automatic code repeats with NetRemote+NRIR Server+USB-UIRT

[jameswing]

Jon,
I have found that Pronto format IR codes generated via NetRemote+NRIR Server using your awesome USB-UIRT with 'disable repeats' set are automatically repeated six (6) times. That is, the second part of the code, the repeating part, is repeating six (6) times. This results in the code actually working.

As you noted in a previous post, 'repeating results in a more 'robust' signal' or something to that effect. When the code is transmitted via a GlobalCache device with diferent drivers, it does not repeat -- resulting in a not-very-'robust' code, which almost never works. When using the original Sony remote control, the repeating portion of the code repeats five (5) times, for a handily 'robust' signal that always works.

So now I get to the question: Did you build something into your driver to provide for a minimum 'repeat' setting, or is that done by NRIR Server before it gets to your stuff? (I'm not complaining that it works , I am just wondering how it knows to repeat)

Thanks,

--Jim
PS. To use a misnomer, I am referencing a 'non-repeating' button on the remote control. It really should be called a 'non-infinitely-repeating' button, as it will repeat five (5) times for any duration of pressage in excess of .25 sec.

[jameswing]

I should clarify. I am referring to the transmission of the code, not the learning of it.

--Jim

[jrhees]

James,

The NRIR_USBUIR plugin has a settings page (cannot remember how to access it from NRIRServer) which has a 'Repeat Setting', doesn't it?

-Jon

[Guest]

Hi Jon,

The settings page for the NRIR_USBUIR plugin in NRIR has exactly one configurable parameter - 'disable hold-down button repeats', which for my testing, is checked, so that I remove the variable of how long I hold down the button from the equation.

Thanks for the reply. I don't want to burden you with support on something that isn't even yours. I just noticed that yours works fine, and was trying to figure out what you did right. I was thinking maybe you were going to say something like "Of course a single transmission of the IR code will almost never be sufficient in a noisy environment for the receiver to respond, therefore, the USB-UIRT driver automatically repeats the code a minimum of six (6) times, or the number it is told to repeat, whichever is greater." I figured it was unlikely, but it might be worth asking.

Your punishment for being both knowledgeable and helpful is that people ask you questions even when it isn't your stuff that is broken

--Thanks,

--Jim

[jrhees]

I wrote the original USB_NRIR plugin, but then turned the source over to Promixis. I thought I had a repeat setting...

Let me look into it. Please contact me at support@usbuirt.com

-Jon

[Mastiff]

Jon, I've got a slightly different problem: I get no repeats at all (I'm not talking about stability repeats, I'm trying to get hold down button repeats) with NetRemote's NRIRServer. Do you have any idea what may be the problem?

[jrhees]

I don't. But in the process we discovered that the plugin being shipped is now being controlled by Promixis (I turned the source over to them so that they could make modifications.)

When you hold a button down, does the red LED on the USB-UIRT stay down? Do you have the 'Disable Hold down Repeats' checked?

-Jon

[jameswing]

Hi Mastiff,
If there is anything other than just the one IR code in your list of actions for the button, Promixis' position is that it should not repeat, as it is now a macro. They said the fact that the USB-UIRT did repeat (at least until recently) in such a case was a bug. Maybe they 'fixed the bug'. Have you reinstalled or upgraded recently?

--Jim

[Guest]

Jon, the red light on the USB-UIRT flashes as long as I hold down the button, and it sometimes makes my IR repeaters react (with their lights flashing), but the code isn't doing anything to the receivers, TV's or whatever. If I press the same button several times, every command is read. And yes, I have unchecked the "disable hold down repeats" in NRIRServer.

jameswing, I have no other actions there. Actually the hold down repeats hasn't worked at all in the soon to be two years I have been with Ben and NetRemote. NR was my reason to buy the USB-UIRT, btw. And no, I haven't upgraded recently, at least not the NRIRServer.

[jameswing]

Mastiff, I assume,
If you post the CCF, I'll see if I can reproduce the error.

--Jim

[Mastiff]

Man, I keep forgetting logging in. Shouldn't be allowed to post without logging in!

Jim, you've got a PM.

[Mastiff]

I posted this on the NetRemote forum as well:

With a lot of help from jameswing I have finally found out how to work the hold down repeats with my setup! Yes!!!! It has been an annoyance for a long time, but it turned out that it wasn't purely a NRIRServer problem, it was a compound. I had learned the codes with PDAWin's TV Remote Controller since I never got learning working on my system (and most of the keys are from before the direct IR capability even came to NetRemote), and they worked nicely in Girder, with adjusting the timing to make them repeat longer. But not on NetRemote.

Then jameswing looked at a couple of the codes and found out that they were "dirty", so to speak. They weren't totally correct. In Girder that didn't seem to matter, but NRIRServer didn't want to repeat with those codes. With a learning utility for the USB-UIRT that it's creator Jon sendt me I could re-learn the codes, and now they work. So I've got full repeat on all buttons! And it also fixed a few other problems I have had with partial lockups (for a few seconds) in the USB-UIRT after sending particular codes. Turned out that they were three to four times as long as the "clean" codes I got through that utility. So now I'm a happy camper! My last reservation for my IR setup (well, direct IR isn't even an option with my Qtek 9090/XDA IIS) is gone, finally.

Well, we now go back to normal programming.