post my question in the remotecentral forums, but don't hold out much hope. One more question that has nothing to do with the USB UIRT (feel free to tell me to go ask somewhere else if I am bugging you with too many things that are off topic).

My "TV" is basically just a big computer monitor. Do you see any harm in leaving it on all the time and having the screen saver set to "blank".

I could have it set to go into screen saver mode in 1 minute (unless I can figure out how to get windows xp to let me do a shorter time period) when the TV should be turned off. Or better yet, if I can get girder to send a "preview" command for the screen saver to make the monitor go immediately into screen saver mode that would be best.

thanks again,

Murray

[MurrayW]

Well...I answered one of my questions.

It looks like I could run this command from girder to display my blank screen when the TV should be turned off:

Run C:\WINDOWS\system32\scrnsave.scr

So my only remaining question is would I be causing any undue wear or premature aging to my monitor by leaving it "on" with a blank screen rather than using the power toggle button on the remote which puts it into standby.

thanks,

Murray

[jrhees]

MurrayW,

The answer to this is: IF your screen is going to a power-standby mode (where the High Voltage supply is being turned off), then it avoids wear & tear. How do you know? Well, the easiest way is to let it go black (screen saver mode) for a few minutes and then move your mouse or something to bring the screen back. IF the screen comes back instantly (pops right back up without a 2-5 second delay) then the screen is NOT turning off the HV supply. On the other hand, if there's a couple second delay and you hear a small high-frequency burst of noise from the monitor, the supply is being cranked back on...

-Jon

[MurrayW]

Looks like I'm out of luck...the monitor comes back on immediately after resuming from the screen saver. Thanks for the information.

Murray

[Guest]

just use the power settings of ur monitor in windows ie. control pannel->display->screen saver->monitor power and say "turn monitor power off after" i use 10mins, but put what u like. that way if u leave the pc, it will automatically turn off the monitor off its self

[Guest]

Per Jon's previous post, I don't think this is really turning off the HV supply.

[Guest]

Yes, if you tell it to turn off monitor, it really is turning it off.

[MurrayW]

Yes, if you tell it to turn off monitor, it really is turning it off.

Actually, it does NOT turn off my 37" Mitsubishi MegaView monitor. It turns the screen bright blue, which is the natural state with the monitor on and no input.

On my desktop PC with a much newer ViewSonic 19" monitor, I've used that setting for over 1 year and it DOES turn off the monitor.

MurrayW