Pace DC50X and USB-UIRT?

[jwilson56]

Ok I have a Comcast Pace DC50X DTA coming and want to use it with SageTV and my USB-UIRT. I have done some initial searching and it looks like some people reported having problems back a few months.

So does anyone have this box working using a USB-UIRT for SageTV? If so was there anything special you did to get it to work?

Thanks

John

[mwareman]

I'm going to need this too. Doing some research - the DC50X may not be compatible with the USB-UIRT - it seems to use a different IR style / frequenty / something meaning it cannot 'see' the codes being sent - nor send them.

My problem is this: Currently have 2xHDHR (1 for OTA, one for Clear QAM), a HD-PVR hooked to my main STB. So far, so good - I can record 2 OTA, 2 Expanded Basic QAM + 1 premium at a time. I (almost) never get recording conflicts.

Analog is (mostly) going away at the end of September for me (Oswego, IL - Chicago suburbs) - and we all need DTA boxes (long story there... I really need 6 DTA devices - but refuse to pay extra to keep getting what I've been getting for years - sheesh!)

Comcast have been granted a waiver for the integrated 'conditional access' (encryption) in the DTA boxes - so they'll (likely) be turning this on at any time. If you are tuning these channels with the HDHR - we'll get dumbed down to the 'must-carry' soon enough.

I do *not* want to risk DMCA violations by reversing the crypto - so I want to hook my two 'free' DTA boxes up to a PVR-500 I have from days before the HDHRs and go from there - so I can keep my 2 channels of expanded basic linup recording capacity.. shifting the (now redundant HDHR) back to OTA.

So, I think, perfect. The USBUIRT supports 'zones' - so Zone 1 = DTA#1, Zone 2 = DTA#2 and Zone 3 = STB. Using stick-on IR blasters and some electrical tape to block cross-signalling.

I fell at the first hurdle. Before even getting into Zooning the USBUIRT - I cannot even get the USBUIRT to 'learn' the codes from the remote included with the DTA. Different protocol it seems. We *could* be dead in the water with this on - may have to attempt WinLIRC and a couple of serial IR blasters.

Anyone had success with this? Multiple emitters? Anyone tried a direct cable to the 'ir' in on the DTA? Other ideas?

Right now - I'm just seething about Comcast making me jump thru stupid hoops under the threat of charging me more to keep what I'm already paying for. When I've chilled a while - I'm *determined* to find a workaround without giving them another dime..

[jwilson56]

Well I just got an email from USB-UIRT support and it said:

We have not tested this at our labs but there should be no reason it would not work. The USB-UIRT is capable of reproducing the XMP protocol's timing.


I am going to do some initial testing on my development PC using the LrnHelper.exe application to see if it will indeed learn and replay the codes correctly.

[SHS]

Did any one even look at this
http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/beyo...sb-uirt-3.html
Read Post 36 and up maybe that will help

[mwareman]

Originally Posted by SHS

Did any one even look at this
http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/beyo...sb-uirt-3.html
Read Post 36 and up maybe that will help

Nice - actually there are a couple of things I've noticed.

1) I didn't shut down the SageTV service before trying to learn codes. Maybe that was my problem. I'll check tonight and see... (here's hoping!).

2) That Radio Shack splitter almost certainly will *not* work. The reason post #36 got it working is that he couldn't find the headphone splitter - so made his own. You need a splitter that sends the LEFT channel to one socket - and the RIGHT channel to the other. The Radio Shack splitter muxes the left and right to produce mono - then ends that to both outputs. This, essentially, means that the zones won't work properly.. (or, at least, wouldn't behave as two zones). so, I'll be building my own splitter..

Thanks for the link though - very helpful!

[jwilson56]

I built my own. So far I have tested things out using Girder 5 and I was able to learn the few buttons I have tried and it sent them to two DC50X units from the two external zones on the USB-UIRT and changed channels. I now was ready to move to the next step but forgot one important thing about my PVR-500 dual tuner card (it has been years since I installed it). The PVR-500 only has a single coax to feed both tuner cards.

I was thinking of seeing of there was an internal hardware hack to split the connection to two by using the FM coax which I have not used.

John

[mwareman]

Originally Posted by jwilson56

I now was ready to move to the next step but forgot one important thing about my PVR-500 dual tuner card (it has been years since I installed it). The PVR-500 only has a single coax to feed both tuner cards.

Good catch - forgot about that.

If the modulator is good enough (doubt it... but worth a try anyway) - what about setting one of the DTA boxes on channel 3 - and the other on channel 4. Feed into a splitter/joiner and feed into the single PVR-500 input. Would that work? Maybe. Otherwise I'll have to purchase another PVR card for the second tuner - worth it to me if I can get the IR working right.

[DMT]

RadioShack #274-375 will split out left and right (zones 1 and 2 on USB-UIRT).

Caution - this adapter places a lot of STRESS on the WEAK 1/8 jack at the back of the USB-UIRT. I just had to take my USB-UIRT apart and solder one of the terminals back onto the board because it had lifted off from moving around the USB-UIRT too much with the 274-375 adapter attached.

[mwareman]

Originally Posted by DMT

RadioShack #274-375 will split out left and right (zones 1 and 2 on USB-UIRT).

You sure?

From the product page:
"Combines left and right channels for stereo input"

Question is : How are they combined. Every one of this type of device I've tried in the past simply ignores either the left or right input - and connects the other to the two 'mono' outputs in parallel. This would not result in a 3 zone USB-UIRT - but a 2 zone setup (with the third not working at all). I guess it's cheap enough just to buy one and find out though..

[DMT]

I use zones 1 and 2 (left and right from the adapter). I believe zone 3 is the USB-UIRT front emitter. You would then create 3 .ir files in SageTV\Remote\Common\RemoteCodes\USB-UIRT Transceiver

[SHS]

2) That Radio Shack splitter almost certainly will *not* work. The reason post #36 got it working is that he couldn't find the headphone splitter - so made his own. You need a splitter that sends the LEFT channel to one socket - and the RIGHT channel to the other. The Radio Shack splitter muxes the left and right to produce mono - then ends that to both outputs. This, essentially, means that the zones won't work properly.. (or, at least, wouldn't behave as two zones). so, I'll be building my own splitter..

That the one have I RadioShack #274-375 Iand yes it work zone like it should and info for Combines left and right channels for stereo input side jack the output and mono left and mono rigth channel from the stereo input.

[SHS]

Caution - this adapter places a lot of STRESS on the WEAK 1/8 jack at the back of the USB-UIRT

A piace of wood dose wonder you know

[DMT]

Originally Posted by SHS

A piace of wood dose wonder you know

Yup, my USB-UIRT broke and had to take apart and solder. All fixed, secure and no more messing with it for now.

[jwilson56]

Originally Posted by mwareman

Good catch - forgot about that.

If the modulator is good enough (doubt it... but worth a try anyway) - what about setting one of the DTA boxes on channel 3 - and the other on channel 4. Feed into a splitter/joiner and feed into the single PVR-500 input. Would that work? Maybe. Otherwise I'll have to purchase another PVR card for the second tuner - worth it to me if I can get the IR working right.

They will interfere with each other and also there is not easy way to combine the two outputs anyways. I am still looking into a hardware modification to split the inputs to feed the two tuners using the FM coax for the second tuner.

[mwareman]

Originally Posted by DMT

Yup, my USB-UIRT broke and had to take apart and solder. All fixed, secure and no more messing with it for now.

Hmm... If I had to dismantle to fix - I'd probably replace the single stereo socket with two separate mono sockets - so no adapter needed..

[mwareman]

Originally Posted by SHS

That the one have I RadioShack #274-375 Iand yes it work zone like it should and info for Combines left and right channels for stereo input side jack the output and mono left and mono rigth channel from the stereo input.

I just picked one of these up at my store. On the package - it states 'Ideal for: connecting separate L/R 1/8" mono cables to a component with a 1/8" stereo jack'. Absolutely perfect! I would not even have looked at this otherwise - base on all other similar adapters like this I've run across before.. Thanks for the suggestion..

[mwareman]

Originally Posted by jwilson56

They will interfere with each other and also there is not easy way to combine the two outputs anyways. I am still looking into a hardware modification to split the inputs to feed the two tuners using the FM coax for the second tuner.

That's what I thought..

I guess I'm a little lucky - I have a HVR-1800 as well - so I can feed one adapter into my PVR-500 and one into the HVR-1800 analog input. I'd be wasting one of the tuners on the 500 - but it would be useless anyway after the analogs go away..

Now - to solve the IR 'learning' issue - and 'fix' the .ir files to support zoning..

[jwilson56]

Originally Posted by mwareman

That's what I thought..

I guess I'm a little lucky - I have a HVR-1800 as well - so I can feed one adapter into my PVR-500 and one into the HVR-1800 analog input. I'd be wasting one of the tuners on the 500 - but it would be useless anyway after the analogs go away..

Now - to solve the IR 'learning' issue - and 'fix' the .ir files to support zoning..

So is this the next hurdle? Does SageTV support multizone on the USB-UIRT and other such issues?

[mwareman]

Originally Posted by jwilson56

So is this the next hurdle? Does SageTV support multizone on the USB-UIRT and other such issues?

It does - but you have to hand-tune the .ir files from what I've found.

[jwilson56]

What folder are the .ir files located at?