Good afternoon. I have an MX-980. In the cable section, I have the "on" button set to turn on the TV, set the appropriate input channel and turn on the cable box. I would like to be able to have statements that check to see if the power to the TV is already on and if the input is already correct and, if so, skip those statements. I think I need to use an IF statement with a UI variable but I am not familiar with how to setup a UI variable. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! I'll need some 101 on UI variable as I haven't used them before.

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If it doesn't come up, try typing in the forum search, "980 Variables" That should get you started than until other members can chime in.

Why have you set it up in such a way that you need two button presses ("cable" then "power on") to watch cable???

I'll give you a hint regarding your question: You are on the right track; you do need to use variables in conjunction with If/Else statements to keep track of TV power as you described.

Also, unless your TV is slow to switch inputs or it does not have discrete codes for inputs, I wouldn't bother tracking the inputs. If neither of those are the case, I would only track the TV's power. As long as you have discrete codes for inputs, and the TV switches inputs pretty fast, the benefit of tracking inputs isn't worth setting up the variables and if/else statements it requires.

When you set up your macros that include if/else statements concerning the TV power variable, you need to figure out the time delay the tv requires between powering up and accepting an input command, then set up the macro like this:

If variable TV power is FALSE
TV Power ON
Delay x.x seconds
Else
---------------------
TV Input x

Set it up like this and you don't have to have the input command in both the IF and the ELSE portions of the statement, i.e.

If variable TV power is FALSE
TV power ON
Delay x.x seconds
TV Input x
Else
TV Input x

Why do you want to do this?
Why not use discrete ON and discrete OFF commands if you can.
If the TV is already ON nothing will happen, it will just stay ON.
Skip the variables and if else statements.
Its totally unnecessary if you have discrete commands.
They are kind of a last resort and can get out of wack.
There are other uses for them but this sounds like a simple set-up.
Same goes for the inputs.

If the TV has discrete power commands, the only instance where tracking its power is beneficial is when the TV is already on (also assuming multiple TV inputs are being used). When the TV is already on, you can shave the seconds/fractions of seconds that the TV requires between the power on command and an input command off of your macros. If my TV is already on, and the TV doesn't need that extra 2 seconds before accepting an input command, why would I want to wait 2 unnecessary seconds for the macro to finish executing?

I would only do this if the delay required before the TV will accept an input change command after power on is more than 4 or 5 seconds. Then, and only then, I use variables as described above. It is not too hard to figure out in the software once you look at it closely and/or read the manual and/or watch the online URC training video (as corny as they are sometimes). :)

If you get upset about 2 extra sec, you may have issues that can't be solved here.
Why bother with work arounds when variable tracking is so fool proof.

Good luck.

I didn't say an extra 2 seconds upsets me. If I have the option of shaving that time off of my macros, I am going to take advantage. In my household, no one ever uses the factory remotes or manually operates any component, so my if/else programming works every time. Having said that, I do not program my customers' remotes this way unless a projector is involved, but it works perfectly for my own system.