Johnny-D. Great post. I'm back to trying out Media Portal again after a brief trial of GB-PVR (which worked great with the blasters). I went through your entire tutorial and everything worked like a champ. The problem I have is that inside of MP, the buds NEVER flash (and of course the channel never changes). I have all of my stations setup as external and I'm using the SVHS connection. Why doesn't MP send the commands to STB if the Test function of blaster.exe does? I guess that is the million dollar question. Any thoughts?
Problems with Myblaster (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter kurtko
- Start date
Hey swfx, glad it helped.
First make sure Media Portal config is listing MyBlaster as a plugin under 'Process Plugins'.
If that doesn't do it, have you explicitly set the external channel? Once MyBlaster is flashing away merrily to the STB, Media Portal has to know which code to send for each individual channel.
In the config app, it's Television -> TV Channels. Then the 'Channel' column should read 250000/101 where '101' is the external channel number. If this isn't the case, you have to edit the channel entry and change the 'channel number for settop box' entry on the External tab. This has to be done for each channel, but can be automated.
Johnny
First make sure Media Portal config is listing MyBlaster as a plugin under 'Process Plugins'.
If that doesn't do it, have you explicitly set the external channel? Once MyBlaster is flashing away merrily to the STB, Media Portal has to know which code to send for each individual channel.
In the config app, it's Television -> TV Channels. Then the 'Channel' column should read 250000/101 where '101' is the external channel number. If this isn't the case, you have to edit the channel entry and change the 'channel number for settop box' entry on the External tab. This has to be done for each channel, but can be automated.
Johnny
United States of America
Johnny-D,
Great write-up!
I will be going through this same process with your instructions when I get home later today. I'm in the US and I have 1 DirecTV HTL-HD receiver (STB). It will be great if I can incorporate your instructions in a document I'm getting together if it works out. Is that OK?
I have a 1/2 working serial channel changing plugin ATM (scoop is looking into getting this working as he has time). I hope the MyBlaster app can cooperate with the DirecTV serial plugin as well.
MediaPortal Version: 0.2.0.4
Windows Version: Windows XP Pro SP2
CPU Type: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ AM2
HDD: Western Digital 500GB SATA II (WD5000KS)
Memory: 1 GB DDR2 800 (2x 512MB) Corsair XMS2
Motherboard: Asus M2N-E
Motherboard Chipset: NVIDIA nForce® 570 Ultra
Motherboard Bios: 0203
Video Card: MSI 7600GT 256MB (NX7600GT-VT2D256EHD)
Video Card Driver: ForceWare 91.47
Sound Card: ADI (onboard) HD
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: Nvidia DualTV MCE
1. TV Card Type: Analog
1. TV Card Driver: 1.31
2. TV Card: Vbox Cat's Eye DTA-150
2. TV Card Type: ATSC
2. TV Card Driver: 2.1.705.7
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: NVIDIA PureVideo
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider: DirecTV (San Francisco)
HTPC Case: SilverStone LC17-B
Cooling: Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 HSF
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12-430W
Remote: Microsoft MCE (US Version)
TV: Pioneer Elite PRO-1110HD 50" Plasma
TV - HTPC Connection: DVI - HDMI
Great write-up!
I will be going through this same process with your instructions when I get home later today. I'm in the US and I have 1 DirecTV HTL-HD receiver (STB). It will be great if I can incorporate your instructions in a document I'm getting together if it works out. Is that OK?
I have a 1/2 working serial channel changing plugin ATM (scoop is looking into getting this working as he has time). I hope the MyBlaster app can cooperate with the DirecTV serial plugin as well.
MediaPortal Version: 0.2.0.4
Windows Version: Windows XP Pro SP2
CPU Type: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ AM2
HDD: Western Digital 500GB SATA II (WD5000KS)
Memory: 1 GB DDR2 800 (2x 512MB) Corsair XMS2
Motherboard: Asus M2N-E
Motherboard Chipset: NVIDIA nForce® 570 Ultra
Motherboard Bios: 0203
Video Card: MSI 7600GT 256MB (NX7600GT-VT2D256EHD)
Video Card Driver: ForceWare 91.47
Sound Card: ADI (onboard) HD
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card: Nvidia DualTV MCE
1. TV Card Type: Analog
1. TV Card Driver: 1.31
2. TV Card: Vbox Cat's Eye DTA-150
2. TV Card Type: ATSC
2. TV Card Driver: 2.1.705.7
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: NVIDIA PureVideo
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider: DirecTV (San Francisco)
HTPC Case: SilverStone LC17-B
Cooling: Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 HSF
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12-430W
Remote: Microsoft MCE (US Version)
TV: Pioneer Elite PRO-1110HD 50" Plasma
TV - HTPC Connection: DVI - HDMI
I have followed your instructions Johnny-D...
When I click on the Test button, it does not send the test to the STB. I have an SMK IR receiver that came with my NVIDIA DualTV remote. I even checked on the bottom of the receiver and it says SMK.
My SMK tranceiver also has two ports. I have tried "Learning" and "Testing" with the blaster cable in both ports. Zero luck with either one.
Is there anything to have checked in the Remote section of the MP setup?
When I click on the Test button, it does not send the test to the STB. I have an SMK IR receiver that came with my NVIDIA DualTV remote. I even checked on the bottom of the receiver and it says SMK.
My SMK tranceiver also has two ports. I have tried "Learning" and "Testing" with the blaster cable in both ports. Zero luck with either one.
Is there anything to have checked in the Remote section of the MP setup?
No, the learning and testing doesn't have anything to do with MP and I didn't have setup or MP itself open. I use the Blaster.exe program to configure it.
As I said, have you placed the blaster (the tiny black device) over the IR receiver on the STB?
If the MyBlaster app '0' entry changes back to '0' immediately after pressing the 0 button on the (DirecTV?) remote, then MyBlaster HAS learnt the code.
The problem would then be that it isn't sending the code to the STB correctly- why this is happening I don't know. If you do have the blaster stuck to the STB, are you sure it's over the correct part of the STB?
As I said, have you placed the blaster (the tiny black device) over the IR receiver on the STB?
If the MyBlaster app '0' entry changes back to '0' immediately after pressing the 0 button on the (DirecTV?) remote, then MyBlaster HAS learnt the code.
The problem would then be that it isn't sending the code to the STB correctly- why this is happening I don't know. If you do have the blaster stuck to the STB, are you sure it's over the correct part of the STB?
Hi Johnny-D,
I have the IR blaster device over the IR receiver on the STB.
Another issue is, I don't even see an IR light emit from the IR cable/black device head at all. Does your IR cable/black device head emit a red light when it sends an IR signal to the STB?
I have the IR blaster device over the IR receiver on the STB.
Another issue is, I don't even see an IR light emit from the IR cable/black device head at all. Does your IR cable/black device head emit a red light when it sends an IR signal to the STB?
Hmm, that sucks then! I was hoping it would be simple.
Bear in mind I'm not an oracle on this, but I learnt hard lessons from having massive problems getting it to work.
As for the infrared, no I don't see a red light emitted.
Also, I haven't tested it, but if your receiver has a red light to indicate it's receiving, then I would *think* that holding the blaster in front of the receiver should give you an idea of whether the blaster is working or not.
Okay, what happens when you run blaster.exe from the mediaportal directory, hit 'learn' for button 0 and don't press anything on the remote? Does the counter tick all the way down?
If you're really determined to get this to work, you could try sending me a step-by-step guide of what you're doing (including all the mundane stuff) and include screenshots too. I'll be honest, I'm not hopeful I can resolve it but I might spot something obvious...
Bear in mind I'm not an oracle on this, but I learnt hard lessons from having massive problems getting it to work.
As for the infrared, no I don't see a red light emitted.
Also, I haven't tested it, but if your receiver has a red light to indicate it's receiving, then I would *think* that holding the blaster in front of the receiver should give you an idea of whether the blaster is working or not.
Okay, what happens when you run blaster.exe from the mediaportal directory, hit 'learn' for button 0 and don't press anything on the remote? Does the counter tick all the way down?
If you're really determined to get this to work, you could try sending me a step-by-step guide of what you're doing (including all the mundane stuff) and include screenshots too. I'll be honest, I'm not hopeful I can resolve it but I might spot something obvious...
Just made some improvements to the plug-in. If someone whant's to test, take a look at this thread.
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/showthread.php?p=79583#post79583
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/showthread.php?p=79583#post79583