Written by: Alan Richey

With acknowledgements to Matt Whitlock, Brandon C, The Robman, Nuke12 and AndyBBB, who actually wrote much of this article. All I did was update and combine all the information into one new article.

Index

• Section 1 - Background information
• Section 2 - The Basic Procedure
• Section 3 - Obtaining the Binary file for the Custom Remote
• Section 4 - Installing the Binary file to the Slingbox
• Section 5 - Learning the IR codes from your own remote
• Section 6 - Creating your own Binary files using RemoteMaster
• Section 7 - Give your Binary file back to the Community

---

There's nothing worse than getting your brand new Slingbox out of the box and set up, only to discover that your A/V device is unsupported. In fact, the most common posting the community forums is a plea for help from someone looking for a remote code for an unsupported device. If you find yourself in this situation, you can now take matters into your own hands by creating and importing custom IR remote files for your gear. But, before detailing the steps to go through there are some basic things you need to understand (this isn't essential reading but everything will make much more sense if you do know the details).

Section 1 - Background information

1. There were five different chips used in Slingboxes. These are designated as JU, PK, PL, RV & JB. If you want to check your type you can verify your IR blaster version in the Slingbox Properties dialog. Then match the version number with the chip type.
   
   1=JU (old US boxes)
   2=PL (current non-HD US boxes)
   3=PK (never used outside of testing)
   4=RV (current non-US boxes)
   5=JB (Slingbox Pro-HD) (Compatible with PL files)


2. In older versions of Slingplayer it was possible to change the look of the Custom Remote ‘skin'. Since Slingplayer V1.5 this functionality has been removed and as far as the look of the Remote is concerned you are unfortunately stuck with the Generic design produced by Sling Media. All we can do is change the codes that are sent when a specific button is pressed. If there are any buttons you need which are not on the Generic Remote (Audio, video...) what we have to do is put them into a Custom Menu which is accessed by tapping on the Menu button on the Generic Remote (or defined as Custom Controls on SlingPlayer V1.5). It's also worth noting you cannot change the Menu title so you will have to remember what Custom 10, 11 etc mean. 


3. When you run the Audio/Visual setup routine in Slingplayer and select a supported device, what actually happens is that a Binary Code is downloaded to the Slingbox. This Binary Code details the IR codes that are sent when a specific button is pressed on the remote. Unfortunately the native Slingbox software doesn't use separate binary files that we can edit, their codes are apparently compressed and packaged into special files that we can't do anything with (that I know of). But what we can do instead of editing the built-in codes is to use a separate external upgrade code file. These files have the format such as ‘C1234_PL.BIN'.
   
   The first letter of the file describes the type of device, the main ones we are interested in are:
   
   ‘V' which is for VCRs, which encompasses PVRs, DVRs and other recorders
   ‘S' which is for Satellite and FTA set top boxes
   ‘C' which is for Cable boxes
   ‘Y' which is for DVD Players
   ‘R' which is for Tuners
   
   This is followed by a 4-digit code number. For Slingboxes the code numbers can be between 0000-2047 (actually higher in newer Slingboxes but to stay safe we are better staying below 2047). In general, codes below 2000 actually relate to specific boxes, for example V0618 is the code for a TIVO and D0032 is the code for a Pioneer CD Player. But we can feel fairly safe using 2000-2047 for our own codes. The final part of the filename defines the chip for which it will run.
   
   So if you were looking for the binary file for a PVR with a code number allocated 1234, designed to run on a PL-equipped Slingbox, you would be searching for a file called V1234_PL.BIN. Note: You must NEVER change the name of the file, as the letter, code number and chip type are also defined inside the file itself.


4. You will hear a lot about ‘JP1'. Basically this is a process whereby people using ‘One For All' (OFA) remote controls can add new codes to their remotes from their PC. The remote control processor inside the Slingbox is made by the same company that makes OFA remotes, so the upgrades are similar. The JP1 tools have been upgraded so that we can now use them to create and modify upgrades for the Slingbox.

Section 2 - The Basic Procedure.

The official procedure to follow is to report the lack of a Supported Remote to Sling Media and they will add it to the database. In practice, they are not quick at doing this. I have been asking for a remote for over 2 years now, and the updated remote list will only come with a major upgrade of the software. That may change in the future but for now it is really not a practical quick solution.

So for a short term fix, what you need to do is to create or acquire the correct Binary code file for your A/V device, and then install it into your Slingbox. This installation process is covered in detail in Section 4, so first let's see where you can look for these files.

Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next »