irMagician
Overview
The irMagician
is a USB-connected infrared remote control adapter (hereinafter referred to as the “IR adapter”) developed in 2014. The biggest difference between this and traditional IR adapters is that it does not use codes typical of the NEC type,Sony-type codes, but instead stores the waveforms directly. As a result, it became possible to program the remote control signals for certain air conditioners—a task that was difficult with older models. Due to this success, competing products from other manufacturers—starting withirMagician
—have increasingly adopted this method.
| irMagician | Description |
|---|---|
| irMagician
rode the wave of theIoT
boom and, unusually for a DIY hardware project, managed to sell 2,500 units—an impressive figure.It’s been quite a few years since its release, and while it’s already discontinued, I still find it very useful at home, paired with custom software that runs on a Raspberry Pi atNAS
. Here, I’ll explain how to make the most of it. |
Deliverables
- YDBC-30
| YDBC-30 | Description |
|---|---|
| YDBC-30
is a terrestrial digital TV tuner; I purchased it over 15 years ago. Since it outputs atHDMI
, you can connect it directly toLCD
or to the capture unit atHDMI
. Connecting via the capture unit is particularly convenient for making effective use of4K-LCD
, as it doesn’t take up the entire screen.The YDBC-30
—named after the device itself—is a web app that serves as a remote control for it. Since it runs in a web browser, you can even use your smartphone as a remote control, just as shown in the photo. Please use this as a reference when utilizing other devices that support remote control. |
- Live!Prog
is a hack that embeds the basic control buttons for the YDBC-30
into existing web TV program guides. It’s intended for intermediate to advanced users and was developed as part of a web development learning project.
- irm3
is apython
script that supports the basic commands ofirMagician
. Use this to learn, play back, and export to/import from JSON infrared remote control signals.
- irMagicianFW_Ref
is a reference implementation of the firmware forirMagician
. You may encounter difficulties with actual builds due to toolchain and code compatibility issues. Intended for intermediate to advanced users.