ok, so i don't have a knock out remote like you ppl on here, in all honesty it's not the most important thing when i'm low on funds, however, i do have a cheap 'universal' remote and a keyspan DMR receiver.

===== Background babble, skip down to see problem ====

I have managed to record the command data from a couple of existing device codes on the remote an "ACE TV" and a "JVC VCR", both of these use a freq of 38,000 (approx) and a BIT (???) of 580.

The keyspan software only allows me to specify one FREQ (fixed at 38,000) and one BIT.

My universal remote is then set to use several devices all as means of controlling different aspects of my pc.

===== Skip to here to avoid the babble ====

I am having great trouble finding, via trial and error, another workable 'Remote Mapping'. I cannot determine the BIT of the devices that i'm emulating with any ease, and doing it the keyspan method is very slow and tedious.

Does anyone know of anywhere that i could find a list of the FREQ and BIT settings of various remotes, or if anyone can suggest a few remotes that they know the BIT value (of 38Khz models)?

Also, are the 'device codes' universal also, i.e. if i type device code 123 into my remote will it emulate the same device as if i purchase another universal remote and set the remote with the same device code?

Sorry for the length of the message but i figured it may be helpful to know the background to the problem, this may also pave way to any alternative solutions :) thank you.

The majority of remote signals run at about 38 kHz.

"Setup codes" are NOT universal, except within remotes made by the same company. So if VCR/1234 is the right code on your RCA universal, it won't be the right code for your Zenith universal.

I've never heard of the DMR before, but a quick Google search revealed that it's a "Digital Media Remote". If you're having problems programming the DMR, check out the keymap web site as there is a section on problem solving (though I didn't read it myself).

Rob
http://www.hifi-remote.com

Hi, thanks very much for your reply, i have viewed all of the keyspan documantation thoroughly, my problem occurs using the third party remotes to which i know of no way to determine the BIT of the remotes signals.

Thank you for the clarification on the device codes not being universal between manufacturers it's saved me a lot of wasted time trying to convert from other remote's settings.

I have really come up short i think, i can think of no other way to find out the information with regards to the remote's FREQ / BIT without using an oscilloscope, hmm, very expensive.

Once i know these two bits of info on the device maps, i can (and already have) manage to map out all of the command signals it sends into my reciever software using it's diagnostics window. :)

Thank you again for your help :)

In all honesty, I doubt that i will manage to get a satisfactory solution for this as in essence i am trying to teach the reciever to accept a set of pre-determined codes as opposed to teaching the remote to send out a particular signal. I just thought this would be the best place to try :)

Keyspan aren't much help, there, software is pretty buggy too..

[Link: koop.myby.co.uk]

oh... erm do i feel silly now, i've been looking for the answer to this for ages (about 2-3 months), and have, on many occasions thought that maybe the bitrate was not important so long as the signal was still consistently recorded, but then as i noticed i wasn't getting any more results than those i had already managed (2 full working maps) i figured i needed this info.

It turns out there was a space ' ' at the end of one of my lines of the map file and this was causing the software to hiccup and see the data but not be able to display a name (for debugging) nor call an action..

SO!... it seems that so long as the data is recorded consistently, the bit rate can be set at any 'stable' value, whoops.. isn't that what i thought earlier?.. oh well..

Sorry to have bothered anyone. .. I'll just go and crawl back under the stone i came from now, maybe one day i'll get a nice remote and be able to sort my reciever out for that also, hmm, i'm looking forward to it already...

Have you ever looked into JP1? Many One For All (and Radio Shack, in the States) universal remotes have a 6-pin connector in the battery compartment. If you build yourself a simple JP1 cable, you can hook these remotes up to your computer and re-program them. If the remote is a learning remote, you can use the learning feature to capture IR signals and see what they look like (without an oscilloscope).

I wasn't able to help you more with what you're trying to do because I don't understand your terminology (ie, what does "determine the BIT of the signals" mean)?

To undertand an IR signal, you need to know...
1) the frequency
2) the timings of the "1" and "0" burst pairs
3) the timings of the header pair and lead-out (if present)
4) the number of bits in the signal

Furthermore, to generate discrete codes, etc, you would need to determine...

5) the number of bits that form the "device code" and the bits that form the "command code"

NOTE: this "device code" is not the item that you call "device code". The code that you use to program a remote, such as VCR/1234 is a "setup code".

Rob