Formuler Remote IR Codes

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  • I have my z7+ working with my Logitech Harmony universal remote. It's working almost flawlessly, however, I was wondering if there were alternate IR commands for PowerOn and PowerOff. Currently, the only command that I have available is the PowerToggle, but anyone that has experience with these remotes knows that dedicated on/off commands give more flexibility with the Harmony activities than a generic toggle. Is there any way that this command already exists, or could it simply be added via a software update?

  • I do... But I don't use the OEM remote, because I use a universal remote. With the universal remote I can press a single button to turn on the TV, turn on my sound system, switch the video input, and toggle the power on my STB. I also can remap buttons to different devices... For instance, I find it pointless that the box has its own volume control because I control my sound thru my sound system. So I map the volume and mute buttons to the sound receiver rather than the STB. With this setup I can control every device in my living room with a single remote.


    However, in order for this work properly, devices that manage their own power (e.g. turn off after a period of inactivity, such as the z7+) work best when dedicated PowerOn and PowerOff are available, because when you start the Harmony activity, it can always send On, and when you end a Harmony activity, it can always send Off. Currently, with only PowerToggle available, if I'm in a Harmony activity and the STB powers off due to inactivity, Harmony doesn't know that the box is off, and therefore when I goto end the activity, Harmony will send a PowerToggle command, and all of my devices will turn off, but my STB will turn back on.


    Long story short, if the box accepted dedicated PowerOn and PowerOff commands, in addition to the existing PowerToggle command that the STB button on the remote sends, then Harmony could always send the appropriate command, regardless of whether or not the Harmony activity is out of sync.


    Let me know if all of this makes sense! I'm not asking for new buttons to be added to the remote... I'm just asking if the STB can listen for these IR commands and handle them properly. Currently, out of all the devices connected to my TV, the STB is the only device that doesn't have dedicated on/off handling.

  • I personally use a Harmony remote as well, and also had the same issues with the activity getting out of sync when the z7+ goes idle. The way that I solved this was just mapping an un-used button on my remote to turn the z7+ on/off. It's not the greatest solution in the world, but it works in a pinch.


    I think that your solution is pretty good, but even if Formuler added support for those 2 new codes, how would you teach the Harmony remote the new codes? You cannot actually input custom codes directly in the Harmony remote software. Yes, you can do IR learning, but you need to be able to actually simulate those IR commands in order to teach them to the remote.


    I do hope you can solve your issues tho. I would have to say that while the Formuler remote is REALLY GOOD, switching to a Harmony remote was the smartest thing that I have done. The fact that the original z7+ remote has it's own volume [lexicon]settings[/lexicon] for the box itself, instead of controlling your TV volume was initially a deal-breaker for me. But the Harmony fixed that for me. Worth every penny!

  • There's another guy in this forum on a different thread also talking about his Harmony remote, and he had suggested basically the same thing you are saying. He mentioned mapping the STB power button across all of his activities, and using that to power the device on and off, instead of the activity handling this. This is easy enough for me to learn, however, I frequently have a lot of friends and family coming and going (I have 3 teenagers and all of their friends practically all live at my house!), and they would not intuitively know about this special setup. I'm looking for the most user-friendly solve for this problem... I mean isn't that why we bought Harmony remotes in the first place?!


    Agreed that the Harmony was worth the investment -- I also liked the original z7+ remote, but I prefer to have one remote that controls everything. My Harmony remote not only controls my TV and all of my multimedia devices, but I also have dedicated buttons on it that control the lights in my living room!

  • Completely forgot to answer your other question... Regarding how we would have Harmony learn the new codes, Harmony support is more than happy to add new IR commands to device profiles if you can provide documentation from the manufacturer. I've actually done it before and the process is painless.

  • Wow, that will be really helpful when getting Harmony to setup the z7+ device profile! (Currently, we have to setup our device as a z+ and tweak a few of the keys)


    Anyways, so is there a way we can just take 2 un-used numbers and reserve those for PowerOn and PowerOff? Maybe like 36 and 37? Don't have to change anything with the remote itself, just the box's software needs to listen for these 2 extra codes and handle them when received. Once that's done, all I need to do is send that picture to Harmony along with a note about the additional 2 codes.

  • i have a dreamlink and have the same issues with my harmony remote setup, if you guys make this happen for the formuler, would it also happen for the dreamlink? i couldnt find a support forum for those guys, but i was hoping u could help a dude out... this would be stunning!!

  • Couldn't agree more with Timmy. Having the extra PowerOn and PowerOff keycodes programmed on these boxes would be very useful. In the meantime, while we are crossing our fingers and hoping Formuler will make this change in the next update, I have went ahead and got Harmony to add new device profiles for both the Formuler z7+ and Dreamlink T2 boxes (thanks to a similar thread on iptvtalk.nl). So, starting as of 2 days ago, when you go to add either of these devices thru your Harmony app, you will no longer have to choose the previous models (Formuler z+ and Dreamlink T1). Also, while the profiles that Harmony just rolled out work perfectly fine, I asked for a slight revision in order to normalize some of the button names to match the Harmony setup better, as well as consolidating the buttons between both devices, as the keycodes are interchangeable across both devices. Anyways, here's the final request that will be implemented by the Harmony team in the next day or so...


    ==========


    33 - PowerToggle


    00 - 0
    01 - 1
    02 - 2
    03 - 3
    04 - 4
    05 - 5
    06 - 6
    07 - 7
    08 - 8
    09 - 9


    17 - Backspace
    60 - Tab


    0D - OK
    0B - DirectionUp
    0E - DirectionDown
    10 - DirectionLeft
    11 - DirectionRight


    0A - Mute
    6C - VolumeUp
    6D - VolumeDown


    57 - Recall
    6A - ChannelUp
    6B - ChannelDown


    22 - Play
    23 - Pause
    23 - Play/Pause
    26 - Stop
    27 - Record


    21 - Rewind
    24 - FastForward
    72 - SkipBack
    73 - SkipForward


    1A - Menu
    1E - Exit
    51 - Info
    54 - Home
    57 - Back


    52 - Red
    61 - Blue
    62 - Yellow
    63 - Green


    1B - Guide
    32 - Favorites
    75 - Groups


    28 - DVR
    34 - TV
    35 - OnDemand
    CE - TV/OnDemand


    74 - Cursor
    76 - Sleep


    70 - VideoFormat
    71 - Resolution


    ==========


    SAM/Formuler team, what do you think the feasibility is of accommodating Timmy's request? Is this something that we can get in a future update? Once we have it implemented and know the codes for PowerOn and PowerOff, we can ask for one additional update to these profiles from the Harmony team.


    Thanks all!

    • Official Post

    I will send it today to Formuler for considering, if it comes and when it comes is something else and depends from Engineer. They have at moment big issues to solve first and things like EPG, Timeshift and other stuff have prio. How ever i`m also owner of Harmony remotes and would like to see big support for them, so all informations will be forwarded. Let us give them time for consider this request and i think the reward will come with some of the future updates. :winking_face:

  • Thanks @JakedUp for getting the profiles added to the Harmony database... I was going to get around to it, but I'm glad you beat me to it! I tested the Formuler z7+ profile only, as I do not have a Dreamlink, and the profile is working perfectly! The only thing that I noticed is that the key names don't match up exactly to the mappings provided in your post, but that's not a big deal.


    And... thanks @SAM for getting the request over to the development team. Understood that they have other priorities to look into, so I'm anxiously hoping that they can fit this in! Seems like a rather easy request to accommodate, so maybe they won't even bat an eye when they see it!

  • Timmy, you are correct... some of the keys aren't matching up. I've requested a revision from the Harmony team, so I can only assume that the updated mappings will come soon. That being said, you are correct that the key names in the Harmony profiles are minor -- it's the functionality that's important.


    In terms of ease -- you are also correct here. As a developer, I know that this is a relatively easy request. We're talking a few lines of code at most. Obviously, the coding language can change things a tiny bit, but if you were to write this in pseudo code, you can get an idea of how simple it really is...


    In the IR handler code,


    Code
    ...
    if (keyCode === 36 && !isPowerOn) {
      turnPowerOn();
    } else if (keyCode === 37 && isPowerOn) {
      turnPowerOff();
    }
    ...


    Anyways, thanks SAM for getting this over to the Formuler team. Really appreciative of the quick support on this box all-around!

  • Thank you JakedUp! I can confirm that the Harmony profile for the Dreamlink z7+ is working well on my end.


    +1 for the dedicated power on and off IR codes feature request. I still have sync issues that are quite annoying.

  • Ok... finally got an update from the Harmony team. The final changes to the Dreamlink T2 and Formuler z7+ device profiles have been made, and should match the specs in my first post in this thread. Unfortunately, to receive the changes, you must delete your existing device and re-add it.


    @SAM, I have the Harmony team on standby about the dedicate power buttons -- is this still something that is on the development team's list?


    Thanks!!

  • I am curious if there is differece between RC ir codes for Formuler Z7+ between EU model and NA .if anybody has hex or efc codes EU model would be appreciated.The remote for the Formuler Z7+ and my hdmi switcher is interferring with each other.Here are My learned NA model ir codes if any body needs them.


    KEYS EFC OBC HEX
    0 181 0 FF
    1 185 1 7F
    2 183 2 BF
    3 187 3 3F
    4 180 4 DF
    5 184 5 5F
    6 182 6 9F
    7 186 7 1F
    8 53 8 EF
    9 57 9 6F
    vol up 68 108 C9
    vol down 72 109 49
    mute 55 10 AF
    channel up 71 106 A9
    channel down 75 107 29
    power 155 51 33
    ok 56 13 4F
    menu 247 26 A7
    epg 251 27 27
    up arrow 59 11 2F
    down arrow 54 14 8F
    left arrow 117 16 F7
    right arrow 121 17 77
    sleep 134 118 91
    info 105 81 75
    play 215 34 BB
    pause 219 35 3B
    rewind 217 33 7B
    fast fwd 212 36 DB
    stop 214 38 9B
    record 218 39 1B
    exit 246 30 87
    home 100 84 D5
    resolution 137 113 71
    v.format 133 112 F1
    tab 197 96 F9
    back space 122 23 17
    back 106 87 15
    favourites 151 50 B3
    group 136 117 51
    red 103 82 B5
    green 203 99 39
    yellow 199 98 B9
    blue 201 97 79
    f1/live 148 52 D3
    f2/vod 152 53 53
    f3 150 54 93
    f4 70 110 89
    playlist 85 40 EB
    sleep 134 118 91
    cursor 132 116 D1
    skip forward 139 115 31
    skip backward 135 114 B1

    Edited 3 times, last by lehmbar ().

  • I saw the codes above and i have a control system named Crestron. With this system I can control equipment by IP. Does anyone know if that is possible with Formuler Z+? Is there an IP port were we can send the codes above or is there an IP Protocol?


    Thanks...

    • Official Post

    Will you guys be implementing official power on and power off dedicated keys? As mentioned numerous times in this thread, power toggle simply is not enough.


    "Simply" not enough for who?


    Nothing is simple when looking at the larger picture.
    Currently, I can confidently say that over 90% of our users are doing just fine with the included RCU and the current power toggling scheme.


    You make it sound like everyone is complaining about this obscure feature because a few "me too" replies and threads have popped up on the forums or social media.
    Most basic users don't come to the forums to report that they are using their devices with no issues and are happy with the product.
    Forum participants/dwellers are mostly people that are seeking support, want to share knowledge, or have a passion about the product and want to see it improved.


    I understand that a small number of users with more unique use-cases want dedicated power toggling codes.
    Formuler really is open minded about these new requests and we have a proven track record of implementing new features that were requested by the community.
    Sometimes it is difficult to predict or understand how users might end up using their devices, and with which accessories they chose to use the device with.
    We can consider implementing this feature if you describe the use-case in more detail and the need for the feature.
    (I want to use my Formuler device with x Remote control/home automation system, to accomplish y task. I cannot do this with the current remote because of z.)


    It would be appreciated if you didn't misconstrue (intentionally or not) the proportionality or number of requests for the feature, nor trivialize the difficulty of implementing such features.


    Thanks.