PVR USB IR Blaster only for MCE?

[Meeker]

Hello I'm new here, so sorry if this is posting something someone has already asked (I have searched but did not find anything) but I just want to know if any one has had any luck getting the PVR 150 USB Beanbag IR transmitter/Reciever working under XP Pro SP2? I can get it recieving and accepting commands personally, but no luck with the blasting part and I'm just banging my head against a wall here... and would really like to stop. (Plus having recording more then 1 channel would be prefered) Thank you for your time and have a good day!


Meeker

[stefan]

Not that I own one, but I haven't seen any reports about it being impossible, so I'd imagine it should work. I don't know exactly how to set it up, though.

[equinoxe]

It works fine once you get it figured out. Plug it in, make sure the beanbag appears under 'Device manager' (mine says MS Ehome controller) then learn the STB commands in GB-PVR and try it out.

One important note, only the second blaster port works on the back of the beanbag. In addition, it seems that you have to have the Hauppage IR service running for the blaster to work when performing scheduled recordings.

Incidentally, if you ever need to verify if an IR control is working, point it at a webcam and it will light up like a flashlight!

Hope that helps!

[Sentient]

I should have come here first to check for issues.

I figured out that only the 2nd IR Blaster port works eventually, and now the IR Blaster is 'flashing', but my Sky (New Zealand) just doesnt want to know - no response at all.

I have programmed the Blaster with GBPVR Config as a MCE2005 IR Blaster - I programmed my Sky Remote IR Codes with the Learning function, but the Sky STB doesnt seem to want to know.

I know the blaster can communicate to the STB as it worked fine in Windows XP MCE, but I have been unable to get it working in XP Pro.

Any hints or tips I should follow?

Cheers

[sub]

If it doesnt work with the built in blaster support, you might need to look at using HIP for this, which is what a lot of other users do. There is info on setting this up on the wiki at http://www.gbpvr.com/pmwiki

[Sentient]

I should have mentioned, I tried with HIP as well.

After programming the SKY remote codes, the Test IR gives the same result as GBPVR.

IR Blaster flashes, SKY STB does nothing.

[sub]

Sorry, I dont really have any suggestions.

Out of curiousity, what make of sky box is it?

[Sentient]

My SKY STB is a Pace DSR600 (The old standard black monster box )

[Sentient]

Just thought I would post in the hopes someone might have some ideas....

Having tested the MCE2005 can in fact change the DSR600, I thought I would try a little 'capture' situation.

I hooked up my main computer with MCE2005 running, and pointed the MCE IR Blaster at a laptop with a 2nd 'Beanbag' attached to capture the signal.

When I change the channel in MCE2005, the laptop can record the output from the IR Blaster - since my MCE is set to send 2 digit codes, they will obviously be a little longer, but this was just a test.

Using HIP, I was able to record the longer codes (I think they were either ~115 or ~151), but still, using IRTest in HIP the SKY STB wasnt interesting - wouldnt even flash to acknowledge it was recieving.

Basically, I know that the hardware is capable of changing the channel (MCE2005 works fine). I can only assume that either the captured signals are incorrect or the replayed signals are incorrect (perhaps a timing issue).

Anyone got any ideas??

[Sentient]

I managed to get the MCE IR Blaster bundled with the PVR150MCE to work with the DSR600

Just wondering if anyone else would like the codes. Not sure of the best way to provide them, current it is just the 0.bin .... 9.bin + enter.bin from the GBPVR directories.

Thanks for the quick reply's sub - kept me motivated to figure it out.

FYI: No other changes were necessary - it was just the learning functionality that was the problem. I hex-edited the files together to make them work.