Hi everyone,

I recently purchased the Akai PDP5073TM 50" plasma TV and am trying to locate discrete codes for the inputs (discrete on/off would be nice too). The remote that came with the set only has a button for "source" that cycles through the various inputs and I would much rather have individual buttons for each input to use in macros, etc.

I know the older Akai sets used Samsung codes but that no longer seems to be the case since I tried a bunch of different Samsung codes and they didn't work at all. The setup software for my remote (URC MX-850) has a device available for the Akai PDP-4225M which works partially (power and source select work) so this model seems to be based on a similar code set.

Does anyone know if the PDP5073TM has discrete codes for inputs and power or how I could go about finding them?

Thanks,
Jason

The Akai PDP-4225M uses NEC1 protocol, device 64.189.

The posted JP1 upgrade doesn't list any discrete codes (maybe just meaning the author of that upgrade never looked for them). I don't have any other source of data on this code set.

You may want to use MakeHex to create/test all 256 possible commands of NEC1:64.189 to see what each command does.

Before doing so, please find and read some of the threads that warn about the rare but potentially very serious damage that can be done by sending IR commands of unknown meaning to your TV. Then decide for yourself whether you want to.

If you want to try it, find and read one of the threads in the URC forum describing the use of MakeHex with IrPanels and the MX universal browser.

Before testing a lot of buttons, test the power toggle, which would be button 12 (of the numbered buttons produced by IrPanels). If that doesn't work you did the process wrong and probably none of other buttons would do anything.

Thanks John. I gave it a try and that is definitely the right code set because I found most of the buttons on the remote that came with the TV. The only ones I didn't find were ones that only did something within a submenu such as the directional keys, exit, etc. which makes sense.

Unfortunately none of the buttons turned out to be discrete codes for either the input selection or power. Therefore, unless they are hidden in some other code set (which seems highly unlikely) it would appear that this TV doesn't have discrete codes for these functions.

Oh well. Thanks for your help.

Did you make a PC copy of the list of which number does which function for the functions you did find?

If so, it would be friendly to post that, especially since the JP1 upgrade for the 4225 didn't give names to most of the functions. I expect other people will want clean signals for the 4225 or 5073 and that list would help them.

I'm curious about the functions 31, 64, 82 and 208 which are in the JP1 file with no hint of what they do. 208 is extra strange because every other function in the JP1 file is either in the range 0 through 31 or the range 64 through 95. It is common for device designers to limit all function numbers to those two ranges. Limiting all but one function to those two ranges is very strange. Maybe 208 is an error in the JP1 file and really does nothing.

I wrote down what I found so I'll list them here in case anyone else could use them. Like I said, I didn't test from within any submenus so I didn't find some of the buttons such as the directional keys. From what I did find there actually wasn't anything above 36, except for a few functions that were repeated a few times for some reason.

Anyway, here's the list of what I found:

15 vol-
16 vol+
17 mute
18 menu
25 source
27 freeze
28 picture size
29 smart picture
31 sound mode
33 PIP
35 sleep timer
36 display
65 PIP
67 sleep timer
68 display
97 PIP
99 sleep timer
100 display

For me, functions 64, 82, and 208 didn't do anything.

Sometimes you can anchor the inputs to a CH UP command that on some sets ALWAYS puts it in the tuner mode. For instance, I had a Panasonic this week that had discrete for Video 1,2,3 but not component. So, CH UP + TV/Video took me reliably to Component 1. Toshibas and Hitachis often have to be controlled this way.

Did you finally purchase it and are you happy with it? We were looking at getting a new 50 inch plasma for our family room. It would be our main tv, so we're not sure if we should spend more money and get a better plasma than the Akai. If we do spend more...any suggestions on a really good plasma set?

Just ran into an AKAI yesterday. Ch up or down work as a discrete on. Will take nearly 15 seconds to respond to another input command though.

I am going back another day and will try Samsung codes.

BTW, John, are the device codes consistent across brand and models or are they brand specific?