Having recently purchased a 768, it seems the remote cannot learn the remote codes from the Foxtel cable decoders, as noted in this press release - [Link: smarthouse.com.au]

To the best of my knowledge, these are UEC DCD1000 Digital Cable Decoders, whats so amazing about these remotes to make them unlearnable?

Oooh - this is disappointing - I'm waiting for my new 680 to arrive and have a Foxtel Pace box I'm hoping to be able to control with it.

I'd be very interested to learn that this ain't so :-(

I understand the problem may have been fixed but maybe only on the newer remotes such as the 680. I'll try and get more info and let you know.

The Foxtel Digital IR issue has been a major one for the A/V industry in Australia. I believe it has to do with Foxtel using high bit rate codes which are not handled by a lot of IR devices, including some IR receivers from Xantech and some other programmable remotes. Not too sure why they went this route! I know the HTM remotes such as the MX-700 and MX-3000 are OK with it.

The remote that I have (the Foxtel one - still waiting for my 680 to arrive) looks almost identical to the ones my family in the UK have with their Sky system there. I can't be certain, but I'm fairly confident that its the exact same remote.

I just got my Harmony 676 remote. I cant get any button to work with the Pace DC420NF Foxtel Digital STB. Major disappointment. If anyone knows how to get it working, please let me know.

I have the same STB as you jonnyb, I'm REAL interested to hear how you get on.

I did have trouble getting my Harmony 659 to learn from my new Fox Digital remote, however I ended up installing it as a "Sky" satellite box on the Harmony setup, and all worked well (Sky TV in UK uses same set top box)...looks like I've out-Foxed.

Nice one taggartc - maybe there's hope after all. I'll try your trick when my 680 arrives (should be soon now :-( )

I've just relocated from the UK. I had Sky Digital with an Amstrad SkyDigibox and Sky Remote. I sold the box and remote on eBay before I came, but I had a spare Sky remote that I bought with me (that I had been using from the another room with a Powermid XL by Marmitek, IR sender). I got Foxtel Digital soon after my arrival and was issued with a UEC receiver and a Foxtel branded remote.
I noticed a few differences in the behaviour and labelling of the Foxtel Remote compared to my old Sky Remote, but they looked remarkably similar. Firstly, the Sky Remote has a "tv" button in place of the Foxtel "av" button as the top-left-most button. The key difference being that the Sky "tv" button switched the remote so that it would operate your TV (if you knew how to program it - see [Link: satcure.co.uk] ). I tried to program the Foxtel remote, but I think it might be a newer version (the url above covers older versions). I was able to reprogram (the batteries had run down, and the remote reset in the move from UK) the Sky Remote. I programmed it to operate my Grundig TV and the Sky Remote now drives Foxtel and the TV. The volume control now adjusts the volume on the TV, not the stb. There are a few other differences, like the mute, text, and setup button labelling and functionality, but for the most part, I can still operate all of the Foxtel features, and I can turn the TV on and off, switch TV channels and alter TV volume.
What is more relevant to this thread however, is that the similarities between Foxtel and Sky are indeed very close. I had feared that the Sky remote would not work due to the firmware on the stb, but it would seem that the main difference is in fact down to the revision of the remote. A colleague of mine in the UK just got the Harmony 688 and hasn't had any problems with Sky.

FYI, my Sky Remote has sticker under battery cover but above battery slots that reads URC 1610-10 B01 SC5 12433P Sky rev. 4. My Foxtel remote has URC1633B00-00 SCC516503 and a sticker in the battery slots that reads G041308.

I hope this helps

Now at least we know why the HTM/URC remotes work with it, as they're the specified Foxtel remote.

I'd have to say that going with their remotes would be the way to go in this case. They aren't quite as family-freindly as the Harmonies, but this is just proof that Rupert Murdock is Bill Gate's evil twin. (You will do it the way we tell you to do it or you won't do it at all.)

hi, been trying to get my 676 working for a while. No success yet. Taggartc Could you provide some more info. I've selected 'sky digital' satellite. Or anyone else got the 676 working with foxtel digital UEC?

ta

Hi,

When you are entering the new satellite device, enter the brand as "Pace" and the model number as "BSkyB 2200" this should allow you to then control most of the fox settings (may require you to change some of the timing settings though to get it to respond properly).

I've found that the channel up button sometimes sends through a "0" as well which means scanning through channels with the channel up button doesn't work too well, but the arrow buttons work, as does the tv guide etc for browsing channels.

The problem with an additional "0" sometimes being sent following a channel up, however can be rectified by changing the delay settings for the satellite device.

Try setting Power on Delay to 1000, Inter-Key Delay to 0, and Inter-Device Delay to 0.

Problem fixed.....

taggartc -you are a legend...thanks.

Thanks taggartc - your advice above re setting device to Pace and model to BSkyB 2200 has saved me too. I couldn't get my Foxtel Digital box working at all until I set it as you described and now it works. I think I still have subtle timing issues to sort out, but at least I've got basic channel changing and power functionality going.

Thanks for your input - invaluable.

My Marantz RC1000 cannot learn from the Foxtel Digital Remote control. Does anybody know if the new Philips Prontos can do it?