I'm happy to say that I have all my Zenith TV codes (no Discrete though... No room for them either), all my Zenith VCR codes (Discrete On/Off!!! YAY!!!), and all my Toshiba DVD codes. I seem to have all my Denon AVR-3200 codes as well. Maybe I should flesh out my CD changer's codes and my Pioneer LD codes now (even though I already have discrete On/Off for it)...

Scott "popcorn"

You mentioned you had all Toshiba DVD Codes. Does that include discrete codes? If so please post them if you get a chance.

Gee, I don't know how many times I've posted the code in various threads... but if you want to try, here is the discrete on + tray open... It's the only discrete code I found (other than a play that doesn't turn the player on), so you'd still have to use a pseudo-discrete to turn the player off... And you'd better be sure there's nothing in front of the player when you use this code because it opens the tray. But this code does nothing if the player is already on:

Toshiba SD-2109 DVD On + Open Tray (should work with others)
0000 006c 0022 0002 0156 00ac 0016 0040 0016 0015 0016 0040 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0040 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0040 0016 0015 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0015 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0040 0016 0040 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 0015 0016 05f6 0156 0055 0016 0e5f

No chance for any discrete speaker on and speaker off, huh?

I think the Database is a great idea. But the codes should be sorted only by manufactur and kind of device, because some codes work fine on other models of the same manufacturer and not only for the specific device.
i believe it takes not much time to test all codes for a sigle device (i. e. JVC Receiver).

Yours Rolf

Just a comment on those that have tried - without success - to get discrete on/off codes for devices. If you manage to get a response from someone and they won't give you the information then there is a very good chance that they haven't understood the question or don't have access to the information themselves.

Basically, you have your frontline staff - who are the people that answer your calls and reply to your email - and you have your backline staff. The backline staff, generally speaking, deal with the more complex issues and if they don't have the information themselves, with a little pressing you can usually get a vague promise for them to find out. This staffing divide appears in anything from technical support to telephone banking staff.

If you don't get anything from the FL staff, ask to speak to a manager. If that doesn't work, ask to speak to the manager's manager. If you come across a totally dead-end, then you need to do the following: -

(1) Find [Sony/JVC/GE/etc]'s fax machine number

(2) Write a letter on business letterhead paper to the "Executive Correspondence" department of the company you're dealing with. State on this letter that you have a complaint and that their staff were unable to deal with the matter and that requests to get the enquire escalated within the company were declined. Express your disappointment at the experience and how you feel this matter has caused a serious loss of faith in the brand.

Don't give out any specific information at this point, just state that as a result of the disgusting customer service you have experienced, you require a member of staff at senior management or director level to investigate this matter. Ask the department to provide you with the name and contact details for the person most suited to deal with your enquiry and for you to be faxed this information back.

(3) Send the fax off to the company as close to opening time as possible. This means that your fax will sit on top of the pile of faxes that have come in overnight or over the weekend.

(4) Wait until close of business two working days later. If you've not heard anything, address your fax directly to the Managing Director. Enclose a copy of the facsimile transmission confirmation report and explain how concerned you are that their correspondence department has been negligent in providing the relevant information.

(5) You should hear back with the info of the person more suited to deal with you in a day or two. Write a letter addressed to them and marked "Strictly Private & Confidential", as obviously your complaint is a sensitive subject. Explain exactly what you need in as little words as possible, then in a new paragraph expand by explaining why you need it and clarify what a discrete code is.

I should state that you should only do this after you've tried going through the frontline and backline staff. Do NOT complain about the individuals that you've dealt with - it's not their fault that they don't know what a discrete code is. Complain about the lack of customer service overall, not the lack of service from the individual (unless, of course, they're just plain rude!)

I've done this a few times before and if you do it right, it does work. Generally speaking, companies are designed to keep the end-customers directly away from the seriously technical people and the helpdesk/support centre most of the time don't get to talk to these people anyway as they're on a different site or even in a different country. If, however, you then complain to the management about it, they'll normally look into it for you.

The whole world is full of people that can only be described as "complete nutters" and keeping these people away from the experts _is_ a good thing. If this didn't happen, you would have people calling up the chief designer of a CD-ROM drive manufacturing company and complaining that the CD on the cover of "Blah Blah Blah PC" magazine crashed their system...

Try this and let me know if it works. The email address is genuine, but will try to deal with spam in the best way possible (>/dev/null)

Regards, Ade.

I'm all for beginning a comprehensive IR database. I think it's pathetic that All for one remotes can have these codes built right in, and we can't even get anything but Philips in the ProntoEdit program. I think this would be awesome place to have such a repository. Is this something Daniel would be willing to take on? I know there is something like this here already. But a list or excel chart of some sort would be very useful indeed.

Mark

It's curious that the manufacturers aren't keen to release information that would make their kit more usable!
It's also probably worth stressing that there's no perceived intellectual secrets or commercial advantage in keeping the codes unavailable.
The compatibility of equipment can be a deciding factor in its purchase. As an extreme example, the incompatibility of some UK cable TV receivers with the RC5000/Pronto may be steering certain customers away from their service...
Personally, compatibility will be a consideration for me in every AV product I buy from now on.

I tried philips service department for Discrete IR Codes on my Philip Sat Receiver. No luck but I did not expect any. Would a petition to manufacturers from owners of Pronto/RC5000 help motivate them. You would hope a winning petition to Philips would be a step in the right direction. Philips engineers and managers must attend trade shows where they could make an appeal to other manufacturers in the intrest of customers. Does this web site have group actively developing a program to generate, test, catalog IR codes or are the number of combinations to many? I know there are risks in testing codes but a few of us are probably will to take the chance.

The only company that I've ever gotten a positive response from has been Mitsubishi. They were very helpful aand even faxed me a document to get all of the discrete codes for my TV. Sony, well lets just say that they SUCK.

I emailed NAD about discrete codes for the T760 AV Receiver, and although the reply was 'Sorry - it doesn't use them' they did tell me that they were adding this feature to newer units.

They even had a piece about using NAD gear with learning remotes in their site FAQ!

I just wish it used discretes :-(

Dom

Well, the good thing with Sony is their IR format is so well understood that it's an easy thing to check for hidden codes yourself. I recently located a whole load of tape deck commands not on any of my remotes.

make hex, irtool,prontoutil

Daniel, it is surely my lack of ability in this area, but I have tried to use the MakeHex, IRTool, and ProntoUtil programs but to no avail. Is there any relatively simple way to use one of these programs to generate such hidden codes from the Sony codes? You had been invaluable (once again) a long time ago, in providing a discrete sony preamp on and off set of codes, which I never thought existed. I would appreciate any advice on how to use one of the programs to do this.

Well, it still takes a bit of work. It seems no one program does everything. For a quick tutorial, post one good code for the device you're working with.

Daniel, thanks for the offer. This is one of the Sony sound field codes, which works perfectly for the LIVE music field:

0000 0066 005b 0000 005f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0397 005f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0397 005f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0397 005f 0018 002f 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0177 005f 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 0018 0177 005f 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0177 005f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 002f 0018 002f 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 002f 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018 0018

And, this is a MUTE toggle, (which, by the way, I'm trying to get to be a discrete mute on or mute off):

0000 0066 0000 0015 005f 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 002f 0017 0017 0017 002f 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 002f 0017 0017 0017 002f 0017 002f 0017 0017 0017 002f 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 0017 002f 0017 0017 024b