Pass Through IR Signal to Receiver

[mkelly4ca]

Sorry if this is already answered here somewhere - I couldn't find it.

Is there a way to pass through or repeat an IR signal via Sage to an external device?

I have a satellite receiver that occasionally pops up a message, which must be responded to correctly before it will accept numeric (channel changing) commands. It's a serious pain to have to get up, go to the other end of the house where the receiver is, pull the electrical tape and IR emitter off the receiver, find the receiver's remote and hit the right buttons. I'd like to be able to just point my remote at the TV and have Sage send the IR signals through to the receiver.

More useful would be a magic command to send to the receiver to dismiss any message it is displaying and just change the channel - something I could add to the beginning of each channel change. Anyone know of such a thing for the Dish 311?

Thanks,

Mike.

[dflachbart]

Originally Posted by mkelly4ca

Sorry if this is already answered here somewhere - I couldn't find it.

Is there a way to pass through or repeat an IR signal via Sage to an external device?

There is a Sage API TransmitCommandUsingInfraredTuningPlugin available, so yes in theory a plugin would be able to do this...

Dirk

[briands]

The only issue with this (I think) is that SAGE only knows 0-9. For my dish box, you have to channel up/down to get to a good channel or use guide then key a channel number select then clear the guide.

[Opus4]

SageTV can learn additional IR commands on the Source Details screen (at least for something like the USB-UIRT) -- see the tuner control options starting on p. 156 of the v6 manual. However, SageTV doesn't normally use those extra commands. You can create a customization to send any additional IR commands, or you can use the Test Infrared Code option, also shown on p. 156. That may not be the easiest option to get to, but at least it is already in the UI & might be OK to use if you only need it once in a while.

- Andy

[mkelly4ca]

Thanks everyone. Creating a customization would be a little more work than I want to put into it at this point, given the learning curve for a first-time customization. Adding more commands to the .ir file is easy, but I couldn't think of how I would get Sage to send those commands. Thanks Andy for pointing out the Test Infrared Code command - duh.

I plan to experiment with adding a command or two before the numbers when changing channels - perhaps Exit/Cancel, or Guide-Number-Select as briands suggested. I'll post the results here if I'm successful.

Mike.

[mkelly4ca]

I've found that pressing Cancel, followed by the Up Arrow, followed by the channel number will dismiss all messages (that I'm aware of) and change the channel. I've added Cancel and Up Arrow to my .ir file, and confirmed that I can send those signals from Sage via the Test Infrared Code command.

I would like to have Sage always send Cancel and Up Arrow before changing the channel, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that. It looks like I can only send a command after the channel number, not before.

Using Test Infrared Code is wife-unfriendly, so I'll have to find a better solution if these messages start appearing.

[briands]

Originally Posted by mkelly4ca

I've found that pressing Cancel, followed by the Up Arrow, followed by the channel number will dismiss all messages (that I'm aware of) and change the channel. I've added Cancel and Up Arrow to my .ir file, and confirmed that I can send those signals from Sage via the Test Infrared Code command.

I would like to have Sage always send Cancel and Up Arrow before changing the channel, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that. It looks like I can only send a command after the channel number, not before.

Using Test Infrared Code is wife-unfriendly, so I'll have to find a better solution if these messages start appearing.

I've found these messages are usually because of errors in the channel setup. If you look at the input that was used and track back through its recordings to the one that was wrong and look at the channel that it was trying to record.

I just wish Sage would warn you that there was a change to the guide. Maybe it's dish doing it. All I know is that last week something happened and several channels that I do not subscribe to became enabled in the guide and IR wanted to record from them.

Maybe we should submit a feature request on the IR prefix codes.

Andy...thanks for the info on learning additional commands... I'll have to look into that.

[herrdude]

I am having the same problem. I am abroad trying to use Placeshifter and all I see on the screen is that I am not subscribed to a channel. Nothing will change the message on my VIP211.

Is there anyone out there in Sageland willing to scan the ir codes for Cancel, Channel Up, and Guide for the VIP211. I tried the codes for DP301 but no luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[wayner]

What are you using for an IR blaster? Assuming that you are using a USB-UIRT then you should be able to create a batch file that sends these commands. You should be able to kick off that batch file on the server from within Sage clients by adding a custom command to one of the menus using something like ADM. But that may be a bit too much work to solve this problem.