Using MCE's IR blaster with Sage

[Jgart]

I am also trying to follow draft instructions and cannot get past step 1. I have tried the EXETuner.dll in C:\Program Files\SageTV, C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV,and C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\Common. Never got "TunerControl: EXE Tuner Plugin StubDevice" to appear in Setup.

Running:
- Dell Dim8400 w/ XP Media Center
- SageTV ver 4.0.0.56
- Java Ver 1.5.0_06
- STV File: SageTV3.stv Ver 4.0.0.0 (Oct 25, 2005)
- Hauppauge WinTV PVR 500MCE
- MCE Remote Package
- HIP

All parts of the SageTV appear to work as advertised. Both tuners are recording well. Just trying to get the MCE Remote and IR Blasters to change channels via SageTV.

Any ideas on how to implement EXETuner.
Jgart

[tsitalon1]

I seem to have a similar issue. I DO have the exetuner listing in my video device selection, however sage does not appear to hav created the neccassry registry key:

HKLM\software\sage\EXETunerPlugin (some instructions say to look for 'Frey Technologies' instead of 'sage').

I even tried creating it myself... Are we sure sage creates the key and I simply add the command string? Or is there a registry import file i need?

James

[BobPhoenix]

I think for both ExeTuner and MultiExeTuner you have to create the key - I did anyway. I will post my registry entry when I get home tonight if you need it. I use it with Firewire cable to change channels on my Moto-6412.

BobP.

[BobPhoenix]

OK here is the registry entry for my EXETuner entry for changing channels via Firewire.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sage\EXETunerPlugin]
"command"="c:\\progra~1\\timmmo~1\\mce200~1\\channelw.exe 2 %CHANNEL%"

Obviously you will need to change the path and program that executes but this is what I use to change channels on my Moto-6412 and it works great. And yes I had to create this myself. It's why I have a REG file for this so that I can just click on it and it is entered for me.

BobP.

[tsitalon1]

Bob I am very frustrated, I was told by HIP support (Peter) that he hasn't heard of my SMK blaster that came with my pvr-150mce card, and that it will most likely not work.

2 questions:

1. Will the Motorola 6200 work with timmoore's firwire app on XP pro?

2. Or will the USB_UIRT work with my existing pvr-150mce card?

James

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by tsitalon1

1. Will the Motorola 6200 work with timmoore's firwire app on XP pro?

It should there is a special parameter to use when installing for non-MCE to get it to install.

2. Or will the USB_UIRT work with my existing pvr-150mce card?

The USB-UIRT is compatible with a PVR-150MCE works with almost any IR remote as a reciever and will work with most IR controlled STB's. I use a 3 zone setup with my Moto-22xx STB's in my basement setup and the Firewire Channel Change on my Living Room HTPC (2nd SageTV Server).

BobP.

[tsitalon1]

OK.. I don't mind spending money on something that will work.

I plan on ultimately using 4 stb (all Moto 6200's). If I buy the USB-UIRT does it have dual ir leads or only single...

I guess Ill go the USB-UIRT route since it's natively supported by Sagetv, right?

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by tsitalon1

OK.. I don't mind spending money on something that will work.

I plan on ultimately using 4 stb (all Moto 6200's). If I buy the USB-UIRT does it have dual ir leads or only single...

I guess Ill go the USB-UIRT route since it's natively supported by Sagetv, right?

I would try the firewire route first. It works allot better then a USB-UIRT. I can't remember a time when the wrong channel was tuned on my Firewire. Also you should be able to do multiple boxes with the Firewire app (but maybe only 2). Check the long firewire thread for instructions. Multiple STB's with Firewire will require using MultiEXETuner which has a different Registry entry than I posted.

Now to use a USB-UIRT you can have upto 3 zones on one device. One emitter is built into the USB-UIRT (Zone 3 I think if using zones) and the other two can be had by plugin in a 1/8" Dual Mono Jack to 1/8" Stereo Plug Y-Adapter from Radio Shack into the back of the USB-UIRT and two emitters pluged into the Y-Adapter. I got my emitters from SmartHome - I think THESE will work.

BobP.

[tsitalon1]

Bob,

The firewire app I found is the mytray app from the Green button. It is only compatible with MCE2005. My OS is XP pro Sp2, SO I guess I cannot use firewire.

Is is even possible to use 2 USB-UIRTs to control 4 dct6200s ?

James

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by tsitalon1

Bob,

The firewire app I found is the mytray app from the Green button. It is only compatible with MCE2005. My OS is XP pro Sp2, SO I guess I cannot use firewire.

Is is even possible to use 2 USB-UIRTs to control 4 dct6200s ?

James

You can install that on WinXP Pro SP2 just use the tip in this post to accomplish it. Here is the original post from avsforum:

Originally Posted by rocky01
It looks like most newbies asking questions are ignored. Is this beacuse this thread is 94 pages long and noone wants to answer questions anymore?

Go to Start/Run/CMD/ then type the following substituting your name below but first place the firestb.msi executable in the same folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\your name here>MSIEXEC /i firestb.msi IDENT=0

The program should then launch allowing you load drivers on a Non-MCE SP SP2 PC.

I hope those of you with more experience will be more merciful in future!

And yes it is possible to use 2 USB-UIRT with SageTV according to a post I saw. Which is also listed in this sticky.

BobP.

[tsitalon1]

Bob,

I want to publicly thank you for at least giving a damn and helping. I promise I am not this ignorant on many of the boards that I am on. It's people like you that really bring about the whole meaning of the term "community".

Thank you for your help!

I will try the firewire approach again. I need 4 stb's. You suggested that I may only be able to control 2 stbs with firewire. If that's the case, can I use a USB-UIRT to control the other 2?

btw, I am only testing with one stb for now!

James

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by tsitalon1

Bob,

I want to publicly thank you for at least giving a damn and helping. I promise I am not this ignorant on many of the boards that I am on. It's people like you that really bring about the whole meaning of the term "community".

Thank you for your help!

I will try the firewire approach again. I need 4 stb's. You suggested that I may only be able to control 2 stbs with firewire. If that's the case, can I use a USB-UIRT to control the other 2?

btw, I am only testing with one stb for now!

James

It shouldn't be a problem going that way (2 & 2) but I can't say I've done it myself. And good idea to just test one at a time. Get that working before moving on to the next step. Nothing worse than spending days installing everything only to find that for some reason there is an incompatibility that prevents it from working.

Also I think alot of people don't want to double up posts so they wait and see if someone else responds before they do - it's what I did with this thread. Also bad info is worse than no info and I've been guilty of that in the past so I try not to post until I think no one else is going to.

BobP.

[tsitalon1]

Bob,

I can change channels on the stb using the "channel -v X X" command and it works very very well.

How do I tell sage to sned a command to the firestb utility?

James

[tsitalon1]

Nevermind.. I got it bob! man that was simple... I wonder what will happen when I add 3 more stbs

[BobPhoenix]

Glad you got it working. I thought you would like the firewire channel changing better

BobP.

[jasonp107]

Not sure if this thread is still open, but I just followed the excellent guide on page one, and *almost* everything works.

For some reason, when the IR blaster is working, Sage registers the MCE remote buttons oddly - the arrow buttons each seem to send twice whenever I click them (so it scrolls in twos, which is...frustrating), and the OK button seems to get pressed twice too.

I can't really tell about the other buttons, but I suspect that they're all getting sent twice.

This doesn't really make sense since all of the stuff I changed shouldn't have an effect on the Sage interface - nothing should happen before it gets sent to EXETuner.

Any ideas why this is happening?

Incidentally, if I unplug and replug the MCE usb box the double-clicking stops but so does the IR blasting until I reboot.

Thanks

[jasonp107]

Actually I found the answer in another thread (in case anyone else comes here with the same problem):

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...29&postcount=8

at the bottom. worked like a charm.

[IncredibleHat]

This issue has been around for a long time.

I wonder if/why Frey has not made a built in for SageTV and the MCE blaster yet??? It is a very commonly purchased product with Sage... seems silly they have not made something a bit 'easier' to setup. Grr. Maybe they have stock with the guys who do UIRT... hah.

I am assuming, after reading all that, that a programmed favorite to be recorded in the middle of the day, will automatically change the channel properly without me needing to sit there an manually push the number keys on my MCE remote, right?

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by IncredibleHat

This issue has been around for a long time.

I wonder if/why Frey has not made a built in for SageTV and the MCE blaster yet??? It is a very commonly purchased product with Sage... seems silly they have not made something a bit 'easier' to setup. Grr. Maybe they have stock with the guys who do UIRT... hah.

Nobody makes a PVR package that can use the MCE blaster with its native driver. Now if you replace the system driver with a different driver that is available (Girder and HIP have this driver) then those programs can use the MCE blaster. Microsoft hasn't documented the APIs necessary to use the native driver so only MCE can use the blaster.

Originally Posted by IncredibleHat

I am assuming, after reading all that, that a programmed favorite to be recorded in the middle of the day, will automatically change the channel properly without me needing to sit there an manually push the number keys on my MCE remote, right?

If it didn't it wouldn't make much sense to even have Sage.

Gerry

[IncredibleHat]

Good to know, thanks.

I'll duck under that hurdle when I come to it ... I have a MCE Remote/blaster for my HTPC (wired in cause the case had a nice internal rackmount for it), setup with HIP right now, and it works mostly.