Two lockups so far today. Total bummer.

I'm going to try and persuade the retailer to send me out a new unit prior to me sending back this one. I'll stretch the overlap to a couple of days and see if the old one locks-up if not exposed to Ir.

Ir is the most likely explantion, but it could also be mains noise or just a random lock-up.

Ian

I'm in the UK as well. It is just that he is the only person who has looked into this issue - neither Skytronic nor Shinybow showed any interest when I emailed them.

I just thought that if other people who have experienced the problem email him it would carry more weight.

I dug out the JP1 file for this switch that I had setup. My memory must be playing tricks on me as it seems that the device uses device code 8 rather than zero. Also, it uses the NEC2 protocol which differs from NEC1 in the way that repeat signals are sent if a button is held down.

The hex codes that I have for the buttons are:

Power AF
Output1-Input1 1F
Output1-Input2 EF
Output1-Input3 6F
Output1-Input4 47
Output2-Input1 D7
Output2-Input2 77
Output2-Input3 67
Output2-Input4 57

Hmmmm, it's now five days since our scart switcher locked up. Dunno what the critical factor is but I'm now starting to really like this unit.

High "Wife Approval Factor" as when she uses our MX500 remotes and goes to (say) PVR control mode, a signal is sent to flick the relevant scart output (remotes trained differently in different rooms) and away she goes!

Ian

Still no lockup! I suspect the "fix" was retiring our RF-based IR repeater system and going for one that uses coax (Omnilink and Sky Link)

Ian

I am just wondering how changing a wireless ir repeater for a coax one could have made any difference to the switch ?

Didn't you get the switch to lockup by just using its own remote, bouncing the signal off walls etc. ? Did that involve the repeater or were you in the same room as the switch ?

Yes, I did manage to get a lockup when in the same room as the switch, but I was deliberately interrupting the signal, etc. The "eye rolling" suggests maybe a watchdog of some kind? It did this a lot before the lockup.

So, the switch is definitely susceptable to locking up when it gets bad Ir, and my RF IR repeater was definitely causing this - I could see the send light flashing even when no remote was being used.

So, I now have cleaner Ir and the change is like light and day. It might be that you don't just need an NEC remote, but maybe also some interference from stray sunlight, or something.

Ian

If anyone is interested, lockups are now just once or twice a week. I'm just going to rig the remote power cycle and move on!

Ian

How you going to rig the power cycle ?

I'm already using a bit of X10 gear, and I have an Ir->X10 bridge. So, I will program a macro onto the appropriate key on our remotes, and tell Wife/Daughter to press and hold the "Matrix" key if it looks like it's sulking.

The device keys for our PVR/Media-Player/DVD already send commands to switch the appropriate channel of the matrix to the right device, so it's all pretty automatic.

Ian

I just got a message from the US distributors of the Shinybow switch saying that they have fixed the remote lockup problem. He advises that switches can be returned to Shinybow in Taiwan for an exchange (contact sales@shinybow.com.tw or support@shinybow.com.tw).

I'd be interested in knowing if the problem is really fixed.

Wow, thanks for the info. and thanks for the PM.

My question to them really is how can fixed units be identified in the channel? I'd like to get a swap-out but need to make sure the replacement is from good stock.

Ian