I don't know if this can be done but here goes:

I have buttons (channel favorites for example) that I would like to hold in the depressed state for a period of time.

Eg. press the "NBC" button. It issues a macro that runs on the processor "0, 9, enter".

I want that button to say "tuning" for say 1.5 seconds, or however long it takes the macro to run.

Here's the catch.

I don't want to have those buttons in standalone mode. I know I can do it in standalone, but I want all the commands to sit on the RP6/XP8.

Any ideas?

Call a system macro in standalone mode?

Creating a system macro on the processor and calling it from a standalone button keeps the commands at the processor - i think - and allows you to do the page flips you need to pimp your macros.

Tell the truth, I've been wondering by what mechanism the system macros are called.
I've always assumed it was via an RF trigger but I'm sad to say I haven't got that far.

:)

Build your channel macroes on the RP/XP unit. Put your buttons in standalone and call the macro from the RP/XP unit.

Why? The channel macros are really short. Directv 3 digit channel macros are not that long. I have actually reduced the .3 second delay to .2 between codes. Works great. I am using Curacao as a basis of all my channel buttons so if you still want to have something in a depressed state you need to go to (guifx dot com),download icon tools and generate a blank channel icon in the opposite color of your button. With that reverse or inverted color as I call it you can go to the text tab and have text show up in a pressed state. Another option, every channel icon I have has a pressed state "inverted color sceme" so when you press the "NBC" button the blank channel icon turns white and all the peacock colors turn the opposite of their normal state. looks better than please wait. Just an opinion. Hope this helps.

Channel Macros on the controller? I have 8-16 scrolling lists or non-scrolling list pages w/ 70 HD channel macros and all basic dss channels in 20 categories. Thats over 400 channels macros on the RP-6. I don't think the RP-6 can be programmed for more than 320 system macros. If it could that would take forever to program.

What I am trying to do is not use the standalone mode. It's my understanding that when in trigger mode, the macros are stored on the processor (even though you didn't create them there) and the button press triggers that macro to run.

In standalone mode, the macro is stored on the remote, and the RF code is sent to the processor to tell it to send out each IR pulse.

I feel (I may be wrong), for reliability purposes, if the bulk of the info is stored on the processor, all it needs is a trigger to run the macro. Since we are dealing with RF, it lessens the chance that a code will be dropped if the remote is only sending one RF signal to issue a channel macro, rather than 3 ot 4 codes.

But as a rule of thumb, I try not to use standalone mode for anything that has to do with IR. Only page flips.

All of the commands are stored on the RP6/XP8, whether it's a system macro created on the RP6/XP8 directly, or a macro created on the remote, or just a single command on a button (except, of course, if you are issuing any IR commands directly from the remote via standalone buttons). Creating a macro on a button is the same functionally as creating a macro directly on the processor. Having the macro created on the processor directly allows you to issue the macro from a button on the remote, while allowing you to page link when the button is set to stand alone mode.

Thread spiraling out of control.....



AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Just in case this wasn't made clear above:
a System Macro on the RP6 called from a button in Standalone mode, will be called with an RF trigger, the same way any commands stored on the processor are called.

Why? If you have a display on the wall in front of you and a system forty feet away, do you run a cable to the TV and stick an emitter on the front of it when the remote is right in front of the display? And you KNOW you can't get people to stop pointing the remote at the TV anyway!

Is there any other reason to use standalone mode?

To answer the question, I don't see how a macro on the RP6 could possibly tell the remote what to display on the button, especially for any amount of time. To do that, you'd have to have two-way communication, so the XP8 question is relevant, and the ability for the XP8 to tell the remote what to display on the screen, which while nifty doesn't sound too necessary, i.e. I would guess RTI didn't make it possible.

And again, how could there be a command in the processor telling the remote what to show on the display?

I think you have to use standalone to control the remote's display, and call a system macro at the proper time in the standalone's macro.

I generally run a cable and control via RS232, a bit more money but maximum reliability. I agree people instinctively point at the TV, though. But sometimes they hit a macro button and just set the controller down, and a few commands can be missed via IR control.


I didn't see where anyone was asking for the processor to send a page link to the controller. Perhaps I'm interpreting the question differently. I was merely clarifying where the IR commands are stored, as there seemed to be a question on that.

YES YES YES AND YES!

So if your macro has a "TV ON" command then 6 seconds later it has a "Input 4" command you are depending on your customer to hold the remote pointed at the TV every time they change a source? That is a BIG red flag for "HACK JOB"! When my customer presses watch TV, EVERYTHING happens as it should, whether they have remote pointed at the TV or the phone rings and takes their attention away from what they are doing. Works EVERY TIME, no if, ands, or buts.


I believe what he is trying to do is put a slight delay after a channel icon has been pressed. I do this fairly often with tuners, because if you go to "Preset 1" the tuner is waiting for a second number (10, 11, 12, 13). Putting a 3 second delay after the macro keeps the button depressed for the duration of the tuners wait. This make sure that the system goes to only that preset and not "16" if the preset buttons are pressed to quickly.