Dave thanks for the link as always.

For the record I have never wanted anyone, nor asked anyone to write code for me! I am not using PIC's nor electronics for any commercial gain ..it is merely a hobby !
I have asked only for code snippets to gain more of an understanding of certain aspects of a particular technology or to move past a struggling block.
So THANK YOU to you and to all the others who still reply no matter how many times they have heard and answered the same questions.

It's fantastic that so many here are happy to share code and experiences with others but please understand that as simple as it may seem for some to read and understand, it may take others lifetimes and that's where a few lines in a reply to a question will advance the learning process.
To err is human ... not so ?

So off I went
Forums,sites,articles, google,the manual, late nights, Dave's suggestions, Bruce's site, and Les Johnson's article oh yes and dome app note from microchip, and many cups of coffee.... I am slowly moving closer to some sort of understanding (or more confusion)....
See, the big problem was trying to grasp the PULSIN command and the resolutions @ given oscillator rates which LES JOHNSON does extremely well in the article "Controlling the world from your armchair" , in the article Les says
I hope that I’ve succeeded in illustrating
that both, infrared decoding and
PICmicro programming need not be the
exclusive property of the whizz kids or
rocket scientists among us.
Well that certainly did start clearing up the a lot confusion I have had with the PULSIN command for so long, it is still a little confusing for me I must admit ..stupid human that I am !

Anyway , with enough bashing away and peeking and poking I finally came up with something that seems to work , but only with a certain remote code typed into a universal remote. At the moment there must be at least 12 different remote controls scattered around the workbench.

Here is the code :

Code:
' Philips RC5 IR decoder for 12F629 @ 4MHZ
'set for samsung TV on universal rae-1000 (or similar??) remote - TV1 -code 189 most buttons work
        
        define OSC 4 '4MHz
        DEFINE OSCCAL_1K 1          ' Set OSCCAL for 1k -HELPS tuning the crystal for more accurate timing
        CMCON = 7
        'TRISIO = %76543210          ' port GPIO 0=output and 1=input
        TRISIO = %00000010          ' GPIO.1 is an input all the rest are outputs
        'OPTION_REG.7 = 0 ' Internal pull-ups = on
        
    'debug defines
    DEFINE DEBUG_MODE  0    ' Debug sending INVERTED serial data
    DEFINE DEBUG_REG GPIO   ' Debug Port = GPIO
    DEFINE DEBUG_BIT 2      ' Debug.bit = GPIO.2
    DEFINE DEBUG_BAUD 2400  ' Default baud rate = 2400
    'end of debug defines
    
    'Variables begin here
    RC5CODE VAR WORD ' Holds 12-bit RC5 code
    CYCLEX VAR BYTE ' used to hold the loop count for bit collection 
    IRPIN VAR GPIO.1 ' GPIO.1 input pin reading data
    'end of variables



main:
'check for a valid header
IF IRPIN = 1 THEN main 'Only start when PULSE is a LOW 
    PAUSEUS 100 'Pause for 0.1mS
IF IRPIN = 1 THEN main 'Could be junk so try again
    PAUSEUS 1350 'Pause for 1.350mS
'header check is good so now continue

rc5code.0[13] = IRPIN 'Setup array to read each pulse into Bits 
    FOR CYCLEX = 12 to 0 STEP - 1 'read 13 Pulses/bits in reverse order
        RC5CODE.0[cyclex] = IRPIN 'build the array 
    PAUSEUS 1800 ' PAUSE 1.8mS then start reading next BIT/pulse
    NEXT cyclex  'go back and do it again

IF RC5CODE.LOWBYTE = $FF THEN main 'Check to see if it's junk we received $FF aka 255

'OK now dow some AND-ing/bit-masking to get the codes right

RC5CODE = ~RC5CODE & $003F ' Mask upper 10-bits to return 6-bit data
' in lower 6-bits of word result
'Send it to the MAX232 or serial port for display
debug "Key Pressed = ",DEC rc5code ' send the code to serial port/MAX @ 2400bps TRUE
'for LCDOUT ALTER THE NEXT LINE
'LCDOUT "kepress is", DEC RC5CODE

RC5CODE=0 ' Clear the variable for next keypress
PAUSE 500 ' a short DEBOUNCE -If you leave this out then expect duplicates -- !

GOTO main 'start again from main
  end
The code behaves differently for most remotes and I'm sure only very well for those sending RC5 codes.

Will post the circuit later on ..really simple but it works.

I am busy playing around with Les Johnson's code (what I could make out in the article) and will post that later on too.

Dave .. I will keep bashing away and post progress.

Keep well

Kind regards
Dennis