I am new to Remote Central and Daniel, you have a very informative site! I am considering the Pronto to control my rather modest collection of home theater equipment. I do not have technical knowledge and I am unfamiliar with many terms used on this site (alias, punch thru, discrete codes, etc).My concern/question is this: To select the input on my TV from my TVs remote I punch a "menu" key twice to arrive at the appropriate screen. I then punch a "down arrow" key to hilite the appropriate input, then I hit a different "arrow" key to select that particular input. A similar situation exists on my audio receiver when I want to select the sound field mode (dolby surround, live, theater, etc). I do not have individual remote buttons for these selections. I have to toggle thru the list of sound modes using one button. Will I be able to set up a macro that say: Powers on TV, selects tuner input, powers on audio receiver, selects surround mode? Thanks.











(Tuner, VCR, S-Video)

You already know what what discrete codes are, probably, without even knowing that you know...

A discrete code accomlishes an action regardless of device status. Action of a cyclical code depends on devide history. For example, an ON/OFF code is cyclical, because it will turn the TV ON if it was off, and OFF if it was on. Without knowing whether the TV is on or of, you don't know what the result of sending ON/OFF will be.

Cyclical codes are dificult to use in macros, because you don't know what the previous status was. However, most TVs start with partially known status when first turned on. What you do is program the macro assuming this status. After the macro finishes its job, you continue to issue commands that bring the TV back to that known status. That way, you can program several macros that use the menu system, each starting with that known status.

Sometine, the TV remembers previous status, even after it has been turned off. For example, my TV will come up with the previously selected input. Luckily, selecting a channel will take it to the TV input. So, to select VIDEO2, I send:

CHANNEL-UP (takes it to TV input)
TV-VIDEO (takes it to VIDEO1)
TV-VIDEO (takes it to VIDEO2)

Some cyclical codes are a bear. I still haven't figured out how to turn it off if it's on, but leave it off if it's already off. Or to select a specific channel.

What you also do is provide a panel where you can bring your configuration back to a standard state if somehow it is not already there.

This panel would have separate buttons for each item that could be in the wrong state, such as power toggle, TV input cycle.