7.1.5 & Colossus: USB-UIRT and EVR Issues

[sjwoo]

Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate SP1
ATI Radeon HD2400
Sage 7.1.5
Hauppauge Colossus (latest drivers)
Dish STB
HDHomerun (for HD basic cable)

I'm having two issues. I had a perfectly working XP/Sage v6/MCE250 setup before setting up this new box.

1) USB-UIRT is not quite working. I can program the device with my Dish remote, but when I try to add a new command, the submenu for programming goes back to its root and I can't add anything. Also, it does not change the channels, which is pretty much a dealbreaker for this setup.

2) Using EVR + ATI MPEG Decoder results in the video on the screen being on for about five seconds and then freezing. Audio continues. I switched to VMR, and there are no issues, so for the time being, I'll stick with this.

Unfortunately, since I'm using the Colossus, I have no choice but to use the beta version of Sage. Any advice would be much appreciated.

- Sung

[Tiki]

There was a bug related to using Sage with ATI video cards in EVR mode with hardware acceleration enabled.
In Sage 6, when there was UI info on top of the video (like the show description at the top or the progress bar at the bottom), it would flicker when playing back many MPEG-2 files.
In Sage 7, it was even worse (at least for me) - the UI stuff would flicker, but after it went away, the whole screen would turn white - no picture at all.

However, Sage put in a work-around. Unfortunately its not well-documented (you have to read the rev notes for the early Sage 7 betas to find it). You will need to completely shut down sage and edit the Sage.properties (or sageclient.properties) file as follows:

Set property "ui/disable_ui_composite_surface" to true. This is workaround added in Sage 7.0.12 for OSD/UI flickering issue with ATI series 4xxx GPUs when playing back SD material with the EVR video renderer.

Give this a try for your video freezing issue.

[sjwoo]

Thanks, Tiki. After I made the update, EVR works just fine. So if I can get USB-UIRT to change the channel, I'm set. I surely hope there's an answer for that...

- Sung

Originally Posted by Tiki

There was a bug related to using Sage with ATI video cards in EVR mode with hardware acceleration enabled.
In Sage 6, when there was UI info on top of the video (like the show description at the top or the progress bar at the bottom), it would flicker when playing back many MPEG-2 files.
In Sage 7, it was even worse (at least for me) - the UI stuff would flicker, but after it went away, the whole screen would turn white - no picture at all.

However, Sage put in a work-around. Unfortunately its not well-documented (you have to read the rev notes for the early Sage 7 betas to find it). You will need to completely shut down sage and edit the Sage.properties (or sageclient.properties) file as follows:



Give this a try for your video freezing issue.

[Spectrum]

If you are running Sage as a service and as a client on the same box you need beta USB-UIRT drivers if you want to use the USB-UIRT as a receiver for client and a blaster for the service. See this post for the drivers.

[sjwoo]

Originally Posted by Spectrum

If you are running Sage as a service and as a client on the same box you need beta USB-UIRT drivers if you want to use the USB-UIRT as a receiver for client and a blaster for the service. See this post for the drivers.

Thanks for this -- still not working, unfortunately. I am running Sage both as a client and a service, and I replaced the DLL as per the post, but I'm running into the same issue. "There was an error learning the code" is what comes up whenever I try to reprogram or add a new command...

- Sung

[sjwoo]

I'm running 64-bit Windows 7. Do you think that might make a difference?

- Sung

Originally Posted by sjwoo

Thanks for this -- still not working, unfortunately. I am running Sage both as a client and a service, and I replaced the DLL as per the post, but I'm running into the same issue. "There was an error learning the code" is what comes up whenever I try to reprogram or add a new command...

- Sung

[Spectrum]

I've been running this on Win6 x64 since day one so the problem is not with it being x64 unless you didn't copy both dlls. Make sure you followed the instructions in the linked post for the install. If you did, and are still getting the error than your problem is related to something else, you just got this problem solved before you knew about it

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by sjwoo

Thanks for this -- still not working, unfortunately. I am running Sage both as a client and a service, and I replaced the DLL as per the post, but I'm running into the same issue. "There was an error learning the code" is what comes up whenever I try to reprogram or add a new command...

- Sung

You posted that you use DISH. Is the problem that you are having with the USBUIRT only when you are trying to learn a new code?

There are 2 versions of USBUIRT that have different frequency ranges. The basic model can receive 30-40kHz, the more expensive model can accept 56kHz. I don't use DISH, but I seem to remember others posting that their equipment uses the IR frequencies that require the more expensive USBUIRT.

Both versions can transmit up to 60kHz, so the transmit part is the same. But, if you need the higher frequency receiver to work with the DISH remote, you will have trouble learning IR codes. You will also have problems if you wanted to use an old DISH remote with the USBUIRT to control Sage or some other application.

[sjwoo]

I do use Dish -- VIP622, to be specific. The thing is, my setup worked just perfectly when I was running Sage v6 on WinXP. Unless I did something wrong, I'm fairly certain there's a bug with the USB-UIRT learning interface on this beta version of Sage. When I try to reprogram the codes, the program hangs and does weird things like remove the digit I'm trying to reprogram when it doesn't receive the code. And I'm not able to add a new command at all. Not to mention that the channels do not change on the STB when I change the channel on Sage.

But I have found a solution -- using the IR Blaster that comes with Colossus. I don't like it nearly as much as the USB-UIRT, but at least it changes the channels. And I still have a use for the USB-UIRT, as I'm now using it with LM Remote Keymap to drive my Streamzap remote codes (since the driver for Streamzap is very buggy).

Thanks to everyone on the forum for all the help -- I now have a fully working Sage v7 via Colossus and HDHomeRun. Sometimes the video on the Colossus (fed via Component passthrough) goes black, but when I select the channel again, it shows up. My guess is that it's the Hauppauge driver that's causing that issue, but it's very intermittent. At this point, I'll wait for Sage to fix the USB-UIRT issue with the public release.

- Sung

Originally Posted by Tiki

You posted that you use DISH. Is the problem that you are having with the USBUIRT only when you are trying to learn a new code?

There are 2 versions of USBUIRT that have different frequency ranges. The basic model can receive 30-40kHz, the more expensive model can accept 56kHz. I don't use DISH, but I seem to remember others posting that their equipment uses the IR frequencies that require the more expensive USBUIRT.

Both versions can transmit up to 60kHz, so the transmit part is the same. But, if you need the higher frequency receiver to work with the DISH remote, you will have trouble learning IR codes. You will also have problems if you wanted to use an old DISH remote with the USBUIRT to control Sage or some other application.

[bennyhill]

I am having the very same problem. I had mine working just fine before my sage install ate itself earlier this week now I am in the weeds.

With Dish I need to teach it the "select" button to make sure the receiver is awake before it attempts to tune.

Any ideas?

[bennyhill]

Well I "downgraded" to the latest stable release of Sage and then I was allowed to learn the codes for my receivers without too much trouble.

[sjwoo]

The Sage beta test guys emailed me when I submitted a bug and told me to copy the .ir file from the old install to the new install. That worked, but only to a degree -- when I test the codes individually, they work, but when I go to channel preview or program guide, the channels do not change. I'm still unable to add new codes, either, or reprogram the codes, so there's still something not right about the UI.

I'm not sure if this is a problem with Sage or with the USB-UIRT drivers, but either way, there's something wrong.

- Sung

Originally Posted by bennyhill

Well I "downgraded" to the latest stable release of Sage and then I was allowed to learn the codes for my receivers without too much trouble.

[sjwoo]

BTW, just to clarify -- I looked up my old receipt, and here's what I'd ordered back on 8/6/2007:

USBUIRT0056US

So I must own the 56Hz version...

- Sung

Originally Posted by Tiki

You posted that you use DISH. Is the problem that you are having with the USBUIRT only when you are trying to learn a new code?

There are 2 versions of USBUIRT that have different frequency ranges. The basic model can receive 30-40kHz, the more expensive model can accept 56kHz. I don't use DISH, but I seem to remember others posting that their equipment uses the IR frequencies that require the more expensive USBUIRT.

Both versions can transmit up to 60kHz, so the transmit part is the same. But, if you need the higher frequency receiver to work with the DISH remote, you will have trouble learning IR codes. You will also have problems if you wanted to use an old DISH remote with the USBUIRT to control Sage or some other application.

[amigasteve]

Originally Posted by sjwoo

The Sage beta test guys emailed me when I submitted a bug and told me to copy the .ir file from the old install to the new install. That worked, but only to a degree -- when I test the codes individually, they work, but when I go to channel preview or program guide, the channels do not change. I'm still unable to add new codes, either, or reprogram the codes, so there's still something not right about the UI.

I'm not sure if this is a problem with Sage or with the USB-UIRT drivers, but either way, there's something wrong.

- Sung

I don't think it's just the USB-UIRT drivers. I use the plain vanilla PVR150Tuner.so and the blaster on my HVR-1950 to change channels on a Starchoice box. In the Setup Video Sources screen, if I test the remote it sends codes, but from the guide or direct channel changes no output whatsoever.

I went back to 7.0.23 and all was well.

[amigasteve]

I filed a bug report with Sage and they came back to me to try setting the IR Repeat Factor to 2 (in the Setup Video Sources menu).

Unfortunately it didn't work for me, but you could try it.

[phareous]

I had the same issue with sage refusing to learn anything...I ended up using LM Remote Keymap and also the lrnhelper program to learn the codes...then copied and pasted into the .ir file. It was a pain but I assumed it was something specific to my machine and not a bug. (But perhaps it is a bug after all)

[akoker]

I'm not sure if this is the right thread to bring this up but thought I would give it a shot. Why is nobody using the Actisys 200L Blaster? I have a new WHS setup with a colossus card and an Actisys Blaster. The card is capturing just fine. I have tested all of the IR commands to the cable box and its tuning each command in the TV setup no problem. When I go to the program guide and select a channel however I see stutter in the command. So for instance if the channel is 2025, I will see "2" pause, then 025. So I get channel 25 instead of 2025. It will happen this way in different ways. Sometimes its "202" pause, then "5" for instance. I've went in and set the timing of the command from 600ms to 200ms, and I made sure it was set to 4 digits for the channel command.

Anyway, all of that being said, I have order a USB UIRT to see what that will do but in the meantime I'm wondering if anybody else has had this issue?

Any ideas what I can try?

Thanks

[sjwoo]

Originally Posted by sjwoo

The Sage beta test guys emailed me when I submitted a bug and told me to copy the .ir file from the old install to the new install. That worked, but only to a degree -- when I test the codes individually, they work, but when I go to channel preview or program guide, the channels do not change. I'm still unable to add new codes, either, or reprogram the codes, so there's still something not right about the UI.

I'm not sure if this is a problem with Sage or with the USB-UIRT drivers, but either way, there's something wrong.

- Sung

Can anyone from Sage tell me if the issue with USB-UIRT was fixed with Sage 7.1.7?

- Sung

[PLUCKYHD]

I am seeing the same thing when I try to learn the menu automatically exits and never let's me learn anything. Bummer