When I say Newbie I mean Newbie. My knowledge of remotes include my Yamaha Stereo's learning remote and some cheap $9.99 remote my wife bought me when I said I wanted a learning remote. lol I am a quick learner though and have the desire to learn.

Here's what I'm trying to do and hopefully someone can point me in the right directions to learn. What I'm interested in doing is to take a laptop or pda that has an IR port and have it "decode" some of my remotes. I'd like it to tell me that the IR signal I just shot at it was RC5 or RC6 or whatever, and it was this 1 of 128 codes. Or something like that. Is there a program out there that already does this?

Then I could provide a download file or the codes themselves and someone else could program their PDA or remote with these codes and have a working remote.

Again, thanks for any help. I look forward to hearing from you guys / ladies.

Off the top of my head I would say the broadest possible appeal and compatibility would be by making CCFs. This is the file format for Philips Pronto remotes, but is supported by several Palm and Pocket PC remote control apps, such as my own beloved Total Remote. The CCF format is well understood, at least from the perspective of using it as a means for sharing IR codes, so there is a lot of stuff that can work with them.

So, get Total Remote, make or download a CCF with the layout you need, learn all the codes from your remote, and upload it to Remote Central so everyone can use it! :)


--Don, Senior Engineer, Total Remote