problem installing Sage at setting infrared transmitter

[poop]

hi.
im running MCE and I've been using it to record shows from my DirectTV with my philips mce remote. As most know MCE records in a crappy format which is a hassle so I decided to give SageTV a try since ive heard good things and how it can record any various formats. A friend of mine swears by Sage and uses it with the same remote I do so I thought I'd give it a try.

At any rate when I install and do the setup wizard
Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II Capture Composite, use external cable or satelite receiver to tune channel, then for a tuning plugin I'm trying to pick the USB-UIRT Transceiver (obvious choice?) since my philips MCE remote is usb......... then I get an error Failed setting the infrared transmitter port! please ensure that the usb-uirt is connected, it shows up correctly in the windows device manager and that no other applications are using it.. well it shows up in device manager as ehome infrared receiver. and i know it works cause i can use it fine in MCE....

anyone have any thoughts, fixes, or ideas?
thanks

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by poop

then for a tuning plugin I'm trying to pick the USB-UIRT Transceiver (obvious choice?) since my philips MCE remote is usb

The Philips MCE remote is not a USB-UIRT. The USB-UIRT is not a generic usb device, it is this specific one.

- Andy

[poop]

oh.. that would explain it.
am i wasting my time trying to get it to work.. i know theres
"Making MCE IR blaster universal" drivers out there..............
i can bypass all the setup and get into sage but when i turn channels
on sage it will not turn them on my directTV.

I figured the reasoning was that it wouldnt accept the usb-uirt connection.

[Opus4]

SageTV can't use that blaster directly; you would probably have to use it via something like Girder. In the list of Information Resources for Remotes, Receivers, and IR Blasters is a link to:

MCE 2005 remote: Girder plugin WITH blaster support

You may want to see if you can use serial control for your DirecTV, though. It should be more reliable than IR blasting anyway.

- Andy

[poop]

ok thanks ill give it a reading over.

[bluenote]

I'm confused. (I admit, it's not hard to do !!!)

Can either of you explain how you believe this might work, if it did?

Without a way to generate IR , how the heck do you expect to control anything from the computer ????

Cory

[nielm]

Originally Posted by cnovak

Can either of you explain how you believe this might work, if it did?

Without a way to generate IR , how the heck do you expect to control anything from the computer ????

As Opus said, the Philips MCE remote device is not the same as a USB-UIRT, but it can transmit IR, as well as receive it...

Sage cannot use it directly, but Girder can (with the plugin mentioned), and Sage can tell Girder to tell the device to transmit IR commands, and Girder can tell Sage about IR commands received. (via the Sage exetunerplugin and Girder sendmessage plugin respectively)

And finally, without any of that messing around with IR and learning controls for the DireccTV receiver, it may be possible for Sage to control the DTV receiver directly with a serial cable connected between the two (possible with Girder in the middle again!).

[poop]

Originally Posted by cnovak

I'm confused. (I admit, it's not hard to do !!!)

Can either of you explain how you believe this might work, if it did?

Without a way to generate IR , how the heck do you expect to control anything from the computer ????

Cory

my reasoning was if it works with the MCE (ie MCE changing my directv channels with the remote) then it should work with SageTV.