Need another tuner card and ability to control cable box

[ybrew]

Subject says most of it. You all helped me buy the right Hauppauge 500.

Didn't realize how few channels I'd get if I didn't get the digital cable box. So I've got a motorola dct2224. Thinking of adding a hauppauge 150 retail card with the ir blaster. Will this reliably control the motorola box? Or is there a better/easier way to do this?

Long term, I'd probably have 2 digital cable boxes, and still have my 500 card for basic cable. But some channels (DIY) I really need to be able to record.

wish I could get these channels without the digital cable box, but alas no luck.

thanks for the help!

[ke6guj]

What are you currently using to control Sage, an IR remote? What type of receiver? Does it have a blaster?

If you could use your existing IR equipment, then I'd suggest getting another 500. That way you'd have your long term needs satisfied.

some people have mentioned that sometimes they have problems getting the hauppauge ir receiver/blaster to work when in a system with retail and OEM hauppauge cards. Sometimes the software tries to use an non-existant port on the OEM card. I, personally, have a retail 150, along with 2 500's, and the ir receiver works fine. I don't use the ir blaster, so I don't know if that works.

[hemicuda]

I have the same thing on Charter. When possible I recommend a serial connection w/ a standard (not Null) DB9 cable. Even works off this laptop through a Belkin usb adapter. My hardwired com port Xmtr died a while back so I'm stuck w/ Belkin for bi-directional links. Anyhow, try HERE for some info on setting it up.

[ybrew]

I just got sage setup.

I'm not planning on ever using the PC running sage to be used as a client. Long term, i'll have the server located in my closet.

Currently, I have one wireless mvp and 1 sagetv client running on my laptop.

I plan to add one wired MVP soon and possibly one addtional wireless in the next month or 2.

My house is currently under construction. I'm wiring cat5e everywhere, so the wireless MVPs will be wired in my new house.

Based on the above, would the 150 work for me?
If not, how would I setup a serial connection to control the motorola box?

thanks!

[ke6guj]

I don't see why it wouldn't work with a 150. I have seen on the forum before that sometimes there can be an issue with the ir blaster software trying to attach to the 500 instead of the 150, but there are workarounds if it does happen. I haven't had a problem with that, even with 3 different Sage builds using the 2 500's and the 150.

The question I would be asking is, can the hauppauge IR blaster control 2 cable boxes? If not, then what will you do when you want to upgrade? I think if I was planning on doing multiple cable boxes with IR, then I'd get a USB-UIRT. That way, I could use whatever card, pvr-500?, and not worry about the hauppauge ir blaster.

And if you can get serial working, then even better that you can use a pvr-500 and have the extra tuner for the 2nd cable box.

[geogecko]

I'd suggest saving your money, and using the PVR-500, with a brand new USB-UIRT.

http://www.usbuirt.com/

It may take some setting up (VERY, VERY, VERY, easy in SageTV though, support is built-in for it, so you could even use your current remote, if you wanted to).

Check out this thread (up to 3 zones, so you could have 3 tuners going at once). Pay attention to the comments about "IR Shields," if using more than one STB.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5291

Edit...LOL, ke6guj!

[ybrew]

i'll order a usbirt.

thanks!

[ybrew]

I'm gonna order a usb uirt soon (probably).

Before I do -

I'm only going to be changing the channels with clients. Either MVP clients or sagetv clients. The usb uirt will be on the sage server.

Any issues with this at all?

I'm learning (slowly) but getting the hang of this.

thanks again!

[geogecko]

I do not have any clients (yet...), but I wouldn't see any issues with it.

You'll also need some IR emitters, and a stereo to dual mono adapter (1/8" or 3.5mm).

I think I ended up getting a couple of these:
http://www.smarthome.com/8170s.html
(BTW, 15% off your entire order until 12 midnight tonight!)

Your adapter from Rat Shack:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

Now, someone makes a stereo, dual IR emitter, but I wouldn't recommend it for use here, because, through trial and error, you will determine which IR emitter is controlling which STB, and you may have to swap the emitter. Of course, I guess you could swap your A/V cables, but it's easier just to swap the 1/8" jacks around.

[ybrew]

Just ordered a StreamZap Remote (for the client PC (Laptop) in the bedroom) and a USB-UIRT to control the cable box. My son hasn't been able to watch baby toons since I went with Sage, as I so far have no way to control the set-top-box. Hopefully the UIRT is easy enough to setup.

I'll need to get another tuner card soon. I'm thinking I'll just get a second Hauppauge 500 card. With just basic cable only I'm already getting enough conflicts with only two tuners.

I'll probably need to a add a 3rd 500 card when the fall tv season starts.

Sage makes it a tad too easy to find and record stuff.

[geogecko]

Or, you could install an HDTV (or TV, really) antenna in your attic, and buy an OTA HD tuner card (I believe someone is coming out with a dual tuner, actually, it's already developed, just slow coming to market).

Even if you don't have an HDTV now, the quality is even nice on a standard TV.

[mayamaniac]

I got the DCT2224 also and have been using the IR Blaster, Actisys IR-200L, for a couple of years. It works mostly well, only once a while it fails to change a channel. But just a few weeks ago, for unknown reason, the IR blaster became unreliable, it constantly failed to change channels. I switched to an USB-UIRT, and although it doesn't fail as often, but it still fails every 10th times or so. So I decided try to the serial cable method, and so far its working better than ever. Channel changing is faster than the IR blasters method, and it hasn't missed a channel yet.

So I suggest getting a serial cable from radioshack and using that instead of the USB-UIRT.

[mazakmaster]

Did the same with my motorola box. I use the rs232 cable and it works almost 100 percent of the time.

[ybrew]

I plan to try a serial cable, but still wanted the USB UIRT as well, as I may be using multiple boxes. I plan to use either electrical tape or duct tape to make a decent fort for the UIRT.

I plan to add a few HDTV cards once my house is built, but I'm staying with relatives, and really have no where to add an antenna. I'll have to stick with basic cable until December.

[geogecko]

As far as the "fort," I'll share with you the way I did it.

After using several pieces of electrical tape to cover the "entire" window (yep, that's including the channel number display, basically the entire clear window on the STB), I found it somewhat ugly, and also found that some of the electrical tape would come off over time. (You'll see what I mean, if you have two STB's that use the same codes...just covering the IR emitter area is not good enough.)

So instead...

I went to a craft store, and bought a sheet of black card stock (probably as thick as about 10 sheets of paper). I then took a piece of regular white paper, and placed it over the front window, and traced out the hole of the IR emitter, power light, and some other buttons. Then, I took this to the card stock, and traced it onto the card stock. I then used an exacto knife, to make the cutouts.

Then I took a couple pieces of electrical tape, to put over the IR emitter (mine had a little window on it), and then put the card stock with cut-outs over the IR emitter, and window. Then I just taped it with electrical tape, on the top and bottom of the STB.

Worked out pretty well, and looks a LOT better.

[ybrew]

Originally Posted by geogecko

As far as the "fort," I'll share with you the way I did it.

After using several pieces of electrical tape to cover the "entire" window (yep, that's including the channel number display, basically the entire clear window on the STB), I found it somewhat ugly, and also found that some of the electrical tape would come off over time. (You'll see what I mean, if you have two STB's that use the same codes...just covering the IR emitter area is not good enough.)

So instead...

I went to a craft store, and bought a sheet of black card stock (probably as thick as about 10 sheets of paper). I then took a piece of regular white paper, and placed it over the front window, and traced out the hole of the IR emitter, power light, and some other buttons. Then, I took this to the card stock, and traced it onto the card stock. I then used an exacto knife, to make the cutouts.

Then I took a couple pieces of electrical tape, to put over the IR emitter (mine had a little window on it), and then put the card stock with cut-outs over the IR emitter, and window. Then I just taped it with electrical tape, on the top and bottom of the STB.

Worked out pretty well, and looks a LOT better.

My usbuirt should be delivered thursday. Hopefully I'll be able to test this stuff out then (might have to wait till the weekend).

But I'll really need another 500 card soon. (quality of the 500 is more than adequate for me) I'm having enough conflicts already, and that's without any access to the digital channels.

I've only been without DIY for about 10 days, and going through some heavy withdrawal!