IR Hardware Not Found - Multiple Hauppauge Cards

[gongzero]

Hi all,

I'm having a bit of an odd problem. I've been running SageTV since v2.27 with two PVR-250s using one card's IR receiver and the Hauppauge 45-button remote's layout mapped to a Logitech Harmony 520. Everything was working fine with that setup.

I recently added a digital cable box (Pace DC501) and decided to add a PVR-150 to pull in the STB's signal via the S-Video port. This coincided with my plans to nuke 'n' pave the HTPC itself due to some video card issues. I figured that all I would need to do is install the card (and drivers/software for IR I/O) in the PC and use its IR hardware instead of the PVR-250's IR hardware.

Before the reinstall, only the PVR-250 in the motherboard's first PCI slot (next to the video card) had a functional IR port. I physically moved that card to the third PCI slot and installed the new PVR-150 in its place as I'd read somewhere that the IR port will be activated on the Hauppauge card that's seen first by the system.

Now that I've got all the drivers and Sage 5.0.4 freshly installed, I'm trying to get the PVR-150's IR hardware to work and it's just not cooperating. Not only do I get a "IR Hardware Not Found" message when I try running BlastCfg, the PC doesn't seem to respond to any remote input from either the Harmony or the Hauppauge remote that came with the PVR-150.

I'd like to avoid having to drop any more cash on something like a USB-UIRT if I can get this to work, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

TIA!


-A

[AngelofDeth]

I have found these cards somewhat tricky, even using the exact same cards... If it was me, I would unistall everything (HCWCLEAR), and physically remove all the cards except the one you want for the IR blaster. Once you get the IR blaster working, I would then install the others cards, and make sure the card with the IR working is in the lowest PCI slot. You might also want to re-install the cards one at a time and make sure the IR blaster is still working...

[gplasky]

As you can see you're going to have issues. I'm pretty sure the Hauppague IR software can'y handle multiple IR receivers with a PVR250 and a PVR150 in the same machine. With your machine you'll find it working on one of the cards but probably NOT the PVR150.

Gerry

[AngelofDeth]

In my case, the blaster works on the card in the first PCI slot... but that is with two PVR-150s. You cannot use two of those types of cards and get the blaster to work on both. I guess the driver just does not allow you to individually address the blaster hardware.

[gongzero]

Originally Posted by AngelofDeth

I have found these cards somewhat tricky, even using the exact same cards... If it was me, I would unistall everything (HCWCLEAR), and physically remove all the cards except the one you want for the IR blaster. Once you get the IR blaster working, I would then install the others cards, and make sure the card with the IR working is in the lowest PCI slot. You might also want to re-install the cards one at a time and make sure the IR blaster is still working...

I'm thinking this is what I'm going to have to do.

I'll wait until next weekend and see if my research comes up with anything else before having to mess with the innards again.


-A

[Opus4]

The Hauppauge IR drivers can't tell the difference between the 150/250/350/500 cards & there isn't a known way to force it to use a particular card's IR port. Many people have the problem that the IR software latches onto an MCE version of one of those cards, which means the remote won't work at all since those cards have no IR port. This thread talks about the issue & has a couple work-arounds towards the middle to end of the thread. If there were a way to install in a certain order & be confident that the IR software will grab the card you want, people there would probably like to know about it.

If you need a blaster, you are probably better off with a USB-UIRT.

- Andy

[AngelofDeth]

Originally Posted by gongzero

I'm thinking this is what I'm going to have to do.

I'll wait until next weekend and see if my research comes up with anything else before having to mess with the innards again.


-A

It would nice if Hauppauge just fixed there drivers to individually be able address the different IR blasters. Or maybe its the hardware. Either way, they should fix it. I would think your best bet would be putting one of the non-MCE cards in the first slot, and the MCE card in the last PCI slot.

[blade]

Originally Posted by AngelofDeth

It would nice if Hauupauge just fixed there drivers to individually be able address the different IR blasters. Or maybe its the hardware. Either way, they should fix it. I would think your best bet would be putting one of the non-MCE cards in the first slot, and the MCE card in the last PCI slot.

Hauppauge does good to put out halfway functional drivers. I wouldn't expect too much from them.

[gongzero]

Originally Posted by AngelofDeth

It would nice if Hauppauge just fixed there drivers to individually be able address the different IR blasters. Or maybe its the hardware. Either way, they should fix it. I would think your best bet would be putting one of the non-MCE cards in the first slot, and the MCE card in the last PCI slot.

I don't think the issue is the device enumeration on the PCI bus (as the PVR-150 is device 1, the PVR-250s are devices 2 and 3), but rather probably the IRQ, where the PVR-250s are 17 and 19 and the PVR-150 is IRQ 22.

Of course, you can't change this in XP easily short of turning off ACPI which can cause quite a mess.

Also, these are all full-retail non-MCE cards.

Opus4, I'm going to try the registry tweak you posted in your linked thread.


-A

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by gongzero

Opus4, I'm going to try the registry tweak you posted in your linked thread.

Which registry tweak?

If you mean to make the IR software prefer one tuner over another type, that will only work for he PVR-USB2. As I said above: "The Hauppauge IR drivers can't tell the difference between the 150/250/350/500 cards", so you can't force one of those over another of that series. If this is what you were going to try, you'll have to read further into the thread for some batch file options; there is no easy solution.

- Andy

[gongzero]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Which registry tweak?

If you mean to make the IR software prefer one tuner over another type, that will only work for he PVR-USB2. As I said above: "The Hauppauge IR drivers can't tell the difference between the 150/250/350/500 cards", so you can't force one of those over another of that series. If this is what you were going to try, you'll have to read further into the thread for some batch file options; there is no easy solution.

- Andy

Crap, yeah, I ran through that kinda quick.

Screw it. I'm going to try reordering the cards physically tomorrow, and if that doesn't work, I guess I'll just spring for the USB-UIRT.


-A