I have succeeded in getting the Ocelot to learn most of my A/V equipment IR commands. I have had absolutely no success with an RCA Television.

I know the RCA remote is working properly because I could program the Ocelot IR commands for my VCR from the RCA remote.

Any suggestions would be appeciated. I tried recording in the dark, new batteries, duck blind methods, short button presses, long button presses.

The only item I have not played with is the IR frequency, since it worked properly with my Sony and Hitachi equipment.

Thanks in advance. Dave.

I've read in Ocelot's manual, that Ocelot can't work with RCA remotes. And it seems to be correct.

I re-read that section of the manual. It says the "RCA remote control commands can be learned and replayed, but they cannot be recognized by the Ocelot". I interpt this to mean that the Ocelot can learn and tramitt RCA command but cannot perform logic functions based upon RCA commands.

I am trying to get my Ocelot just to learn the RCA command and transmitt. I will use a different remote for logic functions.

Problem not solved, yet.......Dan any suggestions?
Dave.

When you learn the RCA command does the red Learning IR window go away or stay on the computer screen?

You are correct in your assumption. We can learn and store the RCA command, but we can't recognize the RCA signal and act on it.

Kevin Barrett
ADI Tech Support

David,
Kevin is correct.
You should have no problems learning and replaying RCA commands. They use the RC5 IR format.
Can you provide the specific RCA part number for the tube?
We'll see if there is something odd about this particular piece of equipment.
Dan, ADI

The Red learning windows does go away.

The TV is an RCA 33" home theater F31700 purchased in 1994. The remote part number is CRK62B3 2021009-505 EIA55393484 RWB 212234 Made in Mexico R5D. I have used the remote to train other remotes, but the Ocelot still does not seem to transmit the proper signal.

David,
Thanks for the info.
I'll see if I can duplicate the remote, then look at the generated data stream.
Dan Boone, ADI

Dan,

I'm wondering if you know of anymore sites which offer information about the Ocelot and Ocelot applications? I'd seen the ADI site as well as the article on programming from [Link: hometoys.com] Do you know of any other sites that might be of interest?

I've been talking about the Ocelot to a couple of friends who don't have a comparable controller and I was looking for more information to give them.

Thanks...

Future Standards has good information on his web site.

[Link: futurestandard.com]

Kevin Barrett
ADI Tech Support

I had a BAD experience with my Ocelot & RCA tv. I learned the commands to the Ocelot and when I tried a macro to turn the tv on & select an input, here's what happened:

TV came on for 2 seconds, turned off. After that, the tv power will come on but there is NO picture & the buttons on the tv & remote will not operate the tv any longer! Needless to say I was pissed!

I calmed down, took that as an excuse to go out and purchase a new 36" Sony Wega.

Larry in TN,

You can also subscribe to the CPU-XA mailing list at

[Link: lists.futurestandard.com]

CPU-XA was the earlier model of the Ocelot. The mailing list has lots of info about Ocelot and Leopard. The Leopard is the touchscreen version of the Ocelot.

Just jumping on the back of the Ocelot questioning....

Does the Ocelot support the extended commands for activating scenes on the ACT modules? I see from the C-Max software that it will send the Leviton scene commands and dim commands, are these the same protocol as the ACT products?

Cheers,Cammo

Hmmm.. I'll try to answer all the questions in a single post.
Regarding RCA remotes & the Ocelot...
The Ocelot is constantly scanning for IR activity. As soon as it detects a blast of IR activity (within the 38KHz range) it begins to digitize and store the command for about 500mS. The exact sample time depends on the number of unique pulses. The RC5 format used by RCA is kind of strange. If you look at the incoming data on a scope, it looks different every time. That's why the Ocelot cannot "recognize" the incoming RCA command. It has been my experience that all RCA equipment understands the "stored & replayed" command issued by the Ocelot. As we are sampling the IR data, until our buffer is full, it is possible that the buffer is being filled with a complete command, then a partial command from the button being held down.
To solve this, press the remote button, then release the button... do not hold it down. This will allow the Ocelot to store only the complete command, without the partial second command.
I have had no problems with Sony equipment or commands. I often use the Sony commands for recognition, as the Ocelot loves the Sony format.
Regarding ACT X-10 commands...
I have not had any customer reports of problems with these switches.
Personally, I prefer the switches that handle the extended commands. I also really like the PCS switches that handle the preset commands.
Leviton and PCS build nice stuff, although they cost a little more, I think the extra cost is worth it.
Lightolier is supposed to have someting nice with the Compose series, although I have yet to play with them.
Dan Boone, ADI

Dan:

Thanks for NOT commenting on my situation!


Since this is a known problem, I think you should print "not compatible with RCA IR" on the units!

What other products are known to not be compatible?

BTW.. I've not had the courage to try and "learn/transmit" my new Sony codes after the RCA TV killer incident.

Dan,

If I'm not mistaken, the differences that you're seeing on the 'scope with successive RC5 transmissions, are due to the notorious parity/toggle feature of RC5. Usually, you'll get a code that is different by 1 bit, each time, but there are only two different codes per button. An RC5 remote will alternate between 2 codes that differ by 1 bit, for each successive button push. If you are careful, this shouldn't present a problem. I'm not familiar with the capabilities of the Ocelot (mine has been on backorder for the last 6 weeks) but, I would think that you could "teach" the Ocelot to recognize both codes for a given button on the remote. As for sending out RC5 codes from an Ocelot, making that work is going to be very highly dependant on the receiving equipment. I have 2 Philips TVs that respond entirely differently. The older TV doesn't care one wit, which of the two possible codes it sees for a given button. That's the easy one. The newer TV, demands to see alternating codes on successive transmissions for a given button. So, sending the code for the "1" key, gets the first digit of the channel number set, but sending the exact same code again, will not get another "1". You have to send the other code for the "1" key. This is a real pain. It makes it kind of hard to do macros. I have been able to work around this, to some degree. Here's an example: I wanted a macro that would turn on/off my stereo receiver and then turn on/off the TV. Since I never could know which of the two on/off codes was last sent, I couldn't know which of the 2 on/off codes to send, to turn the TV on/off. As it turns out, this TV, at least, manages to forget which code it recieved last, if it receives a "0" key transmission. So I made a macro that sends the non RC5 code to turn off the stereo receiver, then sends an RC5 "0" key code, followed by the RC5 on/off code for this TV. That works 100%. I should point out that not all equipment is going to respond the same as my particular model of Philips TV, to the alternating RC5 codes. If you are unfortunate enough to own equipment that uses the notorious RC5 codes, then experimentation is in order.

John Galvin