I tired this in the URC forum. Figured Id try in here as well since I got little response. Ive been advised in the other forum the my ACTUAL actual is NOT possible. But, do any of you do similar "status" screens or system indicator screens w the MX 700/800/850 series?

My original post from the URC forum.........

"I’ve seen before where programmers will put “status” screens into a macro while the macro is completing its commands, especially on long macros. In this particular case, I have an “all on” macro programmed to turn on all components, including a DLP projector. The projector takes at least 45 seconds to power up and get to the point where there is actually a picture. What I’d LIKE to do is have a page come up that says something to the effect of “please wait while all components power up” when the “power on” macro is started. I was able to do this using an un-used page of one of the devices, labelling the lcd buttons as needed, and have the macro “go to” that page. This would get the “status” page to come up at the end of the macro, while the DLP was warming up. Problem is that it would also STAY on that screen even when the projector is finally warmed up, without going to the “satellite” or DVD” page as I normally have it. As far as I can tell, the “goto” command can only be used at the END of the macro. What would be nice is to have it go to the “status” page, enter a delay of 45 secs or so, then have it go back to the “device" (SAT/DVD. Etc) page. Is any of this possible? Anyone got any ideas on workarounds? I may have been thinking of the pronto's when I remember this being done, so I wouldn’t swear it was the MX series."

Thanks

I don't think it's possible to have 2 goto pages on a macro

You could do a page and have the whole top read something like

PLEAS PRESS
ANY BUTTN
WHEN PROJR
WARMS UP
..... ....."only 5 letters per button allowed so .Yes! I can spell...LOL"


OR
Then have all buttons jump to the main page....
or whatever page you wish....


Why not a 45 second delay in the macro so that when the cutomer hits a button to start the source "i.e. the DVD" that it cannot choose another button for 45 secs..........

If you do an activity based setup then the device pages behind the activity buttons on page one dont go anywhere. So put your long macros on main page 1, your devices on main page 2. Then any long macro triggered from a main page 1 lcd button will have a blank LCD page 1 that you can put any message you want on it. Very simple.

If you want, I'll send you one of my files that does this.

Thats actua;;y whay I did, and it worked. But it then had to STAY on that page indefinately, as I could only do (1) "go-to" So the macro would be finished, and it would still be saying "please wait......." instead of going to the main page, device page, etc. Eventually the cust would end up getting tired of waiting after 24 hours and call me! :)

I'll try to clarify for him... on the Main menu page one I have this:
Watch TV
Watch DVD
Play CD etc.

The actual device pages are only under the TV, DVD, CD (actually they use shortcuts to seperate aliases, but thats besides the point) and the Watch and Play "devices" are blank.

When you press the button next to TV the macro is:
TV On -> Rcvr On -> Delay 3 sec -> TV Vid 1 -> Rcvr Input 1... etc.
The remote goes immediately to the TV pages and then finishes the macro.

When you press the button next to watch the macro would read:
TV On -> Rcvr On -> Delay 3 sec -> TV Vid 1 -> Rcvr Input 1 -> goto TV page 1
The remote goes immediately to the Watch screen (blank page) and then executes the commands in the macro. When the macro is finished completely it switches to the TV page.


So for you question you would set the remote up the same way as the 'Watch' button in my example.

Main Menu page 1 reads:
Watch DVD
Watch SAT

Main Menu page 2 reads:
~DVD
~SAT
etc.

Setup the first device page for both Watch buttons and DVD and SAT buttons to look something like:
PLEAS WAIT
UNTIL PROJ
WARMS UP.

The device pages for ~DVD and ~SAT contain the actual codes and is the page the client will be looking at and using to control the theater when watching these sources.

The macros for WATCH, WATCH, DVD, and SAT would be variations of this:
Proj ON -> AMP On -> Sat Rcvr On -> Pause 30 Sec -> Proj Vid 1 -> Goto ~DVD page 1


Press any of the Watch, DVD, SAT etc. and the remote goes directly to their device page (your message to be patient) then executes the commands in the macro (including the 30 second delay) and finally goes to the real device page (~DVD, ~SAT) as the very last step.

I used 30 seconds because that is the longest delay an MX-700 will allow, might be longer on the 850. I never use HTM remotes and only have one because they come with B&K receivers (nice perk for installing those in jobs) so I don't know all the specifics on the MX line as far as longest delay times allowed.

Hopefully you don't have more than 10 devices you need to control, and just remember to make the Main Menu Page 2 hidden so the client cannot directly access it or they won't see your message.



The only problem with setting up the remote this way is that the client will have to wait 30+ seconds every time they switch sources even thought the projector may already be on and warmed up. This would really frustrate me, and is why I only use remotes and control systems that, at the very least, allow you to create flags and base events upon flag status.
This would make the 30 second pause only take place when the system is actually turning on and warming up, and the 30 second pause would be skipped if the system was already powered on.




Sorry for the long winded response, hope I at least answered your question.


Edited to make the virtual pages appear correctly.

What the 8ths said is the way to do it, but sounds like you need to use the main page hard power on button for first time power on only. Otherwise there will be the 30 second delay any time a source is changed.

What you should do is add an MRF-150 or MRF-250 to the equation, so that the projector has its own emitter and you can program the delays in as you need without the customer needing to keep the remote pointed at an IR receiver. I have done this little work around a few times and it works well... however, during your delay, i dont think the remote will do any other functions (volume, etc) until it has completed the macro.