A USBUIRT on the server, ctrl the extender?

[webwalker]

I'd like to use the USBUIRT to accept IR events through the sage server, send some events to the HD200 extender and send some events out the USB-UIRT IR emitter to control items like the the receiver and TV.

Suggestions?

[CollinR]

First play with the webserver and see if you can control your HD200 from it, I seem to hear mixed results and I don't have one to test with.

If you can then use EventGhost to control the USBUIRT and wget to make requests to the webserver. I do this but instead of using the USBUIRT as an input I have an RF remote. Same concept though.

PS once you have it all mapped out you can make cool alternate GUIs I have made one for each room. Here is an example of whats in my kids room.

PDA / Celphone Version


PC version


As wifi enabled PDAs get cheaper and cheaper those Harmonys look dumber and dumber, as my remote works everywhere on the planet!

[webwalker]

Um...right.

Perhaps I've asked the question poorly. I'm asking whether Sage has this ability natively, without additional unsupported software. Sage supports the USBUIRT. If I'm just running STOCK Sage, can I do this?

M

[gplasky]

Sage natively supports the USB-UIRT as a IR remote receiver (to control SageTV) and as an IR blaster (to change channels on a STB). Anything else you do with it is left up to you.

Gerry

[webwalker]

Ok, so while they support it, the support is limited to plugging it in to the SAGE server for the purpose of sending ONLY the Sage Server commands (with no ability to forward those commands to an extender), and the Sage Server is only able to use the USBUIRT to blast for the purpose of channel changes to a tuner.

Does that correctly sum it up correctly?

M

[stanger89]

yup

[webwalker]

OK, now that I've got some brackets on what the stock rig can and can't do, let's work our way out from here.

Is there a mechanism for me to send the hd200 commands from the sage server? (Before you say RTFM, I did. And the FAQ, too. I found hints, but no examples.)

M

[CollinR]

It's not that hard to set it up with EventGhost, the hardest part is getting multitunerexe running if you use the USBUIRT for channel changing.

[webwalker]

Ok, so that I don't confuse anyone else (including myself) here's the config:

SageTV server connected to an HDHR for ATSC OTA.
PVR150 cap card inboard to grab from the Sat Tuner
Serial control of the Sat Tuner via a PattersonTech TVTranslator

All of this gear lives WITH the TV, but not in sight.

An HD200 extender output to the HDTV, and an Amp via Component and Optical SPDIF respectively.

I would prefer that the HD200 go with the rest of the gear: out of sight, out of mind. So I'd like to make my USBUIRT the only thing in view because its SMALL.

I know I can have the USBUIRT transmit commands to the HD200 AS IR. I'm just trying to find some way to leverage the SageTV server hardware (which has to be running anyway) to forward commands to the HD200.

Does this make more sense now? I just want to know if there is a way to control the HD200 by remote from the SageTV server system, and an example of how to do so.

M

[CollinR]

Oh well then like me you don't use the USBUIRT for channel changes (I do but not in the conventional sence) so you don't need multitunerexe. It's cake to setup, do you have Niel's webserver interface installed?

What is the MAC address of the extender?

My method doesn't control the extender via IR blasting it makes requests to the webserver on the server directly. I can control placeshifter on my laptop in another state if I wanted.

In my case I only use the USBUIRT to transmit IR to devices I cannot control otherwise like my TVs, amplifier, DVD changer that sort of stuff.

[webwalker]

I do have the webserver installed, but can't guarantee (for diagnostic purposes) that I'll be able to keep it.

Which is why I wanted to know if there is a messaging method that SAGE has for the kernel to send commands to the extender.

M

[CollinR]

There are other methods in the customizations section, it's built into SageTV but there is no GUI or easy method for the end user to take advantage of it. Niel's webserver at the time I started was basically the only way aside from starting from scratch but you are free to go that route as well.

[webwalker]

I can live without the GUI (I'm a command line baby by trade) but I found the customization section of the User Guide baffling without a worked example. I see all of these codes...but how do you send them?

M

[GKusnick]

As far as I know, there is no bundled tool in the SageTV product package for sending commands to a remote client (i.e. Placeshifter or extender). The capability exists in the API, and various third-party devs have used it to implement various forms of remote control, but there's no out-of-the-box solution that does exactly what you want. You'll have to either install a third-party app or roll your own.

[CollinR]

You will need to either talk to Niel or Belezerob or reverse engineer hat they have done.

By far the fastest method is just bouncing stuff off on of their existing interfaces, this is why I didn't build it from scratch or reverse engineer their work. It just takes too much time.

I do have the webserver installed, but can't guarantee (for diagnostic purposes) that I'll be able to keep it.

What does that mean?

If you disable the webserver for diagnostics purposes with my method the remote controls won't work only while it's disabled. As soon as you put it back into startup it will work again. So I don't really understand that limitation. You will need something that starts with SageTV to pass your commands be it the webserver, SageTCP, or something you create. If you stop that from loading your remote commands wll not get passed.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by CollinR

You will need to either talk to Niel or Belezerob or reverse engineer hat they have done.

By far the fastest method is just bouncing stuff off on of their existing interfaces, this is why I didn't build it from scratch or reverse engineer their work. It just takes too much time.

There's now also a remote API package that can be called from an external app, and a scripting tool you can use to whip up quick Javascript applets that interact with Sage.

Or you can write your own Java plugin that runs within Sage and interfaces directly with the native API.

[webwalker]

I mean that I'm still unclear about what mechanism SAGE uses to send commands to the extender and how to tap in to it.

[stanger89]

Sage uses it's API to send commands, the way to tap into it is to use the API.

[webwalker]

Ok. So...who leverages the API? If you're out there, let's hear it.

Stanger, have you had any experience with this?

[stanger89]

Nielm's webserver is one
Or here:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39271
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36044