learning remote can ONLY learn from IR original remote which is working well,

[micky]

Regarding remote controls that can learn, many say "can ONLY learn from
IR original remote which is working well, please make sure that your
original remote is an IR remote control and it is working well before
place an order."

Of course it has to be IR and of course it would help a lot if it worked
all the time, but why does it have to be an original remote, and not a
universal?

They learn by shining the output of the first remote into the new
remote.

In one case, I have a universal remote that has been assigned to my
model device. It works fine. How could it be so different from the
original remote that a learning remote could not learn from it?
Plainly it uses the same frequency or encoding or it woudln't work.


I know they have "regions" for DVD's so by electonic/programming means
you cannot play a DVD in the wrong region, so they could if they wanted
have an accompanying code that differentiates an original remote from a
universal remote, but why would they go to such trouble?

And who would implement it? Do the makers of original remotes accept
that there are universal remotes** but want to make them slightly less
valuable by not letting a learning remote learn from them?

Or would the makers of universal remotes or learning remotes put some
limitation on them? Why? I don't see how it could increase sales.

And aren't they all made by the same companies anyhow?

**Don't they provide the codes so that universal remotes know the
frequencies for all the various commands?

[Fred]

"micky" <NONONO...@fmguy.com> wrote in message
news:eug9qf9q00t92koam...@4ax.com...

> Regarding remote controls that can learn, many say "can
> ONLY learn from IR original remote which is working well,
> please make sure that your original remote is an IR remote
> control and it is working well before place an order."

That's an over simplification with the original claim.

> Of course it has to be IR and of course it would
> help a lot if it worked all the time, but why does it
> have to be an original remote, and not a universal?

It doesn't.

> They learn by shining the output of
> the first remote into the new remote.

Yes.

> In one case, I have a universal remote that has been assigned to
> my model device. It works fine. How could it be so different from
> the original remote that a learning remote could not learn from it?

It isnt and it can learn from that.

> Plainly it uses the same frequency or encoding or it woudln't work.

> I know they have "regions" for DVD's so by electonic/programming
> means you cannot play a DVD in the wrong region, so they could if
> they wanted have an accompanying code that differentiates an original
> remote from a universal remote, but why would they go to such trouble?

They don't.

> And who would implement it? Do the makers of original remotes
> accept that there are universal remotes** but want to make them
> slightly less valuable by not letting a learning remote learn from them?

They don't. And some universal remotes can be programmed
just by specifying the remote they are replacing, not by learning.

> Or would the makers of universal remotes or
> learning remotes put some limitation on them?

No one does.

> Why? I don't see how it could increase sales.

> And aren't they all made by the same companies anyhow?

Nope.

> **Don't they provide the codes so that universal remotes
> know the frequencies for all the various commands?

The more common ones, anyway.

[Bob F]

My logitech "Harmony" remotes were easily programmed for all my devices
from their website in the internet. Just specify the device, and it had
everyone I needed. I really like these remotes. Easy to program for any
desired combination of devices.

[micky]

Thanks for the answers.

Two more questions. 1) When they say a remote will control 4 or 6
devices, I think if it as an Aux choice, you can choose anything,
including a second TV.

But what if just has TV, VCR, DVD, CBL, Settop, AC, and no button is
marked Aux or AnyOldThing. Does that mean only one tv per remote? Or
do they just label the buttons to help remind you which one you chose,
but any button, TV, VCR, DVD, CBL. AC. can contol anything that any
other button can control.

2) My DVDR remote has 40 buttons. I only need 20, counting 0-9 When I
teach a learning remote, do I have to teach it all 20 buttons separately
or will it somehow learn some or all without individual button pushing?
Will it at least assume 0-9 are still 0-9. That would leave 10. Will it
learn any others so easily? (One ad seemed to say it did that, but I
didn't want that one for other reasons.)


More below.


In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 6 Nov 2020 15:27:42 +1100, "Fred"

<hju...@hotnail.com> wrote:

>
>
>"micky" <NONONO...@fmguy.com> wrote in message
>news:eug9qf9q00t92koam...@4ax.com...
>
>> Regarding remote controls that can learn, many say "can
>> ONLY learn from IR original remote which is working well,
>> please make sure that your original remote is an IR remote
>> control and it is working well before place an order."
>
>That's an over simplification with the original claim.

That's my question. I quoted the ads word for word.

>> Of course it has to be IR and of course it would
>> help a lot if it worked all the time, but why does it
>> have to be an original remote, and not a universal?
>
>It doesn't.

I'll buy that.

>> They learn by shining the output of
>> the first remote into the new remote.
>
>Yes.
>
>> In one case, I have a universal remote that has been assigned to
>> my model device. It works fine. How could it be so different from
>> the original remote that a learning remote could not learn from it?
>
>It isnt and it can learn from that.

Good.

>> Plainly it uses the same frequency or encoding or it woudln't work.
>
>> I know they have "regions" for DVD's so by electonic/programming
>> means you cannot play a DVD in the wrong region, so they could if
>> they wanted have an accompanying code that differentiates an original
>> remote from a universal remote, but why would they go to such trouble?
>
>They don't.
>
>> And who would implement it? Do the makers of original remotes
>> accept that there are universal remotes** but want to make them
>> slightly less valuable by not letting a learning remote learn from them?
>
>They don't. And some universal remotes can be programmed
>just by specifying the remote they are replacing, not by learning.

Sure. That's what makes them universal.

>> Or would the makers of universal remotes or
>> learning remotes put some limitation on them?
>
>No one does.
>
>> Why? I don't see how it could increase sales.
>
>> And aren't they all made by the same companies anyhow?
>
>Nope.

Okay. It doesnt' matter if the previous answers make me happy, and they
do.

>> **Don't they provide the codes so that universal remotes
>> know the frequencies for all the various commands?

Meaning, that the TV manufacturers aren't keeping those things secret
from the remote manufactures, so why should they add an extra
difficulty.

>The more common ones, anyway.

Yes. That's anothr thing. One of my devices wasn't in the list of
devices. That was 5 or 10 years ago. Maybe by now it is. If so that
would make things easier, but if not, I need one that learns.

[micky]

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 5 Nov 2020 21:00:55 -0800, Bob F

I looked first on Amazon and I didn't see any of those. That might show
how Amazon, even without trying, manipulates the market, just because
they have some modesl and brands for sale and not others.

However when I look specifically for logitech "Harmony" remotes, it has
several. I saw none when I looked for learning remotes. (Even though
for $269, it ought to be able to learn to teach physics and recite
Shakespeare.

I lke it whent they say works with 400,000 devices and 6,000 brands.
It's hard to believe there are that many.

Also hard to believe how expensive the Harmony ones are, $160 and up. I
only paid $19 last time, and I was up to about $35 this time. :-)

But I'll tune my mind to spending more money.



This one is a surprise. Under $7 and it learns but only a little bit.
https://www.amazon.com/Chunghop-Universal-Multifunctional-Controller-Conditioner/dp/B07CVG5WNS/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=learning%2Buniversal%2Bremote&link_code=qs&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-4&tag=mozilla-20&th=1



I noticed about stores only selling some brands when I changed
supermarkets because of the virus. The Safeway is missing certain brands
that I'm used to eating. Even Del Monte canned corn and spinach, week
after week they only have them without salt, or you can buy an off-
brand. I tried the spinach without added salt and it was terrible.
Salting it helped a lot but I'd rather they cooked it with salt so it
was well mixed. I haven't eaten the off-brand yet, but long ago I
noticed that, at least that one day, an off-brand had trimmed the corn
off closer to the cob so there's was a little that was hard and inedible
at the bottom of many kernels.
The Safeway doesn't have Nestle's chocolate syrup, but it does have
malted milk flavored ice cream. I had never seen that before, but they
have it every time I go there.

[Fred]

"micky" <NONONO...@fmguy.com> wrote in message

news:gtt9qft8jh821255g...@4ax.com...

>
> Thanks for the answers.
>
> Two more questions. 1) When they say a remote will control 4 or 6
> devices, I think if it as an Aux choice, you can choose anything,
> including a second TV.
>
> But what if just has TV, VCR, DVD, CBL, Settop, AC, and no button is
> marked Aux or AnyOldThing. Does that mean only one tv per remote? Or
> do they just label the buttons to help remind you which one you chose,
> but any button, TV, VCR, DVD, CBL. AC. can contol anything that any
> other button can control.

That varies with how fancy the new remote is. A few do allow
you to switch between more than one specific device like a TV
etc so the normal buttons do work fine on more than one TV,

> 2) My DVDR remote has 40 buttons.

Yeah, that's always a problem with any replacement remote.

? I only need 20, counting 0-9 When I teach a learning

> remote, do I have to teach it all 20 buttons separately

Usually with learning remotes, but not with remotes
where you specify which remote it is emulating.

> or will it somehow learn some or all without individual
> button pushing? Will it at least assume 0-9 are still 0-9.
> That would leave 10. Will it learn any others so easily?

Not usually with learning remotes.

> (One ad seemed to say it did that, but
> I didn't want that one for other reasons.)

The better remotes have downloadable manuals.

> More below.

How low can you go ?

[micky]

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 6 Nov 2020 19:23:34 +1100, "Fred"
<hju...@hotnail.com> wrote:


Thanks for the comments.

You ain't seen nothin' yet.

[Bob F]

Again, the Harmony remotes are likely to solve that problem. I got my
first one off freecycle, and liked it so much I picked up another used
for $10 or so. They are fully programmable from an online data base, so
most components can be found. They can also learn.

Most of the previous learning remotes I had had limited learning capacity.

[micky]

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 6 Nov 2020 09:12:43 -0800, Bob F

<bobn...@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>>
>>> The more common ones, anyway.
>>
>> Yes. That's anothr thing. One of my devices wasn't in the list of
>> devices. That was 5 or 10 years ago. Maybe by now it is. If so that
>> would make things easier, but if not, I need one that learns.
>>
>
>Again, the Harmony remotes are likely to solve that problem. I got my
>first one off freecycle, and liked it so much I picked up another used
>for $10 or so. They are fully programmable from an online data base, so
>most components can be found. They can also learn.
>
>Most of the previous learning remotes I had had limited learning capacity.

Good to know.

I started to recall that I once had a learning remote, but I'd never
used it. I remember 4 colored buttons that can accept any command. I
think it's on the other half of my bed, but I'll need a crew to move all
the junk that is there. I'll know in a few weeks. ;-)