Girder + IR blaster for dummies?

[elaw]

Okay so here's my deal. Just got a new media center PC and am trying to get Sage to work on it before the wife completely falls in love with MCE.

Big problem is controlling the DirecTV receiver. I've done it before with serial but this receiver has no serial connection. So gotta use an IR blaster. No problem, right? Machine has an IR blaster built in.

It shows up in device manager as "Microsoft eHome infrared transceiver". And from what I read here there's a Girder plugin to talk to it.

Where I'm getting stuck is what I tell *Sage* about how to tune channels. When I go into source setup, I'm first asked whether to use a reciver to tune or "don't configure tuning". If I choose to use a receiver, I get serial, ActiSys, and USB-UIRT options. How are these options supposed to be set if I use Girder?

Thanks!

[IVB]

I use serial, so I don't know the answer to your question, but FYI: BB was selling a D* STB for $50 with serial control. I never bought one, can't remember if it was one of the models that SageTV had issues with, but it is an option. You can always return it if it doesn't work.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by elaw

Okay so here's my deal. Just got a new media center PC and am trying to get Sage to work on it before the wife completely falls in love with MCE.

Big problem is controlling the DirecTV receiver. I've done it before with serial but this receiver has no serial connection. So gotta use an IR blaster. No problem, right? Machine has an IR blaster built in.

It shows up in device manager as "Microsoft eHome infrared transceiver". And from what I read here there's a Girder plugin to talk to it.

Where I'm getting stuck is what I tell *Sage* about how to tune channels. When I go into source setup, I'm first asked whether to use a reciver to tune or "don't configure tuning". If I choose to use a receiver, I get serial, ActiSys, and USB-UIRT options. How are these options supposed to be set if I use Girder?

Thanks!

The MCE Blaster is not supported with Sage. So you wouldn't tell Sage to use a receiver. I also believe to use the Girder plugin and have the MCE blaster used by Girder you need to install a different systen driver for the MCE Receiver. After that you need to configure the blasting capability within Girder-not an easy feat. I use the USB-UIRT receiver with an MCE remote which is much easier.

Gerry

[elaw]

Originally Posted by IVB

I use serial, so I don't know the answer to your question, but FYI: BB was selling a D* STB for $50 with serial control. I never bought one, can't remember if it was one of the models that SageTV had issues with, but it is an option. You can always return it if it doesn't work.

Well... truth be known, I actually *have* a serial-controllable DTV box. My worry is that with some of the coming changes with D*, this box will become obsolete, and it seems most of the newer boxes don't have serial control.

But it sounds like the Girder solution is pretty nasty, maybe I'll just hook up this box and when it becomes obsolete I'll deal with it.

Thanks!

[IVB]

Originally Posted by elaw

Well... truth be known, I actually *have* a serial-controllable DTV box. My worry is that with some of the coming changes with D*, this box will become obsolete, and it seems most of the newer boxes don't have serial control.

Yikes - what changes are you talking about? I'm actually hearing the opposite - the upcoming boxes have a decent serial protocol.

[elaw]

Well "the biggie" is that at some point in the future, they're going to switch from MPEG2 to MPEG4 encoding (DTV has announced this, but I don't think they gave a specific date). As far as I know, this will render every current receiver obsolete.

Other changes have already occured. I'm 95% sure that my receiver with the serial port, a Sony made in 2000, won't talk to a 3-LNB dish. I'm guessing as they launch more satellites, this problem will only get worse.

[IVB]

yeah, i know they're distributing 5LNB receivers now.

I'm planning on getting the HR20 HD-DVR with RS232 when it comes out in June, and seeing if I can put some form of wrapper around that so I can record HD/HD-QAM/SD with a single, unified interface.

Not sure how, but we'll see.

[Jesse]

Hello IVB,

You said:
I'm planning on getting the HR20 HD-DVR with RS232 when it comes out in June

How reliable is your info on this unit? Is RS232 for sure? Is June for real? Or are they both more SWAG from DTV? I ask because I too would like to acquire one.

TIA

Jesse

[IVB]

Originally Posted by Jesse

Hello IVB,
How reliable is your info on this unit? Is RS232 for sure? Is June for real? Or are they both more SWAG from DTV? I ask because I too would like to acquire one.
Jesse

My info is 3rd hand - The RS232 stuff I read on the charmedquark.com forum as we end up with more COM Ports than hard disks. The availability I got from a buddy who's moving now and got some info from D* when asking about relo'ing his stuff.

I know he's getting a 5LNB dish & receiver right now, and they said they'd replace it for free when HR20 comes out.

[Jesse]

Hello IVB,

Thanks for the Info. I had not heard about serial, but delivery date on this unit seems all over the map.

Looks like CQC is really ramping up nicely on the media side of things. Be sure and post some more screen caps of your touchscreen interfaces.


Jesse