This page is intended to group together information and links appertaining to infrared remote control of consumer devices.
infrared protocols some of the most-used protocols explained by San Bergmans of the Netherlands. A most useful reference for anyone interested in understanding infrared remote control.
The Infra Red Data Association. The organisation which sets the standards for IR communication of data between computers. They do have a remote control protocol.
ziplabel infrared adapter using parallel port. Several people have used this adapter as a basis for projects.
ziplabel's monster clicker.
serial port stuff, from lvr.com.
irrcom2k driver for win2k. This driver permits operating systems of the Windows NT type - NT, 2000 and XP - to communicate with devices connected to computer ports. Normally you cannot control hardware from within these operating systems.
ofa codes and lots of information from hifi-remote.com
information and uploaded manuals for remote controls, from xdiv.com and others.
remotecentral.com uploaded remote control manuals
remote controller using external clock, with several useful links.
more infrared information
simple ir transceiver in detail.
plenty of information plus links, but using a pic ic in the control..
simple control, from minidisc.org, purporting to be the World's simplest control.
remote control article. from minidisc.org.
repair IR controls
A useful device to help in remote control of devices is a learning control. The one I use is from Mitsubishi and came in with a scrap vcr. As well as controlling that machine, it can learn the signals from other controls and store them, using fifteen buttons for playback. This device is so successful that I have been able to use it to control a British SKY digibox, which is known to use unusual codes.
Infrared devices normally use the serial port or the IRDA header on the motherboard. An exception is the Ziplabel device which uses the parallel port.
Some have found that it is possible to examine infrared remote control protocols by directing the control at an infrared receiver module connected, (via an attenuator please), to the line inputs of a computer sound card, recording to a wav file, thereby using the computer as a storage oscilloscope. Attenuation by a factor of 50:1 is likely to be necessary as the IR output will be 5volts as against the sensitivity of the soundcard, which may be 100mv. The soundcard may not respond to individual cycles of carrier, but the remote control code should be visible as a ragged 1khz square wave. The links shown above should lead to various free software, including some that can receive infrared remote control signals via the serial ar parallel port and put it to screen in the form of numbers. Infrared receiver modules can be bought cheaply or salvaged from old tvs or vcrs. They generally look similar to power transistors. Some of the cheap universal remote controls described below may yield an incomplete control set for some devices. It should be possible to use analysis of the available codes to fill in the blanks.
Cheaply available remote controls. I have encountered the UET609 and the URC22B. I pay one UK pound each for these amazing controls - less than two dollars. At least one other model is available, but I have not tried it yet. These devices are actually more versatile than the old One-For-All, the subject of my previous page. They have over fifty buttons, though not re-programmable, and can handle hi-fi and some dvd as well as the usual tv, vcr and satellite. As with any universal remote control, they lack new or unusual protocols. So far as I can tell, they all use the same or similar chip and have the same code list. The search facility is particularly simple.