Sage does not register Motorola DCT6000 remote codes via USB-UIRT

[jklenk]

I cannot get Sage (v6.4.8) to recognize codes from the remote control of my Motorola DCT6000 cable box through my USB-UIRT.

It was working at some point last year with an older version of the cable box. Then at some point, I started having a problem where wong digits were being sent from Sage (or at least wrong digits were being interpreted by the cable box). I think this was before I switched to FIOS and got a newer cable box, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

I have tried holding the remote very close to the USB-UIRT, as well as 5-10 feet away.

I removed the cable box entry from Sage, to get a fresh start. But now when Sage asks me to hold down the zero button on my remote, it just times out and says "There was an error learning the remote control code. Please release the button on the remote control."

I have downloaded the latest firmware for my USB-UIRT (firm.sys dated 3/26/04).

I have made sure that the USB-UIRT works in Girder (including receiving a code for the zero button on my Motorola remote). (I do not normally use the USB-UIRT with Girder; I have an IRMan receiver for that. And I did disable the USB-UIRT plugin in Girder before testing with Sage. And I have rebooted.)

Something very interesting is that while Sage is waiting for me to press the zero button, the USB-UIRT's indicator light never comes on when I am pressing the remote buttons. As soon as Sage times out on waiting for the remote code, the light starts working again.

So it seems to me that there is a serious bug with Sage, since it works with Girder.


Any ideas? I haven't been able to use Sage with my cable box for probably a year now. I only use it for OTA HD channels, and use my cable box for recording other channels. It is actually rare for me to want to use Sage for other channels, considering the awful SVideo quality, but occasionally when I am at one of my other PCs that have PlaceShifter, I would like to be able to watch a cable channel.

[jklenk]

Hmm... I'm not sure this should have been moved to "Hardware Support" from "SageTV Software" where I posted it. I think it is a bug in Sage.

I guess as long as someone reading this forum has an idea...

[CollinR]

If this were a bug in SageTV it would be a VERY commonly discussed problem. I mean the DCT6200 is one of the most common cable boxes out there and the USBUIRT is one of the most common IR blasters. This was moved to hardware support because it's related to your USBUIRT/cable box configuration.

Craploads have this setup running, my dad's system has 2 DCT6200s and a USBUIRT and 0 problems.

Make sure all of the cables from the USBUIRT are routed away from HV and other sources of EMI/RFI. Reboot and give it another try.

For the most part only 1 software can control the USBUIRT at a time, whichever connects to it first will have control over it. If thats SageTV thats fine but if it's anything else most likely SageTV will no long be able to comunicate with it.

[jklenk]

As I mentioned, I did reboot, and no other programs are using the USB-UIRT. The only program I've ever used the USB-UIRT with is Sage (other than the quick test I did with Girder to make sure that the USB-UIRT was receiving the remote code).

The USB-UIRT cable is actually by itself, other than where it connects to the back of the computer.

And it works in Girder, yet Sage registers *nothing*, and Sage even makes the USB-UIRT indicator light turn off during the learning process.

[btrcp2000]

I have a dct6200, but sage never worked well with that setting. Try switching to the dct2000 option within sage. That has worked for me for a long time except for the last few weeks, because I think my uirt is dying.

EDIT: upon rereading, it sounds like you have done this already. I think something is up with usbuirts in general. On their forum, there are a number of complaints about the sudden unreliability, but unfortunately it looks like the owner hasn't posted at all since May. I may be swithcing to firewire if I can't get mine working.

[jklenk]

Thanks... but I actually don't have the DCT2000 option anymore (I removed it at some point in trying to get a fresh start - though at the time I didn't realize it was a stock profile, and probably thought I had made it myself).