Unable to get STB working. (1 Viewer)

[mm1352000]

Let's step back for a moment...

Honestly, I'm finding it difficult and a bit frustrating to help you because:

1. You don't directly answer my questions. Examples:

• none of the 3 questions from my previous post are answered
• yesterday I had to ask 3 times to get an answer about the TV Server error log

For [what I hope are] obvious reasons, I really need you to answer all the questions that I ask you.

2. You seem to change your plan/setup every day. Examples:

• Hauppauge vs. USB-UIRT blaster
• W7 vs. W10
• MP1 vs. MP2

This is frustrating for me, and sometimes I feel like I'm wasting my time.

Please try to be aware of these things. I'm not angry or grumpy. This is just a friendly request.


To directly answer your post...

I need help.

Was the content of my previous post not helpful?
What did you already try?

The IRSS plug-in completely stopped working. I had to uninstall and re-install it twice.

Uninstalling and reinstalling is almost never helpful, often makes the problem worse, and sometimes wastes a lot of time. Therefore I prefer that you don't do this. Instead, please let me know when you have a problem so that I can try to help.

I will be working on this again tomorrow.

Okay.

Hopefully you will be available.

Maybe. I hope that won't mean being up all night like last night.

I cannot get the blaster to send the signal necessary.

My advice is to approach the problem logically.

Right now I would be focussed on the command learning.
Pick one command - for example, "0" - and relearn it.
Don't close the learn dialog until the STB is responding to the command.
You can test each port until you get a response from the STB.
If you don't get a response from the STB on any of the ports then learning has failed.

Maybe you might be open to a remote access session?

Sorry, I don't think it will help.

I'd still be unable to see:

• whether the USB-UIRT lights flash or not
• whether the STB responds or not
• how close you're holding the remote during learning
• how long you're holding the remote button down during learning
• the blaster wiring and connections

These things are the critical things that I would want to check.

 

[Donald J. Michaud]

Hi mm1352000!! I apologize for causing frustration at your end. I truly do appreciate all the help and time you have offered me. I have been in the IT industry for over 20 years. I am normally very good about putting packages like this in place. But this package really had me "on the roles." I was not expecting this to be so difficult.

Yesterday I was able to walk away for a couple of hours re-think of the problems, and I was able to find the cause of the problems. There were several problems/conflicts on top of each other. Once I cleaned up the extraneous video software, rebooted, and started over again, I was able to get through the problems. I upgraded to WIN10 to get rid of the WMC problems, removed MP2, removed some WMC tools that were still running behind the scenes, and removed IRSS. (IRSS was not loading in the background properly. It would receive and blast in test mode, but not blast in actual channel changing. In the system tray, it was showing in grey color, not green. No matter I tried to restart the app, it would not show green.) I rebooted again and reloaded IRSS. Now IRSS was loading correctly and stayed active (green) in the system tray.

I have one additional comment on the reason to use the USB-UIRT blaster over the existing Hauppauge blaster. The Hauppauge WinTV8 software does not accept the IR commands needed to control the Comcast STB. Could MP1/MP2 be programmed to send the necessary commands? Possibly. Since I could not get either blaster to work, I needed to make a decision that was best for the long run and focus on that one product.

As of this morning (12:00 noon EST Sunday), I completed the install. Here is what I did to get it done:
- re-programmed the IRSS IR commands just like you recommended. Set the STB Setup to have "Select Send Command" to blast "ENTER" at the end of each Channel Change request.
- Loaded the channel listing through Schedules Direct, mapped the 500 channel listing to the analog Hauppauge tuner card, then exported all 500+ channels to an XML file.
- Modified the XML file for Frequency 61.25, and then imported the file again.
- Used the PREVIEW feature to determine which of the 500+ channel were available to me through my Comcast subscription. Those channels that actually are not available to me because I am not paying for that package (ie. PPV, HD, and dedicated sport channels), I UNCHECKED that channel so that it did not appear in the TV GUIDE.
-Using the MP Configuration tool, I was able to tweak the features to my liking. I also added "Intelligent Frame Correction" plug-in for better control on my two monitors (one is widescreen, the other is normal/4:3 ratio). IFC is AWESOME. I hope this is available with MP2.

I am so grateful we connected because there were points that I was at a DEAD STOP in getting this implemented. Like the 61.25 MHz Frequency option being needed. I would have NEVER known that. I did not find that ANYWHERE in the forum. THANKS!!

I will run the system like this. Tonight will be a good test. Late Sunday night I used to record a couple of shows and watch Tuesday night when my schedule is less busy. I plan to set up the Recording schedule and see how tonight goes.

When my schedule is more free in a couple of months (or when the next release of MP2 is out), maybe I will try to load it and get that operational. Long-term, I know MP2 is the way to go. I hope that IFC, Schedules Direct, and IRSS is available for MP2. I know you said the IRSS is supposed to work with MP2, but I could not get that TV3 Blaster option to appear. I do not know if that was my PC only or a bug. I will keep this forum thread tagged so that I can use it as a step-by-step guide in getting that other stand alone PC set up with MP1.

One comment, I did get "PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGE FORMAT" error twice. This caused my PC to record a log file and reboot. If it happens again, I will try to figure out if it is something I need to worry about. If you have any insight, please feel free to drop me a note. Thanks again.