Has anyone disassembled a Cinema 7 to see what's inside? I'm interested in evaluating the feasibility of building a combined hardware/software project that will allow you to edit/save/restore both learned codes and advanced code assignments. I'd like to be able to at least save (and then restore) my remote programming to my PC for backup, and to share learned IR codes with other people over the net. Being able to do macros and learning on the PC itself would be another plus.

So, before cracking open a fresh remote, I though I'd see if anyone has had one open to see what kind of micro is used, what other components are present, etc. Also, if anyone has any technical details on the connector in the battery cover (does it connect directly to a RAM or serial EPROM element? or is it a replacement for the built in RAM?), I'd appreciate it. Also, if anyone has a broken Cinema 7, I'd be interested in it.

If things look good, maybe I'll get another remote and start hacking on it...

I've been inside several 7's. They consist of one PC board with button contacts printed on it and all components (LEDs, battery contacts) soldered directly to it. Whatever they are using for a processor is a black bump in the board.

They are fairly easy to get apart, and go back together easy too. Open the battery compartment and remove the batteries. Unscrew the two small philips screws you'll see there. The case halves "snap" together. With the screws removed, you can pry the halves apart. I use just my fingernails, and start near the LED end, working around the perimeter.

I have no idea what the pinouts for the jp1 port would be. Daniel Tonks mentioned that he witnessed two cinemas with a cable plugged into this port leading to a dedicated "black box". Apparently the black box facilitated cloning/copying/dumping one cinema to the other.

Dave