Okay, I had quite of bit of success. Thanks for the help in finding the various operations.
1. I trained the device from the original Sony remote, creating new commands for these "Disk Explorer" Keys: Folder, Sort, Edit, and File using the "Learn a New Command" box in the "Learn IR" command under the DVD Changer in the "Devices" Tab. Your probably found the "folder" command in there because I trained it there Monday morning...made it into the database fast [smile].
2. I also created new commands for DiskSkip+ and DiskSkip- keys on Sony remote in Explorer Mode, and then added commands for the same buttons to NextDisc and PreviousDisc while in DVD Mode.
3. I discovered that DiskSkip+ and NextDisc are the same command. I surmise that the only buttons with special functions while in Explorer Mode on the Sony remote are the four marked in blue: Folder, Sort, Edit, and File.
4. Now armed with the knowledge that I should only need these extra commands, I sat down with the Sony DLP-CX995V Remote and figured out that I can shorten the initial load time (autoplay is actually a problem with this DVD changer, not the remote, but I did turn off the automatic play command) by injecting a "Folder" command at just the moment that the DVD is loaded, but before it starts to play. The problem is that this exact moment varies, depending on which DVD loads (and probably whether the last DVD slot loaded is now empty or not). So I created an activity that waits a bit and then sends several "Folder" commands at half second intervals. See the final sequence below.
1 TV Set TV to Video 1 2 Rcvr Set AV Receiver to DVD/LD 3 DVD Pause for 10000 ms 4 DVD Pause for 2000 ms // 10 seconds wasn't long enough 5 DVD Send "Folder" command 6 DVD Pause for 500 ms 7 DVD Send "Folder" command 8 DVD Pause for 500 ms 9 DVD Send "Folder" command 10 DVD Pause for 500 ms 11 DVD Send "Folder" command 12 DVD Pause for 500 ms 13 DVD Send "Folder" command 14 DVD Pause for 500 ms 15 DVD Send "Folder" command 16 DVD Pause for 500 ms 17 DVD Send "Folder" command 18 DVD Pause for 500 ms 19 DVD Send "Folder" command 20 DVD Pause for 500 ms 21 DVD Send "Folder" command 22 DVD Pause for 500 ms 23 DVD Send "Folder" command
This works great. I select the "Choose a DVD" activity, wait a bit, and I am left in the Disk Explorer mode. I also added all of the extra keys to the programmable buttons.
5. I am still working on the details of a method to start the system, leaving the DVD player open to slot 400 (the place where we load DVD rentals). Once this works, a user would press the "Load a DVD" activity; the system would initialize, and open the player to slot 400; the user would insert a DVD and close the player; and the player will start playing it. I have the sequence right if I do it manually, but there must be some delays that let commands be dropped. I believe that with appropriate delays I will get it to work. The challenge here lies in the fact that when you can select an empty slot, the the player with actually switches to the next occupied slot. So, I used the DiskSkip- command to move the open carousel by 10. Thus we select disk 10 (which is occupied), open the player, and then diskskip- back to 400. That way disk 400 will play when the user closes the door.
1 TV Set TV to Video 1 2 Rcvr Set AV Receiver to DVD/LD 3 DVD Pause for 10000 ms 4 DVD Pause for 2000 ms // 10 seconds wasn't long enough 5 DVD Send "Stop" command 6 DVD Send "Display" command // get to DVD Player Menu 7 DVD Send "DirectionRight" command 8 DVD Send "1" command 9 DVD Send "0" command 10 DVD Send "Enter" command 11 DVD Pause for 2000 ms// let disk start changing to disk 10 12 DVD Send "Open" command 13 DVD Send "Display" command // closes the Display menus 14 DVD Send "DiskSkip-" command // change open carousel back to 400
There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those that understand binary and those that don't.