Hacking a Remote control

[Marky_1979]

On my current cab I am using a TV which will be behind a monitor bezel to hide the fact its a tv. The main problem with this is I can not access the tv whilst its in this state and due to my tv not remembering what channel it was last on and not detecting an av signal automatically like most tv's I have to turn on with remote and then flick the av button 3 times to get it on the right channel.

I think that If I hack my remote and place two possibly more buttons on the side of my cab for tv power on and channel swithching av button I can get round this problem what are your thoughts guys?

I have included a pic of remote minus the case and need advice as to solder which wire to which connection.

Many thanks in advance

Marky

[mountain]

You will probably have more luck hacking the buttons on the front of the TV. They should be surface mounted on a PCB which will allow you to solder wires to more easily. Plus, you wont have to worry about changing the batteries   

[MustardTent]

I hacked my remote at first as well.  I soldered buttons to it and extended the IR LED so that it sat behind the bezel.  I also added a small 3v power supply so I wouldn't have to worry about batteries.

It was a fun little project, but I ended up cracking open the TV so I could just solder my buttons to it directly.  I think I still have the hacked remote though.

[MustardTent]

Here's the thread I started.

Nobody really cared at the time.

[Marky_1979]

The way I see it is if it goes wrong I can replace a remote control. I dont really wanna start breaking into the tv to get to the buttons plus there is no a/v selection button on the tv case unfortunately

[SavannahLion]

That would be an interesting excercise for a tiny microcontroller.

It'd be even more interesting if you added USB capabilities so the PC could power on and reconfigure the T.V. everytime it started.

Not sure how you would handle a situation if you get the T.V. into an incorrect state.

[MustardTent]

I don't think there's a real problem with hacking the remote instead of the TV -- it works just fine.

Are you planning on integrating the controls with your cab, or are you going to use the remote normally (ie. in hand)?

[Marky_1979]

Sorry Mustard I must be having a dumb moment what do you mean exactly?

And Mountain could you also elaborate on what you were saying

[JustMichael]

Forgive me for stating the obvious but have you tried using a "USB IR Blaster" to have the pc change the tv to the correct channel or video input each time the pc is turned on?

[Marky_1979]

That sounds ideal more infor please. Is there a web site?

[MustardTent]

The IR blaster is nice, but not nearly as fun to do (no hacking required). 

Anyway, what I meant was that if you were to use the remote as your manner of controlling the TV, you could solder pushbuttons to the PCB in the remote and incorporate TV controls in your CP (mine are underneath -- 3 buttons: power, vol up, vol down).

Or, you could just use the remote as you normally would.

[Marky_1979]

Yes if this IR Blaster isn't what im looking for im definately looking at doing that 4 buttons POWER, VOL + VOL - and A/V CHANNEL CHANGE. If I were to go down this route how would I do that?

[Marky_1979]

If Iwere to hack the remote which end is the ground and which the one I connect to the push button?

[mountain]

Ground does not matter here. You just want to "emulate" what the remote button does. Just connect each wire from the button to either contact on the remote.

[NickG]

if one side of the contacts even goes to "ground" you should be able to register a button press by shorting a wire from the battery minus (cathode) and the other side of the contact, and touching the other side of the contact pad should not do anything - if it really already is shorted to ground by a PCB trace...

[mountain]

if one side of the contacts even goes to "ground" you should be able to register a button press by shorting a wire from the battery minus (cathode) and the other side of the contact, and touching the other side of the contact pad should not do anything - if it really already is shorted to ground by a PCB trace...

Duplicating the original button press is the safest, most logical way to do it. I would not assume that one side of the remote button 'pad' is ground. It may be a grid like on a keyboard or it could possibly be a multi-plex circuit.

[Marky_1979]

That sounds good I would still like to hear about these other options namely the ir blaster thing and this micro controller with usb option that was also mentioned they sound very interesting.

My main aim ultimately is to turn on the cab with one button and get the tv on the right channel and if needed change setting without having to cut into bezel or access the tv physically.