New to Cable Boxes - Confused on control with SageTV

[brandypuff]

I'm considering entering the 21st centry and purchasing a Cable box to get Expanded channels as well as Digital channels.

My SageTV server is in the basement, however, so i assume the Cable box
also needs to be connected to it somehow in order to timeshift shows.

However, how does SageTV switch channels on the thing when a scheduled
recording becomes active? Do i need the USB-IR (extra $50) thing?

If I'm in my family room watching TV live via Sage, and i select another channel via the SageTV guide, will this IR device change the cablebox?

[gplasky]

Yes. You'll need a USB-UIRT connected to your SageTV server. Locate your cablebox somewhere near the SageTV server. Close enough to locate the USB-UIRT near it. When you pick the channel from the program guide or type the channel number on the remote, the USB-UIRT broadcasts it to the cable box jut like your cable box remote would. And it ends up changing the channel.

Gerry

[Spectrum]

Some cable boxes support channel changing via Firewire and some of the satelite boxes support changing channels via serial or even ethernet. Firewire only works with select boxes and the drivers that exist only work in 32bit.

If your signature is correct and you are running x64 then you will probably end up needing to use an IR blaster. Some of the hauppauge cards have IR blasting capability so that may be an option for you. You can also use a Windows MCE receiver and LMRemoteKeymap to handle blasting, or the USB-UIRT which is supported natively in Sage.

[brandypuff]

Thanks. I understand now.