Microsoft IR blasters (1 Viewer)

dutchio

Portal Member
October 25, 2005
12
0
Derby
Hi all,

Just a quickie, i've purchased an original Microsoft Media Center remote and i'm using it quite happily with Media Portal, however the IR Blaster/emitter that came with the MCE remote will not change my channel on my cable box. I've set up the channel in Media portal and assigned the correct numbers that are on my cable box but it doesn't even attempt to change them. Any help on this would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 

dutchio

Portal Member
October 25, 2005
12
0
Derby
I thought i'd try the myblaster plugin. I've downloaded it and placed the myblaster folder into the plugins root follder but it still doesn't appear in the setup? Can you tell me how to use this plugin please. Thanks.
 

lrisley

Portal Member
July 26, 2005
14
1
Kansas City
mce irblaster, plugin and hip

I have a scientific atlanta 2000 cable box and sa2000 remote that came with it. The mce irblaster (phillips euro version) came with two blaster ports and the irblaster plugin software sees it and appears to learn from the remote but when I tell it to test, it does not appear to change anything. It does make the red lights blink but nothing else happens.

I downloaded HIP and installed it but I don't see any way to use it in mediaportal?

All I want to do is get media portal to change the channels on the cable box.
The myblaster pluggin can be found in the downloads page under plugins/.

Be sure to put the files in the c:\program files\teammedaiportal\mediaportal\plugins\process\

at least that is where I put mine.
It appears to make the hardware function (with the noted exception of actually controlling the cable box).

I wonder if there is a list of people who have successfully used this mce blaster with various cable boxes and remotes (like there is on lirc.sourceforge.net). Then maybe we could share files.

I still have not figured out where your supposed to get HIP to function in media portal.
 

lrisley

Portal Member
July 26, 2005
14
1
Kansas City
HIP

How do you get HIP to work with media portal?
For that matter, how do you get it to work with phillips / microsoft MCE 2005 blaster?
I fired up the HIP program and it acted like it learned from my remote that came with the cable box.
But, when I click on the test IR, it makes the blaster ends flash but does not seem to change the cable box.
I am also , curious about distance from the cable box. Do you really have to have the transmitter taped to the box?

I could not get my blaster to work. the software by itself worked same as above with the same results. But it would not even start in mediaportal??
 

lrisley

Portal Member
July 26, 2005
14
1
Kansas City
any myblaster plugin experts or info sites?

Could anyone at least point to some expert advice on this plugin. It seems like a great plugin and it at least tries to make the hardware work.
I have a feeling it is just some setting burried somewhere.
maybe the blaster.dat (whatever name it is).
Although, I did find the following on green button:



Symptoms:

Even after learning your set-top box remote control, the Media Center remote control does not change channels properly.

Cause:

Media Center may have misjudged the speed of your set-top box’s remote control, and therefore your Media Center remote may be sending signals incorrectly.

Resolution:

Using your keyboard, press WINDOWS + R.
In the “Run†box that appears, type “regedit,†and click OK.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Video\Tuners
Look in subfolders whose names are in curly brackets and contain a bunch of random numbers and letters until you find the UserSettings folder. (There may be multiple folders with this name.)
Click on UserSettings, and open the “STBCode†file on the right-hand side of the window. (If this file does not exist, go back to Step 4.
Try changing the number contained after the <keyinterval> tag to 100, 175, and 250. Each time, close out of the registry, restart your system, and try your remote to see if it works normally.
If you have a Scientific Atlanta 8600 set-top box, change the numbers after the , , and tags to 100, 100, and 400, respectively.
If you have a General Instruments DCT 2244 set-top box, change the numbers after the <keyinterval>, <keyduration>, and <channelpause> tags to 1000, 300, and 1200, respectively.
If you want to tweak the numbers further, here is more detailed information:

The value of Key Duration is defined during set-top box setup. The other two registry entries are left blank by setup, and the values for Key Interval and Channel Pause are calculated in the following way:

Key Interval = Key Duration
Channel Pause = 2 * Key Duration

Key Duration Key Interval (Default) Channel Pause (Default)
FAST 100 100 200

MEDIUM 175 175 350
SLOW 250 250 500


If XXX for Key Interval and YYY for Channel Pause are replaced with numeric values, they are used instead of the defaults.

If your box seems to be dropping digits, try a longer Key Duration. If that doesn’t help or doesn’t fully solve the problem, try a longer Key Interval.

If the box is mixing digits from the previous channel change into the current one, try adding to the Channel Pause, and then Key Interval values.

NOTE: all values are in milliseconds, were 1 millisecond is 1/1000 of a second.

Repro Steps:

During TV set-up, use IR learning on the remote controls of certain set-top boxes, such as Scientific Atlanta 8600 or General Instruments DCT 2244.
While watching television, try to change the channel with your Media Center remote control. It may not change properly.
 

lrisley

Portal Member
July 26, 2005
14
1
Kansas City
Have you found an answer to this yet?

Dutchio!

Have you found an answer to this yet??
I have not. I keep coming close but not there yet.
I am wondering if the big problem is that I don't have media center edition of XP.

The only reason I say that is that I did buy a mce2005 remote with blaster (it shows up as phillips ehome usb blaster). The myblaster plugin seems to talk to the hardware and it even seems to "learn" from my stb remote and when I hit the test button, it will make the little transmitter buds flash.

The problem is that nothing changes (the settop box channel does not change). I played with different speed setting in the software and it did not help.

I did notice that it claims the device is something else other than MCE2005 and it is whited out so I can't change it.

I getting really frustrated with an otherwise great program.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom