HD-PVR IR-Blaster - problems with 8300HDC cable box

[timg11]

I'm using the HD-PVR with a Sci Atl 8300HDC cable box. When recording with the HD-PVR, it frequently fails to change channels or changes to the wrong channel.

In Source Setup, the tuner control is Hauppaguge IR Blaster StubDevice
In options, I have increased the delay between codes to 600mS and the delay between channel changes to 800mS. I increased the IR Blaster repeat factor from 2 to 3. None of these changes has solved the problem.

I would like to try adding a Prefix Code to use the cable box "program guide" button before sending the channel. The manual says: "Channel Change Prefix Code – Tells SageTV to always transmit the specified code before transmitting the digits for a channel change. A pop-up menu with all the IR codes will be displayed. Choose one to use as the prefix code, or choose None to close the popup without selecting a code."

When I select "Channel Change Prefix Code" I get a dialog with one selection labeled "None". There are no other choices or codes available.

How is an infrared code configured to be sent as a prefix before a channel change?

[SHS]

I maybe wrong but I'm petty sure that the Prefix Code will not work with Hauppaguge IR Blaster only USB-UIRT can

[timg11]

This seems like it would be a common combination. Does anybody have an HD-PVR working with Hauppaguge IR Blaster StubDevice to control a 8300HDC from SageTV? Is there any alternative for controlling the cable box for channel changing?

[Peter_h]

Originally Posted by timg11

This seems like it would be a common combination. Does anybody have an HD-PVR working with Hauppaguge IR Blaster StubDevice to control a 8300HDC from SageTV? Is there any alternative for controlling the cable box for channel changing?

I have a 8350 and use firewire channel changing.

I was using the Hauppauge IR blaster with an 8250 but the IR blaster kept locking up so I moved to firewire. Couldn't be happier.

[pedz25]

Originally Posted by timg11

This seems like it would be a common combination. Does anybody have an HD-PVR working with Hauppaguge IR Blaster StubDevice to control a 8300HDC from SageTV? Is there any alternative for controlling the cable box for channel changing?

I have this working. I didn't change any of the timing delays in Sage. But I did change them in BlastCfg.

the Codeset is 76

Min Digits to Send: 4
Inter digit delay: 100

I think that is all I changed.
One other thing I noticed made a huge difference was to place the IR transmitter almost all the way to the left on the 8300's display. To describe its location, I would say it is beneath the Guide button and towards the bottom of the window.

I have found that the blaster isn't very tolerant of changes while Sage is running. So if you do make changes in BlastCfg, do it while Sage is shut down.

Good luck
Ed

[timg11]

My Blastcfg.exe does not offer the option of codeset 76. Mine is on Codeset 74. Otherwise the settings are the same as yours.

I have the transmitter right over the IR receiver - I found it by shining a bright flashlight through the faceplate.

[timg11]

Originally Posted by Peter_h

I have a 8350 and use firewire channel changing.

Peter, can you point me to some more description on how to use Firewire for channel changing on the 8300HDC? My 8300HDC has two unused firewire ports, but I did not know they could be used for channel changing.

[Peter_h]

Originally Posted by timg11

Peter, can you point me to some more description on how to use Firewire for channel changing on the 8300HDC? My 8300HDC has two unused firewire ports, but I did not know they could be used for channel changing.

Sure. It's a little more work to get it up and running but it is so much faster and stable.

Check this thread, the mega firewire thread.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9288

This post is a good start for firewire channel changing and is basically what I followed.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...326#post282326

[sorrowstyr]

I have an HDPVR with a 8300 HDC Sci Atl, and I too had to turn off IR blasting, and just go firewire.

Its 3x faster and 100% accurate.
MeinMaui's instructions are spot on, and in the thread I left a message about having to change the prefix a little bit.

[timg11]

I was planning to hook up Firewire, but it turns out that my motherboard in the HTPC system does not have a Firewire port. So I'm back to trying to get the Blaster Config to work reliably. In Blaster Config, I'm set to Device Type = Cable Box, Vendor/Model = Sci-Atlanta 8300HD, and CodeSet 76.

I set the TV video input to the cable box so I could watch what happened when the HD-PVR recording was scheduled to start. At the time of recording, the cable box was in the "screen saver" mode. SageTV was supposed to tune to channel 1509. The cable box actually tuned to channel 509. The issue seems to be that the first digit from the IR blaster is ignored when the cable box is in a screen saver mode.

The BlasterConfig program does not let me change the number of digits to 5. (I thought a leading zero would wake up the cable box). It just changes back to 4 digits when I click save settings. It does not support "Power On" before channel.

How can I get it to send out something to "wake up" the cable box before sending the channel number?

At the bottom of the Blaster Config window, it says 4.1.26127 API=2.4, FW=2.1.0. Is that the same version everyone else is using?

[Peter_h]

do you have a firewire header on your board? how about an extra PCI slot?

You can get PCI firewire cards on ebay for $3.

Personally, been there, done that with the hauppage IR blaster. It's really not worth the effort. Get a usb-Uirt or firewire.

[timg11]

I got Firewire working to change channels on my 8300HDC cable box. I posted the details at the end of this thread, and started this thread on the topic. I wanted to bring this back here, since some of you have more expertise in using Firewire control.

The problem is the 8300HDC often gets in states where it is either asleep, or displaying an error message about a channel not being available. From that state, a new channel selection command over Firewire is either incorrectly received (losing the first digit), or completely ignored.

I need to use the Firewire commands to get the cable box into a known state where it is awake and able to accept the channel change command.

I haven't been able to get the -d option of the channel.exe program to send button presses. What else can I try to emulate remote control button presses over Firewire?

[timg11]

I'm still looking for suggestions to emulate individual TWC remote key presses over Firewire.

In the meantime, I'm trying to at least solve the STB sleep problem. I have created a batch file to send the channel change command twice.

I changed the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Frey Technologies\Common\EXEMultiTunerPlugin" registry key "command" to this:

C:\Batch\channelw2.cmd %DEVICE% %CHANNEL%

The channelw2.cmd batch file that is called above looks like this:

"C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\channelw.exe" -f -a6 -n %1 %2
sleep 1
"C:\Program Files\Timmmoore\MCE 2005 STB Controller\channelw.exe" -f -a6 -n %1 %2

I'll let it run for a day or two and see if I start getting my intended shows instead of the TWC screen saver from the HD-PVR.

[timg11]

Update - it looks like Firewire channel changing is not going to be workable at all unless someone can suggest how I can emulate IR button presses. Sending two channel changes does not help.

I checked all the shows that recorded on the HD-PVR since I switched to Firewire channel control. They are all the TWC screen saver - no programs were recorded. Apparently, the Firewire channel change does not bring the STB out of the screen saver mode.

I have searched all the menus on the 8300HDC, and I cannot find a way to disable the screen saver.

I'm assuming I'm the only person who has attempted Firewire with the 8300HDC and the Time Warner cable-box software.

So it is back to the IR Blaster....

[dadof4]

Just out of curiosity..why are you still using the 8300hdc? Are you still using the unit's recording feature? When I first starting using Sage I kept my 8300HDC until I was satisfied SageTV would do the job for me. I experienced the same problems you are describing. I switched to the SA4250, which does not go to sleep (and costs less!), and most of the issues were resolved. I did experience a "channel not available" problem once in a while. It was due to the fact I was behind two cable amps and I was losing return signal strengh to the cable company. As they explained it to me some of the less viewed HD channels may not be available in the area until someone tunes to it. The cable box then sends a request to the cable company to make that channel available. They do this to conserve bandwidth. I removed one of my amps and replaced the other with less "return" attenuation and have not seen the problem since then.

[timg11]

dadof4 - I've been struggling with SageTV and the HD-PVR for about 8 months now. It is working much better (the 6.5 series of betas seems to have fixed the frequent crashes I used to have). But unfortunately it is still not reliable enough to dispense with the TWC DVR capability. The hit-or-miss nature of tuning the STB and other issues keep my PC-based DVR system more as a "science project", as I spend countless hours testing, debugging, patching, writing messages on this forum, etc. For important shows and events, we still record it both in SageTV and on the STB DVR. When SageTV succeeds in record a show, it is a far better interface for watching the program than the awful UI in the STB. But I'm not fully convinced that a new cable box would solve all of my PC-based DVR system problems and make it a completely dependable system. (I'm not putting blame on SageTV's software - probably the biggest issue here is the HD-PVR and it's drivers)

I'm hoping a new cable box isn't the only solution.

My next angle of attack is to try and understand how I can interface to the HCWIRBlaster.dll, or control the IR blaster somehow through a stand-alone program that I write, or from SageTV Studio. (The options in Setup under "Tuner Control: Hauppauge IR Blaster StubDevice" are very limited. No channel change prefix code, No confirm code, and as far as I can tell, the repeat factor is ignored too).

I need to be able to send the channel twice, and send some other keys, like exit and "A" to clear any error messages about unavailable channels.
The EXEmultituner plugin was pretty clear in the way the registry command linked to the channel.exe program. But I don't see an obvious way to "hook" the commands going to the IR blaster the same way.

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

[dadof4]

Originally Posted by timg11

My next angle of attack is to try and understand how I can interface to the HCWIRBlaster.dll, or control the IR blaster somehow through a stand-alone program that I write, or from SageTV Studio. (The options in Setup under "Tuner Control: Hauppauge IR Blaster StubDevice" are very limited. No channel change prefix code, No confirm code, and as far as I can tell, the repeat factor is ignored too).

I need to be able to send the channel twice, and send some other keys, like exit and "A" to clear any error messages about unavailable channels.
The EXEmultituner plugin was pretty clear in the way the registry command linked to the channel.exe program. But I don't see an obvious way to "hook" the commands going to the IR blaster the same way.

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

I too was worried about dumping the 8300HD and going "All Sage". I kept the 8300HDC for about a month after picking up the 4250HD for piece of mind. All of the issues you are attempting to resolve seen to be 8300HDC related. The 4250HD does not go to sleep, therefore there is no need to be concerned about a channel prefix code, confirm code, or the repeat factor. I used the HD-PVR blaster up to the point I got a second HD-PVR (and 4250HD) and then went with the USB UIRT. Hope you get your SageTV system working up to your satisfaction. We have, on many occasions, recorded 3 programs while watching another. The only real issue I have now, and I can blame this on Sage , is we spend way too much time watching TV which has contributed adversely to my ever expanding girth!!!

[jerryb33]

Originally Posted by dadof4

I removed one of my amps and replaced the other with less "return" attenuation and have not seen the problem since then.

Can you give me the name of the new amp, I hoping my problem with the "switched digital" can be resolved with a new amp.

[dadof4]

Originally Posted by jerryb33

Can you give me the name of the new amp, I hoping my problem with the "switched digital" can be resolved with a new amp.

It's an Electroline EDA-2800. It has 8 outputs and is bi-directional. They have 2 and 4 port amps also.

[nyle]

Switch to the 4250 - mine is working well with Firewire changing.

-Nyle

Originally Posted by timg11

Update - it looks like Firewire channel changing is not going to be workable at all unless someone can suggest how I can emulate IR button presses. Sending two channel changes does not help.

I checked all the shows that recorded on the HD-PVR since I switched to Firewire channel control. They are all the TWC screen saver - no programs were recorded. Apparently, the Firewire channel change does not bring the STB out of the screen saver mode.

I have searched all the menus on the 8300HDC, and I cannot find a way to disable the screen saver.

I'm assuming I'm the only person who has attempted Firewire with the 8300HDC and the Time Warner cable-box software.

So it is back to the IR Blaster....