If anyone has purchased an XBox 360 IR Remote ... would you mind posting (or emailing!) your pronto configuration file for it? I'm not exactly thrilled about dumping another $40 into an already spendy device when I'd only wind up using the remote exactly once (to train the pronto)

Greg
spam "at" sleestacks "dot" com

A quick search would have yielded that no-one has posted anything as of yet. In fact, the previous thread is still on the first page of this forum.

...

Greg,

I'm sorry you took offense. Was not intending to be rude, just trying to prevent many spurious threads on the same, identical topic.

Searches for me have been working just fine lately. By default, the "search" timeframe comes up for 6 months. However, since the 360 is so new, a time of 1 month or less should not take that long.

In fact, I just ran a search for +Xbox +360 for Entire Thread and 1 month in the Pronto Forum ONLY.

This search spanned exactly 1,086 threads and was done in less than 2 seconds and included both your thread and the original thread.

I spend many hours on this and the NG forum trying to help folks come up to speed quickly such that they can become very effective. Having multiple threads often serves to confuse new users and make information very hard to find. And with only 3 posts under your belt, I could only help but wonder if you had done a search. Once again, sorry if I offended you but I had my reasons.

The best information I've seen on xbox-360 IR commands is in this JP1 thread:
[Link: hifi-remote.com]

The signals posted there use the MCE protocol, with the device number that MakeHex would call 116.15, so you could construct Pronto Hex for that whole set of signals using MakeHex with the mce.irp file and changing the top line to say
Device=116.15

But there is also this thread:
[Link: remotecentral.com]
where Edmund (who is usually correct) says it is OneForAll setup code SAT/1272, which I looked up in data from Rob (also usually correct) to discover it is MCE protocol, device 4.15

In another thread (sorry I forget where) I read that the xbox 360 can be configured for two different IR code sets, one of which is MCE. Assuming that info wasn't totally bogus, I suspect it is really two different codes sets, BOTH of which are MCE, but one with the common MCE device number 4.15 and one with device number 116.15.

So I've got this .hex file with the 116.15 device code now

It's got a list of functions from 0 to 255, each with their own string of hex codes.

this looks promising.

I guess my next question is are these functions standardized? like is function 12 typically a "Skip Forward" button or something?

If they're not standardized does this mean I just have to test each of the 256 functions to see what they do?

Greg

From there, I think it's best to use the IrPanels.exe program to import the whole thing into a CCF file with numbered buttons. Then test those buttons, then merge (I'm hazy on the details) that CCF into your main CCF keeping the buttons that do what you want.


Or you can copy/paste them one at a time. Whatever you find easier.


I don't know if they follow some standard. 12 is the power toggle command in this code set and MCE is a form of a Philips protocol, and 12 is the standard command for power toggle in other Philips protocols. So it probably follows some Philips standard.

I just did a translate and copy of the learned signals from the JP1 file in that thread to here:
12 = Power
13 = Start
15 = Info
18 = A BUTTON
19 = X BUTTON
20 = FWD
21 = Rew
22 = Play
24 = Pause
25 = Stop
26 = Next track
27 = Prev track
30 = Up
31 = Down
32 = Left
33 = Right
34 = Select
35 = Back
36 = Menu
37 = B BUTTON
38 = Y BUTTON
40 = OPEN TRAY
79 = Display
81 = Title
100= Silver X

So that should give you a good start at which command does what.

Please remember to report back on whether any of this works. I'm sure a few other people will be looking for this info soon.

Edit: There is now an rmdu file posted at [Link: hifi-remote.com] including several commands that weren't in the file of learned signals I initially used for this post. Since most Pronto users don't have the right software installed to read an rmdu file, I edited the list in this post to include the extra commands.

BTW, the MCE protocol includes a "toggle bit" that typically stops a learned signal from working when you use the exact same command twice in a row. The signals generated by MakeHex act like learned signals.

Assuming these basically work, please test whether you have that problem.

Some buttons that are frequently used multiple time in a row, such as Up or Down might or might not have the toggle bit ignored (so they might not get that problem, even if the basic design has that problem). If those work twice in row, try something with a toggle behavior:

Is Open tray the same command as Close tray? Assuming, so and assuming a toggle bit problem, I would expect that you couldn't open and close the tray with two succesive presses with nothing else between, but could close the tray if you press some other command after open and before close.

So far I've just been testing the codes you indicated that might account for power, ff, rew, play, etc.

As of right now, the only code that did anything was the power code (12) and it worked exactly once, so I'm guessing there's some business as far as toggling goes.

Not sure I understand the remedy entirely ... but in the .irp file I should change the T=1 to T=0 and regenerate the hex file to see which hex codes work consistently?

g

That is quite surprising. I wouldn't have been AS surprised if none of it worked, especially since I read something that seemed to indicate there are two different code sets and some configuration to be done to decide which is enabled.

You really mean ff, rew, play and other basic functions didn't work?


That does sound like the toggle bit problem. But more testing is required to confirm.


The remedy may be complicated (these things are much simpler with a JP1 remote than with a learning based remote, such as a Pronto).

First we need to understand the symptoms, then we can find the remedy.


I think you'll need to generate both sets and make them both available together in your Pronto, in order to investigate the symptoms better.

I don't know enough about ProntoEdit to even suggest how you could merge two CCFs from IrPanels. But if you're pasting the individual codes in, it's just twice as much work to have two versions of each command on seperate buttons in your CCF.

The original remote changes T every time you press a key. So if the first command has T=0, the second command will have T=1, the third T=0 again, etc.

To distinguish severe problems with the T bit from some other issue, you need to first test with a sequence of commands matching that behavior of the original remote. (In other words manually alternate between the T=0 and T=1 version of commands as you test each command).

If commands (ff, play, etc.) still don't work even if you alternate T on each press, then something else is wrong.

Anything that does work when you alternate T correctly, indicates we have the right commands. Getting a Pronto to alternate T correctly may be more trouble than it's worth, so once we have the right commands, we may want to investigate possible ways to get around the T issue without really duplicating the original remote behavior.

BTW, in case it wasn't obvious from the above descriptions, the problem with the T bit is not caused by using MakeHex instead of learned signals (from a real original remote). That problem would be even harder to deal with if using learned signals.

OK! Now we're getting somewhere ... The proper device is 4.15 .. not 116.15 (at least for my xbox).

with the toggle bit set to 1 (default)

function 12 is power off
function 40 is open tray

with toggle bit set to 0

function 12 is power on
function 40 is close tray

So since the open tray is ignored if it's already open, and close is vice versa ... I could create a button that effectively does both by including both IR codes, right?

and also all the following commands are with the toggle off...

31 down
32 left
33 right
34 select
20 fwd
21 rwd
22 play
24 pause
25 stop
15 info
26 next chap
27 prev chap
18 a
19 x
37 b
38 Y

It only seems that way because of limited testing. That is NOT the way the toggle bit works. Reread my earlier post.


No. That won't work.

Oh yeah, you're right. The functions are right but you have to alternate the toggle bits or it stops working. So where do we go from here? We have all the hex codes to do what we want, but the Pronto doesn't seem to have a facility to take toggled bits into account.

Is there a solution to this?

Greg

A temporary workaround seems to be as follows (tested multiple times, but who knows):

Startup sequence should be
power on (Toggle 0, Function 12)
info (Toggle 1, Function 15)

From this point on, all the Toggle 0 halves of the functions seem to work consistently on my Xbox.

I just put the Toggle 1, Function 15 into the button for power on, with a .5 second delay between the two IR signals.

Certainly this isn't the ideal or correct solution, but it seems to get by the main problem for me (buttons not working after the xbox starts up)

Greg

That's a surprising result. But if it works, great.

Did you test that with two Toggle 0 instances of the Open/Close command?


If it really works, it's a lot simpler and better than the typical work around. (Those are discussed in several other threads concerning "toggle bit").

If the firmware in the Pronto weren't so slow (or if the user doesn't mind the slowness) the solution that comes closest to matching the original remote is:

Make two idential looking versions of every panel. On version 0 each key is a sequence that sends a T=0 command then switches to the version 1 panel. On version 1 each key is a sequence that sends a T=1 command then switches to the version 0 panel.