PVR-USB2 to AverTV Purity Remote Questions

[Trips]

I've had my gbpvr box setup for some time now but I'm still experimenting with hardware. My setup is DirecTV hooked to WinTV-PVR-USB2 via S-Video then the htpc is hooked to my TV via DVI-HDMI connection. Using my Harmony remote things work out fairly easily by just switching between devices on the remote.

I'm not real happy with the picture quality I get with the setup I have now. Hooking the dish directly to the s-video connection on the tv gives me a much better picture. I'm seriously thinking of switching to the AverTV Purity 250 but I'm not real sure what to do about the remote. If I get rid of the PVR-USB2 I'll lose my IR receiver. What would I need to make gbpvr work exactly like it does now without the WinTV device?

Ultimately I'd like to get the htpc hooked up to the dish receiver via usb so that I can control the dish with my computer. I'd like to get picture quality that I'm happy with before I put any more time and money into other things though.

Sorry for the long winded post. Any thoughts or comments on what I'm trying to do or could be doing better are appreciated.

[madcat]

You could just leave the WinTV-PVR-USB2 in, just as a receiver and never use the tuner part. you could even delete it from the config, as long as the IR.exe is running, and irremote.ini is configured for GB-PVR, then it will send the commands (or your Harmony will send, the WinTV will forward) to GB-PVR and all is well.

[Trips]

Yes, that would be a good option. I may just go that route and I'd have another capture source for other devices to be hooked into. I was kind of hoping to reduce some clutter though. Maybe I'll just mod the PVR-USB2 device into my htpc case.

Since the remote only needs the ir receiver and the IR.exe program to control gbpvr would any old ir receiver work? Could I say get an IR receiver off of ebay or build one and have IR.exe control it? Or possibly the receiver from a WinTV 150/250?

(Just realized that the ir receiver for the 150/250 has to be plugged directly into the capture card so that won't work.)

[madcat]

Sure it could use another receiver. But then no need for the whole thing from Hauppage.
Anyhow, I think it's crap (the IR portion of the WinTV-PVR-USB2), and the response was always terrible with mine. When I added the M$ remote/receiver, response was much better. and I know it's the receiver part, not the remote itself, cause even with the H880 on the Hauppauge device, response was bad.

Now my WinTV-USB does only tuner (and hidden from front), and my Harmony 880 controls GB-PVR (among the rest of my stuff) through the MCE receiver. Works great.

[Trips]

I've seen the MCR remotes for fairly cheap so I may just go ahead and try that. I'm also thinking of trying an ATI 550 card that comes with remote and receiver so I may kill two birds with one stone going that route. Thanks for the help.