Which IR receiver to use?

[jhh]

Hi,

I'm in the process of building a new machine so I bought a bundle of 3 Hauppauge PVR 150 MCE cards. Unfortunately these do not come with an IR receiver. I think the way to go is get an IR receiver serial or USB from these guys for instance: http://www.ir2pc.com/ - then I'd need to set-up Girder and learn Girder the buttons from a spare Hauppauge remote I have by linking them to the corresponding Sage commands.

Looks like a lot if work but can be done. Is there an easier way to use a Hauppauge remote without the Hauppauge IR receiver?

thanks,
Jan

[justme]

Looking at the site you linked to, the price(if my memory on Euro to US dollars currency rates is correct) is fairly close to a USB-UIRT. The USB-UIRT is natively supported by SageTV as a IR reciever(for just about any infrared remote you want to teach Sage to use) and Sage can also use the USB-UIRT as a IR blaster(if you ever need one). The advantage of this option is no need for Girder unless you want to add extra capabilities/customization like macros and control of other applications. But if you did wish to do so the USB-UIRT is supported by Girder. The downside is that the USB-UIRT seems to currently be in high demand and out of stock/back ordered most places(Sage store, PCalchemy, USB-UIRT.com but this may have changed with the last 24-48 hours.

The paragraph below was editted to remove my suggestion about replacing 1 of the PVR150MCEs with a retail model. This is not currently a good idea as some people have reported issues with the IR drivers/software when mixing the retail(has IR hardware) and MCE(lack IR hardware) versions of PVR cards. It's appearantly caused by a driver issue that can make the PC think all the cards are MCE versions and hence have no IR hardware, this causes(always?) the IR driver to fail on the PVRs that actually do have the IR hardware. Since Hauppauge's IR drivers are basically(simplification) the same for the different retail PVR models(PVR150/250/350) mixing one with a MCE model(150mce/250mce/500mce) is not something I'd reccommend at this time. Hopefully Hauppauge can eventually(easily?) fix this, but I editted my so as to not cause anyone unneeded problems. Thanks to the ever vigilant Opus4 for pointing this out.
The retail version of the PVR 150 comes with the IR reciever and even has a IR blaster capability. However, I'm not personally aware of all the ups/downs of the PVR150's IR hardware... I own several PVR250s a PVR350 and the USB-UIRT. I use the USB-UIRT with several remotes(a Tivo, MX500, Harmony 688) to control SageTV and Sage uses the USB-UIRT to change channels on my digital cable box for one of my tuners. I plan to use the Hauppauge IR reciever for my new SageTVClient setup, so there's nothing enherently wrong with the Hauppauge IR hardware/software IMHO. Especially given all Opus4 has done(see his sig for links to his many remote related FAQs) to expand it's abilities.

/justme

[jhh]

Thanks for the info - I just ordered the USB-UIRT. I know everybody thinks Girder is great but there is a learning curve so I'm going for native support. Can't beat that in terms of convenience!

Hope they will have a new supply soon.

Jan