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View Full Version : Remote sends on code instead of off (not a toggle)


cibelon
09-16-2006, 11:47 PM
Sorry my thread title isn't more descriptive. Here's the situation.

I had a remote that came with my series 2 (purchased not long after the series 2 came out). I dropped it once too often and it died. I just ordered and received a new blue remote.

The new remote is behaving differently - and I believe wrongly - in one particular respect.

I have programmed the remote to transmit the power code for the Hitachi TV which is a simple toggle code. It is also programmed to transmit the power code for my Harman Kardon receiver - which is not a toggle code. There are separate codes for "On" and "Off." My first remote knew how to deal with this, and just alternated.

With the previous remote, the alternation was very regular - in other words, things worked. I could hit "power," both units would come on, I'd watch some shows, use a variety of buttons on the remote, and then hit "power" and both devices would turn off. Great.

Every once in a while, as you can imagine, the power button would get hit by mistake when the remote was wedged in the couch or some such - and then when I'd go to turn things on, only the TV would come on, because the remote would be sending the "off" code to the Receiver, and I'd hit the button again and the receiver would come on, but the TV turn off, and I'd have to take steps to get things back in sync properly (like get up and turn the TV on by hand!)

So. here's the problem with the new remote: It does not send a regular series of "on" and "off." It almost always sends "on." If I sit down and hit "power" both devices will come on. If I then hit a few other keys on the remote, wait 60 seconds, and hit power again, the remote sends "on" again to the receiver! It has never sent the off code, and has apparently somehow "forgotten" that "off" is what it should be sending. It only sends "off" if I IMMEDIATELY hit the power button again with seconds of first turning things on. (And I believe intervening key presses may also contribute to this "forgeting.")

So now every tv-watching session is ended with me hitting power, the TV turning off but the receiver staying on. Then, me hitting power again - the receiver now turning off, but the TV now coming back on, and then dealing with this manually. (Sometimes I've tried covering the front of the remote for the TV code, which is transmitted first, and revealing it for the receiver code, but this can be difficult to time correctly, and I start to feel like I'm a keystone cops film.)

Why would the behavior change? Did I err in choosing the blue remote? Most importantly, is this a known issue (I did search the forums and found nothing.) and does anybody have any suggestions?

I can post the specifics of how I programmed the remote if anyone thinks that will be useful, but it's the same way I programmed both the original remote, and a friend's extra remote I was using until my new blue one arrived.

Thanks,

Edmund
09-17-2006, 12:11 AM
I say you picked the wrong code, there are 8 HK codes listed the menu, did you give them all a try?

cibelon
09-17-2006, 12:33 AM
Thank you for the suggestions. I have explored the codes almost completely.

The 8 codes are:
1154, 1153, 1205, 1208, 1225, 1228, 1229, and 1249

Only two of them - 1205 and 1229 - work for both power and volume. (One other, 1228, works for power but not volume - I could probably try it for just power.)

I will try 1228, but I've been using 1205, which I think should work. I believe that because it worked for the gray remote I borrowed from a friend for several days (this problem didn't happen). Plus the blue remote does work - as long as I immediately turn the power off after turning it on. (Not so useful, but illustrates that it "should" work.)

Thanks,

cibelon
09-17-2006, 11:39 PM
I have a further piece of information. Of the codes for Harman Kardon, only one - 1205 - actually seems to toggle power at all.

Also, I have isolated the "cause" of the forgetting more precisely. I can hit power and turn on both the TV and the receiver and wait a long time (hitting no buttons) and hit "power" again and everything will turn off. The problem is NOT time based.

It IS button-based. If I turn things on and then hit the "Tivo" button, the remote instantly "forgets" that it's supposed to send the "off" code next time the power button is pressed. Even if I instantly press power again, the off code is not sent.

I have not tried all buttons on the remote, but obviously the Tivo button is used often enough that this is a serious issue for me. I guess I will have to complain directly to Tivo and perhaps exchange this nice blue remote for an older grey one - although I guess I have no way to know for sure whether the "guts" of the grey remotes have been redesigned or reprogrammed like the blue ones...

I'd love it if someone else could test this, but I'm guess the set of people who have Tivo, read this forum regularly enough to see this post, and have an on/off (not toggle) code in use on a Harman Kardon (or other) receiver is pretty small.

Suggestions are always welcome.