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Topic:
Scientific Atlanta 30 Second Skip?
This thread has 7 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Tuesday October 31, 2006 at 11:44
scramblur
Lurking Member
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October 2006
3
Is there a way to program a 30 second skip for a Scientific Atlanta cable box DVR? I've been playing around with timing the fast forward buttons myself, but I was wondering if there was some secret way to tell the unit to jump 30 seconds.

Any feedback or tips?

Thanks!
Post 2 made on Tuesday October 31, 2006 at 21:20
mtgriff
Long Time Member
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July 2002
289
I have a Scientific Atlanta 8300 HD. I didn't have much luck trying to accomplish this.

The problem is that the fast forward starts slow and gets faster. The manual says that pressing the fast forward three times plays the video at 32x normal speed but creating a macro that presses the button three times, waits one second then presses play didn't result in a 32 second advance. In fact, it did almost nothing. On the other hand waiting longer (4 or 5 seconds) resulted in an advance of several minutes. While the macro is running you cannot press any other button so I would end up watching my show return from commercial break and keep on going and going and going. In the end the best I could do was create a macro that presses the fast forward three times. Then I watch and when it looks like my show is going to come back on I press play myself.

For anyone who wonders why I don’t just press the button three times myself, the Pronto is slow and it almost always results in only two presses.

If anyone has actually got the duration down to a science I would love to hear about it.
Harmony One
Post 3 made on Wednesday November 1, 2006 at 02:40
Ernie Bornn-Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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Sounds like you need a trick.

I built a similar macro for a DirecTV DVR before I found the way to program the unit itself. Don't ask, or search the forum for the phrase "piece of crap."

I used the FF command but put a 0.1 sec delay between commands. If I didn't, the unit didn't see three separate commands. This was with another brand of remote, and maybe yours already has a delay built in -- you'll have to check that.

The other trick is to get a remote that has nothing to do with your system, and insert a command from that remote between FF commands. This way the box will never see two consecutive FF commands as one command.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 4 made on Wednesday November 1, 2006 at 06:44
mtgriff
Long Time Member
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There's no problem seeing all three presses. The problem is that the fast forward function starts out slow and gains momentum as it goes.

I can imagine that the phrase "piece of crap" appears on this forum more than a few times. :)
Harmony One
Post 5 made on Wednesday November 1, 2006 at 13:30
Ernie Bornn-Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
Joined:
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30,104
On November 1, 2006 at 06:44, mtgriff said...
I can imagine that the phrase "piece of crap" appears
on this forum more than a few times. :)

Yeah, but for mine you only have to search thread titles, not individual posts.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 6 made on Saturday October 13, 2007 at 17:10
flaglen77
Lurking Member
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mtgriff..
I also have a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR and have a Universal Electronics Atlas OCAP 5 remote. I have been experimenting with the macros and found that after you press FF four times, insert a "0" (or any character), and within a couple of seconds insert your "play". I've found this effective, but you have to work with the timing of the "0" and "play" to get it just right.
The only way it's predictable, is that it's not predictable.
Post 7 made on Sunday October 14, 2007 at 16:45
411avatar
Long Time Member
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October 2003
149
I took a different approach, assuming the purpose of the 30-sec skip function is to string together several of these to cover an entire commercial break. Since one can never be sure how many 30-sec segments make up a break, I decided to just use the normal FF function, and hit PLAY when the action re-starts (which is usually pretty easy to tell). The problem with this is that, due to reaction time, one inevitably overshoots. To compensate for this, some DVRs include an algorithm to rewind for a short time after PLAY has been pressed following a FF; the duration of the rewind time is a function of how many FFs have been pressed. I just simulated this algorithm in my pcf, and it seems to work reasonably well.
Post 8 made on Friday April 11, 2014 at 13:06
Rayanmar
Lurking Member
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April 2014
1
Maybe that's it, an algorithm to rewind a short time after PLAY has been pressed. can it be changed


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