How do use Direct mode for IR ?

[sonata31]

I want use Direct mode for IR, but it is not displayed in Driver Mode

[tmorten]

Here's a thread with more information: http://www.promixis.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17366

Unfortunately, the developer of the direct IR plug-in is no longer making it available to NetRemote customers. You can use separate emitters instead, such as a USB-UIRT or Globalcache, which both have the benefit of not requiring line of sight between the remote and the devices that you're controlling.

Best,
Tim

[sonata31]

How use a PPC with IR for replace a telco ?

[tmorten]

I'm not sure what you mean by telco...

You can use NetRemote on a PocketPC to send commands over WiFi to a small box that sits next to your equipment and emits IR. Two choices are a USB-UIRT (which connects through a computer) and Globalcache devices (which are stand-alone).

Best,
Tim

[sonata31]

I'm not sure what you mean by telco...

You can use NetRemote on a PocketPC to send commands over WiFi to a small box that sits next to your equipment and emits IR. Two choices are a USB-UIRT (which connects through a computer) and Globalcache devices (which are stand-alone).

Best,
Tim

An example ?

[tmorten]

Example:

1. NetRemote runs on your WiFi PocketPC.
2. You have a Globalcache GC-100 on your stereo rack.
3. Assign a button in NetRemote to the IR code for "power" for you stereo.
4. Press the button, and NetRemote sends a message through WiFi to the Globalcache.
5. The Globalcache outputs the IR code for "power" on your stereo.
6. Your stereo turns on.

[sonata31]

Ok, Thank You

[sonata31]

Example:

1. NetRemote runs on your WiFi PocketPC.
2. You have a Globalcache GC-100 on your stereo rack.
3. Assign a button in NetRemote to the IR code for "power" for you stereo.
4. Press the button, and NetRemote sends a message through WiFi to the Globalcache.
5. The Globalcache outputs the IR code for "power" on your stereo.
6. Your stereo turns on.

Needs an access point wi-fi for connect the gc-100 ?

[tmorten]

Yes; my example assumes that you have an existing WiFi capability; I should have called that out.

Best,
Tim

[sonata31]

Why NetRemote does not have a Direct IR ?

When the PC is power off, I need access point wi-fi + gc-100 to power on the PC or send IR to audio/video device ?????

When the PC is power on, I use usb-uirt for send IR to audi/video device

access point wi-fi + gc-100 = money for a basic fonction : send IR !!!!

[tmorten]

Sorry, but as I explained, the developer of the direct IR functionality decided to discontinue offering it to NetRemote customers.

Personally, I find that it's more powerful to use WiFi, since I don't have to point my remote at the devices I'm controlling, and can control them from a greater distance (including through the internet). However, if direct IR is specifically what you're looking for, then I'm afraid NetRemote won't fit the bill for you at present.

Best,
Tim

[sonata31]

Wi-Fi is great (and I use it) but I cannot control the audio/video device if my PC is power-off
The IR by PDA is less expansive than a GC-100

[tmorten]

DirectIR from the PDA would be less expensive, but that is not currently an option in NetRemote. If you want IR control through NetRemote without a computer in the loop, the Globalcache is the way to go.

Cheers,
Tim

[sonata31]

Ok
Thank You for your response

[wylekyot]

Direct ir learning and transmit it one of the MAJOR draws of,, or should I say Was.. one of the major draws to using net remote. I could control my equp that was say connected to global cache but I could also use it in another room with a stand alone tv, or at work. it was SUPPOSED to be the final ultimate UNIVERSAL REMOTE. So I would get or develop a new DLL then.. Hey and you could even make it better. That is my only thought on that.


Here's a thread with more information: http://www.promixis.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17366

Unfortunately, the developer of the direct IR plug-in is no longer making it available to NetRemote customers. You can use separate emitters instead, such as a USB-UIRT or Globalcache, which both have the benefit of not requiring line of sight between the remote and the devices that you're controlling.

Best,
Tim

[tmorten]

Any volunteers who want to develop a new IR plug-in are welcome :). Otherwise, this isn't something that will be feasible to develop in the near-term. Longer-term, we will definitely evaluate it.

I understand that a certain segment of the audience doesn't want to invest in a USB-UIRT or GlobalCache unit. That said, either of these solutions in conjunction with WiFi are inherently superior with regard to their ability to work without line of sight, their ability to work from a distance, and their ability to enable control over the internet.

Circumstances being what they are (specifically, that the developer of the IR plug-in is no longer offering it for use with NetRemote), I suggest exploring USB-UIRT or GlobalCache. I believe they are both great solutions.

Best,
Tim

[vitello]

Tim,

I want to add my request for NR doing direct ir. As an example of when this is the best approach is when you have portable devices, such as my wife's boom box, that gets moved all over the house. The boom box has its own remote, but I programed our universal remote to duplicate it. The fewer remotes the better. Also I find wi-fi often unstable, my connection to girder goes down all the time. Until home wi-fi networks are 100% stable I would hate to think of trying to relay on NR as my only way of controling my tv system.

Bye the way, how does one write a plug-in for NR? I haven't seen enough documentation on how a user could modify something like the ir interface.

Peter

[tmorten]

I'll have to see what we have in terms of documentation for NetRemote plug-ins, but if you're interested, I could definitely help facilitate. Writing a direct IR plug-in will take a bit of hocus-pocus, inasmuch as the frequency of an Irda port (found on many PDA's) is different than the frequency of the IR used by consumer electronics devices. I have a bit of info that I can provide, but basically there are some tricks you can pull to approximate the output and get close enough that you will be within the tolerance of most devices. The frequency difference will also complicate the learning functionality, which might be the more challenging of the two to implement (between transmit and receive). Anyhow, let me know if you're really interested, and I'll gather up the info that I have.

As an aside, if you have a version of the direct IR plug-in that you purchased with a previous version of NetRemote, there's nothing to stop you from using that in the near-term :). Even though we can't sell it to new customers, if you purchased it previously, it's all yours.

Best,
Tim

[vitello]

Tim,

Concerning developing a new IR plug-in, I might be interested. I am a programer, but mostly large scale scientific simulation codes. What language is NR programed in and what compiler do you use?

Regarding the direct IR plug-in, I did purchase it, but I though that this would not work with current versions of NR.

Peter

[tmorten]

NR is a C++ application. I don't know whether the plug-in would work with NR2, but it might be worth a shot.

Best,
Tim

[maxthebuilder]

Direct IR definitely has to be in NR. Especially since it WAS there... USB-UIRT is nice but it doesn't work without a PC. One might want just to switch on a TV with a PPC.. Why boot up a PC for that?
Not that I really care - the whole PPC control concept is really weak - battery life is killing it.
Can anyone point me to a silent laptop with a docking station? Those samsung UMPC's are not silent, right?

[tmorten]

By using a GlobalCache, no PC is required.

Cheers,
Tim

[NeoMorph]

Max do what I do... Have cradles around the house. I have one in the bedroom, one in the living room and one in the kitchen. Then when you have finished using the PDA you just drop it in the cradle when you have finished with it. That way you don't run out of power.

The thing that kills the battery is the wifi. My PDA (Acer n321) has only around 2 hours power with the wifi on hence why I got the extra cradles. Every so often though I fully run down the battery to recondition it to keep the battery at top performance.

The only thing I really have complaints about this system is that when the PDA's charging the green led flashes and when the wifi is on the blue led flashes. I don't want a darn disco PDA and there is no way to turn the LEDs off would you believe. If I want to see if the wifi is on I look at the display and if I want to know if it's charging I... you guessed it... look at the display. Removing the possibility for the customer to decide whether or not to turn off the LEDs was a really, really poor judgement on behalf of the designers. That's going to be the first thing I find out before I get my next PDA, that's for sure.

[tmorten]

The keys to my success using PocketPC at home are:
(1) Blank the screen (not just dim, but altogether turn it off) if inactive for 60 seconds
(2) Get an extended battery

Between these two, I get four to five usable hours between cradlings of the PDA.

Cheers,
Tim

[maxthebuilder]

Thanks guys!
I do realize all this. I do blank the screen. Don't have an extended battery though..
4-5 hours sounds reasonable. Still, I found my Axim to be a bad replacement for an IR/RF remote control. PDA looks fancier and people say wow and all. But the remote works for months not hours.
Off to ebay to look for a battery.

[tmorten]

Good point... I definitely wish PDA's had that kind of battery life!

I wonder if anyone has experimented with Bluetooth networking instead of WiFi? I know the Axims support Bluetooth in addition to WiFi, and even though the range and bandwidth are both more limited, Bluetooth consumes much less battery than WiFi. That seems like it might be an ideal solution, but I just don't have any experience with using Bluetooth as a network connection. Anyone out there tried this?

Best,
Tim

[Rob H]

I know that Mastiff has tried Bluetooth for this and didn't have a great experience with it.

[NeoMorph]

It's why I asked about bluetooth recently... it was down to the battery life that I wanted to increase.

Still Max, can your remote do a hundredth of what a PDA with NR can do. The only remote I would guess that is anywhere close is a Pronto and that is limited to line of sight for most models. And the Pronto can't handle your emails or talk to you or let you read ebooks or... well you get the gist.

I have to admit that the battery life and LEDs get me down about the PDA remote but I've got a fix for the LEDs (gonna cover them up) and a workaround for the battery (the cradles) so I've learned to live with it.

Someone should invent a low power wireless networking system that has receivers built into every room. That way the PDA wouldn't have to throw as much power into the wifi part. Also with the screens that are in development that don't need backlight and or current after the screen is set (currently they only have mono versions of this tech) it would increase the battery life enormously. Currently though it seems wifi is going in the direction of more power/channels (as with 802.11n).

I think in about 5 years time we will have PDA's that have a lot better power management... that is if they don't go the way of PCs requiring more and more speed and consequently more juice. :rolleyes: Who remembers the original IBM-PCs that didn't need fans coming out of the kazoo just to keep them cool enough to run. You would think that in the current ecological situation we should be looking to finding ways of reducing waste but just imagine the amount of waste heat your PC kicks out... now think of a big corporation and that waste heat adds up on a logarithmic scale.

It's all MicroShaft's fault because you need an uber-mega-ninja PC just to run the current operating system. Vista anyone??? This is one reason I'm going to eventually replace my current automation PCs with power economical mini-ITX PC's that will use less than an old style light bulb to run and not sound like a jet in a wind tunnel. :)

Sorry... lecture mode off... :o

[ajocius]

Hi,

What exactly has to be copied from old version of NR to new version to have Direct IR working. I am about to buy NR2 and it is a huge downside if I can't use Direct IR. Has someone successfully transferred files from old NR version to NR2 latest version and got it working?