Best IR blaster under linux?

[jtimmes]

I'm controlling a directv STB via serial today, but have run into a hard-to-reproduce stability issue where the STB locks up on me.

I'd still prefer to control via serial, but I'm starting to lose hope I'm going to get this resolved. Thus, time to explore IR blaster options.

I've seen plenty of stuff on the sage forums about IR blasting, but a lot of it seems to be under windows. I'm curious what blasters people are really using on linux, how hard was it to get the device installed/configured, and how stable is the result?

I saw some stuff on the CommandIR II that looked promising, but unfortunately CommandIR isn't selling the II anymore, and the III isn't out yet. So, that option appears to be off the table.

I've seen patches to get the IR on the HD-PVR (which I have) working, but since my HD-PVR is very stable, I really am hesitant to mess around with that.

Anyone using the USB-UIRT under linux? Are there other options I'm unaware of?

[freedml]

monoprice.com has usb adapters which work great with SageTV and DirecTV. Apparently it works as long as the adapter has the right USB chip, which most don't. Don't see why they wouldn't work under linux.

[loonsailor]

I used the usb-uirt for a while. It worked fine for a week or two, then died. They quickly sent me a new one, but in the interim I made tuning via firewire work, and have never gone back to IR.

The usb-uirt will theoretically work with two STBs, but I think there are some hoops to jump through for that. I never tried it. If you only have one, it shouldn't be hard.

[bcjenkins]

That's a bummer on Command IR. To be honest, I am having tuning issues with the HD receiver from DirecTV.

For other blasters - MCE Blaster, Iguana (Personally had an issue but I know someone else who does not), the HDPVR itself

B

[jpwegas]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

That's a bummer on Command IR. To be honest, I am having tuning issues with the HD receiver from DirecTV.

For other blasters - MCE Blaster, Iguana (Personally had an issue but I know someone else who does not), the HDPVR itself

B

I use the IguanaWorks USB IR tranceiver, which I selected because I liked the small USB form factor and it's ability to control 4 devices. However, I'm hesitant to recommend them because of several issues I've had.

The LIRC driver that's required seems to have gotten less stable over time. It occasionally crashes and takes down lircd and both need a restart. It seemed to get worse when I upgraded my server to a newer version of Ubuntu, and but the developer wasn't able to resolve the problem.

I also had trouble getting my device to receive pulses (if you need that), and I have a second device that I can't get working correctly at all.

Currently I have a stable setup, but I had to remove LIRC from the path entirely and use the included "igclient" program and pulse/space files (basically a raw version of the LIRC config definitions).

--John