ActiSys IR-200 or USB-IRT?

[knn2001]

Can someone please give me any pointers on getting SageTV 4.1 to successfully change channels on a Comcast PACE settop box using ActiSys IR-200 transmit/receive?

I have read throught the SAGE manual on this section many times and diligently followed the instruction step-by-step - including trying tap-tap, tap-press, etc. methods for getting the remote codes learned by SAGE through ActiSys but am running out of luck.

My problems are:
- Sometimes SAGETV hangs at the point where it first asks you to press any button on the remote while it is scanning the IR transmission
- Sometimes it gets past he above step and goes through the motion of learning the codes for buttons 0 through 9 but when you test the IR code, no codes are transmitted or only certain digit codes are transmitted (as seen in the settop box's response).

Would I have better luck with USB-IRT? Can someone give me any pointers here before I go spend the extra bucks? Also, is GIRDER necessary before one can use USB-IRT?

My objective is:
- To be able to connect the S-Video output of the STB to the input of the Hauppauge card on my PC
- To change the channel on SageTV using my mouse - and have it change the channel on the STB

THANKS!

[mayamaniac]

I have both the IR200L and the USB-UIRT. They both work the same in SageTV. The only difference is the IR200L uses serial port and the USB-UIRT uses USB port. The USB-UIRT also has option to control two additional devices.

I have a motorola DCT-2224 cable box and I use the preset DCT-2000 in Sagetv setup, so I didn't need to do anything special to get it to control the cable box. Once a while it misses a channel change, but overall, it works 99% of the time.

And no, Girder shouldn't be needed for SageTV to control your cable box.

[knn2001]

Thanks, Maya - At least it is encouraging to note that the mechanism works. It is now a question of me trying to get the SageTV/Actisys IR-200L combination to learn the codes. I simply cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. I even went as far as uninstalling SageTV and re-installing it from scratch. Still no go.

Would it have something to do with the Comcast box remote control's IR being at a different frequency than what ActiSYS can receive?