MCE Remote receiver versus USB UIRT

[topperdude]

Hi,

I would like to setup remote control of my GBPVR client PC and am exploring options for remotes to use as well as IR receiver. I have some universal learning remotes that I could use for the remote (or may buy a cheap universal remote like the Sony RM-VL600).

The bigger question is regarding the USB IR receiver. The IR receiver included with MCE remote kit as well as the USBUIRT seem to be most popular.

I am trying to figure out the differences between the two as, from the outside, they both seem to be USB based IR receivers.

The MCE kit is a lot cheaper than the UIRT and includes remote as well as IR blasters. Also, adding to the cost of USBUIRT seems to be that a program like Girder would have to be purchased separately to take advantage of all the functionality/features/flexibility of the UIRT (although HIP could be a free alternative). Can the MCE IR Receiver (with HIP) be as 'powerful' as USB/UIRT - if not, what can the MCE IR receiver not do that UIRT can do?

Other questions I have:
a) Can the MCE receiver be used with different remotes or is it tied to the MCE remote control? I understand USBUIRT can be used with any remote - or am I mistaken?
b) Can the MCE receiver be used with different applications?
c) I understand MCE receiver runs with Windows MCE as well as WinXP. Can it be used on W2K? USBUIRT has drivers for W2K. This is not as critical, as I can install WinXP on the client PC if need be.

In short, I'd like to setup remote control for clientPC, would like to get IR Receiver for this and would like keep costs down.

Thanks for any suggestions,
-Topper

[pBS]

a. yes, MCE can be used with any remote when using HIP. [with alternate driver.]
b. yes as well with HIP
c. i believe so, just need irbus.inf and irbus.sys but YMMV..
the 'alternate' MCE driver enables other remotes as well as learning blast codes..really a must for custom operation, works great on mine, and the dual blasters are really strong..
tho i believe there's facilities in GBPVR to learn blast codes with regular driver also..
[built-in gbpvr support isn't that great because of the different remotes avail. with MCE dongle, but it works out of the box]

one question for you tho, i see you have ati AIW with wdm recorder plugin, was there anything special you had to do to get working? what version AIW do you have? [i have 9600 AIW]

[topperdude]

one question for you tho, i see you have ati AIW with wdm recorder plugin, was there anything special you had to do to get working? what version AIW do you have? [i have 9600 AIW]

Thanks for the response - sounds like MCE IR receiver might be a much cheaper alternative than USBUIRT and do most (if not all) the things that the UIRT does. That's great!

Re. your qs about AIW, funny you should ask, because I had almost given up on GBPVR after initial failed attempts and especially after I found it supported hardware encoder based cards, but was encouraged to try GBPVR with my original AIW Radeon (no numbers) based on your posts here. It sounds like those posts may be related to a different software encoder card you and not your AIW.

Anyways, you can find my setting for the AIW with the Recorder pluginhere (post #47).

BTW, although I was able to use the AIW Radeon w/ Recorder plugin successfully with the HVR-1600 in GBPVR for a few days, I haven't used it with GBPVR for some time since I had the problem described here and here.

I do hope to get the AIW working with HVR-1600 and GBPVR at some point, just haven't had a chance to work on it lately (been researching remote control options ). I'd be interested in hearing about your experience and if you have any problems using the AIW with a hardware encoder based card and GBPVR.

-Topper

[pBS]

i'll have to try the new graph rec. version, i could get preview working but not recording..but that was with 1.3 i think...
right now i'm using my PCTV pro card with wdm recorder,i like the responsiveness and it hasn't given me any problems, tho i use it alone in the machine..i even hexedited the atidvcr.dll to give me dvd output and changed the default bitrate..

and that's why i wanted to use graphs, to be able to change the encoder's props.

for clarity on recording cards #'s, think of 'board#' as the physical hardware card # and you can have many capture sources setup for 1 device, but be sure not to duplicate channels between them...
for our purposes, since gbpvr doesn't know the same cap card device is being used by both plugins,[direct and graph rec.] you have to make sure they don't contain dupe channels or gbpvr will try using it twice at once...
otherwise highly possible...

am in the middle of inserting a slim dvd recorder into my vcr so i can burn from gbpvr menus finally on main machine, and rebuilding my aiw machine, so will play with it more then...

i actually got the ir working that was built into the vcr, by plugging it into the ir serial port on motherboard, in the end, amazingly simple to pull off..

but i use the MCE with blasters now as they do all i need and very stable..
i think i posted my HIP gbpvr-without-focus profile on the forums...

[pBS]

did you know the AIW radeons work with MCE as is? using the avivo codecs it works as good as any hardware card in MCE...
my card isn't a aiw, it's just a vivo [video in-video out] card so no tuner to be seen by MCE..but aiw works great..
just install the full driver set and setup tv..

[ColumbusGEEK]

On the flip side I had terrible luck with my Windows MCE WinTV pvr-150 remote control and blaster. It seems if not many people have problems with it but I did.

Funny you mention the Sony remote, I just bought one off eBay along with a UIRT to make my life simpler. It should be here in a few days.

My MCE remote and blaster will be up on eBay for sure.