[mythtv-users] IRBlaster Problems / Suggestions?

[Darren Richards]

I have a very similar setup to yours.  I'm controlling two Dish 301
receivers with a serial IR blaster.  After nearly three years of flawless
performance, it started inexplicably missing digits, exactly like you're
seeing.

To fix it, I ended up bumping up the "min_repeat"  value in lircd.conf from
4 to 6 (I think), and haven't had a problem since.

-darren

On 9/27/07, Jason Sharpe <mythtv.list at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Good Day,
>
> I have been using Myth for over 2 years now and love it, however I have
> been experiencing problems with my IRBlaster for some time now.
>
> I purchased a serial IR Blaster from www.irblaster.info a couple of years
> ago and installed Fedora Core 4 and Mythtv 18 (or 19) on a dedicated backend
> and using the latest version (at the time) of LIRC it worked flawlessly for
> over a year, never missed a channel change on a Dish Network 301 STB.
>
> The blaster is stuck directly on the STB with a bit of double sided tape
> over the IR receiver. The receiver is in a room that has no windows and has
> no light on 24 hours a day (Except for the once a week I walk in that room
> and have a light on for 5 mins) so there is no ambient light at all.
>
> I upgraded to Myth .20 when it came out and all was well. Then about 6 or
> 8 months ago I started getting missed changes, during the 3 digit channel
> change, it misses a number and I record HSN (channel 84) instead. It does
> seem to have a high failure rate, probly around 25-35% of the time it fails
> to properly tune the channel. I adjusted the placement of the irblaster over
> the receiver a bit to the left and right thinking it might not be hitting
> the eye properly but that didn't seem to help.
>
> Hoping it was a software issue, I took the change to schedulesdirect.orgas an opportunity to rebuild the backend from scratch.
>
> After looking around I decided to try MythDora which turned out to be a
> great choice as it was VERY easy to install and configure and got my systems
> backup and running very easily after the format. (I saved all my recorded
> content and database which I just reimported after I installed). I setup
> LIRC from scratch again and didn't use any of my old files to configure it
> hoping I would eliminate the issue.
>
> However the problem persists, I have been running MythDora since Sept 1st
> and still continue to have missed changes quite often.  I can't discern a
> pattern from misses and it happens at all time of the day, to any channel,
> and it doesn't matter if the backend has no load or is under heavy load.
>
> I have given up on trying to resolve this and I am down to trying a
> different IR blaster. I am open to Serial, USB, etc.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions that works well with a Dish Network
> receiver?
>
> Thanks
>
> Jason
>
>
> Setup:
> Dedicated Backend
> MythDora 4.0
> AMD64 4400+
> 2 Gig of Ram
> 3 Input Sources:
> DCT-6200 Via Firewire
> Dishnetwork 301 Via PVR-250 PCI Card
> OTA HD via a HD-3000 PCI Card from PCHDTV.com
> <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
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>
>
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