Ok, thanks to everyone for the help along the way. I've essentially got it all working, and this is really a collaboration of alot of efforts and helpful advices from various resources. I'm listing this on this and all of the other contributing websites/forums, so hopefully anyone else going through a similar process maybe able to short-circuit the learning process.
Thanks to websites/forums on:
http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk http://www.remotecentral.com [Link: hifi-remote.com]I can wholly recommend ALL of these websites/forums to people who are bringing together technology in their living-rooms! ;-)
Ok, my problem was this: Having purchased a One-4-All Kameleon URC-9960 from eBay (its a model that is not sold in the UK), the 4-digit code that I needed to map out my Amstrad Sky+ satellite box wasn't in-built on the remote.
Actually my first problem was to identify the 4-digit code, non of the codes listed in the Kameleon manual would work, and even scanning through available codes on the remote proved to be a waste of effort.
[Link: forum.digitalspy.co.uk] clockworks999 from digitalspy pointed out the correct 4-digit code for this device, which was 1175
Armed with 1175, I once more tried this code on the Kameleon, and sure enough, it wasn't built into my remote.
I was aware that the URC-9960 had a built in modem, and could have 'firmware' upgrades sent to it via the phone (as an audio file), or indeed as a WAV file played by your computer. So the One-4-All website seemed the next place to look....
The One-4-All website, is a pile of 'pooh' (yes its official!!), I followed every link of both the USA and UK site (which are both very different), and couldn't find anywhere to download the 'patch' for the URC-9960 and the 1175 code.
Further web-searching, brought me in touch with
www.remotecentral.com and
www.hifi-remote.com - Now it turns out that most of these remote controls have a set of pins labelled JP1, that you can connect a cable to and connect to your computer, and with some freely available software, you can do absolutely ANYTHING to your remote! Wow .... as a software developer this began to excite me!! (ok, i'm easily excited).
I posted a message on remotecentral.com hoping someone with a URC-9960 would have the means to create a WAV file for me - but in the meantime, I got hold of the JP1 software to see what could be done WITHOUT having a JP1 cable (maybe i'd be able to do something!).
The JP1 software is ALL available here:
[Link: groups.yahoo.com]I downloaded the following files, and installed them to C:\Kameleon
IR600RC1.ZIP .......................... latest version of IR.EXE
DEVICES.ZIP ........................... required
DEVICES4.ZIP .......................... required
IRTOWAV.ZIP ........................... converts codes into WAV format
RDFs_for_IR_and_RM_Version_1.17.zip ... Latest RDF's
KEYMAP-MASTER.ZIP ..................... latest version
With a little bit of reading, and alot of playing, I realised that IR.EXE is the main tool which *IF* you have a JP1 cable, will allow you to plug your remote-control into your computer, back it up, mess with its configuration, and send it back to the remote. Fortunately this software also interfaces with IRTOWAV.EXE, and allows you to build WAV files that only contain the changes you make.
The important thing with IR.EXE is to start with the 'correct' RDF (Remote Definition File) for your remote. There were 4 RDF files that looked like they were to do with the URC-9960 :
KASAKAS0 (URC-9960 B01 One For All Kameleon).rdf
NAK0NAK0 (URC-9960 One For All Kameleon).rdf
NAKxNAK2 (URC-9960 One For All Kameleon Extender 2).rdf
NAKxNAKx (URC-9960 One For All Kameleon Extender 1).rdf
Not sure what the Extender versions are, but the B01 version didn't work for me at all - so I used the NAK0NAK0 version.
A message I posted on
www.hifi-remote.com was answered by 'uwereinert', and he pointed my to a KM (KeyMap Master file) for a 1175 device (the Sky+ box) for another One-4-All remote called the 8060. His suggestion was to "You could change the button assignment for your 9960 in KM and then create a wav upgrade via IR6 RC1." ... simple eh!! ??
The link to the KM file is here:
[Link: hifi-remote.com]The next step of my journey, was to load up the Keymap-Master-v8.31.xls spreadsheet (with macros enabled), to load the KM file i'd just downloaded, and to select the remote type as URC-9960. Within the Keymap-master spreadsheet, you can also re-map/reassign buttons/functions - at the point of writing this I didn't bother (for me the import step was to get the URC-9960 to have receive the code 1175, so I could assign it to the satellite button ... anything else I could play with later).
Now that keymap-master has 1175 loaded, and the correct remote-control selected; fire up IR.EXE, select NEW, and select the correct RDF file (in my case NAK0NAK0). Switch back to KeyMap-master, select the COPY icon in the protocol box (this just copies the protocol codes to clip-board) ... switch back to IR.EXE, select the PROTOCOL tab, and ADD, then paste the clipboard into it.
Switch back to keymap-master, select the COPY icon in the Upgrade/Keymove codes box (this just copies this code into the clipboard). Switch back to IR.EXE, select the DEVICES tab, click ADD, and paste the keyboard buffer. You'll end up with a new 1175 device as an upgrade.
You can now use IR.EXE to Export the Upgrade to a WAV file. As I didn't start off with a FULL backup of my URC-9960 I only wanted to upload the change .. i.e, the new device code 1175 (and its keymappings).
My next problem was how do I get the URC-9960 to listen to the WAV file. johnsfine on
www.hifi-remote.com came to my rescue pointing me to the following thread:
[Link: remotecentral.com] The procedure is fairly simple.
Hold SETUP down for a few seconds,
press OTHER
enter 997, wait for the remote to go blank
play-back the WAV file, positioning the remote by the computer speaker
Thats it. Now to assign the new 1175 to the Sat/Cble button. Hold SETUP down for a few seconds, press DEV Set, press Sat/Cble button, enter 1175, it should flash twice to say the code is recognised, select OK, press HOME twice and thats it.
Thankyou to everyone who helped along the way. I now have on order a JP1 cable, and I will further optimise my Amstrad Sky+ button mappings over time.
Now, to program my other devices!! (and find the codes for them!!)
TV: Hitachi 36" Widescreen code: 0145 seems to work ok
DVD: MX 5700D code: ????
VCR: Sony SLV-SE700 code: ????
Brian Dukes
