[mythtv-users] USB IR Blaster: close but no cigar

[Greg Woods]

On Sat, 2010-04-17 at 18:51 -0400, Jarod Wilson wrote:

> > [mythtv at confusion ~]$ lspci | grep USB
> > 00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev  
> > a3)
> > 00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP61 USB Controller (rev  
> > a3)

> Pretty sure that's a known-quirky controller. 

Looks like I've yet again run hard into a brick wall trying to get some
kind of IR blaster to work. I compiled the CVS lirc on a different
machine, also Nvidia as it turns out, but a different model:

[root at anathem lirc]# lspci | grep -i usb
00:0b.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a2)
00:0b.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP51 USB Controller (rev a2)

On this one it works; I can see the flash when I run irsend. Comcast has
turned my HDHomeruns into bricks (except for OTA) so I now have a large
number of channels where the HD-PVR is the only tuner that can get them
and I have many conflicts every week. Replacing the motherboard in my
backend is not a viable option, and I don't have any free slots to use a
PCI-based USB card either. So I am screwed, blued, tatooed, and
extremely frustrated. I don't suppose there is any other way to get
those "formerly analog now digital and encrypted" channels that doesn't
require use of an IR blaster? I do know one way: rent another "real" STB
from Comcast and get another HD-PVR (then I get the deal with the fun of
trying to keep multiple firewire devices straight for channel changing).
This is of course a very expensive option but does have the advantage
that there are a dozen or so HD channels that I record from a lot that I
would now have two tuners for instead of one. (I have never been able to
get firewire recording to work either and the channels I want are
probably 5C encrypted or soon will be anyway).

Does anybody have a USB-based IR blaster that is known to work with an
Nvidia MCP61 USB controller? I had no idea that a particular chip on the
motherboard was going to hose me this way and I don't want to repeat the
frustration with a different USB device unless I can verify ahead of
time that it is likely to work. Of course, after all the positive
reports I had heard about the Topspeed MCEUSB device I eventually
bought, I really thought THIS one was going to work.  

AAAAAAUUUUUGH! Lucy pulled away the football again.

--Greg