Hauppauge 1600 IR Blaster - Please help me get it to work.

[overweightgeek]

Installed 1600 and drivers.
Installed IR Blaster
Ran Hauppauge's Blaster config
All test worked fine. Can power on and change channel of the SA 4250 cable box while using the blaster config utility.
Installed SageTV
Added first video source digital TS tuner
5 days of hair pulling resulted in QAM and media shares working.
added analog tuner setting the rf channel to 4 and choosing tune with cable box and Hauppauge IR Blaster.
Channel setup seems close but sage doesn't send any ir commands (no light flicker) when I choose view. Video window shows current channel playing and changes when I use the cable box remote but not with sage.
Go to the options screen and choose the ir settings but doesn't show and ir commands or ir devices to use or change.
IR app is running in the windows tray.
Have tried this with sage running both as a service and with run as service disabled.
Have tried the reinstall choosing repair but no change.
Have ran the complete configuration wizard - no change.
Have uninstalled and reinstalled IR blaster from Hauppauges CD - no change.
Have removed and re-added the video source umpteen times - no change.
Have rebooted umpteen times - no change.
Have fired my barber since I no longer have any hair to cut.

Would really appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks,

OWG

[monkeybounce]

When you ran it with the service disabled did you both disable the service and stop it?

You should have had to run through the configuration again if you completely stopped the service.

That's the only thing I've ever run across that stops the ir blaster from working properly. It's a 4 year old problem that no one addresses. (I've put in numerous requests for support and have never heard anything back from Sage.)

[sic0048]

I was told by Sage support that the SageTV software needed to be installed after the Hauppauge IR software was installed and running properly.

So I would get the Hauppauge software running correctly - download the latest files from the Hauppauge site, change the settings for the correct STB and the test working properly. Then uninstall SageTV using the "Remove Programs" function of Windows. Then immediately reinstall SageTV from scratch. As long as you do not delete the SageTV program folder, your wiz.bin and other files will carry over to the new installation. So you won't loose any show information or channel selections, etc.

That worked for me and the HD-PVR. I believe the tuners use the same IR files, so it should be similar.

[overweightgeek]

Got it working - sort of.

Did the uninstall reinstall thing but that didn't change anything.
I did remove the video source and re add it, this time instead of choosing Comcast - Digital for the line up I chose just Comcast. Behold it works.
Problem is I can't figure out how to get the other channels above 84. We have comcast digital and so far I've been able to pickup several of the upper channels using QAM on the digital tuner but not all.

The above solution only works if run as service is disabled. Once sage is set to run as a service the ir blaster stops functioning.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.


Maybe someone can enlighten me - is this a problem with the 1600 card or with sage? Will switching to another tuner card/brand/model enable sage to function properly?

People seem to be happy with HRHD but as I understand it doesn't work with a cable box. (We get free cable with our unit so I would like to utilize it if possible)

Ideas?

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by overweightgeek

Got it working - sort of.

Did the uninstall reinstall thing but that didn't change anything.
I did remove the video source and re add it, this time instead of choosing Comcast - Digital for the line up I chose just Comcast. Behold it works.
Problem is I can't figure out how to get the other channels above 84. We have comcast digital and so far I've been able to pickup several of the upper channels using QAM on the digital tuner but not all.

The above solution only works if run as service is disabled. Once sage is set to run as a service the ir blaster stops functioning.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.


Maybe someone can enlighten me - is this a problem with the 1600 card or with sage? Will switching to another tuner card/brand/model enable sage to function properly?

People seem to be happy with HRHD but as I understand it doesn't work with a cable box. (We get free cable with our unit so I would like to utilize it if possible)

Ideas?

Sorry my idea didn't pan out. You could always get another IR blaster and use it instead of the Hauppauge unit. The most commonly used one here is the USB-UIRT. You should be able to get that installed on the computer and choose it as the IR blaster instead of the Hauppauge unit.

The HDHR has ATSC and QAM tuners. The ATSC is for OTA digital signals, so that doesn't really help you. However, the QAM tuners will allow you to view unencrypted digital cable broadcasts. So it should work with your set up for a few channels and you don't need a STB to make it work. You simply plug the cable cord directly into he HDHR.

But as mentioned, it will only work with unencrypted QAM signals. This varies from location to location. Plug your zip code into this viewer to see what channels you might have available in your area. It looks like you have to choose the digital cable option from the drop down menu in the upper left corner now.