Multiple Hauppauge Colossus cards -- pre- and post-recording behavior? (1 Viewer)

[Karyudo]

On a more cheery note, I do appreciate your interest in these issues, and your plans to perhaps make some changes to MP and/or IRSS to get things to work better for some of the things I've identified! Thanks!

I think I may also pick up a USB UIRT and see if that works any better. It's another $50 added to the tally for this "free" solution, but if it ends up saving me some time and frustration, it will be worth it.

 

[mm1352000]

With that success, I then moved on to MP configuration, where I picked WinLIRC from the Remote menu, set the location of the winlirc.exe program, and... promptly got stuck. I have no clue what to do next.

I have no clue what you're trying to do right now...

If I've understood correctly you have the remote that you'd normally use with your STB configured with WinLIRC. In other words, WinLIRC is receiving the remote button presses. The question is: how are you expecting to tie this into MediaPortal and your STBs?

...which I don't understand at all, after the first three lines (i.e. the part where I got WinLIRC working independently). I have no idea where I "should use short names for remotes," I have no idea what config file should contain "all remotes," I haven't the foggiest idea what "external channels" are, nor where to set them up.

I'm in the same boat as you here - absolutely no idea. Looking at the code is just as confusing. It is like there is meant to be some kind of additional process plugin. Maybe this???
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/winlirc-plugin-for-mp-1-2x.105954/

I took a look at the IRSS configuration (outside of MP), and that let me choose WinLIRC. Okaaay... But then within the TV3 plugin for TV Server, I have no idea what's going on. I can't get anything to work. There are options and blank screens and "IR learning" pages galore, but no examples or anything resembling what I think I need.

My feeling is you need to confirm how WinLIRC is actually useful here. I mean, can't IRSS control your blaster?
In other words, what is WinLIRC adding here (except confusion)?
With the TVE 3 Blaster Plugin MP tells TV Server to change channel, TV Server notifies the TVE 3 blaster plugin... where it goes from there I have no idea. My impression is that the guts of what you need to do is in the STB Setup:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/3_IRSS_(IR_Server_Suite)/MP1_Plugins/TV3_Blaster_Plugin#STB_Setup

Surely the IR stuff should all be configured in IRSS.

All I want to tell MP is, "I've got two external STBs. So use WinLIRC to blast STB 1 with the IR codes contained in the shaw_box.cfg configuration file, using the IR emitter on the IguanaWorks IR transceiver channel 1/2, and blast STB 2 with the same codes, using transceiver channel 3/4."

Unless the plugin linked above is some kind of miracle plugin, I don't see how that can possibly work. There's just no way that you could independently control two STBs and have TV Server do what it should do without sending commands through TV Server. I mean: how will MP (or WinLIRC for that matter) know which STB to send the commands to? In other words, I think WinLIRC is a dead end... but I've been known to be wrong.

Something here is overly complicated and underly explained. And it's driving me batsh!t insane.

Understandably. I keep coming back to the fact that MP is not going to make this easy. When I say "MP was not designed to support blasting"... I really do mean it.

 

[Karyudo]

Happy New Year!

After taking care of some other HTPC stuff, I'm back looking at MP for capturing TV. My USB-UIRT arrived a while back, and I've spent a little bit of time fiddling with it in MP.

Reading through your last message, mm1352000, I think we've sort of been talking at cross purposes. I don't understand how MP works in general, nor how the TV Server works specifically. By your own admission, you don't seem to know much about how IR stuff works, nor have I made it very clear about what I'm hoping to achieve. Lemme go one step back, and try to better explain what I'm after, what I think should be possible (focusing on hardware capabilities), and what I've tried...

Here's a sketch of the system I've got:

A few things to note:
• I must be one of the few people with more than one Colossus? Being fed with HDCP-stripped HDMI? Component with S/PDIF is also possible; HDMI just seems more elegant.
• I'm in Canada, so I'm using Schedules Direct for TV schedules.
• Both USB-UIRT and WinLIRC hardware appear to support independent blasting of at least two channels, which means it should be possible to individually blast two STBs (with the correct software implementation in MP).
• The USB-UIRT connection for the two blasters is a stereo 3.5 mm plug. The blasters come with a mono 3.5 mm plug. It's possible to connect the two blasters to independent ports/channels with a stereo-to-L&R audio splitter.

In MP (NOT TV Server), I'm able to choose one of many pre-configured (?) remote solutions, including USB-UIRT and WinLIRC. I can't get WinLIRC working, because the setup tab doesn't give me enough hints as to what to do. But I've been able to set up both the remote code learning and STB code learning successfully using USB-UIRT. It's not quite as intuitive or user-friendly as one would hope (for example, I don't see a way to save / load IR remote configuration files), but the 'Test' feature seems to confirm it works.

In IRSS, there don't seem to be many things to configure for either WinLIRC or USB-UIRT. And what looks like configuration pages is distressingly blank and undocumented. It seems to be flexible enough to send separate commands or macros or even programs for each keypress (e.g. what happens when you press '1' could be different from what happens when you press '2'), which seems overly complicated -- and I couldn't make it work.

Because of the 'Remote' section having been added to MP, and because I was able to get it to record IR codes and understand them when navigating MP, I thought I had everything set up that I needed. That is, IRSS is now unnecessary? (Maybe not?)

What I'd like to be able to do is:
• Browse the Schedules Direct listings in MP with an arbitrary IR remote, and choose shows to record.
• Make MP and/or MP TV Server aware that I have two Colossus cards, each fed by an HD- and Dolby Digital-capable independent STB over HDMI.
• Make MP and/or MP TV Server aware that I have two independent IR blasters plugged into a single USB-UIRT (or WinLIRC) host.
• When two recordings are scheduled at the same time on two separate channels, have MP blast both STB 1 and STB-2 to change the channels independently, and record from both Colossus cards with pre- and post-padding.
• When two recordings are scheduled back-to-back on the same channel, have MP blast an STB to change the channel for the first show, and record from the Colossus with pre- and post-padding for both shows, without blasting the channel for the second show.

I'd like to help work through this, and see if it's possible to upgrade some of these MP components to be more robust and generic, so somebody could throw a couple of Colossus/HD-PVR/other analog capture cards into a computer, add a WinLIRC or USB-UIRT transceiver (receiver+blaster), plus a couple of external STBs, and smoothly set this all up intuitively to work like an off-the-shelf two-tuner PVR would work.

Am I on the right track, or completely nuts?

 

[mm1352000]

Happy New Year!

Happy new year to you as well!

Reading through your last message, mm1352000, I think we've sort of been talking at cross purposes. I don't understand how MP works in general, nor how the TV Server works specifically. By your own admission, you don't seem to know much about how IR stuff works, nor have I made it very clear about what I'm hoping to achieve. Lemme go one step back, and try to better explain what I'm after, what I think should be possible (focusing on hardware capabilities), and what I've tried...

Here's a sketch of the system I've got...

The hardware side of this makes perfect sense to me and I can see what you're wanting to do. I think where you need more clarity is on the boundaries/purposes of MediaPortal, TV Server and IRSS. In other words, the "TV Server box" and "MediaPortal 1.5+" sections.

I must be one of the few people with more than one Colossus? Being fed with HDCP-stripped HDMI? Component with S/PDIF is also possible; HDMI just seems more elegant.

Maybe so. This in itself is no problem. However I think it is important to start pointing out here that if you're wanting to use "MediaPortal" to receive from or control Colossae then the primary component that you need to configure is TV Server, not MediaPortal. Maybe it would help your understanding if I said to think of MediaPortal as a client like XBMC. TV Server is effectively independent back end software.

I'm in Canada, so I'm using Schedules Direct for TV schedules.

That's fine. No problem. There is a SchedulesDirect plugin for TV Server. Confusingly, it is installed using the MediaPortal Extension Installer which itself is only installed if you install MediaPortal (ie. the front end client).

Both USB-UIRT and WinLIRC hardware appear to support independent blasting of at least two channels, which means it should be possible to individually blast two STBs (with the correct software implementation in MP).

I agree with your statement regarding the hardware. However, I want to be absolutely crystal clear about the software too. MediaPortal does not contain any implementation of tuning, scheduling, EPG storage... etc. So, when you say "the correct software implementation in MP" what I think you really mean is "the correct software implementation in TV Server and IRSS".

The USB-UIRT connection for the two blasters is a stereo 3.5 mm plug. The blasters come with a mono 3.5 mm plug. It's possible to connect the two blasters to independent ports/channels with a stereo-to-L&R audio splitter.

Understood. This is something that IRSS will need to understand and be configured to handle.

In MP (NOT TV Server), I'm able to choose one of many pre-configured (?) remote solutions, including USB-UIRT and WinLIRC. I can't get WinLIRC working, because the setup tab doesn't give me enough hints as to what to do. But I've been able to set up both the remote code learning and STB code learning successfully using USB-UIRT. It's not quite as intuitive or user-friendly as one would hope (for example, I don't see a way to save / load IR remote configuration files), but the 'Test' feature seems to confirm it works.

Okay.
As I've tried to explain previously: that configuration is only to allow you to navigate through MediaPortal (the front end). In other words, it is configuration for the receiver part of the USB-UIRT... not for the two blaster ports.

In IRSS, there don't seem to be many things to configure for either WinLIRC or USB-UIRT. And what looks like configuration pages is distressingly blank and undocumented. It seems to be flexible enough to send separate commands or macros or even programs for each keypress (e.g. what happens when you press '1' could be different from what happens when you press '2'), which seems overly complicated -- and I couldn't make it work.

Absolutely. That is way more flexible and complicated than what you need. For your purposes all you need is for IRSS to send "1" to the correct STB when the channel that you want to view/record has a "1" in the channel number.

Note that I did not say "when you press a "1" on your remote". That is because channel selection in the front end could be done with up/down/left/right arrows + enter/OK. Let me explain in more detail... because it is really crucial that you understand this.

When you select a channel in MediaPortal, MediaPortal interprets the combination of button presses (presumably on a remote control in your case) to mean "okay, he wants to tune channel ABC". You might have selected the channel with numbers or arrows or even the green button for all MP knows or cares. The point is that the end result is that MediaPortal tells TV Server: "please tune channel ABC". I can't over-emphasize enough: MP is not saying "tune channel 123". Aside from the fact that MediaPortal doesn't have any concept of channels, tuners, EPG, recordings etc. without TV Server... this is the fundamental reason why you cannot solve this problem using MediaPortal alone.

Continuing the explanation...
In your case, when TV Server gets that "please tune channel ABC" request, all TV Server will know to do is select the HDMI input on one of the two Colossae. That by itself doesn't change any channels unless you had different STBs connected via HDMI, component, composite etc.

So how does the STB actually get told to change channels?
The "magic" is that the IRSS TVE 3 Blaster plugin is always watching what TV Server does. When TV Server gets that "please tune channel ABC", TV Server sends out a general message to all TV Server plugins saying "I'm about to tune channel ABC". When the TVE 3 Blaster plugin gets that message, it looks up the channel number associated with channel ABC (let's say it is channel 100), figures out which blaster port needs to be blasted, and then tells IRSS: "please blast 1 + 0 + 0 + OK on USB UIRT blaster port 2".

Hopefully things are starting to click for you now.

Because of the 'Remote' section having been added to MP, and because I was able to get it to record IR codes and understand them when navigating MP, I thought I had everything set up that I needed. That is, IRSS is now unnecessary? (Maybe not?)

No. As I've tried to explain above, you simply can't have a proper working solution with only MediaPortal, or with only MediaPortal and IRSS. The way I see it you're thinking about this totally the wrong way. The components you really need are TV Server and IRSS. MediaPortal is the expendable part that can be swapped out for XBMC or some other front end.

Browse the Schedules Direct listings in MP with an arbitrary IR remote, and choose shows to record.

For this you need MediaPortal, TV Server and the TV Server SchedulesDirect plugin.

Make MP and/or MP TV Server aware that I have two Colossus cards, each fed by an HD- and Dolby Digital-capable independent STB over HDMI.

For this you only need TV Server. MediaPortal and IRSS will never know what a Colossus is.

Make MP and/or MP TV Server aware that I have two independent IR blasters plugged into a single USB-UIRT (or WinLIRC) host.

No - not MP and/or TV Server. You need to make IRSS and its TVE 3 Blaster plugin aware of this. Also, you need to make the TVE 3 blaster plugin aware that when TV Server tunes with Colossus 1 then IRSS should blast with port 1; similarly, when TV Server tunes with Colossus 2 then IRSS should blast with port 2. This is how IRSS fits in.

When two recordings are scheduled at the same time on two separate channels, have MP blast both STB 1 and STB-2 to change the channels independently, and record from both Colossus cards with pre- and post-padding.

You schedule the recordings in MediaPortal.
TV Server stores the schedules and deals with the timing stuff.
IRSS and the TVE 3 blaster plugin take care of the blasting.

When two recordings are scheduled back-to-back on the same channel, have MP blast an STB to change the channel for the first show, and record from the Colossus with pre- and post-padding for both shows, without blasting the channel for the second show.

Again, this has absolutely nothing to do with MediaPortal.
As above, TV Server controls the timing and selects the HDMI input on the Colossae.
IRSS has to do the blasting... and on that note, I thought you'd already confirmed that the TVE 3 blaster plugin blasts for the second recording?

I'd like to help work through this, and see if it's possible to upgrade some of these MP components to be more robust and generic, so somebody could throw a couple of Colossus/HD-PVR/other analog capture cards into a computer, add a WinLIRC or USB-UIRT transceiver (receiver+blaster), plus a couple of external STBs, and smoothly set this all up intuitively to work like an off-the-shelf two-tuner PVR would work.

Am I on the right track, or completely nuts?

Honestly, I'm leaning towards the nuts side. I don't mean to be rude in any way. If you had said "unrealistic" instead of "nuts" I would have been able to agree more wholeheartedly.
The thing is, from my perspective MP, TV Server and IRSS are robust. When I say that, I mean they're generally reliable and do what the label says they'll do. Same with generic. Each component has its place and can be swapped out if not suitable. For example, MP can be swapped out for XBMC; TV Server's scheduler can be swapped out for Argus; IRSS and the TVE 3 blaster plugin can be swapped out for an alternative blaster plugin/system. I'm not sure what more you could ask for on that front.
Your confusion seems to be one of the consequences of the generic design. I mean, somebody could have built the USB-UIRT blaster support directly into TV Server... but they didn't because they wanted a more generic solution which supports a whole range of STBs and blasters... which is IRSS.
Another consequence is that I don't think people are ever going to be able to smoothly configure such a setup like an off-the-shelf PVR. Configuration has to be done in separate applications and places; there is no way to automate it or improve the flow.
On the other hand, there is much more flexibility and power to do crazy things... and that is completely in line with the design philosophy of MediaPortal.

mm

 

[Karyudo]

OK, it seems MP and TV Server work exactly how I thought they should, until I was confused by the oddities:

• Have to install MP in order to install the Schedules Direct plugin in TV Server. I didn't want to install MP in the first place, and tried to avoid it, but couldn't install the plugin installer without it! So somehow I got the impression that MP and TV Server were more entangled than they should be. You've confirmed they are. Which is nuts.

• The USB-UIRT tab under 'Remotes' in MP allows setting up of blasting for an STB. The 'Test' button in that same setup page takes as an argument a channel number, which is blasted to the STB using the USB-UIRT. So I'd say it was a pretty reasonable guess that MP was now handling IR blasting for TV Server -- despite it not being how I'd first assumed that MP worked. It's nuts that STB blasting is configured in MP, but then not used to actually blast an STB.

• Most of the wiki pages describing blasting, etc., are dated 2010, and are marked as being out-of-date, and needing rewrites, updates, or more detail. So again, it seemed pretty reasonable to disregard anything in the wiki. Or, more accurately, to use the wiki to understand how things definitely *didn't* work anymore.

So now that I know that it's MP that's a bit nuts, and not me, I'll be able to focus in the right areas. Thanks for confirming!

I thought you'd already confirmed that the TVE 3 blaster plugin blasts for the second recording?

Yeah, I did -- with WinLIRC or sagechanger.exe (the FireWire app); can't remember which. But I couldn't figure out how to have the second STB blasted/changed with either of those two (partial) solutions. More forum posts seemed to be about USB-UIRT than any other IR/blasting option, so I thought there might be a nice, simple solution there.

Do you know if anybody on the dev team has any information about people who have used WinLIRC or USB-UIRT to blast more than one STB under IRSS? I'm guessing not, otherwise you'd have pointed me there already. (Blasting n>1 STBs is what I was thinking of when I said "more generic," by the way. Because otherwise, you're right: it's nicely modular and generic.)

Who's developing IRSS? I'm sort of surprised nobody has jumped in on this thread to sort things out much earlier. Because clearly I don't know what I'm doing, and you've stated on more than one occasion that on the IRSS side, neither do you, really. Is there source code? I have no formal idea what I'm doing in any programming language, but I've learned how to make things work in several previous instances. Configuring and calling a third-party piece of IR-blasting hardware shouldn't be rocket surgery, should it? (Not a rhetorical question: IRSS must be the easy part to tackle, amirite?)

One of the things that I find really tough about configuring IRSS is having to work with no examples or robust documentation. It feels like nobody has ever confirmed that some of these plugins actually work. Or maybe couldn't, because of not having the hardware to try? Well, I've got hardware and interest....

 

[mm1352000]

Have to install MP in order to install the Schedules Direct plugin in TV Server. I didn't want to install MP in the first place, and tried to avoid it, but couldn't install the plugin installer without it! So somehow I got the impression that MP and TV Server were more entangled than they should be. You've confirmed they are. Which is nuts.

Call it nuts if you like. I don't feel obliged to defend how things are. Suffice to say that plugin developer(s) (ie. not the team) choose to distribute their plugins in the way that is convenient for their users. I guess the SD plugin developers think most people that use their plugin use MediaPortal with TV Server. If you want to use XBMC instead of MP then you might have to accept that you're in a minority and put up with a few things like this.

The USB-UIRT tab under 'Remotes' in MP allows setting up of blasting for an STB. The 'Test' button in that same setup page takes as an argument a channel number, which is blasted to the STB using the USB-UIRT. So I'd say it was a pretty reasonable guess that MP was now handling IR blasting for TV Server -- despite it not being how I'd first assumed that MP worked. It's nuts that STB blasting is configured in MP, but then not used to actually blast an STB.

At one time TV support was built into MediaPortal. The fields you're referring to are probably a legacy from that time. All software has legacy code. I think I've told you repeatedly that MediaPortal by itself can't meet your blasting requirements, so please lets forget about this and move on (if you want to continue).

Most of the wiki pages describing blasting, etc., are dated 2010, and are marked as being out-of-date, and needing rewrites, updates, or more detail. So again, it seemed pretty reasonable to disregard anything in the wiki. Or, more accurately, to use the wiki to understand how things definitely *didn't* work anymore.

This bothers me. It is not reasonable to treat the info in the wiki that way. In particular, just because something was written in 2010 doesn't make it irrelevant or wrong!

Yeah, I did -- with WinLIRC or sagechanger.exe (the FireWire app); can't remember which. But I couldn't figure out how to have the second STB blasted/changed with either of those two (partial) solutions. More forum posts seemed to be about USB-UIRT than any other IR/blasting option, so I thought there might be a nice, simple solution there.

I can only repeat [again] that configuring MP/TV Server to do something it wasn't designed to do will not be nice and simple.

Do you know if anybody on the dev team has any information about people who have used WinLIRC or USB-UIRT to blast more than one STB under IRSS? I'm guessing not, otherwise you'd have pointed me there already.

No. You're right, I would have.

Blasting n>1 STBs is what I was thinking of when I said "more generic," by the way.

Okay, even though this has nothing to do with TV Server, I do know that the IRSS TVE 3 blaster plugin supports this. It wouldn't be couched in those terms though because nobody blasts more than one STB per "tuner". You simply configure your STB per tuner:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/@api/deki/files/296/=15_tv3blaster_setupSTB.png

(...from the not irrelevant guide here:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...p_Box_Blasting#Configuring_TV3_Blaster_Plugin
)

Who's developing IRSS?

Refer to the sticky thread in the IRSS section of the forum:
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/irss-is-in-maintenance-mode.67344/

In short, probably nobody right now. I'm sure we've covered this before.

I'm sort of surprised nobody has jumped in on this thread to sort things out much earlier.

Quite frankly, I'm not.

Because clearly I don't know what I'm doing, and you've stated on more than one occasion that on the IRSS side, neither do you, really.

IRSS is only a relatively small part of the puzzle. The sorts of questions you're asking suggest that if you've done anything at all, you're struggling with more than just IRSS. That is the main reason I'm still here. If you want to move forward I'd suggest explaining exactly what you have working, with log files and screenshots of configuration. Then I can propose a concrete next step. Even better would be to setup a TeamViewer connection and I can jump on and take a look. That would save us both a ton of time.

Is there source code? I have no formal idea what I'm doing in any programming language, but I've learned how to make things work in several previous instances. Configuring and calling a third-party piece of IR-blasting hardware shouldn't be rocket surgery, should it? (Not a rhetorical question: IRSS must be the easy part to tackle, amirite?)

Of course there is source code:
https://github.com/MediaPortal/IR-Server-Suite

...but I honestly don't recommend looking at it as I can't see how it is going to be helpful to you. Please consider what I said above about TeamViewer, logs and screenshots etc.

One of the things that I find really tough about configuring IRSS is having to work with no examples or robust documentation. It feels like nobody has ever confirmed that some of these plugins actually work. Or maybe couldn't, because of not having the hardware to try? Well, I've got hardware and interest....

...but really, configuration of IRSS is meant to be one of the easiest parts of this. I'd even say that if your STB and blaster are supported then it should be trivial. That's what I'm finding tough to understand about the way this thread has progressed.
AIUI all that has to be done in IRSS itself is configure the service:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/3_IRSS_(IR_Server_Suite)/Input_Service

In short, select and configure the USB-UIRT as your transmit device.
Can you be more specific about what exactly you are struggling with? When I say specific, I mean please provide screenshots with [brief] annotations.

mm

 

[stephenv]

Hi Karyudo, I just thought I would chime in to let you know that you're not alone. I'm going nuts too.

I'm also in the process of setting up a dual-Colossus to set top box system. As far as I can see the only difference is you are using HDMI as the input and I'm sticking with the older component video feeds (yucky big cables!). I got this working pretty well with a single Colossus card (using the IR blaster that is built into the Colossus card), so then decided to add a second Colossus to the system and control it (or perhaps both) with a USB-UIRT. But so far I have not got the blasting to work. I think my current problem is that I didn't find the "most recent" version of the IRSS software because I followed the download links from the FAQ in the (outdated) wiki. Just yesterday I stumbled across an old thread (from June 2013, but it resurfaced when someone added a new comment) in the forums that includes the newest version of IRSS, so I'm hoping I can get that installed and working later this week.

Which version of MediaPortal and IRSS are you using? I'm trying to use 1.6 since I just started this project (the day before 1.6 came out).

Regards,

Stephen

 

[CanadianEh]

Hey guys,

I'm not sure if I can help here, as I have a similar configuration. I use a Hauppauge HD-PVR to capture component video / spdif audio from a Bell 6141 satellite with channel-changing using the "TV 3 Blaster plugin" and a USB-UIRT. I do not have it set up to blast two separate boxes, but skimming through these posts, perhaps some of it info will be helpful.

After installing the TV 3 Blaster plugin, open TV Server Configuration, and expand the Plug-ins:

- Highlight the Plugin Setup tab (default)
- Click STB Setup
- Select the tab associated with your capture card (mine is TV Card 11)
- (Hopefully) under the Quick Setup dropdown, you will find your STB model (I chose the Echostar 3000, since it's remote is essentially the same as the Bell 6141)
- Click Set, and test some channel blasting.


I've attached two screenshots that *hopefully* will help demonstrate this. Just let me know if this helps or not. It looks like there is the possibility to run an external program as well, which may allow you to do channel changes via firewire.

I've been using MediaPortal now since SageTV was sold a few years ago, so it's been a while since I've touched any of this, but hopefully it will help someone out there someday, as well.

If you need help with the SchedulesDirect plugin, I might be able to help there, as well, since I am also using it.

Good luck!

 

[stephenv]

CanadianEh: I've finally got to the point where I can follow what you've just written (in Calgary). Are you using more that one port on the USB-UIRT? From your screen snapshot it appears that you are using port 2.

If you are using more than one port to control multiple set top boxes, what did you do to enable this? I tried selecting "all", "1", "2", or "3" for the port and in all cases whenever I tested blasting the light on the main USB-UIRT box came on and I never got the eatra plugin blaster to light up.

Regards,

Stephen

 

[CanadianEh]

To be honest, I only am using zone 2, which is one of the "zones" associated with the external IR emitter I have plugged into the back of the USB-UIRT.

My external blasters never 'light up' with visible light, but yes the master light on the USB-UIRT will light up whenever the entire device is blasting out of any zone.

Does your IR blaster cable have a mono or stereo plug on it? The reason I ask is that you may get unpredictable results if the plug is mono, as only one of the two external zones would ever be connected (I think). The plug should have two black rings on it like this: