iTach learn payloadXML and map editor issue.

[three6zerocool]

Hello,   I have been trying to reciprocate the video tutorial that James did, about using voxcommando to learn and test IR commands with a Global Cache WiFi2IR.
I seem to be mostly there, and have imported the iTach payloadxml, and edited the action with the ip address of my itach.
It seems to be connecting to my itach according to vox history.

I can issue the voice commands to create a new map table for device ir codes, and then can learn the particular ir code, and vox responds with successfully learned code response.
However, I seem to not end up with anything in the map table.

What am I doing wrong?.

[three6zerocool]

Update:

Tried to learn buttons for my stereo, beginning with Volume Up.

I deleted all the saved map tables, pressed save, and now the codes are being saved in the map table.
I use the 'test that button' and I see the 3rd led of my itach light up, but nothing happens on my AV Receiver.
My blaster is connected to port3 of iTach.

I notice on the video that James did, that the Map Table has name of GC_Stereo,  where mine is uu_Stereo.
Is that important?.

[Kalle]

If you take a look in the command "I want to programm my {1}", you can change the uu_{1} in the first action (if you want).
Take also a look in the command "learn complete set map" in which you can change how the code for the iTach is stored (IR output, repeat, ...)

Does the code work when you learn and send it direct with the iLearn software from GC? If yes, keep an eye on the repeat value in the iLearn and set it in the VC command "learn complete set map" to the same value.

Let us know if this solve your problem.

[three6zerocool]

Thankyou for that information.
I think I have discovered the issue.

It would appear that the supplied blaster that came with the iTach is defective.
Kinda annoying, as it has never been used, and I purchased this device about a year ago,.

I plugged the blaster from my Microsoft eHome receiver into the itach, and learned a code with the iLearn app, and then tested the code.
It worked. Have not tried it with voxcommando yet, but I suspect it will now work.

[three6zerocool]

another update:

The iTach blaster is OK.  It would appear that iTach has severe issues with Sony equipment, which of course is what I have.
(grin)

I have two devices that can not learn Sony codes..  my new Amulet remote, and my WiFi iTach.
EVERY other learning remote I have, even ridiculously cheap ones, can learn my Sony gear, but Amulet and iTach.... forget it.
Apparently Sony send the codes in 3 quick bursts, so devices like Amulet and itach can not even read the complete code.

I will have to see if I can find the raw codes for my Sony devices, and hopefully past the codes into the map editor manually.

[jitterjames]

I don't think my iTach has any problems learning Sony codes.  Is this a known issue?  Maybe it is just a question of configuring it correctly.

[jitterjames]

Hmmm.  If I recall correctly I think many Sony devices like to get everything twice.  So make sure your are sending your codes twice.  the repeat is the number after the frequency, which is usually about 38000

so for example: sendir,1:3,1,38109,1,1,128,64,16,16,16,48BCBCBCBCBCCBCBCCCCBBCCBCBBCBBBCBCCBCBBCCBBCCBB16,3810

you would change the number after 38109 to 2 to get

sendir,1:3,1,38109,2,1,128,64,16,16,16,48BCBCBCBCBCCBCBCCCCBBCCBCBBCBBBCBCCBCBBCCBBCCBB16,3810

(note this is not a sony code).

If you are using VC's Tools.GcCompress action, then the second param is the repeat value.

[Kalle]

I will have to see if I can find the raw codes for my Sony devices, and hopefully past the codes into the map editor manually.

here is a excel-sheet with all Sony HEX codes - you can use iConvert from GC.

You found many IR codes on www.remotecentral.com

[jitterjames]

Global Cache also has a database online.  It looks like you can only access codes one button at a time but still could be handy in certain circumstances:

https://irdatabase.globalcache.com/irdatabase.htm

[three6zerocool]

OK, I managed to finally learn a command in iLearn, and then play it back.
The Sony code must be 3 lines, with a gap between.

eg. Here is a learned volume command in GC compressed mode.

[VOLUME UP]   sendir,1:3,1,40064,1,1,96,24,24,24,48,24BBCBBBBBBCCB24,889ABCBBCBBBBBBCCBDABCBB48,4000

The above code took about 6 attempts for iLearn to get.
It just does not seem to read the entire code, so I have to wait till I see 4 lines of captured code, then change ilearn line value to 3, which selects all the code in blue, then it will play back.

[three6zerocool]

Another Update.

Amidst my preperations for hari-cari,  and after seriously thinking about whamming my iTach with a 12 pound sledge hsmmer.
I made an interesting discovery.

I found a developer has created a Mac version of iLearn, that is not officially supported by GlobalCache.
I installed it on my Mac,  and tried it out.
To my surprise, it read codes from my Sony AVR without issue, and the iLearn Mac version played the codes back fine too.

So, it would appear that my iTach is seemingly fine.
But seemingly the Windows version 2.6 official iLearn utility has some issues.

Seems crazy that the unofficial version on a different platform works better than the native Windows app on the GlobalCache site.

[jitterjames]

Ohhhhh yeah...

I'm very sorry about this.     I should have thought to mention that there are problems with version 2.5 of iLearn.  I was using version 2.4 with no problems, and at one point I upgraded to 2.5 which mysteriously did not work very well.  I can't believe they have now released another version 2.6 which is still broken.  It has been awhile since I learned this lesson and I had basically forgotten about it since I was able to learn all my codes with VC and haven't had occasion to learn any new ones recently.

In any case version 2.4 of iLearn seems to work fine so I am attaching the .exe for it to this post.

VoxCommando should also work fine for learning codes.  In the previous version of VoxCommando I somehow failed to add the XML needed to let you properly identify the parameters used in the actions

* Tools.GcTrim
* Tools.GcCompress

Here is a link to the info on the wiki: http://voxcommando.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Actions#GcTrim

If you go to the download page and grab version 1.1.8.8 this xml has been updated.

In particular in your case, if you are using Tools.GcTrim with sony you will want to change the 3rd parameter "lines" to a value of 3.  If for some reason it is having trouble separating the lines correctly you may need to adjust the 2nd parameter: "MaxValue".

I don't fully understand all the nuances, but in some cases you can instead keep just one line and set the repeat to 3, but I guess there is a subtle difference between the 2 methods.  It may depend on whether the lines are actually identical to each other, or on the length of the pause between lines.

The main think to keep in mind with the iTach is that it is essentially a "dumb" device.  It doesn't recognize protocols or make any decisions based on that.  This is both a blessing and a curse.  It is good in a way because it means it can learn codes from almost ANY protocol, but it is a curse because it often means you need to take a bit more of a hands on approach.

One thing you can also try if using VC to learn and store codes is to just skip the Tools.Trim action completely, at least when you are just testing.  The idea of trimming is to make the code shorter, by detecting repeated patterns, but it should usually work without trimming.  This may help you to learn a wider variety of codes, but will probably result in longer codes to store, and longer codes to send, so once you have things figured out a bit you can try turning it back on and experimenting with the settings.

The most important parameters on the Tools.GcCompress action are the 2nd and 3rd.  The second sets the repeat (you can probably leave it as 1 if you are not using "Tools.GcTrim".  The third parameter is the connector which is the # of output port your emitter is plugged into.  Obviously very important to get that one right!

[Kalle]

 

good catch from both of you 

That is the reason, why my codes (learned with VC) works better as the codes from learned in iLearn 2.6 - thanks for this important informattion.
Maybe that is the reason why the carrier frequencies between iLearn and VC looks sometimes different for the same code.

[jitterjames]

I don't think it would affect carrier frequency.  The iTach is sending the same data back, and it is the iTach that determines the frequency.  Of course I could be mistaken.

[Kalle]

I think you've right with the carrier frequency and probably just a coincidence - the problem with iLearn version 2.5/2.6 is explained in the GC forum. The only way to solve it, is use the iLearn Version 2.4.

https://globalcache.zendesk.com/entries/25043417-iLearn-issues-