IR Blaster with HD PVR problem

[woolooloo]

I've seen the same problem that others have had using the IR blaster that comes with the HD PVR:

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=38747&page=2

Disabling the IR Blaster makes it record, I just can't change channels then. Before I go and find another solution requiring more hardware, I'd like to see if this can be solved.

I can sit all day and type "haupblast ###" and have it change the channel without any problems. I can also record without changing the channel. It only seems to be a problem when GBPVR tries to change the channel AND start a recording. After that happens, the IR Blaster config utility says there is no hardware, and of course the recording doesn't work, so it seems to be getting completely hosed. To me this seems like there needs to be some sort of delay (or a longer delay if there already is one) between the call to haupblast and the call to start the recording. Is there some way for me to manually insert a delay between them to test this out?

I'm running 1.3.11 and I've attached my logs.

[sub]

Is there some way for me to manually insert a delay between them to test this out?

You can set your ".exe channel changer" to use some batch file, calling "HaupBlast.exe %1", then some delay.

[woolooloo]

You can set your ".exe channel changer" to use some batch file, calling "HaupBlast.exe %1", then some delay.

Sub, thanks.

Unfortunately the file selector filters out anything that's not an .exe, so I threw together a quick program that just calls haupblast.exe with optional pre- and post- delays.

One thing I found is that I think the recording is being started before the channel change. Anyways, that's how it seemed to me. The folder and the .ts file were created before I could see the channel change happening on the screen.

So I put in the pre-delay that will wait for x millisecs before calling haupblast. In my test, my delay program waited for 5 seconds, called haupblast, then waited another 5 seconds. The .ts file was definitely there and growing before the 10+ seconds that were required to execute my program.

I found that indeed, a delay did make a difference. I was able to get some recordings this way. It did finally lock up on me after a few tests, but it did get a few MB of a file started before that happened.

I'm wondering now that since it appears to be starting the recording before changing the channel if the HD PVR just doesn't like using the IR blaster while it is recording. Is there some way we can make sure the call to change the channel happens prior to starting to record?

Actually, maybe it isn't starting the recording before calling the channel change, maybe it just isn't waiting for the channel change plug-in to return before starting the recording so that they are both essentially being called at the same time.

I've attached my delay program if anyone is interested in playing with it. The syntax is "haupblast_delay channel predelayms postdelayms". So in your channel changer plugin setup, choose haupblast_delay.exe, and set the parameters as "{channel} 5000 4000", that would give a 5 second delay before changing the channel, and a 4 second delay after changing the channel, those last two parameters can obviously be adjusted as needed. It has to go in the same directory as haupblast.exe.