NTL STB Channel Changing

[johnf]

I have a samsng NTL box that just refuses to change to any channel that has doulble digits i.e 11 BBC 3 144 E4. I am using the MCE with HIP with the replacement drivers. Apparently its to do with 'toggle codes' and its the main reason why I stopped using MCE.

Is anyone else using this setup and managed to get it working?
If so can I have your IR files?
Or do you have any tips?

[martynw]

As you've said, the NTL remote uses toggle codes (or double bounce as it's sometimes called).

What needs to happen is for a "dummy" or non-effective IR code to be inserted between each digit that's sent to reset the toggle. I use the "ENTER" key.

So, for example, channel change of 111 is sent as 1 ENTER 1 ENTER 1 ENTER.

The ENTER key resets the toggle on the STB but does nothing else.

Here's what works for me and has given 100% reliable control for around 5 months.

(I don't have much time right now to do a full walkthrough, but hopefully the following will get you further than you have so far.)

I'm assuming that you've got your remote codes programmed in HIP and have got as far as setting up hipsend.exe?

Assuming that you have done the above for the digits 0-9, you also need to add the code for the "ENTER" key to HIP and then map this in hipsend.exe too (I mapped it to the + key).

Next create a file called "gbpvrir.bat" in your c:\program files\devnz\gbpvr folder using notepad or similar.

Put the following in the file and save it (change the path to hipsend.exe if yours is different):

Code:

@echo off
set _ir=%1
rem echo %_ir:~0,1%+%_ir:~1,1%+%_ir:~2,1%+
"c:\program files\hip\hipsend" %_ir:~0,1%+%_ir:~1,1%+%_ir:~2,1%+

You should now be able to open up a command prompt and type "gbpvrir.bat 111" to confirm it works. The bat file splits the command line argument (in this case "111") and inserts "+" between each digit before calling hipsend.exe. You should see the channels changing successfully at this point.

Once you've confirmed the above all works, go into the gbpvr config program and point the remote control section of the tuner config to the "gbpvrir.bat" instead of hipsend.exe.


Works for me!

Martyn

[johnf]

Ok, some success. Although I think I have a IR-learning issue as its a bit hit and miss. But I have successfully used hipsend to 11 and 144 just need to improve the IR signals.

Martyn if you have an NTL box could I be cheeky and ask for your IR files?

[johnf]

I seem to have fixed it to nearly 100%.. I have tweaked the repeat/held values in HIP to around 400 and I needed to reduce the repeat IR to 1 (had it set very high after revious testing) Still misses occasionly but thinks its more the box objecting to my excessive testing...will see how it goes over the next day or 2.

Thanks again Martyn

[martynw]

Hi John,

I've not got access to my gbpvr box at the moment, but if I recall there's a "sweetspot" on the length of the IR commands of about 180ms (I re-learned mine in HIP over and over again until I had them all at around 180ms give or take a few ms).

I think that I also had the hipsend delay tweaked to about 200ms.

It takes a bit to get right but once sorted mine's been 100% successful.

(If you still need my IR files I'll post them at the weekend).

Martyn

[ricklous]

You might also wanna try these codes attached.

I had the same setup and went a slightly different route than martynw. I tried seperating out the codes with an additional 'enter' code but found that i couldnt get the 'enter' code short enough for the whole string to be seen as one channel request for channel '111' instead of three seperate requests for channel '1'. So instead i managed to learn both the A and B code for each button on the remote, and when programming HIP to respond to HipSend commands, set the A code in the Primary command field and the B code in the Secondary command field. HIP then toggles between the two, in effect replicating the toggling of the NTL remote itself instead of resetting the toggle.
I also found that switching off the OSD of the NTL box halved the time taken for a channel change...
EDIT all the files in the zip go in the MCEIR subfolder of the HIP folder except the HipMCE.ini which goes in the main HIP folder.

[johnf]

Thanks everyone. It sounds as if I need some more patience... ricklous you must have been there for hours

I had already disabled the NTL OSD as the guide in GBPVR is soooo much better.