How to blast IR to an antenna rotator box when changing a TV channel (1 Viewer)

[GJC]

I'm really struggling with this. All I want to do is blast IR to my antenna rotator control box whenever I change TV channels. For now, I'm just experimenting with trying to launch a batch file whenever I change channels.
I've gone through the documentation in the Wiki for IRSS several times, but I can't get anything to work. I can't even get IRSS to learn any IR codes (it instantly comes up with "learn IR failed").

Can anyone point me in the right direction to start setting up IR for my rotator control box?

Thanks!

 

[GJC]

Hello everyone,

I'd really appreciate some help on this. I'm sure that there's someone out there who is running a set-top box that has to have a channel changed whenever a scheduled recording starts or whenever you change channels using the remote.

I've set up EventGhost, and I think I can get it to send IR commands to my rotator box for a "live" person using a remote to change channels. However, I can't seem to get an event when a scheduled recording starts. I'm sure that there's some plug-in out there that will do this as this would be a common issue for set-top boxes.

I know that FortheRecord can give me a scheduled recording event, but it doesn't play well with my HDHomeRun tuners and MP database, so I'm trying to find a solution that only involves MP and its TV Server.

Can someone please suggest something?

 

[rlongfield]

GJC,
Did you ever find a solution for this? I'm looking at adding a rotor to my antenna setup and I would love to have MP control the rotor.

 

[azzuro]

hi, maybe you can use this
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...figuration/02_TV_Servers/DiSEqC_Motor_Control

 

[rlongfield]

I'll have the check. I believe that DiSEqC is for controlling Sat dishs. But it's certainly worth looking into to see if there are any DiSEqC rotors

 

[GJC]

I decided to write my own plugin. It takes an xml file that defines a batch file to call when it's time to rotate the antenna, the rotator speed and then a list of TV stations, their coordinates and a preset number to pass to the batch file. I send the batch file the channel name, channel coordinates (degrees), preset number and the number of seconds that are needed to rotate the antenna from the last station.

The plugin also puts priority on recordings, so that if a recording is in progress, no event will be sent to rotate the antenna.

The plugin part was easy, getting EventGhost to cooperate with sending IR commands has been tougher, but I've got it working. Nothing fancy yet, I'm still trying to get EventGhost's python script to put up some kind of message that the antenna is "currently rotating". I may just see if I can do that in the plugin, but you need to jump through a few hoops in windows to get a service to interact with the desktop.

When I'm done I'll be happy to pass along my finished result. So far it works, but I'd like to add a few refinements to it before releasing it to others (I also don't have a clue how to release a plugin to the community yet, I have to read the wiki). If you're really anxious I can send you what I have sometime next week.

 

[valdi]

Wow, I was about to start learning event ghost along with irss in order to figure out exactly what your trying to do. It would have been months before I got it figured out. If I could cheat and follow along, I'd be quite grateful

 

[GJC]

Happy to help out.

I couldn't get IRSS to work, never figured out what I was doing wrong and there was absolutely zero support on the forums. I'll be happy to share my EventGhost setup with you once I have it done.

Speaking of months, I started trying to setup MediaPortal in early February. I bounced a bit between XBMC and MP for a couple of weeks, making sure I knew what I was up against with both, then settled on MP because it has a full-featured PVR.

Quite honestly valdi, if XBMC had a decent PVR I wouldn't have gone through with MP. From what I've seen of XBMC, everything is setup for you right out of the box. Adding plugins is a breeze and they just work. There's no worrying about codecs or anything like that. I've found that getting MP setup for the family has just been a HUGE learning curve. Out of the box it seems to be quite simple, but when one starts trying to configure and customize that's where the fun (nightmare) begins. I've not only had to learn ForTheRecord, but also IRSS (what I could anyway), TVServer, EventGhost, EventTrigger, Online Videos customization (for live streams), various other plugins, and I haven't even got to setting up Radio or Music yet! I've had to make dozens of posts to get help from developers and finally had to resort to learning how to develop a plugin because no one can tell me how to control a set-top box (or in my case a rotator) with the existing plugins. If I weren't an engineer I would have given up long ago.

My friends at work are saying that I should set up a little consulting business to help people get off of cable TV once I'm done. Considering the learning curve, I'd say I could make a fortune!

On the feature side, I'm still amazed that TV Server can't be setup to transcode web streams. There are plugins for DVB-IP, but nothing that will take run-of-the-mill rtmp, mms and other streams as Online Videos can. Since the streams are "live", we should be able to PVR them, Online Videos can't do that and all that functionality would be free if TV Server could do the transcoding. Yura80 had a crack at it for a limited number of streams, but I only ever got two simple mms streams to work with his code and he's not supporting it anymore. For such a mature product, it boggles my mind that this capability hasn't been added yet. I may just look at it when I get some free time.

By the time I've got everything how I want it, XBMC will have their PVR completed and I won't need MP anymore. Oh well, it's been an interesting hobby!

I'll post back here when I've got the rotator plugin finished. I monitor this thread, so if you're in a hurry I can give you something "over the wall" to try, but I'd like a bit more time to work out the kinks.

 

[valdi]

I know exactly how you feel, I started with a USB Hard Drive Media Player hooked up to a CRT TV about 10 years ago, then, when OTA HDTV came along I hooked that up. Add in a DVD, CD, Wii and Blue-Ray Player. It started to get a little busy in regards to remotes and such. Very confusing for the Kids and Wife. The Wife wanted to turn on the TV and use one remote to control everything. I renovated my home about 4 years ago and put in Data/Audio/Video wiring around the house in anticipation of getting a LinuxMCE setup going. Whole House Audio, Security, Lighting and HVAC control along with complete Video and TV services to whatever multiple screens you have.

Life got in the way, so I decided to look for a interim solution until I can get back to the Home Automation hobby. I looked at NextPVR and I think GBVR or something like that, and the reason I landed on MediaPortal, if I remember correctly, was the TV Server feature along with the WIndows OS that sold me. I can push signal all over my house via WLAN to Tablets, Laptops and Phones via AmpDroid, then hook up LAN connections for each of the screens that I eventually want to add. I started in Nov of last year building a File Server/TV Server/Office PC that would reside in one room with 2 LCD screens and also hook-up to a LCD in my Bedroom which is about 30 feet away from computer.

My Lord, it certainly has not turned out to be a quick interim solution. After getting started and getting fairly far down the path of Hardware installation, Rogers Cable decided to add small Digital Set Top Boxes and turn off their Analog Cable Signal to screw up my Analog and OTA setup. I figured that out, then just now have finished IR and HDMI wiring thru the walls and finally got the MCE remote control to work macros from within MP and IRSS to work separate components.

So far though, I gotta say this program is pretty solid, rarely does MP induce a reboot and the TV Guide via remote is a godsend to the wife.

Somebody on this forum said, "The WAF index is off the board", Wife Acceptance Factor. I gotta tell ya, in my house it's all about the WAF, and MP does deliver.

Anyways, I'm a college educated programmer from 15 years ago, that did not pursue a career in programming. Other than VBA programming for work to impress the Boss, I haven't touched a compiler in about a 10 years. For me to do what your doing would take me months. First learn to program in the various languages, brush up on SQL and before you know it, a half a year has gone by. Believe me, I'll take whatever ya got, whenever ya want and be darn grateful for it

Anyways, get back to work and finish that process/plugin so the wife can get her american channels without having to get up and walk thru half the house to rotate the antenna.

 

[rlongfield]

You think it's frustrating, now imagine not knowing how to program! I am at the mercy of kind folks like you GJC.
I actually find MediaPortal pretty simple to setup but then again I've had a few years of experience or working with MythTV. Great support from Myth people but some of the hoops, wow.
I would agree though that there is a bit of a support issue here I'm finding MP a better overall product

If you need someone to do some testing just let me know.