Made some substantial progress this weekend with testing the decoding/encoding, reception and transmission. For example I discovered that when cloning a single device that each page starts with a different code. That's a total of 11 codes, one each for the ten devices and one for cloning all devices. Unfortunately we got bogged down with the Windows drivers. Who ever would have though that would be a problem ;). I'll keep in touch. Some time this week I'll have the cloning sequences complete and also the driver software next weekend if we're blessed. After that I'm on vacation so I would like to have a pretty good degree of success by the end of this weekend.

Mike

My goal is to be able to capture the data being cloned from the MX-500 to a PC. To allow storage of the captured file and possible manipulation of the data. The final goal is to be able to send at least the captured file back to the MX-500.

At present I can claim success for the first two items on the list. I can, reliably capture data from the MX-500 and save it on a PC. I can send it back but some data gets lost and we are working this problem. I do not know if I capture all the data yet as the lack of ability to send back data reliably is holding up the last step in understanding the cloning process. As the time taken for the process is about half what the manual says I think I am not quite there yet. A couple of days maybe to get a fix.

I have some files from all ten devices and also the whole lot. It seems that not cloning labels when cloning just one device can be explained. So far I have captured 4096 bytes from each device. I capture 45056 bytes when I clone all. That is exactly 11 times as much. It should be 10 times as much. It is also clear from inspection of the captured file that the extra 4096 bytes are the label table as I can see all my FAVS in the file. The other 10 parts of the "ALL" file are almost exactly the same as the individual device files. The labels are not present in the device files only the "ALL" file.

I am also thinking that with a little understanding that it will be possible to capture the "ALL" file and move the individual devices around within it so they appear in different places on the screen. Don't know if the customized labels will move appropriately but that seems a nice feature if we can make it work.

I'll post the files and an explanation before I go on vacation.

Mike

Wow Mike! Sounds great! Keep up the good work!

Mike,
This is my 1st post on Remote Central forums, and I just wanted to say that I appreciate your efforts!

In fact, I just purchased an MX-500 based on this thread, hoping that you will be able to come up with a solution that let us interface the MX-500 with a PC :-)

I have been following this thread for a while now, and I think the Mike has been doing a great job. However, after just building a JP1 interface I have to believe that there is a easier way to accomplish what we want (i.e. using the 7 pin header). Here are a few of my thoughts that I hope someone here can shed some light on:

1. a search on google for ohsung turns up this:
http://www.ohsungec.com/

Ohsung is the parent company for home theater master (notice that Ohsung's US office has the same address as home theater master). They also show the mx-500 as a product. Maybe (ok, big maybe!) we could get the datasheet for the osh1002p chip? Problem solved.

2. Ok, so we can't get the datasheet. I assume that the mx-700 uses the same chip (the osh1002p) as the mx-500. Does the mx-700 have this same 7 pin header? If not, does the the serial connector on the mx-700 use the same pins on the osh1002p? There will probably be a rs-232 level converter between the serial connector and the osh1002p. If this is the case, then we could just reverse engineer the mx-700 serial protocol and add our own level shifter.

Does anyone with a mx-700 want to open it up?

Thanks,
Derek

I am having trouble getting Ohsung to come up on my computer.

That being said, even URC (Home Theater Master) uses another MX-500 to back up your configuration if you send it in to get replaced. They may have the equipment to load the MX-500 with updated firmware, but it doesn't seem they have backup capabilities.

I believe there is another thread in this forum that went extensively into the connector and what was accessible and what wasn't from the connector.

G.

282.118.14.11 is ohsungec's IP address, but I still can't get it up with that. A ping return no data.

I had the open Flash page once, but when I hit Skip, the page hung.

This message was edited by GregoriusM on 07/02/02 22:47.01.

one thing to keep in mind is that while the 700 used UEI's codes, the 500 doesn't, so new software will have to be written for the 500 if you JP1 it...

Who gave you the idea that the 700 uses UEIC's codes, Ahl?

Derek

When I opened the MX-500 I looked for a RS232 driver. There isn't one. I bussed the wires directly from the OSHUNG chip, through some ESD preotection diodes and resistors to the 7-pin connector. i looked at the states of the three signal lines in the connector, the ones labelled 40, 39 and 37 but I never saw them toggle. Their state were hi, lo and hi respectively if that tells you anything. I also tried looking around at micro-controllers in general to see if I could find one that had an LCD driver and a serial port on pins 40, 39 and 37. There were too many to sort through. I think some of the NEC line came close but that's not a firm memory.

Right now I'm still trying to get the download working. I am going through the support department of the USB chip company at present waiting to see if they can solve the problem. I had a big calamity tonight. I unwisely tried to program ALL. My MX-500 went through self test, passed it, turned on the light and promptly garbled all characters on nearly all screens. I think I overwrote the label page which contains URC labels as well as user programmed ones. I think I can restore it by borrowing the demo unit from the store and cloning all. The programming page works although no other does. I won't get back my original data until I can dowload the file stored on my PC. Now there's an incentive to complete the program:)

Mike

Mike,

Sorry to hear about your remote. Sounds like you are almost there, though. What usb chip are you using?

I realize that the rs-232 driver isn't in the 500. What would like to know is if the ttl side of the rs-232 driver in the 700 is connected to these pins on the controller. Can anyone with a 700 verify this?

In my opinion, the 7 pin header is there for easily upgrading the remote's firmware on the manufacturing floor. I have a hard time believing that this header is only one-way. If it is only one way, then they would have no way of verifying through this interface that the code was written correctly. I know the manufacturing guys I work with would never go for that. I think htm said it was one way just to discourage people from trying.

I searched the archives for a previous discussion about this connector, but I couldn't find anything. Could someone please post a link to it?

Derek

Derek

Try my post 4/28 this thread. (Page 1)

Mike

Fixed the MX at the Good Guys so I was right about overwriting the label tables. Also I closely observed the cloning process for ALL and also for a single device and now I know that I am just a successful download (PC to MX) away from completing the project. The USB chip vendor was already making changes to his drivers to fix my problem and they will be released in a couple of days. I'll be on vacation till the 15th so I hope they're done by the time I get back. I won't say who the vendor is at this point.

Mike

Enjoy your holidays.

my cinema 7 remote and the mx700 have the same setup codes for 90% of the devices i've programmed....

the 500's list is completely different- i found out the hard way, upgrading a 500 to a 700...

Ahl: I know they don't use UEI's database. They use their own, but where do any of these manufacturer's get their databases?

Some license the databases from places like UEI, or directly from the manufacturers, or from remote controls (such as the Cinema 7), and some get them from the CCF's on this site.

The MX-500 has an older database, but it is the one the the new one in the 700 was based on and added to, probably from a Cinema 7 remote.

G.

Had a great vacation. Returned refeshed and as it happens intuitively lucky. I have been able to successfully download files to the MX-500 so everything now works. The new USB drivers haven't been released yet as far as I can see. I played around a little and was able to make the old ones behave reliably enough to not only download each individual device but "ALL" as well. My MX now is restored to its former state with all labels and learned buttons.

I have done some testing to check things out. After I downloaded ALL I uploaded it again and compared it with the original saved file. Every byte matched perfectly. I then downloaded the 10 individual devices and then uploaded ALL to the PC. Again the ALL file matched the original so I am pretty happy that I have figured out the complete sequence correctly.

There is at least one thing I still need to figure out and that is the error checking scheme that the MX-500 uses during cloning. I do know that it uses such a scheme as I have sent it bad data deliberately and the receiving device rejects the file. I just need to figure out what the scheme is. I see this as necessary to protect the remote during up and downloads.

My next step is to publish the files that I have so that anyone who is interested can start to pick the contents of the files apart. I need to do that to figure out the error protection scheme.

Mike C

P.S. If I have been consistent upload refers to MX to PC and download is vice-versa.