IR Server Suite - Alpha Testing (Private) (3 Viewers)

msjl1969

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This is also looks like a windows networking issue. When using Netbios (aka Windows networking) / RPC you should always have a naked ethernet or network connection if you are testing

Hi AndyD. No I don't think it is a networking issue. I only have problems with the Microsoft MCE driver, not Aaron's general framework.

OK, It looks like some other service/software is accessing the MCE IR device and not letting the IR Server access it. So we need to find out what that is and kill it.

The Microsoft MCE IR Server plugin does kill ehtray.exe, but it could be something else is using it. Maybe try manually terminating other MCE services and then trying the IR Server...

I don't have Windows MCE, but after just looking into the MediaPortal sources I see that MediaPortal stops these services as well: ehrecvr, ehsched

ehsched seems to be the culprit. If I kill this, but leave ehrecvr running, then the IR server starts up, no problems.

Best regards,
Mark
 

itbrl

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Thank you for the tip to copy the IR codes. It did solve the problem to re-learn the codes. I am pleased to announce that the IR server is working 100% in a client/server environment and can now change channels from a client and from a client/server environment.

I did test the Virtual remote and it worked 100%.

The IR Server Suite is well put together and very easy to implement.

There is only one thing outstanding for my system to work 100%:

When I change the channel from the EPG it goes to the right channel, but when I punch in the channel number on the remote it goes to the wrong channel.

I had this problem previously and did a change in the Television configuration. I had to select “Channel by index (non-US)” to get if fixed. Maybe you can ask the other developers for a fix on this problem because it is not a IR-Server problem, but a TVserver3 problem.

Regards, Lappies
 

and-81

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    ehsched seems to be the culprit. If I kill this, but leave ehrecvr running, then the IR server starts up, no problems.

    Great news, I'll modify the code for the Microsoft MCE IR Server plugin to stop the ehSched service on start up. This should be done in no time. The fix will go out in the second round of testing. That is, once I've received and acted on some more feedback on this version I will prepare another version with the fixes, changes and some other improvements and then send it out.

    Thanks for your help!

    Thank you for the tip to copy the IR codes. It did solve the problem to re-learn the codes. I am pleased to announce that the IR server is working 100% in a client/server environment and can now change channels from a client and from a client/server environment.

    I did test the Virtual remote and it worked 100%.

    The IR Server Suite is well put together and very easy to implement.

    There is only one thing outstanding for my system to work 100%:

    When I change the channel from the EPG it goes to the right channel, but when I punch in the channel number on the remote it goes to the wrong channel.

    I had this problem previously and did a change in the Television configuration. I had to select “Channel by index (non-US)” to get if fixed. Maybe you can ask the other developers for a fix on this problem because it is not a IR-Server problem, but a TVserver3 problem.

    Excellent! That's really good to hear. The problem you have with channel numbering on TV Server is something the TV Server devs will have to work on, so it might be worth starting a thread in one of the TV Server sub sections about this.

    Just search the forums first to make sure no one has already come up with a solution.

    Thanks for testing!

    Cheers,
     

    sbp

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    Hey and-81

    Any hope for us Hauppauge users. You know that several Hauppauge TV-cards came with a hauppauge remote, IR-reciever and IR-blaster. These are connected directly into the TV-card (I know that PVR150 uses this).

    This Hauppauge IR-reciever, blaster and remote is directly supported in MP, and TV2. But we can't use TV3 as far as I know, because blasting is not supported.

    Could you please include support for this in your new IR-suite?

    I don't know the technical details, but I know that mPod has helped us previously when this remote control had trouble working together with the scandinavian versions of Windows. So if you need details, probably mPod could guide in the right direction.

    Thanks
    STeen
     

    and-81

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    I'll look into supporting the Hauppauge users ... no promises at this stage, but I will definitely look into it.

    Cheers,
     

    andyd

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    Ok maybe stupid question on architecture

    Hi Guys,

    I am trying to set this up and have a question on the architecture of this plugin,

    now I have setup the IR server with no issues (well none already identified) and I have the TVS plugin working. But Do I need the IR server plugins in MP?

    I thought If I changed channel on MP wouldnt MP ask TVS to change channel then TVS would tell IR server that it needs to go to channel 63 (for example) then it would change channel?

    Or does the MP ask the IR server plugin in MP to change channel then IR server plugin then asks IR server to change channel?

    I am still unclear on the actual way forward here.... Or maybe I have missed something.... If someone could explain that would be great...
     

    and-81

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    Hey Andy,

    You don't need the IR Server plugins in MediaPortal to change channels for TV Server.

    If you ask MediaPortal (acting as a TV Server client) to change the channel then MediaPortal asks the TV Server, the TV Server tells the TV Server plugin and the TV Server plugin tells the IR Server which makes it happen.

    The "MP Control Plugin" does have external channel changing in it as well, but this is for TV Engine 2 not 3. I'm breaking that feature out into a separate plugin as we speak.

    If you have any more questions don't hesitate to post here.

    Also, I'd love to hear of any bugs or even just little annoyances you find.

    Cheers,
     

    and-81

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    Hey everyone,

    I've discovered a fairly major bug in the IR Command learning for the following plugins inside the IR Server Suite package:
    MP Control Plugin, MP Blast Zone Plugin, and TV3 Blaster Plugin

    The problem relates to learning IR Commands inside the configuration of those plugins, and it means that you're pretty unlikely to have it successfully learn an IR command. I've fixed the problem and will email out a new test copy today.

    The Translator application and the Debug Client application should learn IR commands with 100% success, it was just the plugins that had the bug.

    When you receive the new version, please completely uninstall your current version first. This is important, you must uninstall the current version before installing the new version. The installer won't make you do this, you have to do it yourself. The reason is that there has been a change in the way the IR Server plugins work and if some of the old files don't get overwritten then strange things will happen.

    If you receive the email and no longer wish to receive new test versions, let me know and I'll take you off the list.

    Cheers,
     

    NickName

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    Hi Aaron,

    I installed the application but it returned the error during installation: "Failed to start IR server, refer to log file for more details"
    I searched a few different folders for the log and the help file suggests the Mediaportal.log & configuration.log files but I can't see any info for the IR Server? Does the IR Server have it's own log somewhere else?
    Note: I have disabled my firewall even though I am trying this on the one PC for for the moment,

    Thanks for you help.

    Martin
     

    and-81

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    Hey Martin,

    Their is a new start menu folder "IR Server Suite", under that there is a folder shortcut to the IR Server log files (The shortcut is just called "Log Files").

    If the IR Server is complaining that it failed to start it is most likely due to the IR Server Plugin not starting, maybe the IR device you selected in configuration is not connected or is in use by another program?

    Also, make sure you double-click your IR Device in the list in IR Server configuration to make it the selected device. If you need to re-enter configuration of the IR Server you can access it from the IR Server Suite start menu folder.

    Hope that helps,
     

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