Trying to making work my USB IR transmitter working with Sage.

[JonZ]

Hello, I've just downloaded and trying out Sage TV and it working fine with the exception of my USB transmitter to change the cable box channel.

I use Vista Ultimate and it work perfectly, but I wanted to try Sage because the TV output of my PVR350 doesn't work in MCE, but Sage does.

In the settup, when I choose UIRT, it says an error like it doesn't recognize the device. The UIRT I use is a device that came with my Dell Laptop. It doesn't have a specific name or model. All I can read is OVU4003/00. When I google it came down to Phillips.

I was wondering if there could be a work around to make it work. Thanks

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by JonZ

Hello, I've just downloaded and trying out Sage TV and it working fine with the exception of my USB transmitter to change the cable box channel.

I use Vista Ultimate and it work perfectly, but I wanted to try Sage because the TV output of my PVR350 doesn't work in MCE, but Sage does.

In the settup, when I choose UIRT, it says an error like it doesn't recognize the device. The UIRT I use is a device that came with my Dell Laptop. It doesn't have a specific name or model. All I can read is OVU4003/00. When I google it came down to Phillips.

I was wondering if there could be a work around to make it work. Thanks

That's not the same device. USB-UIRT is a specific device you can purchase from USB-UIRTIf your device is MCE compatible choosing MCE may work with your device.


Gerry

[JonZ]

Originally Posted by gplasky

That's not the same device. USB-UIRT is a specific device you can purchase from USB-UIRTIf your device is MCE compatible choosing MCE may work with your device.


Gerry

Oh, well I'm still confused. I tought it was the general name of a usb IR transmiter. I chosed MCE device, but the transmitter doesn't change channels. Menus and such on Windows work tho.

[ke6guj]

Nope, USB-UIRT Transceiver is www.usbuirt.com . Choosing the MCE device in Setup is for the receiver portion of the MCE transceiver, not the blaster portion. IIUC, tHe blaster portion is not natively supported in Sage, since Microsoft has not opened that part of the API.

Check out http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...ht=mce+blaster and http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...ht=mce+blaster for solutions that use the MCE blaster.

However, there are workarounds to enable the MCE blaster portion,

[JonZ]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

Nope, USB-UIRT Transceiver is www.usbuirt.com . Choosing the MCE device in Setup is for the receiver portion of the MCE transceiver, not the blaster portion. IIUC, tHe blaster portion is not natively supported in Sage, since Microsoft has not opened that part of the API.

Check out http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...ht=mce+blaster and http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...ht=mce+blaster for solutions that use the MCE blaster.

However, there are workarounds to enable the MCE blaster portion,

Are these workarounds refers to the link you posted above which is consisting the use of a 3rd party software (HIP)? or it is a workaround that work within Sage?

[ke6guj]

The workaround is not included with Sage, The workarounds are in those links, which either use HIP in the first link, or the blaster.exe in the second link. However, I think blaster.zip got pulled from that thread, however I have seen it elsewhere. Found it, I saw this link in another thread that has it, Blaster.zip

edit: It appears that there may be another missing file, sagetray.zip, so you may have to use the first link, the HIP way.

[JonZ]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

The workaround is not included with Sage, The workarounds are in those links, which either use HIP in the first link, or the blaster.exe in the second link. However, I think blaster.zip got pulled from that thread, however I have seen it elsewhere. Found it, I saw this link in another thread that has it, Blaster.zip

edit: It appears that there may be another missing file, sagetray.zip, so you may have to use the first link, the HIP way.

Oh, I already had found SageTray somewhere in there. Some June version.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/down...do=file&id=168

[opy01]

If you try the Blaster.zip option in Vista let me know if it works for you. I never got it to accept commands from my remote. The other option using replacement drivers and HIP is you best option. The only drawback is when you install the replacement drivers it no longer works in WMCE and you have to program each remote button in HIP. I don't mind though since I only use Sage. If you dont like that option you can alway reload the default drivers and you are back where you started. I am currently working on a modern day (SageTV 6.x) walkthrough for installing the replacement drivers as well as HIP and all additional software. The other guide was for SageTV 4.x and it has changed a little. Mine should be ready tomorrow with alot more detail and all the links to needed files (including the new drivers). I will try to post it in the guides and tutorials section of the downloads link when I am done.

Edit: I am done with the tutorial but I dont have any pictures loaded in it yet so if you want it now just PM me and I can email it to you.

[opy01]

Sorry about the double post I just dont want to start yet another MCE IR blaster thread. I am using mine fine with Sage but it only transmits from ir2. I dont know if this is a windows issue, a hardware issue or the replacement driver issue. If anyone else knows about an issue with the USB IR that came with the PVR500 MCE kit only transmitting from one port please let me know.

I tried searching for it in the forums but like all forums the search function is lacking functionality.

[JonZ]

Well I try to make it work with the tray method and I can't get it to work

I fail on the first step. the EXETunerplugin fail to show up in Sage Video Options.

It seems there's a registry key I need to change but it all blurry infos in these threads.

Any ideas?

[opy01]

I never got it to work with Sagetray. I used the HIP method. It is easier and faster than trying to figure out other methods. I just uploaded the walkthrough and posted it in the Guides and Tutorials section. The guide even says how to get EXETuner to work.

[JonZ]

Originally Posted by opy01

I never got it to work with Sagetray. I used the HIP method. It is easier and faster than trying to figure out other methods. I just uploaded the walkthrough and posted it in the Guides and Tutorials section. The guide even says how to get EXETuner to work.

Doesn't matter, I still can't make the EXETuner pluggin to work in the first place.

From all the example I saw everyone seems to use a service for their blaster running in background of Windows or a different program called in their registry. I don't have any of those in my computer, yet I can make work my blaster in Vista MCE.

[opy01]

Did you read my tutorial? It has links to all the software you need. You run HIP in the background and program it to send the commands to your blaster. HIP also is used to program all the buttons in your remote for SageTV. As far as the registry, all you do is add one thing for EXETuner to call one program for HIP. It is really intimidating but once you get started its pretty easy.