Switching TV Inputs via programming when there is no Discrete Inputs Selection on TV?

[hank31980]

Hi there,

I have Panasonic TV's throughout the house that integrate well with C4 via an IP based Driver.

However I also have an Aquavision Bathroom TV, which is mainly used for Viewing Terrestrial TV channels and this does not have Discrete Input selection. I want to make use the HDMI ports of this TV to bring in play my HDMI Matrix ballun into HDMI 1 and maybe a locally connected Amazon Fire TV stick located on HDMI 2.

Unfortunately unlike the Panasonic TV's, the Aquavision TV doesn't have Discrete Source selection options. I can send an IR code to the Aquavision TV to select the Source button, but then you have to either Toggle through them by sending a Source IR code repeatedly to get it to change or you have to use the Up or Down IR codes followed by the Enter IR code to select the Input Source.

It would be better if this could be Programmed, i.e. Know which Source you are currently Watching, i.e TV,  then from that work out if you have to move Up the selection or Down the selection of displayed TV Source Inputs to acheive your next  Watched Source choice?

Has anyone got any tips on the best way of acheiving this via Programming (Variables/Macros etc)?

I assume maybe via Variable(s)/ Macros to record the presently selected Watch Source Input then maybe another Variable(s)/Macros for the new selected Watch Source Input.

Regards

David

[JSTRONG]

Hank. Try remote central. They appear to have discrete but depends what version tv you have 

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-custom/thread.cgi?16957

[Crustyloafer]

https://aquavision.tv/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/IR-RS232-Guide.pdf

[hank31980]

Thanks for your answers, but I've had no luck with the codes from Remote Central or the Aquavision pdf doc.

Looking at the TV's original Remote(s), both the waterproof one & the normal looking one, there is just a Source button, to select which Input to select, so I think the TV is designed this way.

So using Control4, the best I can do is to;

• activate the IR code for the "Source button" to display the possible Source Input selections on the TV
• activate the IR code for the "Navigate UP or Down" to move the Input selection to the Input I require
• activate the IR code for the "Enter button" to select

What I need is a programming way of keeping track of which Input I am "Watching" and also switching Inputs correctly when I "Watch" a different Source Input. 

I will figure it out, but didn't want to reinvent the wheel if there is a way already solved by someone.

 

[Cyknight]

13 minutes ago, hank31980 said:

, there is just a Source button, to select which Input to select, so I think the TV is designed this way.

Just because the TV (and basically all tv's) jsut have a source toggle button doesn't as such mean that there aren't descrete codes, but you may be out of luck.

As for how you do 'your' - the string of commands gets added direct to a driver, which would be set to use a macro for input switching,. That way the system still fully knows what input it is on etc.

 

It's not ideal, but generally works.

[Crustyloafer]

I encountered a similar issue with an old Philips TV a client of mine had. I had to switch between HDMI 1 and HDMI 2 and you had to send Source button and then move up or down the list. What I had to do was use a variable to record what the last input the system was on and then based on that it would either not change or it would know whether to press up or down after the source command.

In this system the video output of the 4x4 matrix was connected to HDMI 1 and the local EA-1 for onscreen nav was connected to HDMI 2.

See screenshots below for an example of how I achieved this:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ek2h004u1jprblk/Screenshot 2019-10-24 16.39.31.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/42mce3lf38jrlyp/Screenshot 2019-10-24 16.40.11.png?dl=0

[joecheech]

My TV didn’t have discrete codes. So we picked up a Monoprice HDMI switch that did have discrete codes. We plugged our Fios and Roku into the Monoprice and connected it to HDMI 1. When we change inputs the TV stays on HDMI 1 and the Monoprice switches. Works for us. 
 

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=21614

[hank31980]

Thanks for your replies.

I will look at all 3 suggestions, as they each have their own merits.

In then end, it may be easier (although wiring involved) to Connect the HDMI1 Input of the TV to the my 8x8 Video Matrix that I have, then I only have to switch between TV and HDMI1, which is reliable.

 

[hank31980]

The best method, most reliable was the Driver method, other C4 programming methods were not reliable and clunky to handle.

So the best way I found was to Set the correct IR Code to trigger inside the TV Driver, then it just works every time.

What helped me was to Sadopt a strategy of setting the TV to the DTV Input (Antenna) every time for every Input Change to make sure I had the same starting point.

 

If I wanted to "Watch TV" then trigger the Antenna Input IR code.

If I wanted to "Watch HDMI1" then trigger the TV button IR code, to make sure I started from the TV source, followed by Source button IR code executed 2 times to get me to the correct input HDMI1, all with a small delay of 1/2 second between each Code trigger.

If I wanted to "Watch HDMI2" then trigger the TV button IR code, to make sure I started from the TV source, followed by Source button IR code executed 3 times to get me to the correct input HDMI2, all with a small delay of 1/2 second between each Code trigger.