Any suggestions? STB in different room than PC

[GSpanFan]

I have my television in the living room and my computer with GBPVR / Hauppauge card in the office (about 30 ft away). I've put the STB in the office to be near the computer, so that I can change the channel with the IR blaster. Currently, I use a RF remote extender from the living room to change the channel of the STB in the Office. However, the RF extender is a bit spotty and I'd prefer to move the STB back into the living room.

My problem is that if I move the STB back into the living room, then I cannot use the IR Blaster to change the STB channel since the IR blaster cable is only a few feet long.

I have actually considered building a new PVR box to put in the living room to deal with this problem, but I think there must be an easier (and less expensive) solution. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I could control the STB at that distance from the computer with an IR Blaster?

[JavaWiz]

I have my television in the living room and my computer with GBPVR / Hauppauge card in the office (about 30 ft away). I've put the STB in the office to be near the computer, so that I can change the channel with the IR blaster. Currently, I use a RF remote extender from the living room to change the channel of the STB in the Office. However, the RF extender is a bit spotty and I'd prefer to move the STB back into the living room.

My problem is that if I move the STB back into the living room, then I cannot use the IR Blaster to change the STB channel since the IR blaster cable is only a few feet long.

I have actually considered building a new PVR box to put in the living room to deal with this problem, but I think there must be an easier (and less expensive) solution. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I could control the STB at that distance from the computer with an IR Blaster?

A MVP may solve your problem. You can leave the STB next to the PC and use the MVP to control.

Not sure where you're located, but I've seen a few posts mentioning that they are on amazon for about $50 US.

[GSpanFan]

Thanks, JavaWiz. That not what I had in mind, since we normally still watch live tv through the STB and not GPBVR, but still is an excellent idea. The only problem with that set up would be that the IR blaster delay on the channel change (since the haupblast sends the full channel code for every station change) is worse than the situation with the RF extender missing ~20% of button presses on the STB remote.

Since I recently bought a new computer and am lacking a video out card, I may but an MVP regardless of whether this setup works for purposes of changing the channels on live tv. This solution would actually be ideal if the MVP had an IR blaster port.

[soccerdad]

I extended my IR blaster cable by about 50 feet without any issue. I even used miniplug jacks in wall plates so I could disconnect some things. I also had to run 50 foot RCA cables for the video and audio back to the PVR box. Doing it this way, my PVR150 card was recording all the regular channels that did not use the STB. Then, if I needed to record a show off the STB, I configured another capture source (composite in) to tell the box to change the channel and it would send the signal to the card. It functioned well, but it had a few problems which made me abandon it.

First, the audio picked up 60 cycle hum because I used cheap cables. Then, if someone was watching the TV via the STB when GBPVR took control it freaked them out. My wife told me the TV was possesed and changed channels by itself so she changed them back. Unfortunately, this left me recording the show she was watching instead of what I was trying to record.:eek:

If you record a lot off a STB, you might want to rent a second one for PVR.

[stefan]

If you really wanna go the computer-in-one-room-and-stb-in-another (and don't want to extend the "normal" ir blaster cable), you could check out the usb-uirt at http://www.usbuirt.com/. It has a *huge* blaster strength, just needs straight line of sight. Since it's usb, I'm sure you could easily find an extender to run the wiring out of the office and a bit into (or even all the way to the STB) the living room.

[GSpanFan]

@ soccerdad - How did you extend the IR cable? Can I just buy a miniplug or 2.5" headphone jack extension cable? I've read about people that solder an extra length on to extend the cable on, but really don't want to damage the cable.

[soccerdad]

I cut the blaster off and soldered on a mono mini-jack. The wires are VERY small. I have read on this board that the Hauppauge blaster can be extended with a metric 2.5mm mini jack and extension cable. Search this board with "blaster extension" There are tons of posts on it. I am assuming you have a Hauppauge blaster??? If not they all work the same but may have different plugs. Smarthome.com has lots of this stuff BTW. You can also use the emitter off an old remote. Just solder on some wires and a connector. They are polorized so you may have to swap the + and - wires if it does not work at first. The blaster from a remote is much stronger than the Hauppauge one.


Good luck

[Torque]

If you really wanna go the computer-in-one-room-and-stb-in-another (and don't want to extend the "normal" ir blaster cable), you could check out the usb-uirt at http://www.usbuirt.com/. It has a *huge* blaster strength, just needs straight line of sight. Since it's usb, I'm sure you could easily find an extender to run the wiring out of the office and a bit into (or even all the way to the STB) the living room.

I don't think you intended to say it this way, but the USB-UIRT does not need line of site from the box to the STB. I had my USB-UIRT sitting on top of my entertainment center and the STB was on a shelf 3 feet below. The USB-UIRT was strong enough to bounce the signal off the wall opposite STB.

I started running into issues with the USB-UIRT picking up infrared light from the sun and doing wierd crap with my PVR, so I hid it behind the PVR and used a blaster bud off the back of it. The blaster bud that came with my eHome reciever has a cable that's about 15ft long.

[onestar]

I had what I would say was flaky IT transmitters too, but since I had to replace them, I bought the pyramid shaped ones, the transmission has been pretty good. My sky, video, pvr are all in one room feeding the house.