HouseBot

I am really stumped (maybe just burned out) on how i can control my onkyo tx nr801 from my software remote. I have a touch tablet pc mounted in my kitchen and my onkyo receiver is in an adjacent room. My hb server is Vista Ultimate with a media center extender(xbox 360). The xbox is in the same room as the receiver and the mce vista ultimate box is in a main control room further away. What i would like to be able to do is control either media center as it runs in the receiver room or directly control my onkyo receiver and music from the kitchen software remote. I currently have my media center vista ultimate pc working with my tv and receiver via the xbox360 and can play my playlists over the receiver from that room. I want to be able to do this from another room. (My kitchen.) Is this possible? What do i need to make it work? I have a host of items that could probably be pieced together but i am sooooo confused......Thanks in advance to anyone who can explain this to me.

Pick up a global cache GC-100. This will give you either IR or RS-232 control via HouseBot. Very simple to install. The hardest part is getting the IR codes for your reciever (http://www.remotecentral.com).

http://www.globalcache.com/products/gc-index.html

Osler

buy a 3 wire rs232 cable and connect it to your Onkyo. Download my script in the scripts section and get it to work. The script is old, but works and should be a good test case. If you want I could cate some export next week of my onkyo panels with the latest version of the script. No need for any other hardware. If you want to go with IR, then use the UIRT and learn the remote codes yourself.

What exactly is a 3 wire rs232 cable and what does it do in this case. Does my receiver need to be sitting right next to the computer? How does this connect to my receiver? Thanks and forgive my ignorance.

I just checked and the reciever doesn't have RS-232 control. This means that you can only control the reciever via IR (i.e., power, sources, volume, etc.)

Based upon your post, I presume that the receiver is off by itself away from a computer. Yes or No?

I also presume it is close to the XBox and thus near a wired ethernet connection. Yes or No?

The easiest way to do this (assuming the above presumptions are correct) is with a GC-100. This is small nework adapter that you connect to your LAN near the receiver. The smallest/cheapest (~$120) size has 3 IR-out ports and an RS-232 port. HouseBot can send commands to the GC-100 and it will generate IR signals to control the reciever.

Osler

Yes you are right on all counts. I assume the gc100 unit communicates on the lan via the rj45 port and not the rs232 port in this case. Right? It doesn't appear to me that the best way to do this is going to be via the Onkyo receiver alone. If that's all i use, i won't be able to come up with playlists etc. That would mean that i would need to be able to emulate the xbox360 )media center extender) remote and the onkyo remote and my tv remote. I do have a harmony remote so i think that might be the one to emulate since i can program it to turn all of those devices on with one click. But then, how can i see the music that is stored on my media center pc/hb server. Thanks again for this. The fog is beginning to lift. :)

I currently have my media center vista ultimate pc working with my tv and receiver via the xbox360 and can play my playlists over the receiver from that room

I should clarify "that room". It is the room where the tv and receiver are and not the vista ultimate machine.

Yes...the GC100 basically allows HB to turn into a "Universal Remote" and control all the IR-dependent equipment. However, once you have the reciever set to the appropriate source (i.e., XBox) you will need to do additional things to send it a signal to start streaming. This is out of my realm at the moment....but see the script forum as someone has a way to control MCE. Also, I think my scripts for the Sonos system can be converted to control the MS extenders via UPnP...however, not sure about this at this time.

Osler

once you have the reciever set to the appropriate source

Am i able to change the source on the fly from HB? I mean, can i use a script to set a property or something to turn on the tv, then change the source to the receiver and control that and then turn on the xbox 360 etc;.....I know that the 06 model has 3 inputs/outputs but can i change what each one controls on the fly or am i locked into setting each one up and thats it.

The GC-100 is a "dumb" appliance and just does what it is told. Theoretically, you could control all three of your devices (TV, reciever, XBox (it receives IR?)) from a single port on the GC-100. You can purchase a two-headed flasher to plug into port 1 of the GC-100 and take one head to the TV and the other to the reciever. The TV will ignore any IR signal intended for the reciever and vice versa because each appliance doesn't understand the IR code for the other (i.e., the IR "On" command for the reciever does nothing to the TV).

This is a bit hard to explain without you looking at the GC-100 plug-in. It allows you to build a database of remotes (TV, reciever, etc.) with all of their possible commands and associate an IR code (pronto-type) with each command. You then create a device that uses that remote and by changing properties in the device an IR signal is sent to the device via the GC-100.

Does this make sense?

Osler

Yes, it makes perfect sense. So, in addition to the gc-100 unit, i will need to buy a few ir flashers i suppose? Without looking at any scripts yet, i would assume that i can pass a song/playlist as a parameter or property via the gc-100 plugin. Thanks for all of your help with this. I am looking forward to having a go at this.

BTW....Where can i get the gc-100 plugin? (Bet you knew that was coming. Didn't you? ) :)

1) You likely won't need a script for this. A task should be able to handle functions such as "Watch TV" with all accompanied IR signals being sent by said task.

2) The GC-100 handles IR or RS-232 only. Unless you can select a playlist by IR you're going to have to find another way to do this. I would actually be interested to see if the XBox shows up as a UPnP device. To do this, go to Intel's site and download their toolset:

http://www.intel.com/cd/ids/developer/a ... 218896.htm?

Launch DeviceSpy and see if the XBox 360 shows up. If it does, let me know and I can convert my Sonos COM object to work with it.

3) The GC-100 plug-in should have been included in your original installation. You should be able to click on "Add Hardware Device" and then select "GC-100" from the list of potential harware devices. If you don't see it, reinstall HouseBot and make sure you check it as a plug-in to include during the installation process. A GC-100 can be purchased from Automated Outlet (my personal favorite as they are only 5 miles from me).

http://www.automatedoutlet.com/product. ... t=0&page=1

Don't forget to pick up some IR flashers.

Osler

I'll try the device spy tonight and let you know. I will also probably order the gc-100 today along with some ir flashers. I also like automated oulet. They're usually cheaper than most and pretty quick about shipping.
While i am waiting for this to arrive, i am going to experiment with a usbuirt and some powermids i have laying around. The powermids work with my receicver just fine.
I need to figure out how to get the remote codes. I downloaded some ccf files for my onkyo last night but the cftools app can't read the config. I can try to learn the codes with the uirt via hb but, i can't find the frequency for the onkyo remote anywhere.
I did discover the gc-100 plugin........ Thanks.......again!

I've downloaded the DeviceSpy but, i'm not sure what i am looking at yet. I do have some reonte codes working for my usbuirt device that, so far, is working splendidly with the powermid arrangement. I did order the gc-100 and two ir flashers and one dual flasher. I do not however have the xbox360 powering up yet. It is really hard trying to find the pronto codes for stuff. The only ones i have had any luck with reading are the .ccf files in prontoedit4.
Let me know on the DeviceSpy what i am looking for and i will let you know what i find there.