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Topic:
Adjusting to URC's Power Indicator Standard... Or not...
This thread has 4 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Friday May 21, 2010 at 19:35
mistachy
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
April 2010
269
Before reading, please note that this is not a tutorial. This is just my observation and editing of the power indicator. This thread is really more to pass along information to beginners more than anything else, anyways...

I'm fairly new to URC's CCP and remotes, so I don't know if this is the case for all URC remotes, but the power indicator scheme is not consistent. For the MX-980, the power indicator just seemed to be more accurate for what I'm used to seeing rather than the power indicator for my MX-6000...

The MX-980 power indicator has:
very low


low


medium


enough


full


charging



The icons above were more of what I could get used to, but I don't have a MX-980, I have a MX -6000. The power indicator for the MX-6000 has 7 stages, where as the MX-980 only has 6. So I couldn't just switch indicators, I actually had to rework the file because of the stages. The inconsistency of the stages themselves were very different and that just kept throwing me off. Let me explain:

I started with the MX-6000; it was my first remote from URC, and I had no idea the power indicator schemes were different until i got annoyed with that of the 6000. It was just so misleading for me that I had to try and figure out how to change it... then that got me wondering if the power scheme was uniform from remote to remote, and of course its not as you can see.


The default scheme for my 6000 has:
very low


low


medium


enough


full


cradle


charging




There is an obvious difference in the 2 schemes.
very low
mx6000
mx980

In my experience very low always meant almost nothing... and in the case of the mx-6000, it digresses from:
low

to very low


So we went from 1 red bar, to 5 solid full red bars... not that this is a big deal, it just seemed weird and I felt I needed to get back to a more realistic situation for me.

So, I adjusted my lows to look like this:
low

to very low


As you can see, my implementation is more representative of the the MX980 at the lower levels.

Here is another inconsistency that threw me off. At 50 percent power, that to me means half full... or... getting ready to go down hill in my mind.

Middle for 980 is:


Middle for the 6000 is:


The Middle setting for the 6000 makes the remote look like its nearly on its last leg and is about to die, better start thinking about getting it on the charger, but the battery was still in the 50+ percentile... so it was just misleading to start showing me yellow (uh oh, low power) when I had a fairly good decent amount of operating power left. The 3 green bars for the MX-980 seemed much more accurate for the amount of power left in the battery.

I adjusted mine to look like this:
very low


low


medium



Now this demonstation has to be the biggest reason why I changed my battery scheme. Most of the time my remote is nearly full so that's where I usually see my indication. Anytime I think of the word full... it means to the top for me, or nearly the top... but the standard for full for the MX-6000 is:

while full for the MX-980 is:


I cant explain why 100% juice is 4 bars for the 6000 and 5 bars for the 980, this is just strange... and it bugged me constantly and made often think that my juice was running down when actually, I had full battery.

In my opinion, the "enough" indicator level should mean 4 bars... meaning that you aren't at full capacity, but you don't need to charge any time soon either. So I adjusted that stage to indicate when my remote has 80% power, I have 4 bars which is more accurate for "enough" juice in my opinion.

My adjusted MX6000 to look like this:
very low


low


medium


enough


full


cradle


charging



As opposed to the standard:
very low


low


medium


enough


full


cradle


charging



If you dont know how to change/edit your battery indicator:
Changing/Customizing the battery indicator is easy. It's just a simple gif file with 6 or seven stages depending on your remote control model. Other models may have fewer stages, but you can easily tell by exporting your battery indicator graphic to view in a editor such as Fireworks. Simply edit the stages to appear as you want them to then import the gif back into CCP. Its that easy.

Here is my battery indicator GIF file for the MX-6000 if anyone wants it... or you can just as easily create your own if it's something you wish to do.

MX6000 :o) myfile [Link: texas-rebel.com]
LR: Onkyo TX-NR807, Samsung 52", MRX-1. BR1: LG 37", Sony AVR, MRF-260. BR2: MarantzSR8002, Epson8500 100", Klipsch RF-82 HT System, MSC400, HTPC
Post 2 made on Saturday May 22, 2010 at 00:14
gwstudios
Senior Member
Joined:
Posts:
June 2004
1,371
Wow, you gave that a lot of though. I did something similar with the MX-3000 editor a while back, but then it seemed like I couldnt get the custom indicator feature to work when they updated the software. So I went back into my original install CD from a first gen MX-3000 and saved the file, then I had to import it into a newer project. I dont know if there is a size limit to the indicator but I have something really nice that could be used on a larger page.

The idea was to place a transparent button over the small indicator that took you to a full page with the larger & fancier one. The GIF standard they use makes it hard to be creative with transparent edges, however.
Post 3 made on Saturday May 22, 2010 at 16:38
vwpower44
Super Member
Joined:
Posts:
August 2004
3,662
If you are as bad as me, then you will also change the Output png as well. I just made a blank transparent "OutputOff" icon, and used the existing "OutputOn" icon. That way I don't have to look at the stupid output png when i am not outputting anything.
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish...
Post 4 made on Sunday May 23, 2010 at 10:18
vbova27
Super Member
Joined:
Posts:
July 2006
2,987
Most programmers (let alone designers) use thier own graphics and don't rely on URC"s "stock" graphics.
OP | Post 5 made on Sunday May 30, 2010 at 00:20
mistachy
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
April 2010
269
On May 22, 2010 at 16:38, vwpower44 said...
If you are as bad as me, then you will also change the Output png as well. I just made a blank transparent "OutputOff" icon, and used the existing "OutputOn" icon. That way I don't have to look at the stupid output png when i am not outputting anything.

LOL, this is too funny. point well taken.
MX6000 :o) myfile [Link: texas-rebel.com]
LR: Onkyo TX-NR807, Samsung 52", MRX-1. BR1: LG 37", Sony AVR, MRF-260. BR2: MarantzSR8002, Epson8500 100", Klipsch RF-82 HT System, MSC400, HTPC


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