MCE 2005 IR Blaster problem

[persim]

I'm trying to set up an IR Blaster that came with the Microsoft MCE Remote 2004 (version 1). The wiki states that GBPVR is compatible with this version but I am getting nothing from the blaster. The remote works fine for controls but the blaster does not flash at all. When I select the MCE 2005 Plugin as my channel changer and then try to edit the settings, I don't get any instructions to do key presses. The little box just says waiting and then claims all my instructions have been learned. Is this feature not natively supported? Do I need to setup HIP in order to make this work?

[pBS]

i'm afraid that the version 1 remote was very poorly supported by everyone...it was the only non-compatible hardware of all the mce dongles...
software has to be written differently for that one and since very few of those are still around, most programs don't add changes necessary only for it..
that said, i do remember the alternate driver had a ver1 compatible dll that would work....but i bet it's really buggy as not much work was ever done on it..
[plus all the other problems with using alternate driver in the first place]
so best bet is try to use 3rd party remote program like hip or irss to see if they support that one...

easier to just get another v2 mce dongle for around 20$ and everything will just work.. the remotes are all the same, it's the dongle that's different.
http://www.directron.com/mgir01bk.html it's an ugly remote but you can use the one you have already..
make sure yours is the real v1 first tho...deviceid in device manager will tell for sure...
USB\VID_045E&PID_006D is ver1 device..[details tab of "eHome infrared receiver" in device manager [usbcontroller section]]

[persim]

Thanks for the info. I actually have a ver 2 (the one from the Wiki) on another machine that I use firewire channel changing and have a harmony remote, so I never setup an IR Blaster before. Can I just swap the 2 "bean bag" units and use the remote from the ver 2 on this new setup? Does GBPVR handle the ver 2 IR Blaster with just the MCE 2005 channel plugin? Or would I still have to use HIP in between?

[sub]

Just to be clear - dont use the built in MCE 2005 channel changer plugin. Instead use the .exe channel changer, with software like HIP or IRServerSuite, even if you're using a v2 blaster.

[persim]

Ok that makes sense now since it wasn't working on the ver 2 either with the MCE plugin. Thanks for the info.

[pBS]

yea, there's some permission issues with the built in blasting...
and yes, you can use remote with either...[all the remotes send same codes]
actually if you use hip or irss you can use any remote at all..

oh, i do have this if you don't want to setup hip,etc and your remote receive is good as is...
[basically just a standalone cmdline blaster prog from alt driver which works with ms driver also]
http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manual/MCE-nosoft
[middle of page about blasting..it's all you need,tho rest of page might be of use..]
oh,this only works in xp, not win7..

[persim]

Thanks for all the help, got it working with irss. So much easier if all cable boxes just have an active firewire or serial port but I guess I'm dreaming with that request.