Advice for remote setup

[Dargason]

Greetings, all.

I've recently set up SageTV, and I'm trying to set up a remote for it. Here's what I already have in hand:

One for all URC-8810w universal remote
Lite-on SK7551 IR remote keyboard.

It's a nice remote that seems to have most of the important buttons, and has the added feature that it can easily replace a lot of the other remotes I have as well. Since it's a learning remote, the plan was to use the IR keyboard to 'teach' the SageTV commands to the remote. I started doing this, and it worked fine for the first 10 or so keys, but now it won't seem to learn any more. Maybe it has limited memory for new codes? I don't know...

So now I'm wondering where to go from here. I've been doing a lot of reading here, and I'm afraid I'm still confused. At this point, I think I need an IR received, like IRman or USB-UIRT, but do I need Girder or not? And which is better, the IRMan, or the US-UIRT? (Assuming I don't need an IR transmitter at this time). Does anyone know of a way for me to simply make what I have work properly? I'd rather avoid spending another $50-$100 if I can...

Thanks!
Mike

[lovingHDTV]

Mike,
I use the URC-9910 remote for SageTV. I use that in conjunction with WinLIRC and Girder to control Sage. It has worked very well for me for ~3 years now. Does the URC-8810 have a JP1 interface? On mine it is a 8 pin header inside the battery compartment. If it is (and I believe it is) you can program it from your computer for additional flexibility. Search on google for jp1.

WinLirc can be found at www.winlirc.org and there are simple designs for IR recievers that are very easy and cheap to build. As with most things that you DIY there is some learning involved and intially frustration, but I've had good success with it.

As far as you not being able to learn from from the keyboard, I would imagine that this is because your memory that stores the 'learned codes' is full.

hope this helps,

[Dargason]

Yes, it is a JP1 remote, and I've been doing a little reading on that. But if the problem with the remote is limited memory, I'm not sure how that would help. Still it's something I intend to try.

Thanks for the link to Winlirc. I've heard of lirc from the world of linux and I wondered if it was possible to build something myself that would work. But it would require me to buy Girder to use, right?

[Opus4]

There are some links for JP1 info in this index post: Information Resources for Remotes, Receivers, and IR Blasters. (Perhaps the JP1 sites already have the keyboard codes programmed into it? I have no idea if they would, but it can't hurt to check. Such programming uses less memory in the remote.)

Do you have any IR receiver other than the keyboard's receiver? I don't know what tuenr you have, but if it ia a Hauppaueg that has an IR receiver, you can program your remote to replace the Hauppauge remote fairly easily See Hauppauge link #2 in my sig lines. If you don't have an IR receiver, then the USB-UIRT is a good versatile one.

- Andy

[Dargason]

Andy,

Thanks, I'll check that out. I'm assuming the keyboard doesn't use the same sort of codes as the remotes do, but it would be great if they are compatable. I'm really happy this is a JP1 remote -- I didn't know it when I bought it but it's a definite plus. Now I just need a cable...

Unfortunately, the keyboard IR receiver is the only one I have. I bought the SageTV Plextor TV402U bundle (without the remote) so I don't have a Hauppauge receiver.

Mike

[Dargason]

Awesome!

I dug into your links a bit and found another forum. Someone has almost the same setup as me and is trying to get it to work: http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3961

He got it to work, so it should work for me also, I think.

Thanks for the help!

Mike

[lovingHDTV]

I got my JP1 cable from www.bluedo.com

[Dargason]

Thanks - I can't wait!

Oh yeah, one more question -- Do you know if there is any difference between the URC-8810W and the URC-8810? I found a web page that says they are the same (except the W is sold at Walmart and costs less) but I find it hard to believe they are identical. Anyway know for sure?

Mike

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Dargason

Do you know if there is any difference between the URC-8810W and the URC-8810?

I think your best bet for an answer to that one is on the JP1 forum. (Unless, of course, someone here just happens to know. )

- Andy

[Dargason]

All,

I just wanted to post a follow-up message in case anyone else is thinking about this option.

After a long wait, I finally got my JP1 interface cable. I downloaded the software and the "upgrade" for the remote, and tried a couple things just to test it out. It worked fine. Then I wrote down a list of each button on the remote and what SageTV command I wanted it tied to. For each pair, I created a new SageTV keyboard command -- this step is necessary since it's easier to get the remote to send a simple keypress than a multi-key command like Ctrl-A.

Then I used the JP1 software to teach the remote which keyboard commands to send, and used SageTV the link the keyboard command to the SageTV command. It works great, and the whole deal only cost me $17 for the remote, $19 for the keyboard, and $14 for the JP1 cable, for a total of only $50! And I've got a highly-configurable universal remote and a wireless keyboard too!

Anyway, thanks for the help.