this is the deal, im pullin my hair out and having brain farts. im on a new system w a few new parts. its a 5.1 w/ Insignia TV ( i know im already screwed) , yammy 1065, sony bd, moto HD, T2B w/ Rp1.

ALso, using zone 2 w/ aton dla4 for 2 rooms w sources of zone 2 tuner, z2 ipod, z2 cable which i have running into audio 1.

1-how do incorporate a toggle power for a display i cant control? does anyone have an example they can send me? my homepage consists of watch cable, watch movie, power off. im thinking press watch cable and page flips to "power for tv" then page flip to dvr page which is usually my cable/everyday page. And same w/ OFF? Watch movie would end up being the same for watch cable. Or just as simple put the toggle on your cable/dvd page???

2- for some reason im having problem controlling the yammy piece cleanly? anyone have a clean set they use all the time that they know off the top of their head?

3-anyone have luck w/ dla 4's yet, i know their are discretes for aton dla 4. Does the z2 ipod work w/ out the display button? Can i have "Z2 IPOD" where yammy z2 powers on switches to ipod, dla powers on to certain rooms and have vol control? i havent played w it yet, finishin up tomorrow, but the ipod is kinda giving me a brain fart on zone 2


OH!!!! that reminds me?? talked to brett today and he said he read insignia has mitsu, phillips or emerson codes??? can anyone confirm? i did try a few from each on some test pages but no dice!!!

my last question is how the hell do u explain to people in english and not geek talk about control and macros and manufacturers data where it doesnt spin their head? sometimes when i explain why a insignia doesnt work, or a go video dvd.......they look at me like i suck and cant get it right???

tnx everyone in advance, this is a wierd one

Why don't you use a flag for power toggle TV?


Sorry I don't deal with Insignia products so maybe I'm not understanding the question

havent learned how to do flags yet? and never needed them b/c i ALWAYS use equipment i can use...except this time :(

i could email the file for some one to look at? or send me a exampleof a flag could work?

TIA

Should learn to do flags, even if you "always" use gear with discrete codes.
Flags can help. What do you do if a piece of gear is on so you don't need to wait before selecting an input?
Just use very simple logic and I bet you can figure it out.

Try using the sense input with this [Link: xantech.com]
to control the TV
You can not depend on flags. The are false logic and will not ever be 100% perfect for toggle commands

You might just have to put a page into a Power On page sequence where they turn on the TV, and then never come back to that page, or send a TV POWER command, until you're turning off the sytem and going back to that Power On page.

As for explanations to the client, the thing I've found helpful is to try to exclude lots of details from your explanations. Tell the customer that you just can't believe that the TV manufacturers think your client is such a small part of the market that they don't make their TVs able to be controlled by these neat systems, but dammit, that's the situation! Don't be formal. Don't be technical. Don't act like it's okay with you that things are this way. If your client thinks this is dumb and you tell them that this is dumb but that's how it is, they're more likely to get it.

"A macro is a way of making the remote act like it's picking up the TV remote, then the amplifier remote, then the cable box remote, and pushing all of the buttons to get you set to watch cable."

Customers often think that when I've programmed a remote, their original remotes won't work any more. I tell them to imagine taking several magazine articles and creating a report out of them. They xerox several pages, then cut the copies apart to create the report. When they are done, they have the report, which is the collection of commands you've put into the remote system, but they also have the original magazines, which are the factory remotes.

Just because the ideas are simple, doesn't mean the explanations are any shorter.

Here's another one: your Zone 2 setup is like a watering system. The amp is the city water pump. Your room volume controls are faucets. Be sure, when you want more water in some one area of the garden, that you turn its faucet on full before you call the city and ask for more water pressure. That is, always be sure the local volume control is all the way up before you even THINK of touching the Zone 2 master volume!

I've never had trouble explaining discrete codes to customers. Sometimes I get to techie and see the glass over but I like to try to be detailed but not overly technical after a simple explanation. Like Ernie said all you need to do is implied is why it is important for the customer to always either purchase product from you or get pre authorized model numbers.

I usually use the power button as an example explaining that when you press the power button on your remote the remote doesn't know if your equipment is on or off it just changes toggles between the two. Manufacturers build IR commands that are just on and just off. So if I send an on command it will only turn on. Without these advanced codes we can't program the remote to just turn on so when you hit the DVD command your TV might turn on or might turn off and your receiver might turn on and might turn off.

If a unit doesn't have discrete on or off there are several ways to detect if it is on or not and they are all over this website. current sense as tpowers pointed out (niles, xantech and for a real hack smartstrip), light sensor, video sensor, USB out, I'm sure there are even more. After explaining the toggle commands you then talk about these items and how they are going to add to the over all cost of the product so you saved $150 by buying insignia/vizio instead of panasonic/samsung/lg but now I have to charge you $500 so you can operate your system.

And if you can't sell a universal remote in every system even with the added expenses you need to start looking for a new job. "What's the point of putting in an amazing home theater if everyone in the house can't use it?" sacrifice everything else before control especially with how inexpensive it really is to get entry level stuff.