XFinity X1 and Hauppauge IR Blaster?

[JavaWiz]

Just upgraded my Xfinity system to their X1 platform. I'm not having much luck getting the Hauppauge IR Blaster to control the X1 box. Anybody have any experience with this? Xfinity Remote= XR2 v2, Xfinity STB= RNG 150N.

[thisheat]

If all you need to do with the blaster is change channels and power on/off the box, the learing mode of the BlastCFG utility should meet your needs.

Did your pvr-1600 come with an IR remote? If so, setup should be pretty easy. Let me know if you'd like help.

[JavaWiz]

Yep, gone thru the learning mode, it appears to work, but when hooked to the STB, channel does not change. Pretty sure I've got the IR sender over the IR Receiver on the STB, but no dice. I'm gonna try dropping back to the prior Motorola STB.

There is some confusion from Comcast if you can mix the old STB with the new X1 STB's. I don't need the X1 functionality on my PVR STB though, so I figure it's worth a try.

[thisheat]

If you're not getting ANY reaction from the STB, maybe the IR sensor on the box is located somewhere unintuitive/stupid. You can try sending test commands while moving the IR blaster around the front of the box.

I call it the "stethoscope method".

FWIW, I have had three Moto STB/DTAs, and the numkeys on any remote worked on any of the boxes. Hope they haven't changed for change's sake.

[JavaWiz]

I think the issue is the new XFinity X1 boxes, in my case the PACE PR150BNM box does not recognize the Hauppauge IRBlaster sender. My old Motorola STB worked fine.

[thisheat]

A little quick math using post counts indicates that you are ~125 times more experienced than I am. So, respectfully, please understand that I am not trying to contradict your conclusion. But...

Using the learning mode means that the IR blaster is just cloning the IR code from your remote. The box has no way of telling whether the IR code is sent from a remote or an IR blaster.

Again, PLEASE understand that I know you are much more experienced and I am not trying to be be cheeky. But just to be sure... is the IR32.exe icon visible in your task tray?

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[JavaWiz]

I agree with your logic, but... my experience has been that not all STB work with IR Blasters. Not sure what the difference is, I also notice my Onkyo remote (which worked with my non-X1 STB), does not successfully 'learn' the new control that Comcast uses with their new system. I think they've changed something which causes IR Blaster and learning remotes not to be compatible.

My next step is to verify if I can mix the old STB with the new X1 boxes. If that works, I get the new functions/features on my main TV's, and what I need (i.e. channels and ability to change via IR Blaster) with my NPVR setup.

[ElihuRozen]

A few years ago, when I had Comcast, I got one of their smaller boxes that wasn't a real STB. It gave you only SD & no program or on-demand. It was from Pace & I found that no matter what I did, I could not control it with my IR Blaster. I was using the IR baster that came with my computer. I purchased a new IR receiver & plugged the same IR emitter I had tried earlier. I was then able to control the Pace box with it. I am not at home now, so I can't give all the details. I just wanted you to know that I had a similar experience where I couldn't control a Pace box with the same hardware that could control a Motorola.

[thisheat]

Egad. And here I was thinking that IR blasting was one of the few things that DIDN'T involve fancy protocols. Looks like a lot of people are having the same issue.

This hacked .ini file looks like your best bet. The post also includes some info on why older IR blasters aren't working:
http://www.kernellabs.com/blog/?p=1552
This is from some random dude on the internet, so all the usual caveats apply. Might be worth a shot though.

[JavaWiz]

To recap:
I returned my PACE RNG150N STB and got a RNG110 box. IR Blaster now works fine, and I'm back in business...