Here are the steps to gather the codes from your remote and create a text file:
Use my program.
Create a log file ... File, Open Log File, choose a direcory and a filename.
Then open you port which the USBIRTOY is connected to for me it is COM4.
Hold the key of the remote
Close the log file ... File, Close Log File.
Edit the file...
By example, my log file have this for the Guide key :
The 56 31 31 31 has been introduced when I did connected the USBIRTOY and Opened the Port COM4 for the first time. So they are "garbage" but the remains is OK.
Then look for just few chars at the beginning like for me, I did tried 7F FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF and by doing a search in the file you will see it on the next item find. The beginning of the next same string is THE END of you remote key code.
So the code for my Guide Key is 7F FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 00 00 00 00 7E 07 C0 F8 1F 00 00 FC 0F 81 F0 3E 07 E0 00 1F 00 00 FC 00 03 F0 7E 00 03 F0 00 0F C0 00 3E 00 01 F8 1F 03 E0 7E 00 01 F0 00 0F C1 F8 3F 03 E0 00 1F 80 00 7C 00 03 F0 3E 07 C0 00 3F 00 00 F8 00 07 E0 00 00 00 00 00
I'm sorry for not providing to you any further details, yesterday.
I have a satellite receiver named Nfusion HD. This satellite receiver can record TV shows in HD on a External Harddrive. I can also manage it through an Ethernet Connection.
At a certain point, I was able manage my satellite receiver through Internet with Port redirection. (I was redirecting 8080 port from Internet to 80 port). To do so, I have reserved a free host at www.no-ip.com.Then add my router address in my host and defined port 8080. Then I did a port redirection in my router to redirect the port to the ip address of my satellite receiver. Example: Let's say that the satellite receiver is on IP 192.168.1.150. My router have let's say this IP 111.222.333.444.
The router reroute port 80 to the IP of the satellite receiver. And to see my satellite receiver I have defined my router IP with port 8080 in www.no-ip.com. Finally when the router see that I'm using my router IP with port 8080 it point to the satellite receiver IP.
It was OK for a while, until my employer found it and block it out.
Right now, my satellite receiver is connected to an HDTV antenna in order to receive ATSC signals. I can get FOX in HD which is my favorite channel.
The issue I have with this satellite receiver is, I cannot get more than 6 hours of EPG (Electronic Programming Guide). And sometimes it get nothing! So I cannot program it out before going to work, in order to program TV show that will be scheduled in the night.
That's why, I did purchase a USBIRTOY, which allow me to record the codes of my satellite receiver remote in files.
In this project I have created one text file per buttons on the remote. See in the folder ( C:UsersRegisDesktopMSCOMM_V17RemoteNfusionHDButtons )
The concept of the project is simple. I use Pycron to look in the reserved file crontab.txt for a RecCmd event or a StopCmd event. Then it run a batch file RecCmd.bat or StopCmd.bat.
The RecCmd.bat have a numeric parameter, which represent the channel position in the channel list. The channel list is a text file named ChannelList.txt, you can create your own based upon the CSV format. The first item is the channel name and the second is the position in this list.
The default channel have an * in the channel number like fo me it is "44-1_WFFF-HD","*10"
Why number 10! Because I did not find a way that allow me on my satellite receiver to go directly on channel 44-1. But when I check in my EPG it shows on 10th position. So the trick I did find is show the Guide, do few PgUp, then move down 10 times and confirm channel selection with OK button and quite EPG. You can see all those commands in the text file named RecordCmd.txt. You can also edit the file to suit your needs.
IMPORTANT : The commands have the SAME NAME as the text file which correspond to the KEY code text file. So the Guide.txt and the Guide command in the RecordCmd.txt must match.
In order to do so, I have modified a sample program which is usually provided with Visual Basic 6 (VB6) named MSCOMM.
With this program, I can also gather the IR codes of the remote in a format like 80 FF FF FF 03 C4 ...
When the program is opening the COM port, I send the "T", "X" and 0x03 which will switch the USRBIRTOY in IRIO 8 bit mode.
________________________________ The R button on the Terminal screen :
I did drop my remote on the floor, after this, the remote stopped to work. At least, I was able to gather all the codes from it.
Few weeks ago, I did start to program in VB6 to add a virtual remote to my program. I did this by taking a picture of my remote.
Then, I have defined this image as the background of a form and I did used rectangular shapes to define hotspots which will be triggered when I click a button on the image of my remote. By doing so, I can determine which shape correspond to which remote key and send the right remote code to the USBIRTOY.
________________________________ The C button from the Terminal screen :
So by doing this way I can define the recording of a show at a specific date, time and define when to stop the recording also based on a date and a time.
When the port is opened and the USBIRTOY is OK. the Terminal trigger a Timer.
This Timer is triggered at each seconds and it is checking for a file named RecCmd.txt or StopCmd.txt
Those files just contains in one line RecCmd and a value that will be used in DoChannel or StopCmd.
So the Timer will process and handle the content of the file RecCmd.txt or StopCmd.txt which will be deleted after it has been processed.
________________________________ The L Button from the Terminal screen :
Will allow you to clean and manage the crontab.txt file
The following is the SOURCE CODE of my personnal work on the USBIRTOY.
It have been made with VB6, ans pycron which is a freeware (http://www.kalab.com/freeware/pycron/pycron.htm) and there are a lot of text files which each of them correspond to the keys of the remote.
I'm releasing it so the community can contribute to it and enhance it.
I will just ask you to not make any commercial usage or use this as a baseline to release a commercial software or a shareware.
It should stay free for everyone.
Please try it out... it is not completly bug free but the ideas are there and the concept work.
C = Calendar R = Remote L = Job List
Note: To gather the remote code you can get them from the log file generated by the program
in order to be able to write the crontab.txt into the folder where pycron is installed, I had to create a share name, see in the source...
Then I did used the same terminal program to send 03 in hexadecimal to the USBIRTOY so I can send back the data already formatted in bytes back to my TV.
Then I did used again the terminal program to send this command to my USBIRTOY to my TV :
I have a PC running on Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit and I think that the upgrade went ok but just to check does the "T" command is still ok on version 102 ? because all seem ok but the T does not return anythings.
So I open a terminal like Hercules on the COM port where is the USBIRToy, then I open the port and use the "T" to trigger the self-test routine, "X" to trigger the IRIO mode, "R" to trigger the IRMan mode, "$" to trigger the bootloader mode so we can update the frimware through the USB port.
For the remaining one does I just use those commands like "Reset" to reset the USBIRToy, "SUMP" which send and capture the SUMP mode, "SUMP ID" display 1ALS.
Can someone can suggest me a place where I can check where are the protocols for the Infrared Remotes, like the one I was checking is from a Free To Air Satellite Receiver named Nfusion HD.
So if my remote is RC5 compatible, I should be able to grab a string of hexadecimal values in my terminal, and I should see the wave produce in SUMP for the key I have pushed on the remote, then I can use the terminal Hercules to send back the string which represent my remote button back to my Free to Air Satellite receiver ...
The tab of the led metal tab is placed on the opposite from the one on the board, so I assume that the fix has been done on this one.
Do I need to put few pins together on the USBIRToy in order to see some hex strings which I figure will represent the data received by the USBIRToy with Hercules software by example ?
Do I need to do a firmware upgrade on the USBIRToy ?
Can the firmware update be done from the USB port, if so how, please ?
I have used the mchpcdc.inf driver in Windows 7 Home Premium Edition.
This driver come from the USBIRToy.1.02 file, it is dated 2007-11-15 and it is version 5.1.2600.0.
I have tried the USBIRToy with the following settings : COM12, Bit Per Seconds 115200, Data Bit 8, Parity none, Stop Bit 1, Flow Control none.
I have used the Hercules-3-2-3.exe program to test the USBIRToy and the test with the "t" key report V101 most of the time with very few FAI2.
The IR Led seem to have been installed correctly.
With the Hercules program, when I use a remote, shold I should see any things from the USBIRToy such as a string of hex values, which correcpond to the signal received ?
Because I do not see any things.
Do I need to short few pins together to activate the Learn mode ?
How can I achieve this goal : I will like to be able to learn my remotes and then use a scheduler which can send commands to the TV, The DVR to start the recording of a TV show then Stop the recording based again on a schedule.
I know how to program in Visual basic if there are some librairies that can be used ...
