TV box anti-sleep I.R. transmitter?

[toysareforboys]

I have an IPTV digital TV box (Entone Kamai 500) that goes to sleep every 1hr 15mins, right in the middle of watching a movie! It's super duper annoying, and in order to conserve bandwidth, the provider says they won't change the idle timer (not even to only kick out at the end of the current program or movie! wow).

So, I've done some testing, and hitting one of the buttons on the remote produces nothing on the display, but does reset the timer.

What I would like to do is build a simple circuit that could capture/record the I.R. signal from a button press, then spit out that button press I.R. signal every 60 mins.

I've seen the USB IR Toy v2 and because it's programmable I assume I should be able to make it capture the I.R. signal then spit it out every 60 mins! Just provide it with 5v power (the IPTV box has an unused USB port already!) and it'll sit there and chirp away, hopefully! http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/USB_IR_Toy_v2

I've ordered it for $23 shipped, smokin deal.

Do you think I'll be able to make it do what I need? Once I receive it I'll do some experimenting and can post up any information that's needed (to help me program it! ).

Thank you for any information you can provide.

-Jamie M.

[TVman]

Sounds like A good idea.

Did you know that some TV boxes have cameras in them?
The government IS Evil!
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/february2009/021809_spy_camera.htm

[toysareforboys]

Sounds like A good idea.

Did you know that some TV boxes have cameras in them?
The government IS Evil!
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/february2009/021809_spy_camera.htm

Scary!!! Hopefully this one doesn't have a camera in it and notices me snoozing in the middle of a movie but the box doesn't go to sleep! lol.

-Jamie M.

[TVman]

They put these cams in the "boxes"
To see our reactions to different adds.
Plus it's also invades YOUR privacy!

[TVman]

Oh and if possible go see if there is A camera in YOUR thing and Destroy it!

[Monkeh]

Don't mind TVman, he's just read some conspiracy theory BS.

[TVman]

Don't mind TVman, he's just read some conspiracy theory BS.

Oh shutup.

[Tac Eht Xilef]

One of the joys of being an adult is waiting for and watching the moments when a kid realises just how much they've wasted by being a dick, and that they need to grow up a bit.

Maybe that's what the cameras are really for?

[TVman]

Maybe...
I do learn a lot from this forum. 

[TheBorg]

Don't mind TVman, he's just read some conspiracy theory BS.

Oh shutup.

Just looking at the URL on the site, much less the topics listed, and above all the ads that popup... 

[Tac Eht Xilef]

Sorry toysareforboys, just realised that amongst all the no-one (me included) has actually tried to answer your question...

Looks like the unit you linked is basically an IR transceiver - it receives the signal, decodes it, and sends the result via USB or serial; you can also talk to it via USB or serial and have it send a signal. By itself it doesn't read & play back IR signals; it needs a PC or microcontroller to listen to what it's received and tell it what to send.

That said: it's based on a PIC microcontroller, it's got a bootloader, and the firmware is available. If you're happy programming in Microchip C & uploading new firmware, it should be quite possible to modify the firmware to read, record, and send IR signals by itself.

Hope that helps...

[toysareforboys]

That said: it's based on a PIC microcontroller, it's got a bootloader, and the firmware is available. If you're happy programming in Microchip C & uploading new firmware, it should be quite possible to modify the firmware to read, record, and send IR signals by itself.

That is my hope! I'm a basic and PHP guy myself so won't have much luck with C but I have a few friends that are good with C.

The developer said it does contain the hardware to capture and reply the signal all by itself, they just never wrote that into the firmware.

-Jamie M.

[NiHaoMike]

Arduino would be easier for beginners.