Code fix for blaster issue I was having. (1 Viewer)

[Zasurus]

Hi all, I have a MS IR receiver and double blaster and for as long as I have had it and used IRSS (YEARS!) I have had trouble with the blaster and Translator. I use it to turn my Samsung Plasma on and off using the MS Media Remotes TV power button. This was done by learning my TV remote's on/off toggle IR signal (by the learn feature of Translator) and then assigning it to the TV Power button on the remote.

It works fine in the Translator's "Test" button (worked every time!) but when I use it for real it always makes the blaster LED flash but maybe 1 out of 5 flashes turns the plasma on/off. If I use the IR Blaster exe it worked every time (like the Test button) but takes a sec for all the exe to open and send the command which is a bit annoying.

Anyway today I got the time and will to download the IRSS source and work out what is going wrong. As first I thought there must be different code running for the test button than live use/blasting but upon my first check it was clear it wasn't once I added some message boxes printing out the commands send etc.. BUT I noticed that if I added said message box the command always worked!? So I replaced the message box with a wait of a sec and again all good! But anoying 1 sec odd wait is back so I reduced the wait until it worked and didn't feel sluggish (which for my PC is 300ms)

I suspect this has something to do with the way the blaster it's self is working... maybe if it receives the controls IR command from the MS IR Remote (model: 1039) and instantly is told to blast it has issues!?

Anyway I can't be the only person having this issue so I thought I would post my patch (I hope sorry not a GIT user normally use hg and it's different enough to make patches harder!) so you guys can see it and maybe use it if others have this issue. It's only one line but still. See attached file.
The source I got was from "https://github.com/disaster123/IR-Server-Suite"

I have also posted the Translator.exe (in a 7z file) with the wait encase anyone else wanted it and couldn't compile it.

Regards,

Zas

 

[nzdreamer55]

Zas,

I want to say that I too use IRSS and find that to my brain, it is kind of magical. The one thing that may me reply is that I was also having similar issues in that my TV would seem to turn on or off when it shouldn't. I made sure that the IR sensor on the TV was only able to see the blaster and could not get any IR signal from my remote. I used black (because that is what I had not that the color matters) electrical tape to block off any stray IR signal taping over the blaster wired transmitter on my TV. I'm not sure if this is going to help or not, but maybe just maybe I can help someone else.
-S

 

[Zasurus]

Zas,

I want to say that I too use IRSS and find that to my brain, it is kind of magical. The one thing that may me reply is that I was also having similar issues in that my TV would seem to turn on or off when it shouldn't. I made sure that the IR sensor on the TV was only able to see the blaster and could not get any IR signal from my remote. I used black (because that is what I had not that the color matters) electrical tape to block off any stray IR signal taping over the blaster wired transmitter on my TV. I'm not sure if this is going to help or not, but maybe just maybe I can help someone else.
-S

That's not the same issue I was having (mine was just not working when I told it to and would take 3-5 attempts to work) BUT freaky my Plasma has started turning on/off on it's own it doesn't come off fully (nothing is displayed just the plasma warms up for a sec then goes off) fairly sure it's just my plasma going tits up and nothing to do with the IR blaster as no LED n it never shows anything on the screen.
Soz I have no idea why yours would come on/off. Does the blaster flash?

 

[nzdreamer55]

Mine works fine now that I covered the IR receiver port on my TV (only the extension from my USB-IRT flashes my TV now). I have a USB-IRT with an extension that runs from the back to my TV, Sound bar, and STB. Total cost ~ $70 USD. Sorry your TV is going as you say....tits up.

-S

 

[kiwijunglist]

I think I've had this issue as well. Test blast worked, actual translated blast only intermittently worked. I gave up on IRSS as I found it really buggy with my IR receiver (HP MCE Compatible IR Receiver).

 

[Zasurus]

I think I've had this issue as well. Test blast worked, actual translated blast only intermittently worked. I gave up on IRSS as I found it really buggy with my IR receiver (HP MCE Compatible IR Receiver).

Do you have a alternative?

 

[kiwijunglist]

My need to IR Blast is so I can Vol+/Vol-/PWR on my audio receiver using my PC remote.

So I used a program called lmremote, and learnt the IR codes for my receiver, and mapped the Vol+/Vol-/Mute buttons to blast the receiver. I also made a little script that unmutes the audio whenever i push the mute button, so the mute button only powers on/off my audio receiver and doesn't actually mute the pc.

The other thing i use lmremote for is if i a script for the MCE button.

If you close MP to the system tray, then the MCE button can't launch/restore MP. So I made MCE button launch a script that looks in the corner of the screen for the MP icon in the system tray and if it finds the icon it double clicks it.