Philips DVD player remote

[Segfault]

I'm trying to use a Philips DVD player remote. First, recording buttons failed often, but by repeating the procedure I finally managed to record all buttons. I read this means the frequency is non-standard? Second, when using it the keypresses pretty much give random results. I. e. pressing arrow down moves left instead, so on.

I'm ready to buy an another remote, can anybody point me to a remote on eBay that works?

[jason]

Before we go in that direction, any chance you can give the attached a try and let me know if you yield better results?

Thanks, let me know.

nemo.release-4.0.16.bin

[Segfault]

It won't flash in. I end up with bare booloader and a message which tells me to contact support. Luckily enough it won't brick the dongle.

I tried with xev, keycodes change, the same arrow key gives 111, then 113, then 111 again. Same craziness with all buttons.

[yawor]

Philips uses RC5 and RC6 protocols (which were created by Philips in the first place). It should use 36 kHz carrier frequency, so at least that should not be a problem for Flirc.

[Segfault]

That's what I was thinking and was disappointed with changing keycodes. Why this is happening? Is this remote defective? It was given to me, so I can't tell how well it worked with DVD player.

[jason]

I pushed an update yesterday that may fix this. Please download the latest release and give that a shot. Please report back here if you have success or not. 

[Segfault]

You mean the software or the firmware? I updated the software, it is v2.3.2 and flashed in the firmware that came with it. Same problem, changing keycodes. I ordered a Harmony, should arrive soon. Will see then if it works, although I just learned I have to use Congruity software to configure it and I'm not sure how well it works. 

[jason]

Okay. If you can put an eBay link to your remote. I'll purchase that and take a look. Very sorry for the trouble. 

[Segfault]

Sorry, it was given to me as a gift. Our home was flooded during Louisiana flood, we lost everything. So our friends gave as lots of stuff.

[yawor]

Can you check the product number on the remote? It should probably be somewhere under the battery cover.

[Segfault]

Model:RC-5110

Made in China

TCL:09-05-18

-- 

Perhaps that thing is defective.

[yawor]

OK, thanks. It's a remote for Philips DVD player models DVP3962 DVP3980 DVP3982. I've programmed my universal remote for one of those players.

Protocol being used is RC6, so I was right about that. The carrier frequency is standard for RC6 (36 kHz) so it in range for Flirc.

RC6 is similar to RC5, so it has a toggle bit which is alternating between key presses. But the bit encoding is reversed compared to RC5.

I've tested with old Flirc (fw 3.8.0) and the behaviour is exactly like described by @Segfault. I've been able to record all 4 directional keys (with some errors that the key is already recorded) but after that some keys are alternating between different recorded functions. For example, in my case, pressing left dir key on remote once executes cursor left, but another press on left dir key executes cursor right.

On new Flirc (fw 4.0.0.10 and 4.0.0.15) the keys are properly recognised. There were no issues at all with recording all 4 direction keys (each key recorded twice because of toggle bit in RC6). Normal operation was ok: I've been able to properly navigate in the foreground app using direction keys. No issues like with v1, that the key is recognised as something else.

Jason, if you have a Harmony, you should be able to add one of the DVD models I've mentioned at the beginning.

[Segfault]

It is not clear for me. Is it flirc hardware issue or firmware issue? In other words, is my flirc device too old for new firmware?

[jason]

It is not clear for me. Is it flirc hardware issue or firmware issue? In other words, is my flirc device too old for new firmware?

The new device is more capable and faster. Able to recognize tighter timing requirements of some of the RC6. PM me, and I'll send you a new one.

[Segfault]

Thank you! What a great piece of hardware. :) 

But. The damned Philips remote is still acting up. Now all the buttons record fine and there is no messed up keycodes. However, when using it I need to press every key twice. The first keypress does not generate any output in xev at all. 

[jason]

When you record, don't press go. Press up, record up, then press up again, and record up again. Do this for every key. Your remote actually is sending out two unique patterns per individual press.

[Segfault]

Curious. Why have they chosen to send out two different signals? 

[jason]

So if you are pointing and holding the remote button at a TV, and someone walks in front of the remote signal, the TV knows that it's a person and not a break in the signal and a second press.

 

 

[yawor]

Both RC5 (used for example in MCE remotes) and RC6 protocols use something called a toggle bit. It's a single bit in the data frame which is toggled between key presses. For example when you press "up" the first time, the bit is equal 0. Then you release the button and press it again, the bit is set to 1.

Like @jason mentioned, it's for detection whether or not the user really pressed the button again.

A dedicated hardware (like IR receiver in the TV or DVD) which understands a specific protocol, knows how to decode the signal and properly retrieve command which is being sent. The toggle bit doesn't change the command itself.

On the other hand, Flirc is more like a generic IR receiver in a sense, that it doesn't decode the signal (doesn't retrieve the command), but analyses the signal itself. Changing only a single bit causes the signal timings to be slightly different, which is recognised by Flirc as a different signal. It's like that because Flirc needs to work universally with any IR protocol.

[Segfault]

I see. Interesting stuff. Thanks!

[Segfault]

I have been using this remote ever since. Yesterday I plugged the Flirc into my PC first time to reprogram a button and it offered a firmware upgrade. After upgrade my remote is behaving erratically. How can I downgrade the firmware?

[jason]

8 hours ago, Segfault said:

I have been using this remote ever since. Yesterday I plugged the Flirc into my PC first time to reprogram a button and it offered a firmware upgrade. After upgrade my remote is behaving erratically. How can I downgrade the firmware?

Save your config and post it here please. I'll take a look.

[Segfault]

Thanks, here it is.

my_flirc_config

[jason]

Can you enable debugging: http://cl.flirc.io/lZuZ and http://cl.flirc.io/lZ4G

Also post your remote. I'll take a look. I'll get a fix as quickly as I can see the issue.

[Segfault]

My remote is described earlier in this thread. Not sure how you exactly want me to get the log. I plugged it into my desktop and pressed a few keys on remote, mostly the keys that give me trouble. Some I need to press twice sometimes (not always) and some - like arrow down seem to send two commands in one keypress, but again, not always. It was working much better with previous firmware. Normally I'm using it with an Intel NUC, Kodi. The debug log is attached.

my_flirc_config