Logitech Harmony 525 + Home-Electro IRA-3 (Serial) module. (1 Viewer)

[jahebe]

Hello all.

My problem doesn't really have anything to do directly with Media Portal, but I'm posting here hoping to drain some knowledge from this fora - seeing I'm using Media Portal at the HTPC core

I've been building a HTPC at home using Media Portal, and was planning to re-use my Logitech Harmony 525 remote to control MP.
I configure the Harmony remote to use the "Media Portal" configuration and hooked up a Home-Electro IRA-3 serialUIR module.

After spending 10 hours trying to get this to work (WinLIRC won't work with the IRA - I had to settle for Girder 3.29), I realized that something was fishy regarding the codes sent by the Harmony.
So I used the "comport.exe" utility from Home-Electro and logged the received events from the remote that was shipped with the DVB card and the Harmony remote.

The log is from 10 clicks on "OK" with about a second between each click.

Technotrend Remote

Ira Diagnostics Utility v. 0.1 (C) 2002 Home Electronics
Testing port COM1
Opening port...
Port opened...
Sending Init String...
Waiting for response...
Received response: NO
Invalid response
Sending Init String...
Waiting for response...
Received response:
Invalid response
Sending Init String...
Waiting for response...
Received response: OK
IRA is detected on port COM1!
Listening to Ira, press any key to terminate...
Received message, 6 bytes : 80 54 01 00 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : 80 5C 01 00 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : 80 54 01 00 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : 80 5C 01 00 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : 80 54 01 00 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : 80 5C 01 00 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : 80 54 01 00 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : 80 5C 01 00 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : 80 54 01 00 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : 80 5C 01 00 00 00


Logitech Harmony 525 with MediaPortal configuration

Ira Diagnostics Utility v. 0.1 (C) 2002 Home Electronics
Testing port COM1
Opening port...
Port opened...
Sending Init String...
Waiting for response...
Received response: NO
Invalid response
Sending Init String...
Waiting for response...
Received response:
Invalid response
Sending Init String...
Waiting for response...
Received response: OK
IRA is detected on port COM1!
Listening to Ira, press any key to terminate...
Received message, 6 bytes : E7 10 81 01 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : E7 D3 41 01 00 30
Received message, 6 bytes : E4 20 01 06 00 C3
Received message, 6 bytes : E4 13 F1 05 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : E7 C3 81 3D 30 0C
Received message, 6 bytes : E7 10 81 01 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : DB 12 01 36 00 30
Received message, 6 bytes : 27 33 C1 F9 00 F3
Received message, 6 bytes : E4 E0 B1 01 00 30
Received message, 6 bytes : E7 10 81 01 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : E7 30 01 06 00 CC
Received message, 6 bytes : 17 20 C1 36 00 F0
Received message, 6 bytes : E7 10 81 31 3C 0C
Received message, 6 bytes : E7 10 81 01 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : E4 10 01 06 00 C0
Received message, 6 bytes : EB E0 0D 06 00 C0
Received message, 6 bytes : DB 0C 81 01 0C 00
Received message, 6 bytes : E7 D0 81 31 00 00
Received message, 6 bytes : EB 20 0D 06 00 C0


The Technotrend remote alternates between two strings, but the Logitech is all over the place.
No wonder close to none control messages was effectuated!

Anyone had similar experiences?
BTW: It's not bad batteries - I've replaced them already ;-)

Regards, JHB

 

[jahebe]

Solved: figured it out eventually.

I think I figured it out:
The Ira-3 comes with an included 38khz sensor and an optional 56kHz sensor.
I'm guessing the "Media Portal" setup downloaded via the Logitech Harmony configuration tool
is for the 56kHz band - then since the Ira-3 can't lock on to the carrier, it all gets a bit gibberish.

I dug up some old remotes from stereos long gone, and used them to replace commands in the
Logitech Harmony ;-)
Works like a charm!

Summing up: Ira-3 without the optional 56kHz sensor won't work with "everything".