motorola DSR505 - alternative channel changing?

[tvmaster2]

has anyone found a way to change channels OTHER than via IR Blaster?

[peternm22]

The R5000 mod is the only other way that I know of. It's pretty expensive just for changing channels though.

Actually, now that I think of it, the R5000 mod does use an IR blaster (it's placed inside the satellite receiver though).

What issues are you having with your IR blaster?

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by peternm22

The R5000 mod is the only other way that I know of. It's pretty expensive just for changing channels though.

Actually, now that I think of it, the R5000 mod does use an IR blaster (it's placed inside the satellite receiver though).

What issues are you having with your IR blaster?

it's mostly ok, but it's just a little slow with the Hauppuage HD-PVR - sometimes upwards of 23 seconds before a channel locks in

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

it's mostly ok, but it's just a little slow with the Hauppuage HD-PVR - sometimes upwards of 23 seconds before a channel locks in

From what I've been able to tell, the length of time that a channel change appears to take is comprised of three different things:

1. The length of time that the UIRT takes to send the IR signals to the cable box, combined with the length of time that the cable box then takes to change the channel and send the new channel to the box outputs.
   
2. The number of seconds that Sage is recording ahead. Let's say, for example, that it takes 3 seconds from the time that your tuner gets the signal, records it to the hard drive, reads it back from the hard drive, and sends it to your extender. Since a channel change happens in real-time, best case it would take 3 seconds after the channel change button is pressed for you to see the results on your television.
   
3. The length of time that the HDPVR takes to lock on to the signal from the new channel. Not sure, but it might take longer to lock on if the signal has changed from say, 720p to 1080i, or vice-versa.

I don't think you have any control over items 2 and 3 (even if you can find a different method to change channels), but you can control item 1 to some extent. Have you optimized the settings/values in your .ir file?

[Rico66]

23 seconds sounds way too long. With the old hd pvr I got about 5 seconds, and with the new Colossus it's down to 3 seconds. I'm using the MCE IR blaster. Switching resolutions takes a bit extra, but that's less than a second.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by Rico66

23 seconds sounds way too long. With the old hd pvr I got about 5 seconds, and with the new Colossus it's down to 3 seconds. I'm using the MCE IR blaster. Switching resolutions takes a bit extra, but that's less than a second.

I noticed the Colossus was quicker as well, but in my rig it takes around seven seconds from start to finish.
Maybe my HD PVR is sick - Hauppauge IR blaster, which seems to send out the command in about 2-3 seconds.

[Podmodder]

My ir blaster sometimes decides to send 5554 instead of 554 for recording on the science channel. As far as I have noticed this is the only channel it does that with. So I sit down to watch Prototype This and see old war footage from the military channel. Any ideas on that one? It just gets trigger happy on 5. Occasionally I'll see that it repeats the last digit but that doesn't hurt anything. Hauppauge winpvr sagetv 6