ServerBlaster on Hauppauge sees Incorrect Settings (2 Viewers)

[wbutler]

New convert from a semi-ancient Snapstream solution getting things running for the first time. So the install has done reasonably smoothly, but I'm seeing a failure to change channels on a set-top box via IR. I've got a vanilla PVR-150 (like I said, semi-ancient) talking to a Comcast cable box.

Configuring the ServerBlaster plugin was straightforward. Similarly, it hasn't been much work to get to the point where I can change channels via the BlastCfg.exe GUI. That's all great. But actually getting the TVServer to change channels on the STB isn't working. Reading through the logs, I saw something interesting:

[2013-10-05 07:13:21,132] [Log ] [Remote blaster] [INFO ] - Blaster Sending: Channel:4, Card:2, VideoInput:VideoInput1
[2013-10-05 07:13:21,132] [Log ] [Remote blaster] [INFO ] - ServerBlaster.Send: Case 2
[2013-10-05 07:13:21,134] [Log ] [Remote blaster] [INFO ] - HCWBlaster: Changing channels: 4
[2013-10-05 07:13:21,287] [Log ] [Remote blaster] [INFO ] - HCWBlaster: Device : 3 Vendor : 0
[2013-10-05 07:13:21,287] [Log ] [Remote blaster] [INFO ] - HCWBlaster: Region : 0 Code set : 0
[2013-10-05 07:13:21,287] [Log ] [Remote blaster] [INFO ] - HCWBlaster: Digit Delay : 100 Minimum Digits: 3
[2013-10-05 07:13:21,287] [Log ] [Remote blaster] [INFO ] - HCWBlaster: OneDigitDelay: 0 Tune Delay : 0
[2013-10-05 07:13:21,287] [Log ] [Remote blaster] [INFO ] - HCWBlaster: Need Enter : 0 Enter Delay : 0
[2013-10-05 07:13:22,829] [Log ] [Remote blaster] [INFO ] - HCWBlaster: Finished Changing channels: 4
[2013-10-05 07:13:22,829] [Log ] [Remote blaster] [INFO ] - ServerBlasterend Finished

Kind of a lot of zeros, and it doesn't match the working config on the Hauppauge side:

Seems like region, vendor, and especially codeset should be nonzero.

Digging into the serverblaster code, I see that it doesn't actually shell out to blastcfg or any other .exe, as some older documentation states, but actually pinvokes out to hcwirblast.dll. It looks like it's returning without error, but the data is bad. Apparently, I'm up against some sort of issue with how all the Hauppauge stuff stores its settings.

I should say that my WinTV installation is 32-bit, but I'm running on a 64-bit installation of Win8. That makes me wonder whether or not I'm running afoul of some sort of registry virtualization issue. But the ServerBlaster dll seems to find the Hauppauge dll without incident, and the only one on my system is in SYSWOW64, so that 32-bit Hauppauge dll should be talking to whatever bit of storage the 32-bit blastcfg.exe is using.

At any rate, that's as far as I can get. I should say that this looks like a neat piece of software and I was really excited to find it. I'm sure I'll be a happy guy once the growing pains are over. Thanks!

 

[mm1352000]

Hello and welcome wbutler

The wiki says this plugin is only supported in Windows XP:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...Server_Configuration/13_Plugins/ServerBlaster

...so I don't know how it is working at all.

mm

 

[wbutler]

Yeah, fair enough. I suppose my sense of it was that the wiki page had been marked out of date in 2011 and that warning wasn't likely to apply. Looking at the github records, nobody's touched the plugin in two years, and it seems that perhaps nobody's touched it substantively in longer than that.

So if not this, then what's the supported mechanism? A USB-UIRT with IRSS?

 

[wbutler]

On closer examination, somebody was clearly making bugfixes to make the plugin Vista-compatible... is there a good way to match github names to MediaPortal forum handles? I'd love to track down a contributor (or former contributor) and get the scoop.

 

[mm1352000]

From the looks of the git (SVN) log, it was @ralphy with assistance from @chemelli and/or @misterd .
This was before my time, but I do know chemelli and misterd are busy with real life these days. It looks like ralphy hasn't been seen since 2010.
You might have some luck searching the forum...
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/using-hauppauge-ir-blaster-with-mp.49578/
Especially here:
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...e-ir-blaster-with-mp.49578/page-2#post-342913
...though maybe that is what was integrated.

In any case, it sounds like you may have some ability with code ( ). Maybe you could fix it? I'm probably not much help but feel free to fire any questions my way and I'll do my best to answer.

 

[misterd]

I'm sorrry, but I did not really code anything in the blaster section. Only submitted a patch and perhaps some code cleanups, but no real coding. So I can't really help.

MisterD