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Just venting, please ignore (or join in)

Spire_JeffSpire_Jeff Posts: 1,917
in AMX General Discussion
WHY MUST EVERY DIRECTV IR FILES BE DIFFERENT!!!!! I can understand that some of the boxes have special features like pretty colored buttons, but why is the EXIT button on a different channel in every IR file???? Is select special on one box in that it needs to be on the select button? Why is there no STANDARD being used for these things?

AHHHHH! Ok, I feel better now. Just need to keep editing the files so I don't need to go reload 5 R4s :)

Jeff

Comments

  • iainshawiainshaw Posts: 133
    5 R4s.... sounds like a life sentence.
  • mpullinmpullin Posts: 949
    iainshaw wrote: »
    5 R4s.... sounds like a life sentence.
    I have a job with 8 of them... it takes nearly 30 min of my time whenever I have to update them. (no smart transfer to speak of)
  • ericmedleyericmedley Posts: 4,177
    Spire_Jeff wrote: »
    WHY MUST EVERY DIRECTV IR FILES BE DIFFERENT!!!!! I can understand that some of the boxes have special features like pretty colored buttons, but why is the EXIT button on a different channel in every IR file???? Is select special on one box in that it needs to be on the select button? Why is there no STANDARD being used for these things?

    AHHHHH! Ok, I feel better now. Just need to keep editing the files so I don't need to go reload 5 R4s :)

    Jeff

    DirecTV is the most integrator unfriendly vendor out there. Ever try talking to their tech support about a problem??? The conversation always goes something along the lines of, "Does it work with the remote that came in the box? Okay then, we're done talkin..."
  • Spire_JeffSpire_Jeff Posts: 1,917
    My gripe is more with AMX. The sony directv IR file has select mapped to chan 44 and guide on chan 53, but the TiVo file has select mapped to 49 and guide on 123.

    The Menu command is on chan 49 or 44... depending on the device.

    One of the files I was dealing with had play, stop and pause mapped to chans 81,82, and 83.

    It is just very difficult to upgrade boxes because even tho there seems to be a standard, not all of the IR files follow it.

    Jeff
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    Spire_Jeff wrote: »
    It is just very difficult to upgrade boxes because even tho there seems to be a standard, not all of the IR files follow it.
    Why not make it standard then? I almost always make a new IR file and copy stuff over to make it the standard that we use (and that most use too.)
  • Spire_JeffSpire_Jeff Posts: 1,917
    I did change the IR file to match the previous file, I just feel it to be a waste of time when there is already a standard of sorts (templates). It seems like the placement of some IR codes are left to the toss of a couple 50 sided dice.

    I don't expect that every single command that could be used on a sat box is part of the standard, but I shouldn't have to move the play, stop, pause, guide, select buttons. This may have been a little less annoying had I found the NEW Vertical Tab group option when I was doing this... (Glad I checked that before launching into a rant about flipping between files ;) ).

    In the grand scheme of things, this is very minor as I don't use a lot of IR files. In fact, this may have been displaced anger with DirecTV now that I sit back and think about it. ;)

    Jeff
  • DHawthorneDHawthorne Posts: 4,584
    I use the same IR file for all of them. It started as an H20 file, but I have since added functions as the boxes got more sophisticated. All the old codes still work, and all the discrete codes work with every box.

    Frankly, I don't use AMX IR files unless I don't have a choice, and even then just as a starting point. They rarely include discrete power commands, assuming you will use a power or sync sensor, and they spread things around way too much to make them fit their API (which only is useful if you are suing VA, as far as I am concerned). In other words, their paradigms just don't fit the wa I use IR files, so I prefer my own custom-tweaked library.
  • jweatherjweather Posts: 320
    Play/stop/pause of course should be standard, but I'm not aware of a standard for IR channels over 42. I have my own personal order, of course -- is there a published one for arrow keys, select buttons, guide/menu/info/exit, etc.?
  • DHawthorneDHawthorne Posts: 4,584
    jweather wrote: »
    Play/stop/pause of course should be standard, but I'm not aware of a standard for IR channels over 42. I have my own personal order, of course -- is there a published one for arrow keys, select buttons, guide/menu/info/exit, etc.?

    If you assign a template to the file with IREdit, you'll see the "standard" for that device type. I don't think it crosses types, but it's the same within the type.
  • Spire_JeffSpire_Jeff Posts: 1,917
    I think my problem stems from the fact that things are so close to being standardized that it annoys me when they stray. If they just put the codes in sequentially by starting at the top of the remote and working their way down the remote, and I knew this, then I would have created a standard of my own and created my own files as I need them.

    As for creating my own, unless I have problems with AMX IR files (and lacking discretes is the main one), I generally try to use the AMX IR files. Why reinvent the wheel, especially for IR. My next choice is to find hex code on remotecentral.com. My final choice is to learn the codes in manually.

    Jeff
  • DHawthorneDHawthorne Posts: 4,584
    My company has always been on the bleeding edge. Nine times out of ten, if I don't already have the IR file, AMX doesn't have it either. And many of the older files I have modified enough that going back to a "stock" file is out of the question.

    I find it somewhat appalling that Universal Remotes has an extensive, up-to-date, IR library with most discrete commands, and AMX doesn't.
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