SageTV and USBUIRT

[jglev]

I just ordered the USB-UIRT since I want to be able to use the receive abilities with my Sony Universal remote to change SageTV and the transmit abilities to change my digital Motorola cable box.

After reading all the threads on using Girder and the USB-UIRT to get it to work, I am confused and not sure how to configure it all. I know that the 1.4 version of Sage has built in compatibility with the receive function, but not the transmit function to control my cable box. The version of Sage after that is supposed to have built in USB-UIRT transmit support (I am not sure if this will be SageTV 1.5 or SageTV2) to change the cable box, but I would like to get it to work before that next release comes out.

So, can any one please help me? What files do I need and what steps do I need to take to set everything up correctly to get the USB-UIRT to work with SageTV to change my cable box? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[audio]

Don't know if this will help you, but I created and exported a command group for Girder back in April which can be used to handle execution of channel change commands. If the USBUIRT can control your cable box this might work for you.

You can download it at
http://www.girder.nl/download.php?Link=497

[jglev]

Thanks audio.

I am not all that familiar with Girder. I have used it a little. I supose I just load the file into Girder, but then what?

Thanks again,

[audio]

jglev,

Sorry for the delayed response. The "README" for the girder group I created is provided below. Hope it helps.

-- ==================
-- SageSetExternalChannel
-- ==================
-- This GML is intended for use with SageTV v1.x It was designed to be
-- invoked using the EXETunerPlugIn.exe from Frey Technologies.
--
-- By default channels can be updated against two different devices, but
-- more could readily by added by inserting an additional command against
-- each digit multi-group, and the Enter multi-group if needed.
--
-- As usual - no warranty of any sort is made that this gml will do anything
-- of any use for anyone. If you or any of your loved/hated ones/things are
-- in any way affected in a way which harms or offends anyone or anything
-- I can not and will not be held responsible and hereby disclaim any knowledge
-- of this gml.
--
-- ==================
-- learning digit commands
-- ==================
-- For each digit, select antenna, svideo, or each in turn as needed, choose
-- the Plugins tab, select the driver for the IR transceiver you're using,
-- and click Settings. From the driver settings window, select Learn, and press
-- the appropriate digit on the selected remote. Hold as requested until the
-- capture dialog closes. By hand or using the remote, change the channel of the
-- device for which you just recorded a command. Set the Repeat number in the driver
-- settings dialog to 1. Click the Test button. If it takes too long, move the
-- Speed slider up 1 notch only, and re-test.
-- Learn and test commands for a single digit at a time. If things don't seem to be working
-- well see the TROUBLESHOOTING section below.
--
-- =========
-- My settings
-- =========
-- This may be old news for veteran Girder users, but in my case I needed to
-- do some experimenting to obtain a workable solution for capturing digit
-- commands. I'll list the steps I found necessary for success below, your
-- mileage may most certainly vary.
--
-- My vcr (jvc) requires the IR frequency setting to be 35KHz instead of the default
-- 40KHz setting in the command capture window. My antenna rotator (ChannelMaster)
-- works fine at default 40KHz.
-- My vcr requires a repeat value of 2.
-- When testing (or using) the vcr digit commands, girder would seem to sometimes
-- "hang" in transmission, as if it were transmitting repeatedly for 15 - 30 seconds.
-- I was able to successfully resolve this issue by adjusting the "speed" setting in
-- the command capture dialog upwards by 1 notch.
--
-- For my antenna rotator, I had to capture the IR command in raw mode. No other
-- adjustments were necessary for my antenna rotator. I set the repeat value
-- to 2 for this device as well.
--
-- ============
-- Troubleshooting
-- ============
-- If your device doesn't respond you might need to:
-- a) Try "Learn"ing the digit using raw mode
-- b) increase the repeat number to 2, 3, 4, etc.
-- c) start at the 1st Carrier frequency and try them all.
-- Now, hopefully things will work with some combination of a and b, which I
-- would suggest you try first as there are roughly only 8 combinations. If you
-- don't achieve success this way, I'd suggest you try this approach for testing
-- changes to the Carrier frequency:
-- Make sure the Speed setting gets the command sent in 1 second or less.
-- In general it seems that you should learn commands NOT in raw mode.
-- Set Repeat to 4
-- Try each of the carrier frequencies in turn, testing after each.
-- After you achieve success, make sure it's repeatable.
-- Lower the Repeat value until you achieve the lowest value which can be successfully
-- replicated.
-- If your IR Transceiver gives no visual indication of transmission, see if you
-- can set it to display one as it will be of great assistance in determining what is
-- happening while you're learning and testing commands. If no visual indicator is
-- available from your IR transceiver you may be issuing many commands while girder
-- has your transceiver in use.

[jglev]

Thanks audio for all your help. I really appreciate it.

I just got an e-mail telling me that my USB-UIRT shipped, so I should be getting it in a few day and will give it a try.

One more question (for now anyway): do you have a link for the EXETunerPlugIn.exe file? I can't seem to find it on the Frey's web site- only a DLL to use with a DSS, which doesn't really help since I have a Motorola Digital Cable Box.

Thanks again,

[rcleav]

Having just gone thru this last week, I will try to explain how to setup the tuner plug-in and DLL to use a USB-Uirt and Girder to control SageTv.

1. Download Girder 3.2 from here http://www.girder.nl

2. Install girder to C:\Program Files\Girder32

3. Download the SageTv tuner plug-in and DLL’s from here http://www.freytechnologies.com/EXETunerPlugin.zip

4. Extract the file EXETunerPlugin.dll to the Program Files\Frey Technologies\Common folder on your computer.

5. Edit with notepad the DTVCon.reg file from the EXETunerPlugin.zip.

6. Change the line that reads "command"="dtvcmd.exe #%CHANNEL%" to "command"="C:\\Program Files\\Girder32\\event.exe SageSetExternalChannel 18 %CHANNEL% -silent" including the quotes and then save as MotCon.reg.
Make sure you have the correct path to Girder.

7. Double-click your new MotCon.reg file to register the plugin for your system.

8. From the SageTV main menu click on Setup and then “Setup Wizard”.

9. Click on the “Add or Modify a Source button”.

10. Click through the wizard until you reach “I Have an Infrared Transceiver or Plugin” to Setup” and click it.

11. You should now see the “EXE Tuner Plugin” button click on it.

12. To finish click on “Complete Setup” You now have installed everything that SageTV requires to receive and transmit signals.

13. The next part is to setup, train Girder and using salsbst scs-girder-gml.zip available from here http://stusals.com/default.asp?uri=av.xml will make it much easier.

Being a week old novice at Girder I don’t feel I’m qualified to explain configuring it yet. I still have a small issue with it see thread http://www.freytechnologies.com/foru...&threadid=1500
Maybe someone else could pickup here and explain how to configure Girder for Usbuirt and SageTv for the Motorola cable Box?

Good Luck

[jglev]

Ron,

Thanks, man. This is exactly what I needed. I will go a head and try this out when my USB-UIRT arrives and report back.

Thanks again!!

[salsbst]

I still have a small issue with it see thread http://www.freytechnologies.com/foru...&threadid=1500
Maybe someone else could pickup here and explain how to configure Girder for Usbuirt and SageTv for the Motorola cable Box?

I've responded in that thread with an attempt at assistance.

[JJarmoc]

Thanks to this and the other thread, I've got sage and USBUIRT working together. But I still have one problem.

I can either;
a - Launch girder, then sage
b - launch sage, then girder.

With option a, I'm able to control sage using my tivo remote.

With option b, sage will change channels on the cable box using the USBUIRT.

Is there any way to get both working at the same time? I'm thinking I may need to train girder to send output to both sage and the cable box, is that how it works? If so, does anyone have some brief instructions for this?

[salsbst]

Changing channels while watching live TV is a good example of the communication path:

remote control -> USB-UIRT -> Girder -> SageTV -> EXETunerPlugin -> event.exe (part of Girder) -> Girder -> USB-UIRT -> Cable Box

But it's not clear to me what trouble you're having, so this may be redundant information for your.

[JJarmoc]

So does girder have to pass an event over to SageTV for it to change the channel?

It seems like my problem is that either SageTV or Girder can make use of the USBUIRT, but not both at the same time.

Maybe I'm not explaining this clearly. I can get the first half of that to work, or the second half, but not both at once. It seems like if USBUIRT commands go to Girder, as your example signal path shows, SageTV is unable to use the USBUIRT to tune the cable box. I can also get it to where Sage can use the USBUIRT to control the box, but then girder doesn't receive commands from the remote.

It's as if Sage and Girder are each locking the USBUIRT for exclusive use, and thus prohibiting the other application from accessing it.

[JJarmoc]

I think I just realized a key difference between my setup and the signal path posted above.

In my setup, I've got the USBUIRT enabled in Sage as a USB IR device. It's able to receive, but this locks the USBUIRT and keeps Girder from being able to access it. In the above example, Girder is receiving the IR commands, and passing commands to Sage. Does this mean Sage doesn't have to have the USBUIRT enabled as a receiver?

[salsbst]

Are you trying to use the SageTV direct support for the USB-UIRT? My solution does not use that, rather it solely uses Girder to interact with the USB-UIRT.... perhaps SageTV and Girder are fighting each other to communicate with the USB-UIRT?

[JJarmoc]

I think that's it exactly salsbst. I'll turn off the sage support of USBUIRT and see if I have better results.

[salsbst]

I must learn to refresh the page before posting a reply... my multitasking skills are getting rusty.... sounds like you figured it out, JJarmoc.

[JJarmoc]

Okay, I figured it out... I've got girder and sage playing well together now, but there's still a little work to be done.

At risk of going a bit off topic, does anyone know how to make girder repeat a command as long as a button is held? I should probably head over to the girder forums for this one.

[jglev]

I am still having problems with controlling my cable box.

I followed rcleav's instructions, but Sage still isn't changing the channels on the Mot. cable box. I am using salsbst scs-girder-gml which made configuring Girder very easy. I programmed Girder using my cable remote, but it doesn't seem to be transmitting. The USB-UIRT receives just fine and I am able to control Sage using my remote, so I know the device is working. Something must be wrong with my set-up. I noticed that salsbst scs-girder-gml doesn't include the full SageSetExternalChannel.gml imbedded into it. Do I need to add the full gml to salsbt's gml or is there something else I need to do to get everything to work?

Thanks again for your help,

[Narflex]

At the present time you can't use SageTV's USB_UIRT receive function at the same time as Girder's transmit function. It'll fail because they're both trying to access the device.

[jglev]

Originally posted by Narflex
At the present time you can't use SageTV's USB_UIRT receive function at the same time as Girder's transmit function. It'll fail because they're both trying to access the device.

I know. I didn't set up SageTV to use the UIRT. I am using Girder to controll Sage and am trying to use the EXETunerPlugin to change my cable box. I followed the instructions to set up the EXETunerPlugin and Girder, but it doens't seem to be working since the UIRT doesn't seem to be transmitting (no blinking light when changing channels).

I am looking forward to when SageTV will have built-in support for both the receive and transmit functions of the USB-UIRT.

Thanks,

[salsbst]

If you execute, from a DOS prompt, the command that you have assigned in the registry for the EXETunerPlugin, does it work?