Python3 Based IR Blaster Using IquanaWorks USB

[pkscout]

I think I've mentioned this in a few posts, but I thought I'd stick it here just in case anyone ever needs a more flexible IR blasting solution to use with NextPVR.  It uses a USB IR transciever from IquanaWorks (URL on the wiki pages below).  It's worked well for me and allows me to send more than just channel numbers to my cable box and checks to see if the recording is actually working.  If it isn't, it trys to turn the cable box on again (mine has a habit of getting in the off state even though I turned off the sleep after idle function).  Additionally, it is capable of controlling up to 4 difference cable/satellite boxes (at least in theory).  And lastly, as of 2.0.0 there is an option to run this in client/server mode.  So if you really need a blaster that can be trigger from a Docker container or Mac OSX, this will work as long as you have another device (either Linux or Windows) to act as the blaster server.  In my case I used a Raspberry Pi I had laying around.

Documentation and download information is available at:  https://github.com/pkscout/iguana-blaster/wiki

[mvallevand]

Thanks @pkscout. I hadn't heard about about this device before your posts but when I researched options for linux it was the cheapest and most flexible so I thought I'd give it a try. I got it today (the 4 channel model) and it installed fine on linux after I read the small bit on their wiki to restrict transmitting on all channels to get it to work.

Martin

[pkscout]

Thanks. Are you using it with LIRC or with my channel change script? I only ask because I realized a couple weeks ago that if you have multiple analog tuners *and* are using the option to check and see if the stream started that it won't work right with LiveTV. The LiveTV check part assumes there is only one channel being streamed to disk, and if you are watching two live analog channels on two different clients, the second channel will always report back that it's working fine even if it isn't. I have an idea how to fix that (although no way to test it as I have only one analog device).

[mvallevand]

I am just using LIRC, I only need to do the power on scripts once a day so it works well with updateepg.bat

What I haven't resolved is how to lock the device so that I can send to irc 1 and ensure that it finishes before tuning irc 3.

Martin

[pkscout]

My script creates a numbered PID file when it launches. If a second instance launches it also creates a PID file with the next number in the sequence and then waits until the PID before it is deleted (by the other instance once it's done). That, in theory, allows it to queue up channel changes and do them one at a time. Maybe that's enough inspiration to point you to a solution.

[pkscout]

Just a note that I updated the first post with new information on capabilities and a link to more complete documentation.

[rtangwai]

Hi pkscout,

Does the script support the Phillips RC-MM protocol?

The Iguana blaster supposedly supports RC-MM (according to at least one LIRC user), I haven't bought one yet so I cannot check.

I have an Arris VIP2502 STB which uses the RC-MM protocol and it has been remarkably difficult to find IR blaster software that supports that protocol.  Hauppauge technical support had not even heard of RC-MM when I asked them about it (I use a HD PVR2).

Thanks in advance!

[mvallevand]

Did you post a support question to them directly? I found them quite responsive. You probably should mention your OS platform too.

Martin

[pkscout]

Hi pkscout,

Does the script support the Phillips RC-MM protocol?

The Iguana blaster supposedly supports RC-MM (according to at least one LIRC user), I haven't bought one yet so I cannot check.

I have an Arris VIP2502 STB which uses the RC-MM protocol and it has been remarkably difficult to find IR blaster software that supports that protocol.  Hauppauge technical support had not even heard of RC-MM when I asked them about it (I use a HD PVR2).

Thanks in advance!

The script calls their command line executable to actually communicate with the device (both for recording IR and blasting it), so I suspect as long as the command line tools support it, the script will.  If it involves some LIRC hand waving, then no, my script won't support that.  I tried for awhile to adapt what I did to use LIRC as an optional intermediary, but I'm using the IguanaIR device on a Raspberry Pi, and that is only sort of supported.  I could never get the LIRC drivers working., and apparently just cussing at them does not make them load any differently.

[pkscout]

Since there's been at least a small amount of interest in this, I thought I'd let folks know that 3.0.0 is out. The big change is that it using NextPVR API calls (instead of direct database calls) to do the checking to see if the analog device is on. I've marked it as NPVR5 only for analog device checking (although the actual blaster portion will work with anything) mostly because I have no NPVR4 device to test on, and I'm assuming the API calls are unique to v5.