Full USB-UIRT support available

[DynamoBen]

Technically you could use just about any voltage. Really depends on the power supply you use. I use a 12V but have test the circuit on a 5V emitter system.

BTW I drew this circuit while at work. I believe my memory is serving me correctly. It is based on that chips use on the UIRT2. If any see a flaw or a better way to do it please post....I can correct the drawing.

[justme]

Neat idea I understand simplifying it for the audience but, the Elec.Tech. in me still wants to scream. You should be flogged for drawing a schematic like that.

[DynamoBen]

Oh come on now....relax a little.

I'm at work and only had paint available to me. Its hard to draw anything that even looks remotely like a schematic in paint.

You could post your own version of it done the right way

[justme]

DynamoBen

I'm not that offended by it. OK, I'm just too lazy. Anyway it's my bedtime.(I sleep on a reverse schedule.)


davey_fl

Is the remote for your Cable box a universal type with multiple modes? ie TV, VCR, Cable, etc

The reason I ask is that you don't want to send out the same Infrare siganel twice to your cable box. Once from your remote and a second time when Sage responds and activates the USB-UIRT.

If your remote is a multimode type pick a device mode you don't use and use that to control Sage. This will allow you to still use your old remote to control Sage and your cable box if you want to over ride Sage. Like when Sage isn't using your cable box.

[davey_fl]

thanks for the very prompt reply justme. It is a sort of 'universal' remote, with the buttons 'audio', 'vcr', 'tv', 'cbl' along the top. what I was going to do is select vcr, give it some IR code, and then teach sagetv to learn it. There are no codes assigned to vcr or audio for my remote right now, so when they are selected they still send strange signals to my cable box, telling it to do something (it will do something not associated with that button, like I press channel up and it brings up the info screen).

How do I go about learning the remote to sagetv? I've gone into detailed setup, made sure that IR hardware has USB selected and then tried to learn commands to the remote. But when SageTV pops the screen that says "point your remote and press the button" I have tried that but nothing happens. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks again!

davey

[davey_fl]

ok I I've figured out the learning, not sure why it wasn't working the first time but it's working now Next problem, it doesn't seem to matter if I have audio, vcr, cbl, or tv selected. they all still send signals to the cable box no matter what i press. Does anyone know how to stop this?

thx

[DynamoBen]

I recieved my USBUIRT yesterday. I have installed the drivers for Sage the way it is described in the readme. I uninstalled the IR software for the PVR250. After that I tested the functionality of the USBUIRT with girder and everything checked out.

Tonight I hope to get the USBUIRT up and running on the server.

First: What do I have to do in sage to make USBUIRT function properly? (if anything)

Second: I have a universal remote control. I want this remote to control Sage along with my tv, dvd, vcr, etc. Should I create another device on the remote? Maybe make the device a Tivo remote?

Just making sure my ducks are in a row before I begin.

[justme]

DynamoBen,

As for #1 just readup on the earlier posts in this thread. They cover the most likely issues you could run into. If you done that and downloaded/requested the suggested files* already then you should be ready to go.

*They deal with the ability of Sage to use the IR transmit part of the USB-UIRT and getting Sage to work simultaneously with Girder.

As for #2 I personally say go with the Tivo mode just like you suugested. I actually use a Tivo remote to control sage myself and I find the button layout great for contolling Sage. So a Tivo mode should have all the functions you need.


davey_fl,

they all still send signals to the cable box no matter what i press. Does anyone know how to stop this?

Did you unplug or coverup the USB-UIRT to make sure that it is not somehow sending signals? This is very unlikely but it's good to narrow it down to the remote.

If it's the remote itself then maybe the model# could help. The remote my cable company gave my was a universal setup to control my cable box, but I know the TV mode* worked just on my TV. It's possible that they could have modified the remote in some way, but why they would bother is beyond me. If you can't get the cable companies remote to only send codes relavent to the device you select you may want to get your own universal remote. One that works with your cable box and has a nice button layout for Sage and your other devices. There are lots of threads around here on what remote to buy.

The only other thing I can think of is that your cable box my be not be discriminating enough with the infrared codes it recieves. But if this was the case I'd think you would have seen something like this before. Like with one of your other device's remotes.

*They didn't give me a code list, so I had to go find one on the Web. This is where the model # might help.

[davey_fl]

Hi justme. Yes it turns out they had modified it so that no matter what device you have selected, it STILL assigns about 10 buttons (menu system) to the cable box. However, I found a site that shows you how to make a small cable, plug it onto some pins inside the remote, and through software you can re-assign the buttons for when you have a different device selected. I did that last night and it works flawlessly! I'm a happy camper now! Now I just have to figure out how to get the Power On functionality that I had with my Hauppauge remote. I've got the power button to sleep/unsleep. But my Hauppauge remote would restart (executable) when I pressed it so that even if Windows had just booted all I had to do was press power and sage would pop up. Now I have to double click on it (not good for WAF)...

thx

davey

[justme]

I was going to suggest that as a last resort but I couldn't remember what those connectors were called, JP10 I think. They are really cool if your remote supports them. Sounds like you got lucky and didn't have to solder your own jack on. You can even do more advanced stuff like macros(mapping a sequence of several infrared codes to a single button).

As for the double clicking to start Sage... Why not just put a shortcut in your Windows "Startup" folder. Or probably better in your case go to Sage's: Setup>Detailed Setup>Advanced tab and select "Load at startup in Taskbar" or "Load at startup in Fullscreen Mode". Whichever one you are after.

EDIT:If you have the right remote you can get really adventurious and teach your cable remote the Hauppauge remote's power code. I can't personally describe the steps for this sinc eit was long ago when I played with this stuff. But you have the neccesary hardware in the USB-UIRT. You can use it to capture the infrared code from the Hauppauge remote. From there you'd need to follow the directions from all the remote hacking sites out there, like the one you found.

[jrhees]

If all you're looking for is a way to launch Sage when a button (power) is pressed on the remote, another option is to use Girder (you don't have to fully learn Girder if you're only doing simple things like that).

-Jon

[davey_fl]

thanks Jon. I too, would like Girder and SageTv to play nice together. I understand there is a different driver for USB-UIRT? Currently if Girder is running and I start sage, sage fails to grab control of the USB-UIRT - is there a way to fix this?

thanks

[jrhees]

Yes, you need to use the 'Sharing' Girder plugin -- its available at www.usbuirt.com/latestGirderPlugin.zip

-Jon

[davey_fl]

thanks Jon. I gave it a try and I'm not getting the IR conflict errors anymore, however they're not playing nicely yet. When I'm in Theatertek with SageTv running minimized in the tray the response of the remote it extremely reduced to the point that it's unmanagable. That's not a problem because I can just shut sage down instead of sleeping it. However, when I'm in Sage with Girder running minimized in the icon tray I get very strange results. Like you go to press down arrow once on the menu system and then press OK, and when you press OK it jumps down once more before executing the OK. This happens all over the place in sage, in the guide etc. The only way to stop this behaviour is to exit girder so that only sage is running. So either I have to setup a power off procedure for sage that automatically fires girder, and similarly set it up so that when I'm done with Theatertek it shuts down girder before I start up sage. Any suggestions?

thanks!

davey

[justme]

Slightly off topic but not really...

I beginning to think it's time we had a small "Girder" Forum on this board. Nothing really complex just simple Sage related questions like the one above. I know I must have seen a similiar style question posted at least 5 times elsewhere, and the one thread here with great Girder support is too long. It's wandered from one issue to the next and that makes it hard to find the answer to questions that have already been ansewered before. my 2 cents.

[jrhees]

Hmmm...

Some questions:

1. You say that when TT is running and you have Sage in the tray that remote response is slow. What remote are you talking about and how is it controlling the PC (since Girder isn't running).

2. Regarding when Girder is minimized and Sage is running, some things to try:
a) Un-minimize Girder, does it have any effect?
b) Disable plugins (F9) in Girder, does this have any effect?
c) Re-enable plugins and watch the Girder screen when you press remote buttons. Is Girder trying to perform actions on the IR codes its getting from your remote?

-Jon

[davey_fl]

Jon I'll try these things and post in a little while. With regards to #1, I have two remotes, one for sagetv (which Girder knows nothing about) and one for TT through Girder (which Sage knows nothing about). So I have a TT .gml configured in Girder to control all aspects of TT. I use this remote to start/stop etc TT. It is this remote, through Girder, that I use for TT. Girder is minimized with the tray icon showing in the toolbar (beside clock). It works great if SageTV isn't running minimized, but when sage is running (minimzed) the response time is lousy. I'll go and try 2a,b, and c.

thx

[davey_fl]

back with answers to 2a, b, and c.

a) un-minimizing has no affect.
b) disabling the plug-in stops the problem.
c) re-enabling the plug-in the problem isn't there. When I have sagetv in one window and girder in another I can see that with every button pressed Girder does see the button press. I'm not sure how to tell if Girder is trying to do something though...

thx

davey

[jrhees]

OK, another experiment then,

Try starting up your machine but *not* launching Girder until *after* SageTV is running. Then see if Girder/Sage play nicely together...

-Jon

[davey_fl]

thanks Jon. I'll give it a try when I get home from work and report back tomorrow.

davey