A project for you? (using macros to control your FTA and analog receivers)

[7720driver]

This is for the few of us who have a BUD connected to an analog reciever AND a FTA receiver.

We have a problem with moving the BUD. We could get a VBOXII to enable the FTA receiver to move the BUD, but that would cause our analog receiver's position counter to get out of sync.

Another problem is that one receiver controls the polarity, and whenever you are tuning channels in on the other receiver, you have to fiddle with the polarity-controling-reciever in order to get the polarity right. (If you have a 4DTV receiver (which is capable of controlling the polarity via voltage) then you don't have this problem. It can gain polarity conrol by just turning off the FTA receiver.)

There is a better solution. drhydro suggested it in another post. Get a programmable remote and make a macro that will do everything that needs to be done.

I think this is a great idea. I did a search of this forum and I didn't find any posts on this subject. I bet somebody has already done it, though. It's a project that's so good... it demands to be done.

Get a programmable remote that is capable of controlling your FTA receiver and your analog receiver.

Set up your system so that the FTA receiver controls polarity. (In order for you to do this, your BUD's LNB will have to the kind that controls polarity via voltage.)

Make a macro that will:
1. Command your FTA receiver to go to a particular favorite channel.

2. Command your analog receiver to move the BUD to the particular satellite
on which that particular favorite channel is being broadcast.

3 Command your analog receiver to go to a channel of the same polarity required by the FTA channel you are wanting to tune.

You'd have to set up a macro button for each of your favorite channels. Your programmable remote might be limited in the number of macro buttons available. If so, then you could just group your FTA favorites according to satellite and have only the first one in each group be the one that uses a macro to command the BUD. There's lots of different ways you could configure things.

I'd be DOING all this right now, instead of just talking about it, but I can't. That's because my analog receiver is only contollable by a UHF remote...and I don't have a UHF/IR programmable remote. I don't think there is such a thing. I think they're all IR only.

If any of you guys have done something like this, I'd enjoy reading about it.

 

[123tim]

I'd be DOING all this right now, instead of just talking about it, but I can't. That's because my analog receiver is only contollable by a UHF remote...and I don't have a UHF/IR programmable remote. I don't think there is such a thing. I think they're all IR only.
If any of you guys have done something like this, I'd enjoy reading about it.

I'll be honest and admit up front that I really don't understand much of your problem. I only have a simple Ku setup and don't fully understand it yet. Your remote problem intrigues me though.

I started looking for converter circuit which would convert a remote control signal from IR to UHF. There is so much of the reverse going on (IR to UHF to IR remote extenders) that I really didn't find anything in the short time that I looked.

I'm pretty this won't work, but it might get you thinking in another direction:
Would an IR to UHF remote control extender work in reverse? What I'm getting at is this..... What if you took an extender and used the UHF to IR side with your UHF remote to convert the UHF signal (from your remote) to IR? Could you then use your UHF remote to program the IR remote? Could the process then be reversed? Could you use the IR to UHF side of the extender to use the programmable remote with your old UHF controlled receiver?
My plan has one serious flaw. It assumes that the UHF signal that an extender uses would be the same frequency as a UHF remote control. It seems that a circuit designer would go to great lengths to make certain that this never happened. It would be an interesting experiment though.

Good Luck!

Edit- I went to Ollie's (a discount store chain) last night - they had a $70 dollar programmable remote for $20 dollars.

 

[7720driver]

Thanks for the suggestions, Tim. I exprimented with a "IR to UHF to IR" extender a few years ago, and it would not control my UHF controlled receiver.

I did a google search today and found where a guy had modified a UHF-controlled Dishnetwork receiver to accept IR commands. The instructions were specific to that receiver and I'm not going to attempt to modify my receiver (an Echostar 710 analog). My farm supply dealer has an old analog receiver that he hasn't used in years. Chances are it's IR controlled. He'd probably give it to me.

 

[123tim]

I experimented with a "IR to UHF to IR" extender a few years ago, and it would not control my UHF controlled receiver.
I

Bummer. I'm not really surprised. Anything happen at all? I'm almost certain that the Freq. would be incompatable.

You probably know this, but I'll throw it out for anyone who might be interested:

If you happen to have a digital camera of the right kind (without an internal IR filter) you can use the LCD viewfinder to "see" the output of your IR remote control.
Just look at the IR LED through the camera. Works pretty well. An easy way to tell if your remote is doing anything.

Glad you found another receiver.

Good luck!
Tim

 

[7720driver]

Never knew that about a digital camera' viewfinder being able to see a remote's LED lighting up. Interesting.

Nothing at all happened when I tried to use the remote extender to operate my UHF-controlled analog receiver.

 

[Shawn95GT]

I wonder if the Harmony 890 Remote will learn your RF commands from the Satellite remote...

It isn't cheap by a long shot, but if it works

 

[Mr Tony]

for $400 that thing better bring me my pop and chip & dip

 

[gizzer777]

Or buy one of these

This is for the few of us who have a BUD connected to an analog reciever AND a FTA receiver.

We have a problem with moving the BUD. We could get a VBOXII to enable the FTA receiver to move the BUD, but that would cause our analog receiver's position counter to get out of sync.

Another problem is that one receiver controls the polarity, and whenever you are tuning channels in on the other receiver, you have to fiddle with the polarity-controling-reciever in order to get the polarity right. (If you have a 4DTV receiver (which is capable of controlling the polarity via voltage) then you don't have this problem. It can gain polarity conrol by just turning off the FTA receiver.)

There is a better solution. drhydro suggested it in another post. Get a programmable remote and make a macro that will do everything that needs to be done.

I think this is a great idea. I did a search of this forum and I didn't find any posts on this subject. I bet somebody has already done it, though. It's a project that's so good... it demands to be done.

Get a programmable remote that is capable of controlling your FTA receiver and your analog receiver.

Set up your system so that the FTA receiver controls polarity. (In order for you to do this, your BUD's LNB will have to the kind that controls polarity via voltage.)

Make a macro that will:
1. Command your FTA receiver to go to a particular favorite channel.

2. Command your analog receiver to move the BUD to the particular satellite
on which that particular favorite channel is being broadcast.

3 Command your analog receiver to go to a channel of the same polarity required by the FTA channel you are wanting to tune.

You'd have to set up a macro button for each of your favorite channels. Your programmable remote might be limited in the number of macro buttons available. If so, then you could just group your FTA favorites according to satellite and have only the first one in each group be the one that uses a macro to command the BUD. There's lots of different ways you could configure things.

I'd be DOING all this right now, instead of just talking about it, but I can't. That's because my analog receiver is only contollable by a UHF remote...and I don't have a UHF/IR programmable remote. I don't think there is such a thing. I think they're all IR only.

If any of you guys have done something like this, I'd enjoy reading about it.

There is a new Harmony called the 990 Univ Remote...it does RF as well as IR! I have the 880 (IR only, and the macros are incredibly easy to set up using the web based software)...It really does everything you command and very easily too! THE 880 AND 990 DO COME AT A PREMIUM PRICE!

With the Harmony 880, My system components turn on, the BUD moves to a favorite sat , and the channel is tuned...I have separate macros for the FTA Viewsat Extreme and 4dtv favorites! Fantastic! Time to turn off...one button does that too in reverse turning off 6 components!
Regards
jeff

 

[bryansr]

I have never seen an Analog Cband receiver that will not "do" IR & RF. All of the ones I have worked on, and that was MOST of them, have a "switch" that will switch the Satellite receiver from RF to IR in the software menu or on the box physically somewhere. Of course I haven't worked on ALL of them just MOST of them.

Bryansr

 

[7720driver]

Bryansr, my analog receiver is a Echostar 710, manufactured about 1991. There's no IR/UHF switch on the unit itself and there's no software switch. I looked in the manual, and there's no mention of any IR remote control capability.

I know some equipment is made to work with either kind of remote (no switching required). I have an Echostar 5000 that is like that.

I have a programmable IR remote, and I tried each of the five Echostar satellite receiver codes listed in the remote's manual. None of the five worked. So, I think I'm out of luck when it comes to trying to control the Echostar 710 with an IR remote.

gizzer777, man I'd love to have one of those Harmony 990 remotes. But I'd have to make a bumper crop in order to be able to afford that. (I'm a soybean farmer.)

 

[bryansr]

http://www.satellitehelp.com/echo_programming_index.asp

Here is a link that came up when I googled this receiver..... It has some good info on it along with some other sites google came up with. You might try to find a remote from eBay cheap.... I might even have one in my MANY piles of junk, I just need the time to sift through it all.... Maybe after I retire from my "regular" JOB I will have time to find some of my "treasures" among the JUNK.
BryanSR

 

[7720driver]

Lots of good information on that site. Thanks for the link, bryansr.