(2014-05-26, 20:30)jammyb Wrote: Can somebody explain to me what a discrete power on/off is please?
An IR remote sends a burst of IR data whenever you press or hold down a key. The IR receiver within the device you are controlling will interpret an IR data burst, which if it is a valid IR code will cause the device tol take appropriate action.
But not all remotes have buttons for all the available IR codes defined by the manufacture as this would make the remotes too cumbersome for most. Luckily the manufacturers usually provide the device with the ability to act on these discrete codes which is very handy if you have a learning remote with macros.
Most remotes have a combination ON/OFF button that when pressed will send an IR code to the device which interprets it to mean power toggle. That is, pressing the combination ON/OFF button will result in the device turning ON if the device is already OFF or turning OFF if the device is already ON.
Alternatively, if your remote has discrete ON and discrete OFF power button, that is two separate buttons on your remote, pressing the "discrete power ON" button will result in the device turning ON if the device is already OFF but nothing will happen if the device is already ON. Likewise but opposite for a discrete power OFF button.
Also, some remotes include discrete input buttons (Input1, input2, input3, etc) which can directly selects the specific input rather than the cycle input button which requies multiple presses to get to the desired input.
The benefit of discrete IR codes is that their actions are deterministic, press power ON and the device goes on (or stays ON), press input 4 and the device changes to input 4. Toggle or cycle buttons are non deterministic as one needs to know the device state to know what will happen... and as IR remotes send codes to devices and devices don't (generally) send codes (states) to remotes, discrete codes are very useful whenever you define a macro on a learning remote...
