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

[Greg Oliver]

On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 9:08 AM, Greg Woods <greg at gregandeva.net> wrote:
> On Sun, 2010-04-18 at 18:17 -0500, Ozzy Lash wrote:
>
>>
>> It looks like you could get a PCIEx1 Firewire/USB combo card.  Not
>> sure if you'll end up hitting chipset issues with those too, though.
>
> Yes, that would be the ultimate nightmare. In fact I have had problems
> even finding a PCIx1 firewire card that actually worked on Linux. I
> tried three different ones in two different machines. Even the one I
> have does not work for any high-volume data transfer; it craps out if I
> hook up my camcorder to it. But it has been rock solid for channel
> changes on the cable box for the HD-PVR.
>
> Obviously I am stuck in a position where some kind of hardware change is
> my only option, but I really want to find something that is KNOWN to
> work so I don't have Lucy yanking the football out yet again (Charlie
> Brown must have been a stubborn geek like me or he would have given up
> long ago :-) That means either finding another USB blaster that is KNOWN
> to work with the controller I have, or replacing the PCIx1 firewire card
> with a firewire/usb combo that is KNOWN to work in Linux. I do have a
> serial port but I have already tried one of those irblaster.info units
> without success (and I would eventually like the option of running two
> blasters so I could use both tuners on the PVR-500, but for now I'd
> settle for just getting one to work). I don't think a USB sound card is
> an option. The reason that I bought a PCI sound card in the first place
> is that it was the only one I could find that was:
>
> A) PCI (not PCIE) since I didn't have any extra PCIE slots
> B) Supported in ALSA
> C) Surround sound capable and has an SPDIF or coax output (that's all my
> receiver has for surround inputs)
>
> If there is a USB sound device that meets the B) and C) criteria, I'd
> love to hear about it.

If your hdpvr is not on the same machine (sorry - cannot remember) and
you do not have any high speed devices, you could try running the
ports at 1.1 speed and seeing if that fixes it.

-Greg