Extending PVR250 Remote Cable?

[kevthor]

Has anyone extended the remote cable that cable with their PVR250? I want to put the PC in another room but using this remote it seems tough unless I extend the cable?

Anyone have any success and if so what did you use?

[jmeeks]

What about something like this?

http://www.smarthome.com/8210.html

[kevthor]

Yeah that would work. Kinda pricey but it would work. Hopefully I'll get some other responces.

Thanks though.

[jmeeks]

I found a less expensive set.

http://store.yahoo.com/satelliteone/remconrep.html

[jmeeks]

You can get em even cheaper on EBAY. Search for "ir extender"

(I thought the ones above were a little expensive too.)

[kevthor]

Here's the scoop. I went out and bought some IR extenders from Radio Shack. I paid more than I wanted to but hey what can you do. This is a hobby and hobbies cost money.

The problem I found now is that I am using the remote that came with my PVR250 card. And I have found that the signal of it too the sensor that plugs into the computer is horrible. Even when I have the remote directly infront of the sensor some times it doesnt work. Never mind sending the signal through my IR extender I basically have to hold down the button on the remote for 5 seconds before it will respond.

Now I have 2 questions. 1 is there any better remote that I could use? Does it just use the same sensor that plugs into the pvr250 card? Or does it come with another sensor that will plug into the pvr250 card.

2. Is there anyway I can program my RCA universal remote to work with the remote sensor that came with the PVR250 card?

Sorry for the long post but I had a lot to ask.
Thanks again so much!!!

[justme]

2. Is there anyway I can program my RCA universal remote to work with the remote sensor that came with the PVR250 card?

Yes as long as it's a learning remote. Rather than one that just uses a code list.

Somewhere on my system I have a ccf file that contains the IR codes for the larger gray remote. If you have a IR blaster that can read ccf files you could teach the codes to your learning remote that way. This is how I taught my Sony learning remote the codes for the gray remote. It worked fine while I used it. Better range than the black remote that comes with the PVR250

My card came with the small black remote. The gray one has more buttons, but you need to make sure you are running the latest Hauppauge IR driver for it to work.

If you have a IR transmitter that will work(basically anyone that works with Girder) and your interested let me know. I'll see if I can dig up the file. I've long ago stopped using the Hauppauge software and it's remote. I now use a Tivo remote using a USBUIRT.

[kevthor]

I don't know if my RCA universal remote is a learning remote. It is just the one that came with my DTV system. The RCA DRD420RE model. And I love that remote.

2nd yes the remote that came with my card is the gray remote. I however dont know if I'm using the latest driver. I'm just using whatever drivers came with the card.

If you could dig up the file and show me where to find the latest driver for the remote that would be great, but the remote does work just not great.

Thanks

[justme]

OK no problem. Just realize this may become a real science project if your remote lacks the ability to learn IR signals from another remote. I guess it's possoble some of the DTV remotes can learn IR commands from another remote. From my DTV experience a few years ago this is unlikely, but things may have changed since then.

I wasn't able to find the file on my system(recent reformat/cleanup). But I just did a quick search of SHS's site. I found the original thread where the file came from here. That thread can probably explain it better than I can. Also nobody who has a PVR card should be without SHS site, it's a great resource. But here is a direct link to the CCF file anyway.

Even if your remote can't do IR learning from another remote there is still hope. IF it's a certian type of All for One, RCA, or Radio Shack remote you can actually build and connect a cable to reprogram your remote's internal database to include the disired codes. This is where it could get science project like. But if you've got an IR learning remote you don't even need to worry about the JP1 stuff.

OK as for the latest versio of the hauppauge IR software you can get it here. This is just a link to the US site for 250/350 software updates. All you need is IR remote control software version 2.34. I provided the first link since the second direct link may not work from a different computer. If your PVR is running fine Don't download and install the other updates, you don't need them. One of the reasons for my reformat was that a PVR beta driver made my PVR250 video captures go really bad. When it comes to the PVR's direct drivers I've adopted the attidude that if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Well that's about it. I'll try and do some research on your remote today. I'll try to find out what it can do and which if any solution would be best. I just wanted to do a post that gave you what you ask for before I got too busy.

[kevthor]

Thank you for your time. I will try the latest version of remote drive. I however don't know if it actually is the driver or what because like I said the remote does work, just poorly. I believe the issue is with the actual Remote sensor cable that plugs into the PVR250 card.

I will try the latest drivers. I did get a different remote sensor cable with my IR transmitters but that cable doesn't seem to work with the PVR250 card??

Talk to you soon.

[justme]

I however don't know if it actually is the driver or what because like I said the remote does work, just poorly.

I understand now. My fault I misread your post. I saw the yes and my mind inserted black instead of gray, since my card came with the black remote. The only advantage of the gray over the black is that the gray has more buttons. The driver update is really only neccessary if your PVR came with the small black remote. The new driver supports both remotes. You could try it to see if it makes any difference though.

All my post so far have been in response to your second question. The one about whether or not you can use another remote with your PVR's remote sensor. But that's all meaningless if there is a problem with your card's IR setup. So before I go any farther with that...
I'll step back a little to make sure I'm not making any more wrong assumptions.
1)You have the remote shown in the picture below?

2)Not to insult, but you do have brand new batteries in your PVR remote?
3)So your remote never really worked right all along, even before you started using the extenders?

If both questions 1 and 2 are yes then you really shouldn't be having the problems you mention about the remote not even working when right up next to the original PVR remote sensor. You can try the new IR driver but if you have the gray remote it shouldn't change anything. If the new driver doesn't help when just using the PVR's original sensor then I would suspect your sensor, remote or PVR card's IR circuit is defective. Can you easily temporarily buy an identical card to check this out?

This would be the best way to test suspicions about something in the IR setup being wrong. And if it does turn out to be a defective part in your current card you could just keep the new card and return the defective one to get your money back. The morality of this is up to you. If you bought your card recently then I personally don't see a problem with it, since the store will just return the card to hauppauge. If you bought you card a while back then...

[kevthor]

Yes that is the card I have with the gray remote. Yes I have tried new batteries in the card.

I cannot just easily buy a card as I had to order that one direct from hauupauge. There is no local retailers here that carry hauupauge equipement.

Sometimes the remote doesn't work even when directly infront of the remote sensor.

Is there anything else I could try? Like I said I got a remote sensor that fit perfectly into the back of the PVR250 card but it didn't work.

Can I buy a different remote that will work with the hauupage card and also control all my other devices? (becusae that would be best) my other devices are rca tv, rca sat rec, rca dvd player. I dont care if it controls all of them but some would be good.

If I can buy another remote that would work on the pvr250 card and my other devices, where would I find one and would it just plug into the back of the pvr250 card or would it come with its own card?

Thanks

[justme]

OH boy

Is there anything else I could try? Like I said I got a remote sensor that fit perfectly into the back of the PVR250 card but it didn't work.

If it's the same Radio Shack device I bought it may be a IR transmitter rather than an IR reciever cable. If you know some electronics or at least have acces to a multimeter, I could tell you how to do some tests to check your PVR remote and sensor. Also many camcorder's can see IR. This would allow you to do a rough check of you PVR remote. If it's just the a bad sensor maybe I could find the specs so you could buy a new one. If it's the remote or card that's more complex. In that case your best bet would be to return it to Hauppauge for an exchange.

Can I buy a different remote that will work with the hauupage card and also control all my other devices?...If I can buy another remote that would work on the pvr250 card and my other devices, where would I find one and would it just plug into the back of the pvr250 card or would it come with its own card?

From what you are saying it does sound like either your remote sensor is dead or that your PVR remote has problems. You said you have a good DTV universal remote that you like right. Does it have any devices left free, or have you used up all it's devices on your other electronics?

The reason I ask is that you could get a device like the USBUIRT or the IRman. Both are IR recievers that are now natively*(see bottom of post) supported by SageTV. The USBUIRT is a IR transmitter as well. You could buy either of these and connect them to your computer and then train SageTV to respond to any remote you like(like your DTV remote).

The IRman connects by serial port and the USBUIRT connects by USB. The USBUIRT is currently out of stock til the 17. I own the USBUIRT myself. I use my Tivo's second switch setting to control SageTV and it works great. I also have my wife's universal remote mapped to SageTV's controls as well. This way both our remotes work great. The advantage to a solution like this is that it totally removes the PVR card from your IR control setup. This way it doesn't matter whether it's your sensor, remote or PVR card that is bad since none of those need to be involved in the setup. Although you could very easily teach SageTV to use you old PVR remote through either of these devices as long as the remote is OK.

Since it sounds like you would like to use just one remote, the best option would be if your DTV remote had a free device left. Then you just map each button to the desired SageTV command. You do this in SageTV from inside of Setup>Detailed Setup then the Commands tab.

I realize it's more money but it would be an option that left room for future expansion. Especially the USBUIRT since it is both a IR reciever and transmitter. Where the IRman is only a IR reciever. If you bought the USBUIRT you would not only be up and running in SageTV, but you would also have the ability for SageTV to control any external tuner by IR. You could even add Girder to your system latter on to allow you to control just about any program on your computer by remote. As you may have guessed I'm partial to the USBUIRT, but to be fair the IRman should also fix your IR problems.

*The USBUIRT was added as a native SageTV IR reciever as of the 1.4.3beta. Narflex is currently working on native IR transmit support as well. From the way he has talked about it I'd say IR transmit will probably be in the next official release, but this is just a guess. Either way he already has IR recieve working great and that would solve your problem.

[kevthor]

Thank you so much for your responces they have truely been helpful.

I found out by testing my IR blasters on a different souce that they are horrible. I paid 100 bucks at Radio Shack but christ are they bad. My parents have a pair they bought from Radio Shack and they work like a charm. Their's are just Radio Shack brand while mine are Jensen. So I'm going to return my IR blasters.

So what I want to do is see if I can program my DTV remote to control the pvr250 card. I have 2 free buttons. VCR1 and VCR2. Is this possible? Like I said I got the remote with a RCA 420RE sat receiver.

This way if the RCA remote works and works well I know I had a bad remote.

Thanks again so much

[justme]

After doing some searching on some JP1 sites, I don't think you can teach your remote by JP1. But this link will take you to a table that list compatiable remotes, so you can double check. You are looking for your remote's model number not your DTV model number.

You could of course purchase a new remote that has a JP1 connector. They aren't really all that expensive, and there all many different models. Some even have the header pin connector already in place making it easier to attach a premade cable. This is just one of many sites that sells JP1 cables already made. Just do some google searching for "JP1".

A good site for remote reviews is RemoteCental.com. If you do buy a new remote you should probably consider getting one with the ability to learn IR codes directly from another remote. This would be much easier to do, but often these remotes cost much more. And since your PVR remote is a possible suspect you might find that the remote won't learn the code the same way the PVR sensor can't catch the code. In the end it all comes down to finding out rather it's your remote or sensor that has a problem.

If you can I would try to get Hauppauge to cross ship you a replacement unit. Since if your PVR remote has problems being used directly next to the PVR sensor then something is defective.

Best of luck