On November 15, 2006 at 07:15, RobZ said...
We've gone down this road before in years past and always
arrived at the same dead-end ... i seem to remember a
piece of software (MakeHex or something like that) that
we believed would be useful, but never got it to work
for us.
MakeHex is the right tool for this task.
The several CCF files I've downloaded for Adcom all use NEC1 or NEC2 protocol with a device number of 26. If your Adcom device is the same, that plus the hex function numbers they gave you is all the information required.
If you had trouble with MakeHex in the past you should have asked questions in these forums until you got the answer.
You may also want or need to use IrPanels with MakeHex. I understand there is URC software that allows direct inport of Pronto Hex. But I don't have a copy. I don't know whether you have it and if you do whether it's easier to use than Irpanels followed by dragging from the CCF in Universal browser.
If you use MakeHex the ordinary way (which is the only way if you also use IrPanels) the functions will be labeled in decimal. But the function numbers you got from the manufacturer are in hex. That is an inconvenience, but it shouldn't be a big problem.
I'm not certain about the NEC1 vs. NEC2 issue with Adcom, so I don't know which you should use with MakeHex. For discrete codes it probably doesn't matter which you use. I suggest trying NEC2 first. NEC1 and NEC2 are the same for short presses and only differ for long presses. If NEC1 was correct and you use NEC2 instead, short presses will be correct and longer presses of some functions (especially digits and toggle functions) will double commands that you didn't want doubled. For discrete codes, accidentally doubling the command would be a totally invisible error.
On November 15, 2006 at 07:15, RobZ said...
Why do manufacturers think that a list of simple hex codes
will help us? There's more to the code than just this
one bit of data, and even if we knew the whole code in
hex format, we would still need it converted to 1's and
0's and learned into a remote or database to be useful.
What are we (or they) missing?
I do often wonder why so many manufacturers give just the function numbers and not the protocol type or the "custom code". That does force you to get extra information elsewhere in order to use a tool such as MakeHex. Of course, I'm not sure Adcom did that to you. They might have mentioned the protocol and/or custom code and you just didn't notice it.
I understand you wanted them to go all the way to Pronto Hex. Several manufacturers do and that is more convenient for those using various remotes that can be programmed with Pronto Hex. But Pronto Hex is not nearly universal enough for that to be a clear cut decision for a manufacturer publishing their IR signals. Besides, they're in the amplifier business not the remote control business, so they might not even know how to generate Pronto Hex. They probably license from some other company the chips and/or firmware to send and receive NEC signals, so all they know about their own IR signals might be the hex function numbers as they exist on the boundary between their firmware and the licensed NEC receiver firmware.
Last edited by johnsfine
on November 15, 2006 09:01.
