[solved] Blaster Not Working (1 Viewer)

[spachti]

Quote from Newegg.com

A shopper asked: The IR remote is in three parts, the usb cable, the square transition piece, and the IR receiver w/ cable. On the square piece, it is obvious where the usb attaches. But there are two places apparently where the IR cable could attach, right next to the usb connection (in the middle) or at the end. So I'm wondering which connection point is correct, or if either one is OK, and why would there be two? Jan 27,2015


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Ron P:Contents of the box are: Remote hand unit, IR transceiver, USB cable, (1) Blaster cable, CD driver, Quick install booklet, (2) batteries... The back of the transceiver has a Micro USB port and (2) 3.5mm port for Blaster A or B not marked. Blaster cable looks to be 10' long... If you are only using (1) STB plug Blaster into either port and when setting up TV signals in MCE use manual setup (not automatic), if STB doesn't respond to Blaster, select (in MCE setup) other port option. Feb 16,2015

 

[hootie318]

That is weird. I will have to look for the box. I dont recall a blaster cable with that size plug. It has been a while but I would have used it because I have always had trouble with the Hauppauge IR issues. Even if I did have one I wouldn't even know how to set it up.

 

[spachti]

What throws me completely off is that you said you had it working at some point. How the ***** did that happen?

 

[hootie318]

Unless I am using a blaster that I thought came from Rosewill and came from one of my Hauppaugge units. The blaster does not look like the ones that come with them. I am looking around right now to find it. It had been working without incident for so long that I never went near the computer except to clean it. I didnt bother to look or check the setup. Then I get the bright idea to upgrade the processor and motherboard and BOOM, trouble everywhere.

On the bright side, I have the Colossus back up and running but no other cards which takes away some of my recording options and I am left with no analog or QAM which were great backups. I am afraid to restart the computer. I wish I could find a blaster alternative that is documented to work with MPTV so I can install my other cards.

The picture you posted is the same exact one I have but I do not recall that cable (the one between the receiver and usb cable) coming with it. If I can find it, how do you have it setup to work with MPTV?

 

[spachti]

Well, never touch a running system LOL.

I have two questions, but don't kill me, ok?
First, is the blaster cable the same as in the Hauppauge link?
If yes, you know that the top part in the pic with the black plastic around is the ir receiver and the bottom part is the blaster, right?

 

[mm1352000]

What throws me completely off is that you said you had it working at some point. How the ***** did that happen?

As mentioned earlier in the thread: he has taken the blaster cable that he thinks is from the Rosewill transceiver, and plugged it into the blaster connector on the Colossus card. In this scenario, he effectively has a Hauppauge blaster. Either he got lucky in that the IR emitter LED and cable wiring were compatible... or he forgot that the blaster cable actually came with one of the Hauppauge tuners.

On the bright side, I have the Colossus back up and running but no other cards which takes away some of my recording options and I am left with no analog or QAM which were great backups.

I already suggested twice that you should have installed the other 2 units before the Colossus, and the blaster may have worked... or simply swap the blaster cable into the HVR 1600. Up to you whether you take the advice that is offered of course.

I wish I could find a blaster alternative that is documented to work with MPTV so I can install my other cards.

You won't find such a thing. Except for the Hauppauge blaster support in the ServerBlaster plugin, TV Server does not have built-in blaster support. In other words, you need a blaster that is compatible with IRSS... or an alternative solution such as the DirecTV SHEF plugin.

My understanding is that people successfully use MCE-compatible and USB-UIRT blasters with IRSS and the TV3 Blaster plugin.

Having said all this, I feel like you have options with the Hauppauge blaster. I don't understand why you're not taking them. At the end of the day it's your money and your choice.

 

[spachti]

As mentioned earlier in the thread: he has taken the blaster cable that he thinks is from the Rosewill transceiver, and plugged it into the blaster connector on the Colossus card. In this scenario, he effectively has a Hauppauge blaster. Either he got lucky in that the IR emitter LED and cable wiring were compatible... or he forgot that the blaster cable actually came with one of the Hauppauge tuners.

This is physically impossible, the Rosewill plug is 3.5mm, the Hauppauge connector max 2.5mm.
And has a completely different layout.

 

[hootie318]

I have tried installing the Colossus last. I tried first, last, and in between. No matter the order, the minute I add the second card with the IR blaster it locks up. I installed the 1600 then Colossus and the Blaster stopped working and the BlastCfg showed up different without my settings. The minute I introduce both to the system the IR Blaster goes out. I dont know what to say.[DOUBLEPOST=1433304104][/DOUBLEPOST]

This is physically impossible, the Rosewill plug is 3.5mm, the Hauppauge connector max 2.5mm.

I must have mixed up the cables and thought one was the other. No matter. I am looking for the other cable. If I can find it I am definitely looking to set it up if it works for you.

 

[spachti]

Pull the whole IR blaster stuff from Hauppauge off and follow the tip mm gave you here.
This requires that you have your Rosewill remote complete with your blaster cable.

Please read the following very carefully. As I told you several posts ago, one of the reasons the blaster is not working could be:
↑
IRSS is prevented from using the transceiver by some other application (eg. WMC, MediaPortal). WMC services must be stopped, and MCE remote configuration in MediaPortal must be disabled.
Click to expand...
WinTV and this "IR blaster config" will prevent IRSS from using the blaster (!!!).
In other words, you have to completely close/stop WinTV and "IR blaster config" in order for IRSS to have any chance of being able to control the blaster.

WinTV is a Windows service ("HauppaugeTVServer")... which means it is still running in the background even when you close WinTV (!!!). You have to make sure you stop that service.

After you've closed WinTV, you have to restart the IRSS service to enable IRSS to successfully open/load the blaster.
...and then you have to restart the MediaPortal TV Server service, to ensure the TV3 Blaster plugin gets the correct information from IRSS.

The only chance you have to get the blaster working is if you do all of the above things in the correct order.

 

[spachti]

It seems there are a lot of problems using multiple cards with one Hauppauge blaster:
the colossus and the hvr 1600 are using the same kind of cable.

http://www.missingremote.com/review/hauppauge-colossus


From that review:

In addition, an internal or external blaster can be chosen. The internal blaster utilizes the included IR blaster. The external blaster can utilize any number of applications to control the STB which may control it via FireWire, serial port, Ethernet or IR. The internal IR blaster worked perfectly, however, when using two Colossus cards, internal IR blasters are not supported so an external ehome IR blaster was utilized using IR Server Suite (IRSS) which also worked perfectly.