Steve,
John provided many answers but I can give you some advice on the specific equipment.
I don't have any of the models listed but I have decoded a lot of Proto files helping others out and most of your equipment is mainstream so that makes it easier.
First of all, my gear:
TV: Sony KV-32V36
Receiver: Yamaha RX-V620
DVD: Toshiba SD-1750
VCR: Panasonic PV-V4521-K
CD: Sony CDP-C365
Cable: Motorola DCT-2000
Of course my first concern is compatibility. Anybody
with any of the above equipment I would appreciate
hearing your experiences with any of the remotes
I listed.
I took a look and I believe that all of your equipment will work on built in setup codes. Yamaha publishes their IR commands and your model is listed and Audio_0176 is the proper setup code and will have the common commands built in. You will have discrete power commands available EFC's 248 and 246 On and Off respectiverly. It also has discrete input commands.
I think all North American Sony TV's respond to TV_0000. The closed captioning Toggle(there are no discretes for this) can be done with a key-move it is EFC 174. Unless your Sony TV is an older model, most Sony's respond to discrete power and input commands.
The cable STB will use Cable_0476 and it does have page up and down commands. The command set is known so any missing commands can be done with key moves.
All Toshiba DVD's use the same command set DVD/VCR_0503. The VCR and CD are also common equipment and will undoubtedly use the standard setup codes
Most of the
system is the cable box, on screen guide, etc.
Guide uses info, menu, exit, as well as page up
and page down buttons that seem to be hard to
find on remotes. A favourite button steps through
each of the channels that I have marked in the
box as a favourite, currently about 50 or 60 channels.
:-)
The favorites are stored in the cable box, you will just need to key move EFC 079 to the button that you chose for your favorites button (subject to a few limitations than John has mentioned)
The video and sound are routed through the receiver,
so second most used is the receiver remote. So
I need to be able to choose a video and audio
source with the remote. On my current remote,
this is done by choosing Input, then 1 for CD,
2 for Tuner, 4 for DVD etc. This can be done again
to switch audio sources. So for example, I can
Input 4 to switch to DVD, then Input 2 to listen
to the radio instead of the movie.
Yes but you will be able to do this with one button push rather than two.
I guess this
is where audio punch through is needed, volume
in various modes should all change the receiver
volume, not the tv etc.
Yes and if it doesn't work the way you want you can add the receiver volume controls with a key move to any other device.
For the DVD, commonly used buttons are the subtitle,
audio, angle, display, menu, zoom, as well as
FF, RW, chapter forward and back.
I believe that most of these are built in and the rest are known.
With the TV, the primary button used is the closed
captioning that rotates between four choices (Toad
I think?).
Yes see comments above.
Otherwise, it is rarely used except
when watching the VCR. I have to switch video
input source from the normal Video 1 to Video
3, since the vcr doesn't have s-video. This is
done with the tv/video button which also has four
settings. Occasionally, I'll use the PIP with
this remote.
If the TV responds to discrete video inputs then you can create a macro to switch audio and video inputs for your various modes. You can assign a macro to a shifted key. Shift-TV can set TV and audio inputs, Shift-VCR can set it for the different video and audio, etc.
So, that's what I want to do. I gather I need
to get into some fancy stuff to make all this
happen, rather than simple code learning or key
swapping. I'm a bit confused over the difference
between extenders and JP1. 8811 has an extender,
but 2116 doesn't? Both have a JP1 connector though,
so is the lack of an extender a problem?
John Fine wrote many of the extenders so his advice is certainly from *the* expert. With the extenders, you can just about do anything with these remotes.
My guess in looking at your equipment is that you can get a long way with built in commands and key moves. I also suspect that someone, if not John himself, will write an extender for the 2116 since it is relatively new.
I don't have a 2116 but I do have a 2104 and 8811 and between those, I would strongly recommend the 8811.
Under any circumstances, I highly recommend the JP1 cable since you can save your configuration and set up the macros usin your PC with the freeware program IR that has a very nice GUI.
-Jon
