I recently added a mint condition Sony SVO-2000 to my main home theatre system. This is the "Professional" version of the Sony SLV-R1000 VCR, and so far, all of the SLV-R1000 remote codes work with it.

The only place where I am not getting ideal performance is implementing the codes for the various navigation functions on the jog-shuttle dial of the excellent remote that Sony provides for these high-end VCR's. I tried programming the shuttle codes by learning them from the remote, but this is not giving me performance that duplicates use of the shuttle dial.

For example, when I click the button that is programmed with the IR code from the 2x fast forward position on the shuttle dial, the unit DOES go to 2x fast forward, but REMAINS in 2x fast forward until I press some other command. What I would prefer, is that the unit would go to 2x fast forward only while I CONTINUE TO HOLD DOWN the 2x command button down, but would immediately revert back to normal play speed when I release the button.

The UNIVERSAL REMOTE IR Database codes for regular FF and REW perform in the manner that I am looking to implement: they maintain full-speed FF or REW only while held down, but drop back to normal play speed immediately when the buttons are released.

These codes had a strange notation that looked something like "FF ^65" in the IR database. Is there some additional code string I need to append to my learned codes for the other shuttle controls? And if so, where can I find it, and how do I append it?

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

First, I'm thinking that this particular behavior may be merely the way the VCR works, rather than something dictated or controllable via the remote.

However, that said, since you learned these codes manually from the shuttle it's possible (and even likely) that they aren't repeating codes, and getting proper repeating versions just might do the trick. I'd suggest poking around the Pronto file area and see if you can find any importable codes that might have what you need.

Thanks for the response Daniel. Also, thanks to Loraquest for providing some additional helpful information via E-mail, and who is a GUY, not a girl named "Laura Quest" as I assumed in my initial E-mail to him.

Your insights got me to thinking about this more, and when I got home yesterday, I did some experiments to try to better pin down what the actual interaction is between the Sony remote and the VCR when the shuttle dial is used.

The main thing that struck me was that whatever component behavior I was experiencing was due to the VCR's response to codes it is getting, rather than some "special" data in the codes themselves. So I decided to try and dissect the way that the codes are actually going out of the remote when the shuttle dial is used to select forward or rewind speeds.

What I figured out is that any shuttle "command" is actually a sequence of separate short-burst non-repeating commands, each triggered when the dial passes by one of the various index marks on the remote.

Here is How It Appears to Work:

When you turn the shuttle dial clockwise to 1/5x FF, it tells the VCR "go into the 1/5x fast forward state". The VCR will then remain in that state until it receives a new command. If you continue to rotate the shuttle to 1x FF, then "go into the 1x FF state" will be the next command the VCR receives, and it will enter that state...and so on as you continue to rotate the dial clockwise. The user experience is simply a smooth progression of increasing speeds as the shuttle dial is rotated further in either direction, but the VCR is getting a total of four (4) independent short-burst commands as you rotate the dial from its 12:00 center position, to its full-rotated position in either direction: goto 1/5x, goto 1x, goto 2x, and goto fullspeed/search.

So now, let's say you have rotated the dial all the way to 2x FF, and the VCR has entered that state. Then you let the dial drop back to 1/5x FF. In that case, the VCR remains in the 2x FF state until it receives the new instructions when you rotated the dial back to 1/5x FF at which point the remote sent the new short burst command saying "go to the 1/5x FF state".

Here is the interesting part: to return to the "Play" or "Pause" state that you were previously in before making a selection via the shuttle, you let the shuttle drop back to its "home" or 12:00 center position right? It turns out that the 12:00 shuttle position actually issues a unique short-burst command. This command simply tells the VCR "go back to the state you were in before the user messed with the shuttle dial".

So that is why you can't accurately program a shuttle dial command by simply learning the code for a given dial position to a single button on your remote. When you press the button, you are telling the VCR to go to a specific state (like 2x REW), but at that point, it is going to remain there, faithfully following orders, until it recieves some other command. It is waiting to receive one of the other commands triggered by rotating the shuttle dial to another position, or by letting it spring back to the 12:00 center position. The implementation of the shuttle dial on the Sony remote FORCES one of these other commands to come at some point. But since this is now just a button on your universal remote, that sends one code out, once, no other command is going to go out to the VCR until you press something else on your remote.

The way I confirmed all of this was by using the original Sony remote with my SLV-R1000 upstairs. While playing a tape, I used the shuttle control to put the VCR into 2x FF, and then, covered the IR transmitter on the Sony remote completely with my hand (to block IR transmission) before releasing the shuttle dial back to the 12:00 center position. Then, after releasing the shuttle dial, I removed my hand to allow for any present IR transmission to get from the remote to the VCR again. Sure enough, the VCR remained happily in 2x FF even though the shuttle dial was now back in the center position, and the IR transmitter had a straight line of site to the VCR IR sensor. Subsequently, just a small "flick" of the shuttle dial (not enough to even get close to the 1/5 FF or 1/5 REW index locations which are the two first command locations on the dial) would trigger the 12:00 center position command burst again, and the VCR would return to its previous Play or Pause state. I repeated this, with identical results and performance, for every position on the shuttle dial.

Having now figured this out, I was able to program a set of variable macros, and cascading variable macros on the MX-950 that nearly duplicate the native behavior of the shuttle dial on the Sony remote, but using the soft keys of the MX-950. The macros are all invisible to the user, and they have no effect on speed/performance of the remote in controlling the VCR. In some ways, the MX-950 setup is even better than the shuttle dial ;)

I am quality testing my device file, and when I am 100% certain that it ALWAYS works in all circumstances, then I will create VCR1, VCR2, and VCR3 versions of it (to match this functionality of the original Sony equipment), and I will upload a copy here so people can check this out.

I hope this information is helpful to people that are having "issues" programming their shuttle dial remote commands to their universal remotes.

Due to this implementation I suspect that even if you had repeating versions of these codes they probably wouldn't work like FF/RW does (press briefly to lock into FF, or hold to only stay in FF as long as it is held).

I have a Sony VCR with a jog/shuttle control, however it's the newer (cheaper) style. Instead of fixed positions on a locked ring for shuttle, it's a free rotating ring with clicky points that send out "up one speed" and "down one speed" commands. Jog is handled through the same ring when the JOG button on the remote is illuminated.

The SLV-R1000's 2X speed is a locking speed. What you need instead of the RMT-V129 remote is the remote for something like my EDV-9500 which has all of the forward/reverse commands on it either with a single button or from the jog wheel. Makes it much easier to get the commands for a single speed that you might need. Now if only someone could figure out how to program the jog/shuttle wheel of the Sony into an MX-3000. I have the codes for forward/reverse 1/5, 1/10, 1X, 2X and scan in codeset 1, 2 and possibly 3. I also have the codes for some extra commands like eject. All codes I have are in the MX-850, MX-950 and MX-3000 versions.