Hauppauge IR Hack question

[kamikaze]

First off, I'm new here, so hi

Anyway, I have a Starchoice Satellite box, and the IR blaster doesn't work with it. I've come to the conclusion that the LED in the IR blaster needs to be changed to another LED, since it looks like a plain red LED and not an IR LED. I came across a thread here from a year or more ago that described this process, but what I don't know is where to get the LED from. Can I just go get any IR LED from Radio Shack, or does it need to come from a Starchoice remote?

I'm sure this has been answered, but i've looked for the better part of half an hour and can't find it. Any help is greatly apreciated

Thanks

[stefan]

As I have understood things, the thing with a "real" ir led is that it has a longer range. A "plain red LED" works just as fine, but need to sit almost [bold]on[/bold] the ir receiver.

Is the starchoice supported by the hauppauge ir blaster software? If it is, you shouldn't have to change LED. If it isn't, then no LED in the world will change this fact.

[kamikaze]

From what I understood, the Starchoice reciever is supported by the IR blaster, however the plain red LED that the IR blaster uses doesn't emit the right spectrum of IR light that the reciever understands. Changing the LED is supposed to fix this, but I'm not sure where to get the proper IR LED. I'm going to try one from Radio Shack tonite as they are pretty cheap there. If that doesn't work, I'll hafta find an old Starchoice Remote and do some surgery

[stefan]

Ok, seems you might be correct: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=5138
I'll back off

[kamikaze]

no no...i appreciate your input....I'm just not sure what LED to use...are all IR leds relatively equal?

[stefan]

What I meant is that I'm in over my head, so I can't answer your questions...

[pastro]

no no...i appreciate your input....I'm just not sure what LED to use...are all IR leds relatively equal?

Remote controls usually use near infrared diodes. Something like .75 to 1.4 um. If you have an old unused control, salvage the diode and use that.

[soccerdad]

Some Hauppauge IR emitters are DOA even if they blink. They will send you another one if you call them. Search EMITTERS on this site. There are many threads on replacing and extending them.

[dneprrider]

I've come to the conclusion that the LED in the IR blaster needs to be changed to another LED, since it looks like a plain red LED and not an IR LED.

One way to check if the IR emitter is working is to look at the IR emitter LED when operating through a digital camera LCD screen. The camera CCD is sensitive to the IR emissions where the human eye isn't. You can then tell if it is emitting or not.

[kamikaze]

One way to check if the IR emitter is working is to look at the IR emitter LED when operating through a digital camera LCD screen. The camera CCD is sensitive to the IR emissions where the human eye isn't. You can then tell if it is emitting or not.

Well, when I was in radio shack earlier today to pick up an IR led, the guy there told me the same thing.

So i got home, booted up the computer, and I got a found new hardware wizard, and it's trying to install a multimedia video controller :mad:

I've tried everything to get the card to work, let alone the IR blaster, so I think I'm just going to format my computer tomorrow. It needs it's bi-yearly wipe/reload anyway