Sceptre TVs (3 of them) that I own not covered by codes in the database

[Dave Lambert]

16 hours ago, jason said:

Scratch that. Can you check on amazon for one that looks right, I'll buy the one you recommend.

I've looked around, and I don't see any alternatives that look any better or worse than the one you found. I don't have a different recommendation than your own recommendation, Jason. 

AS AN ALTERNATIVE PLAN: back on March 4th (above), you asked me if by any chance did I have a Flirc USB device, and I told you I didn't. I looked it up at the time to see what that Flirc USB did, so I could figure out why you were asking. I found out that it "allows you to pair any remote control with your computer" and "Your paired remote configuration is saved on your device"; this would essentially allow me to pair my Spectre TV remote AND ALSO my Sony A/V Recevier remote with the Flirc USB if installed onto my Windows 10 laptop computer. Then I could send you backups of the configuration files, and you could essentially see ALL the button presses possible on each of those two remotes. Do I have that right?

Well, instead of you buying various remotes from Amazon, why don't you take a Flirc USB out of stock, mail it to me, and let me do exactly that to record the config of each of those two remotes? I'll send them to you, and presto! You're in business. Then you can ClickShip purchase a return label and email that to me as a PDF file, and I can ship the Flirc USB back to you, for you to do the same thing with another Skip 1s customer in the same situation that I'm currently in. Heck, you could ClickShip purchase a label that has the next customer's address on it, and I can ship it straight to that next customer instead of sending it back to you guys. And when I say ClickShip (a USPS thing), it can be FedEx or UPS if you prefer. Whatever you want. I'm near the FedEx World HQ campus, and right nearby there is a USPS Post Office branch office, and a FedEx Office store, and a UPS Store. I can drop off a package at any of those, no problem.

Or, if you prefer to go with your plan, the remote you picked out seems like it ought to work. If I only had one of those remotes (instead of three), and it got lost, the one you picked out feels like the kind of thing I'd buy as a replacement. So give it a try. We really don't have much to lose at this point!

[jason]

On 3/30/2023 at 8:29 AM, Dave and Stephanie Lambert said:

I've looked around, and I don't see any alternatives that look any better or worse than the one you found. I don't have a different recommendation than your own recommendation, Jason. 

AS AN ALTERNATIVE PLAN: back on March 4th (above), you asked me if by any chance did I have a Flirc USB device, and I told you I didn't. I looked it up at the time to see what that Flirc USB did, so I could figure out why you were asking. I found out that it "allows you to pair any remote control with your computer" and "Your paired remote configuration is saved on your device"; this would essentially allow me to pair my Spectre TV remote AND ALSO my Sony A/V Recevier remote with the Flirc USB if installed onto my Windows 10 laptop computer. Then I could send you backups of the configuration files, and you could essentially see ALL the button presses possible on each of those two remotes. Do I have that right?

Well, instead of you buying various remotes from Amazon, why don't you take a Flirc USB out of stock, mail it to me, and let me do exactly that to record the config of each of those two remotes? I'll send them to you, and presto! You're in business. Then you can ClickShip purchase a return label and email that to me as a PDF file, and I can ship the Flirc USB back to you, for you to do the same thing with another Skip 1s customer in the same situation that I'm currently in. Heck, you could ClickShip purchase a label that has the next customer's address on it, and I can ship it straight to that next customer instead of sending it back to you guys. And when I say ClickShip (a USPS thing), it can be FedEx or UPS if you prefer. Whatever you want. I'm near the FedEx World HQ campus, and right nearby there is a USPS Post Office branch office, and a FedEx Office store, and a UPS Store. I can drop off a package at any of those, no problem.

Or, if you prefer to go with your plan, the remote you picked out seems like it ought to work. If I only had one of those remotes (instead of three), and it got lost, the one you picked out feels like the kind of thing I'd buy as a replacement. So give it a try. We really don't have much to lose at this point!

Yeah, I was going to send you one. But I realized a lot of my utilities are not in a good state, and it would have been harder for you to record everything for me, especially if there was something strange going on.

The remote came, I recorded everything, and created the attached. Please import that and let me know how that goes.

Sceptre TV - X435BV-F.json

[Dave Lambert]

9 hours ago, jason said:

The remote came, I recorded everything, and created the attached. Please import that and let me know how that goes.

Could you point me to a tutorial on how to import that? Thanks. 

[jason]

Here you go: 

 

[Dave Lambert]

@jason, thank you. I've followed your instructions and successfully imported the .json file for the Sceptre. 

 

I've gone back over the detailed complaints I posted in my comment left of March 1st, and I've tried to create a new activity on button C (which I hadn't used so far), with just the TV and using the Sony A/V device (with work-arounds, since I still have the issues with the Sony compatibility to the Skip 1s that I mentioned in my March 4th comment).

Assigning buttons to the Skip 1s (using the new Spectre file you provided) for Source, Fav, CC, and Guide all work properly now on the Skip 1s. Since the Source button is now working, I can properly choose from the list which HDMI port I need (1, 2 or 3), or if I want the AV port or the YPbPr port, etc. CC works properly, Guide works properly, and Fav now properly brings up a list of the Favorite channels I've picked from the TV's system menu.

THERE IS ONE NITPICK, and it's a doozy for people who will come at this out-of-the-blue: using your new Spectre file, when I use the Skip 1s to push a button that brings up ANY sort of list (the Source list, the Favorite list, the main system Menu's "picture" menu or any other sub-menus of the main system Menu, etc.), the navigation to go up and down that list is expected to be the up button and the down button on the circular "d-pad", right? It's not! The up button takes you up, but to go down you have to press Left!!!

That's weird. I hope you can fix it. 

I also hope you can perform a similar miracle to get the remote worked out for my Sony A/V receiver (Sony STR-DN840), so I won't need work-arounds and won't still need the original remote that came with it to pick an option like Game to get to that channel on the receiver. I don't know if you want to buy another remote to do what you did with the Sceptre...but IF you did, this Amazon listing for a 3rd-party-made product looks like a viable replacement for the remote that came with my Sony A/V receiver. 

Thank you for your help so far, Jason. I'm looking forward to you finishing this up, so we can finally mark it "resolved"! We're not there quite yet, but we're close. :)

[jason]

8 hours ago, Dave and Stephanie Lambert said:

THERE IS ONE NITPICK, and it's a doozy for people who will come at this out-of-the-blue: using your new Spectre file, when I use the Skip 1s to push a button that brings up ANY sort of list (the Source list, the Favorite list, the main system Menu's "picture" menu or any other sub-menus of the main system Menu, etc.), the navigation to go up and down that list is expected to be the up button and the down button on the circular "d-pad", right? It's not! The up button takes you up, but to go down you have to press Left!!!

I'm not clear what's going on. Do the cursor buttons work correctly unless you bring up a menu? I don't think that would be possible, the remote is not context aware. I must have just gotten some of the mappings backwards? I'll check.

 

8 hours ago, Dave and Stephanie Lambert said:

I also hope you can perform a similar miracle to get the remote worked out for my Sony A/V receiver (Sony STR-DN840), so I won't need work-arounds and won't still need the original remote that came with it to pick an option like Game to get to that channel on the receiver. I don't know if you want to buy another remote to do what you did with the Sceptre...but IF you did, this Amazon listing for a 3rd-party-made product looks like a viable replacement for the remote that came with my Sony A/V receiver. 

I'll buy it.

[Dave Lambert]

1 hour ago, jason said:

Do the cursor buttons work correctly unless you bring up a menu?

Well, if you're not in a menu (i.e., just watching TV), there's nothing for the cursor buttons to do. I'm watching 9-1-1 on Fox Network right now, and while Hen and Chimney (characters in the show) are talking to family members, the cursor buttons don't do a thing because there's nothing on the screen that goes Up, Down, Left, Right, or Enter.

But if I bring up a menu that is horizontal (for example, press the Main Menu button and there are 4 icons going left-to-right: Picture, Sound, Channel, Setup): the Right cursor button moves the cursor to the right. The Left cursor button does nothing. The Enter button chooses the option highlighted, but the Right Cursor button is the only button on the cursor that works for this horizontal menu. Left, Up, and Down all don't work (but I wouldn't expect Up or Down to work, because it's a horizontal menu).  

Now if I choose the Setup option with my Enter button, it brings up a vertical menu that has a lot of choices. The Right button doesn't work (but I wouldn't expect it to). The Down button, which SHOULD work, doesn't work. To go down, I press the Left Cursor button! But if I want to go back up on the list, the Up Cursor button works exactly as it should. 

So it's "Up" button to go up, and "Left" button to go down. That ain't right. :) 

Thank you for buying the other remote so we can work out the issues with the A/V receiver. I appreciate you.

 

 

[jason]

15 minutes ago, Dave and Stephanie Lambert said:

Well, if you're not in a menu (i.e., just watching TV), there's nothing for the cursor buttons to do. I'm watching 9-1-1 on Fox Network right now, and while Hen and Chimney (characters in the show) are talking to family members, the cursor buttons don't do a thing because there's nothing on the screen that goes Up, Down, Left, Right, or Enter.

But if I bring up a menu that is horizontal (for example, press the Main Menu button and there are 4 icons going left-to-right: Picture, Sound, Channel, Setup): the Right cursor button moves the cursor to the right. The Left cursor button does nothing. The Enter button chooses the option highlighted, but the Right Cursor button is the only button on the cursor that works for this horizontal menu. Left, Up, and Down all don't work (but I wouldn't expect Up or Down to work, because it's a horizontal menu).  

Now if I choose the Setup option with my Enter button, it brings up a vertical menu that has a lot of choices. The Right button doesn't work (but I wouldn't expect it to). The Down button, which SHOULD work, doesn't work. To go down, I press the Left Cursor button! But if I want to go back up on the list, the Up Cursor button works exactly as it should. 

So it's "Up" button to go up, and "Left" button to go down. That ain't right. :) 

Thank you for buying the other remote so we can work out the issues with the A/V receiver. I appreciate you.

 

 

Okay, try the attached. When you import, you will be prompted to replace. However, you need to re-add the device in the wizard.

Like the attached video. It looks like nothing is happening, but it is updating the codes.

Sceptre TV - X435BV-F.json

[Dave Lambert]

20 minutes ago, jason said:

Okay, try the attached.

It works! Up and Down now properly do what they are supposed to. THANKS! :)

[Dave Lambert]

By the way, I made up my own sheet as an MS Word document (I could easily convert it to a PDF) that lets Skip 1s users print one out, and then hand-write in which buttons have been assigned to do what function.  It's useful if you can't remember what button you assigned to do what function.

Here is a picture of how this can be used. Yes, my handwriting sucks. :)

Flirc Skip 1s button assignments.docx

[jason]

@Dave and Stephanie Lambert Okay, cloned the sony remote. Let me know if it's missing anything.

 

Sony - STR-DN840.json

[Dave Lambert]

@jason, I've downloaded the Sony remote and installed it into the software, and gone over the list of functions available. At first glance it looks fine. 

I've got some stuff to do, and I'm not sure how long it will take (perhaps 30 minutes, but maybe as much as 1-2 hours). And then I can program the Skip 1s with some of these functions (the ones I need) and see if it all actually works for me.

I'll get back to  you as soon as I know. Thank you very much for this effort!

DAVE

[Dave Lambert]

@jason, success! The new setup does everything I need the Sony A/V remote to do, and when I set up an activity that combines it with my other main remotes (the Sceptre TV one you provided, and the already-available one for the Apple TV+ hardware), then the Skip 1s is now doing what I need it to do in order to use my main devices day after day. 

I have to try out some other things in the coming weekend, to be sure I can now do all the stuff I meant to do with the Flirc remote when we first decided to buy it. But you've resolved the issues I brought up in this discussion, so I'm marking the above as the solution. Thank you very much!

[jason]

13 minutes ago, Dave and Stephanie Lambert said:

@jason, success! The new setup does everything I need the Sony A/V remote to do, and when I set up an activity that combines it with my other main remotes (the Sceptre TV one you provided, and the already-available one for the Apple TV+ hardware), then the Skip 1s is now doing what I need it to do in order to use my main devices day after day. 

I have to try out some other things in the coming weekend, to be sure I can now do all the stuff I meant to do with the Flirc remote when we first decided to buy it. But you've resolved the issues I brought up in this discussion, so I'm marking the above as the solution. Thank you very much!

Thanks so much for the patience, so glad it's working now.