Hi all

I have read somewhere else on this site that if you enter discrete codes incorrectly you could serious problems with your equipment, is this true? I currently have a Sony TV and a Marantz RC5400 remote to name a few pieces, but am a little nervous of entering the codes in case I bugger up my tv. The codes I have i found on this site at:
[Link: remotecentral.com]

Are these codes safe? I apologise now if I am asking a stupid question!

Thanks in advance

Mike

I expect that warning was about the dangers of looking for discrete codes by the common method of generating and testing all possible commands (for a given protocol and device number).

A few devices take certain commands (that aren't on the original remote) as instructions to do something very destructive to themselves (erase their firmware, etc.)

If someone already tested a command on another model from the same brand and found it did something useful, then you're pretty safe. The command may work or not work on your model, but is very unlikely to be destructive.

But if someone tested a command and found it did nothing on their model, that doesn't say it won't be destructive on your model. I tested every command on my Toshiba TV without any bad effects that couldn't be cleared by unplugging it. But on very similar Toshiba TVs that others tested, some of those commands did damage that needed professional repair.

If a command is useful in one Brand, that doesn't always indicate it will be safe for another brand using nearly the same command set. I forget the exact device, but there is a non Philips device using nearly the same command set as a similar Philips device, but one of the ordinary commands for the Philips device destroys the non Philips one.

For Sony, I think there is extra safety. Their IR signals are different from other brands and pretty consistent across models and heavily investigated by other IR gurus. If there were serious risks, I really think they would be well reported in this forum already.

Hi johnsfine

thank you for your response, yo have helped to clear up any worries I was having.

Regards

Mike