Ok, I'm not new to programming, and to this point I have had no problem with designing a CCF with an easy workable flow, until now.

I have a client who purchased equipment from one of the chain stores, not knowing what he bought. Needless to say the store did not go into detail about installation, calibration, and the control of the components at the time of the sale. Frustrated with the whole system, he went back to the store several times to ask for help. After going round and round with the salesman for months, the salesman gave up and suggested that he call us.

Ok, no problem, we cleaned up the installation, and suggested a Marantz RC5200 with an RF module, because the equipment is not in direct line-of-site, to make it easy to use.

Easy, right? Wrong! This client is VERY technologically challenged. And he has some equipment that does not have discrete codes, making one-touch operation impossible.

Here is a general breakdown of the equipment:
(I don't have model numbers at the moment)

Hitachi TV -- no big deal, there is a work-around
Sony VCR --- easy-discretes
Toshiba DVD -- work-around
Hughes Satellite receiver -- No discretes/no work-around
Onkyo A/V receiver -- No discretes for power/no work-arounds

Now I figured no biggie, I could just put a series of questions/commands/macros from the start page to make sure the correct equipment is on. No good, he doesn't know if the satellite is on or off, consistantly has a hard time with the fact that the touchscreen is feedback as well as what is seen on the TV screen. (thank god for RF) So for the moment I'm stumped.

Anyone else have any ideas?


JJP

(Sorry for the long post)

Are you sure that the Onkyo doesn't have discrete power? I have a 787, and I have the discrete codes for it. I got the discrete codes from Stefan Schorn's 777 file in the files section.

I have two Dish network receivers and they will suck if it's not line of sight. Perhaps you could add a "is there any picture" and if the answer's no, power the satellite receiver.

Thanks.

I'll check into that.


JJP

Just curious. Why does your client ever want to turn off the sat-receiver? Mine never gets turned off (intentionally) for 2 reasons. I believe the receiver needs to be powered up to do the guide download every 2 weeks, and for my Tivo to operate correctly when I'm not home.
When the TV and receiver are turned off, there is virtually no eveidence that the sat-receiver is on or not. So whats the reason for wanting to turn it on and off every time you watch?

I'm only concerned about a power outage. The client has power outages regularly. If the power goes out and then comes back on, the satellite receiver reverts to the "off" state. That's where the problem comes in.

Thanks for the reply though.


JJP

how about X-10 (or other IR controled power)

Have you considered adding a break out box with LED probes to handle the TOADs?

Also, I strongly recommend adding a low-end PC uninterruptible power supply to everything in the system that doesn't retain settings when the power goes out (but NOT the TV). This has saved me a ton of headaches at home.

Optionally, I suggest a walk-through wizard on the Pronto that sets all components back to their "standard" settings for use with the Pronto. This way, if the power goes out, or even if the user gets confused, he can run through the wizard and have everything back to normal. This was how I handled the loss of settings before I got my UPS as mentioned above.

Dale

Not sure what you're talking about.



Dale, do you have an example of this?

Thanks for the replies so far guys.


JJP

Hey, John!

Maybe you should do what ECHOSLOB did and put an Emu in your clients living Room! It might distract him enough that he doesn't care what his HT is doing!

(Written by ECHOSLOB on 02/05/02 13:28.32 - "EMU AND IR QUESTION").


MIKE    
(ps; Does your client live in the State of Confusion)?

I'll try that Mike.

And yes, I think he does.


JJP

For only a couple hundred more bucs you can add the ocelot home controller and then have a fully status sensed system that you don't have to even have discrete codes....

Yeah, what about this? I know next to nothing about X-10, but wouldn't it work? Do X-10 power modules have separate on and off codes?

Unless I'm mistaken, the Onkyo receiver reverts to the "standby" state when first powered up and wipes all surround, levels, and other settings to default, which would be the case with the X10 modules.

The Hughes satellite receiver also reverts to it's "off" state when ac power is removed and then re-applied to it. Not to mention with ac power removed, it cannot update the account (PPV) or settings of the receiver.


JJP

Ok, I think I've got it solved.

My gut feeling here, to make this as idiot-proof as possible, is to tell the client to move the Onkyo receiver to his office and the Hughes satellite receiver to another part of the house.

I just sell him a RCA sat receiver for $50, and a Marantz or Pioneer receiver. Mind you, this won't be easy, as it won't be cheap to replace the equipment, not to mention the cost of the remote, RF adaptor, and programming.

Oh well, we'll see what happens!


JJP

This message was edited by John Pechulis on 02/06/02 21:51.44.

Dale: Just curious as to why you wouldn’t want to put a uninterruptible power supply on a TV?

John, I apologize for getting sidetracked from your thread.