As of the time of this post, the latest version is 1.4.2.4290.
IR Server Suite (IRSS) is a very simple to configure remote control utility that works fine in NPVR. This guide will quickly get you up and running.
I use NPVR with a DIRECTV receiver and an older Microsoft Media Center USB Blaster on a Windows 7 64-bit computer with a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1800.
1) Download the latest version of IRSS from the link above.
2) Open the .ZIP file for IRSS and start the install. In the CHOOSE COMPONENTS section, you will only need to check the boxes in front of...
IR Server
Under Tools
- Abstractor
- Debug Client
- Translator
Under CommandLine Tools
- IR Blast
You will be asked to install either as a SERVICE or APPLICATION. I installed as a SERVICE.
3) When the install finishes, you will be asked to run the IR SERVER CONFIGURATION which you will need to do. Click FINISH.
4) The IR SERVER CONFIGURATION will open and should have your device to send IR commands pre-selected. For my set up, MICROSOFT MCE was pre-selected. For whatever device you have, make sure it is selected. If your device is not listed then it is not supported. Click OK to exit.
5) Now it is time to get your receiver's remote control IR codes learned. To do this, click the Windows Start button and go to ALL PROGRAMS > IR SERVER SUITE > TRANSLATOR. Now look for a green box on the system tray by the Windows clock. When you mouse over it, it will say it is TRANSLATOR. Right-click once on it then left-click once on SETUP. Check the box at the bottom in front of "Start Translator with Windows".
6) Click the IR Commands tab. The only buttons that will need to be learned are 0-9. Let's start with 0. Click the NEW button. For the name, call it 0. Click the LEARN button. Place your receiver remote close to the USB sensor and quickly tap the 0 button. DO NOT HOLD THE 0 BUTTON DOWN!!! JUST TAP IT!!! Once the 0 IR code is learned, click OK. You will now see 0 on the list. Repeat for 1-9. When done, click OK on the TRANSLATOR window.
7) Now we need to tell NPVR to use IRSS to change channels so open NPVR and right-click on the main window then left-click on SETTINGS.
8) Click on DEVICES then double-click on the device you want to change channels on.
9) Under Channel Changer, click the ... button to the right of the EXECUTABLE field.
For 64-bit Windows, it is C:\Program Files (x86)\IR Server Suite\IRBlast.exe
For 32-bit Windows, it is C:\Program Files\IR Server Suite\IRBlast.exe
10) In the ARGUMENTS field, enter this...
-channel {channel} -delay 500 -host localhost
11) Click OK then click OK on the SETTINGS window. You are now DONE!
To test, open Live TV and change the channel using either your receiver's remote or your keyboard.
OPTIONALLY BUT RECOMMENDED, click the Windows Start button and open the Control Panel. In the "Search Control Panel" box on the top right, type in SERVICES. This should list Administrative Tools and under that you will see "View local services". Click on that to open SERVICES. Look for IR SERVER and double-click on it to open. Click the RECOVERY tab and change the 3 FAILURE options to RESTART THE SERVICE. Click APPLY then OK. Better to be safe than sorry when an important recording is scheduled.
When I open NPVR and go to Live TV, the last channel watched is tuned correctly. When I change the channel, Live TV freezes resulting in NPVR needing to be closed down. I cannot figure out why it is doing this. Attached are the logs from the time the issue last occurred.
I'm using Network Recorder to stream live TV from the firewire port of the STB connected to the main HTPC to a NPVR box in a different room (the second box has a capture source configured for the Network Recorder tuner). Before yesterday, I've only done short testing and it looked OK. During extended viewing, the screen freezes after 5 - 8 minutes. If I then hit STOP, I return to the previous menu (TV guide or channels pop-up) and I can then restart the stream and it freezes again in 5 - 8 minutes. It's reproducible on 2 different remote boxes. I'm thinking it is a problem with the buffer file. When this happens, various size files are left behind in the buffer folder. For a test today, I played the buffer file in WMP and it appears to START at the time the screen froze (same commercial at start of file as on frozen screen) and then continues until I hit STOP. Logs and network recorder config file attached. I have some screenshots with the time bar if they would help. The most recent viewing was at 1502 to about 1514 today.
Other than this, firewire Network Recorder has worked flawlessly through the winter seasons of The Closer and Rizzoli and Isles - not a singe defective recording. Thanks, Martin!
I note that I have RollingFile false in the config, I think the problem existed even with it true. I'll retest and repost.
Update:
Same problem with RollingFile true. Also confirmed that the leftover buffer file starts at the time of screen freeze.
In addition, Live TV with QAM tuner on the test box does not have the freeze problem.
When I came home for lunch today, I got a big surprise seeing over 20 of these all over my front year. I wish I could have got a picture of them trying to fly.
For some reason my client has picked up a bug where when either when watching live tv, or a recording, pressing play just results in a black screen. I have to esc and play again to get picture and audio.
During the black screen I can see the HDD light ticking over so it's streaming something, and I can't see any errors in the logs; The stream is just not making it to the display.
Have tried changing video and audio decoders, and renderer, and re-registering all filters, but with no change.
My other client is working fine (and this one used to), so presume it's not the server.
Any ideas?
logs of a failed playback attached.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]32469[/ATTACH]
Are there any new channel changer programs for us users using a set top box and a Microsoft Media Center USB sensor? I had used HIP until the developer decided to not be in any rush to support 64-bit Windows 7 so I have been using IR Server Suite, but it doesn't blast true commands. What I mean by that is say I want it to change the channel to 55. Instead of seeing the light on the MCE sensor flash once for 5 and again for a 5, it pulses 5 times, waits, then pulses another 5 times which sometimes is too slow to properly change the channel.
When scheduling a recurring recording, the only options I see are to vary based on daily timeslot, weekly timeslot, M-F timeslot, Weekend timeslot on a single channel or across all channels. Is there a way to set it to only tape new episodes, so it won't tape repeats that may run in the same timeslot in certain weeks?
Does SchedulesDirect give "new" and "repeat" information for npvr to key off of?
So I got npvr up and running with schedules direct. I really like the UI and testing out the recording capabilities.
One issue I've run into is when trying to set up the schedules direct mapping for 1 of the channels here in the SF Bay Area. Basically, I'm trying to set up the mapping for channel 2.1. However, when I open up the dropdown for the "Mapping", I can't choose the correct entry because channel 1 has 15 subchannels. Instead of showing 1.1-1.15, it seems to show 1.10 as 2.1, 1.11 as 2.2, etc. So the real 2.1 doesn't show up in the dropdown at all.
Does this mapping live in an xml anywhere? I found the values in the schedulesdirect.xml, but I'm not sure where the channel to schedulesdirect channel id mapping lives.
Any suggestions as to how to get this working? Other than that, things seem to be working pretty well.
