I've been following this thread from the beginning. I kept the 1994 and returned the RCU 810 because I liked the look and feel plus the built-in learning versatility of this remote. I also needed the advanced codes to deal with my old Yamaha RXV470 receiver. (God bless Robman's site!!) I can't contribute much because I've lived MANY years without owning, much less using a soldering iron. Thanks to this thread, I've been browsing the local RShack looking at breadboards, soldering irons and How To books! JT's printed circuit board idea would be a wonderful step towards making the box more accessible to us sub-amateurs. My immediate goal is to set up a device code for TiVo. I have had to "learn" all the keys and have used up almost all memory. Keep up the great work!!!

I gonna have a go at building one for myself, and this will be my first electronics project since I built an electronic dice back in high school almost 20 years ago.

When I'm done I should be able to write up a "How To... For Dummies" type web page. I'm not even sure that I know how to read the schematics diagram, so I'm sure that whatever instructions I come up with would help other beginners.

In the meantime, those of us with boxes can offer to help out those without by upgrading their remotes for them. (I don't have the TiVo code yet though).

Rob.

I found a 2x3 6-pin connector. It's a "DUAL POLARIZATION QUICKIE III FEMALE CONNECTOR, 2X3 POSITION" made by Berg (who is a part of FCI).

Unfortunately, it requires a ribbon cable, which means
you'll have to strip and separate each individual wire
on one end. But from what Rob tells me, I guess that's what people are doing already.

It's available from Allied Electronics
(www.allied.avnet.com, stock no. 518-3150) for $0.66,
and includes a strain relief. So is the ribbon cable
(stock no. 942-0901), which is $0.41 for 1 foot of 9
conductor cable (just rip off the extra 3 wires).

It's not currently in stock, but I believe their lead time is 1-2 weeks. If you don't want to wait that long, chop up a box header like it says on Rob's page.

I can design a PCB now, so for those of you that would be interested (in just the PCB or all the parts), send me an email. If enough people are interested, I will get some boards made.

Josh

I just noticed that there is a handling fee for orders less than $25, so it would be better if people pooled their orders together.

Josh

I've just set up an email list at egroups.com for discussion on building and using these upgrade boxes. HW and myself have been fielding alot of emails with questions and I think it would benefit everyone else if they could hear the answers. The list is simply called JP1. There is a file section there too, so you can post files containing new device codes that you have built, etc.

Here's a link to sign up...



Click to subscribe to jp1


Rob.

The number of people signed up to the list is growing rapidly, and many are making upgrade boxes for themselves. As we get more people involved, there will be more code-breaking, more cool software, etc. Keep it coming!

Personally, I have completely re-programmed my 15-1994 remote. I have created a device code for my ReplayTV, Raite DVD player and Sima SVS4 video switcher. I re-programmed the Replay code to be a CABLE code so I could program it on the CBL button without having to change it (with 992), I also re-programmed my receiver code to be a CD code so I could place it on the CD button without changing it, this was so that I could set the volume punch through to the CD button and still have it work, even for the CBL button. (You can only set the punch through to devices other than the TV by editing the memory, you can't do it on the rmeote itself).

One of my VCR's (my Samsumg SV5000) needed quite a few advanced codes to make it work, so I created a new device code for that to save advanced code memory.

I have programmed discrete ON and OFF codes that work each of my two Replay units, so i can easily control which unit is on at any given time, which I do using macros.

The real killer part of all this is that I don't have to completely start over when I want to tweek my configuration as I have it saved on my PC. I can be busy tweeking it downstairs at my PC while my wife is still using the remote upstairs. I only need the remote when I'm done and I want to re-load. If I decide that I need to add one step to the middle of a macro, I just type in the keycode and change the length field, and it's done!

This is really like having a buttoned version of the Philips Pronto for alot less dollars!

Rob.
[Link: hifi-remote.com]

Wow! Robman! I am totally awed! You guys are awesome! Blows me away!

Greg :-)

One question: Does the interface/software for 15-1994 will work with the OFA's URC9800, and how can I identify the pins numbers?

Thanks!

If you look at the 6-pin connector, you'll see that that there's a line drawn around the base and one corner appears to be "cut away", the "1" pin is the one in that corner.

The software that works the upgrade box will load and unload the memory of the URC-9800, but I haven't taken the time to decode the memory yet. Some of it is similar to the 15-1994's memory and some of it is totally different. So, you'll be on your own for a while. However, I can send you dumps from my URC-9800 that has had codes added, and I can tell you what codes are in there, so if you feel up to the challenge of figuring it all out, come join the club.

You'll have the advantage of using all of the research that I've done to date as a reference, so you can see the kind of way that UEIC stores their data.

Once the memory format of the URC-9800 is documented, this can be used to upgrade remotes like the 15-1995 as it has the same IC chip.

Rob.

Will this interface/software work with the URC-8200 'Odyssey' remote that Radio Shack sells here in Canada? I opened the battery door and it appears that the remote has a 6 pin header, but is it the same?

I like the idea of the LCD display and hope that even it could be reprogrammed to indicate the proper device name in use.

If the remote has the 6-pin connector, you will be able to dump and load the memory, but then the fun starts because you will need to understand the format of the code in that memory. I've never seen a URC-8200 so I have no idea what it would look like.

You mention an LCD screen, in this case it's probably a clone of the Producer 8 remotes. Like I told JSquare, you can use the hardware but as I haven;t taken the time to document the format of the memory for these remotes, you will have to figure that out for yourselves.

Rob.
[Link: hifi-remote.com]

Hi Rob,

What am I missing? What do one get for subscribing to
jp1 eGroups? I sign up and access to nothing.

Charles

We carry out most of our discussion using the JP1 email list, plus there is a file section there where we load up software, source code, spreadsheets, user configurations and all sorts of cool stuff.

You just need to look a little deeper.

Later,
Rob.

I login to JP1 and I see only subscribe, everything else including messages is not available.

I can browse other eGroups' messages like crackZ1 but not jp1. Help?

Rob,

I look deeper.
I found a message saying the moderator have not approve my membership. What does it means?