Hey all,

i am in the midst of trying to collect all the possible discrete IR codes for products my company installs for use with the different remote controls we use.

Currently i am using the LTM-1.0 Learn / Test Module that is used in conjunction with the Speakercraft MZC-66 program (EZ Tools).

The program itself understands to the following Remote Protocols:
- NEC
- Philips RC5
- Philips RC6 Mode 0
- Sharp / Denon
- Sony 12 (SIRCS-12)
- Sony 15 (SIRCS-15)
- Sony 20 (SIRCS-20)

and those it cant i names with a generic name
- Unknown / Not Recognised

The best thing i have found with this program is that it also allows me to insert numbers into the program which inturn generates the IR codes, which is how i have found quite a few IR codes so far.

However, there are brands out there that we use (e.g. Panasonic Plasmas, Samsung LCDs / Plasmas and Palsonic LCDs to name a few) that all get lumped into the Unkown category which doesnt give you any room to 'search' for the IR codes.

Does anyone know what possible protocol these brands, as well as any others, are as they are not being grouped with the ones above and if so is there a program that will store them similar to EZ tools and still allow for modification and searching for possible codes on those devices

cheers

Dallas

Do you know what format it uses to store captured signals? Especially signals it didn't understand.

If it stores them in files on a PC, maybe I can figure out the format.


My DecodeIr.dll software is free, including source code, including for commercial use. It understands a much wider range of IR protocols than that (and of course including those). Maybe you can suggest to the author of that program that he use DecodeIr.dll to quickly get access to a wider range of protocols.


My MakeHex program (also free, including source code) generates Pronto Hex for the full set of possible function numbers of a given protocol and device number, over a wide range of protocols. Either by knowing how to read Pronto Hex, or by changing the final output stage of MakeHex, you could easily generate some other format if you like.


My programs certainly include the protocol Panasonic normally uses as well as the protocol Samsung normally uses. I think either Panasonic or Samsung might also brand LCDs or Plasmas that are made by some other company and/or use some other company's IR protocol. NEC is the most common protocol for such devices when they don't use the brands' own protocol. But you already have NEC. There might be yet more possibilities (I think I recall some Samsung devices using Zenith Protocol) but almost certainly my software includes the protocol.

I never heard of Palsonic, so I won't guess at their IR protocol.


If you email me some samples (see profile), preferably something using Panasonic IR protocol so it's easy to recognise, I can take a quicj look and see if the format is obvious. If it is easy enough, I might write a little C++ code to read and write that format connected to DecodeIr and MakeHex.

Hi John

thanks for the very detailed reply. I took your advice and downloaded irtool, decodeir and makehex.

The results will be very helpful and will definately come in useful.

The speakercraft program stores everything, both known protocol codes and unknown codes inside a single common file that you also use to build their multi room system. Luckily it also now has provision to directly import pronto codes regardless of whether it can understand the protocol or not.

If you still want me to send through some samples i have an image of two codes, one it understands and one it does not plus i can also send you the speakercraft file im using to store the codes, just ask and ill email them

thanks again

Dallas
Thanks for the help

I assume it doesn't have the ability to export pronto hex. That would be too easy.

But, IIUC, you primarily want to do discrete code searches (I assume you've read something about the risks of doing that). So getting IR info out of the speakercraft system would only be needed to discover the protocol and device number used by a remote. You probably don't need to do that, because you should be able to find a CCF or JP1 file for the same device and get protocol and device info that way.

I hope there is a non tedious way to import pronto hex in bulk (pull in a set of 256 codes, rather than paste one at a time). If so, then there isn't much need for another way to read/write the speakercraft files, just find protocol/device elsewhere and import that set of commands to test.


Is it practical to start a clean speakercraft file and only load in codes for one device?

Email a file anyway. Maybe it will be easy. But it is unlikely to be easy if it is a big file with lots of different contents. A smaller file with a few signals from a single device would be a much easier starting point.