I've been messing with a set of ProControl commands in hex form and I notice that the set of commands provided by the manufacturer, about a hundred of them, are not all of the same length.

Wouldn't a set of commands for a device, especially something I'd expect to be as uniform as relay commands, all be exactly the same number of hex words?

edit: dumb typo corrected

Not always. Sometimes equipment uses various protocol data lengths (Sony 7 vs Sony 15 for example) and if an RC5/6, may not always be same length.

No, for IR protocols like RC5, which are bi-phase encoded, the number of on and/or off bursts varies.  A 0 is signified by a rising edge and a 1 by a falling edge with a constant clock period.   So the 2 bit sequence 11 goes on/off on/off  while 10 goes on/off off/on.  Describing 11 requires 4 burst durations, while 10 needs 3 burst durations since off off looks like one longer off duration in Pronto Hex.

However, the total duration of RC5 signals is the same for all commands, assuming that the commands all have the same number of bits.

Edited to fix typos

I should have included samples. These happen to be the first three codes in the set. It's for the ProControl.Relay.4.

ALL RELAYS CLOSED,
0000 0067 0000 0045 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0321

ALL RELAYS OPEN,
0000 0067 0000 0047 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0321

R1 MOM. CLOSE 100MS,
0000 0067 0000 0043 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0020 0020 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0010 0321

Ernie, do the above commands work?

Lyndel, that's a great question.

I'm in the middle of creating a ccf for the record using commands supplied by ProControl in a .txt file. Another person has copied some of the lines of that file into, I believe, a URC file and they're having some problems.

Why do you ask? I know you're showing insight by asking that question, but it would help me gather information if you'd tell me why you want to know.

You said you got from a vendor's spreadsheet? The encoding in the IR codes look to me like a stream of 1's and 0's (bits) and therefore, some commands take more bits than others. I don't think the protocol is phase-shift but I could be wrong. Hence my question as to whether they work.

A link to the protocol document you used would be superb here.

These three signals can be decoded as bi-phase encoding with 76 bits of info.

All  Closed: {40.2k,398,msb}<-1,1|1,-1>(A:76,-19.9m){A=$001F7F7F7F70F0F0000}

All    Open: {40.2k,398,msb}<-1,1|1,-1>(A:76,-19.9m){A=$001F7F7FFFF0F0F0000}

R1 100mS: {40.2k,398,msb}<-1,1|1,-1>(A:76,-19.5m){A=$001F7F7F3F3FBFB7F7F}

This doesn't prove that the structure is bi-phase-- we'd need more signals to demonstrate that, but at least these three can be decoded that way.
 

I don't know of a manufacturer's location where the file is. However, here's the original discussion with all the commands. They were sent to me by ProControl as a .txt file, with each command occupying one line of text -- very unwieldy. I assume avintegrator, who started the questions, received the same file from ProControl.

[Link: remotecentral.com]

I've written a bit more about this IR protocol in the other thread.