[mythtv-users] USB dual channel IR blaster?

[Mark Knecht]

On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 9:10 AM, Travis Tabbal <travis at tabbal.net> wrote:
>
>
>> Is there any really reliable and inexpensive (say <$30 per IR Blaster)
>> technology that allows multiple blasters on a single modern PC? (No
>> serial, no PCI)
>
> Is there enough interest in such a thing to spend time developing a product,
> even as a homebrew project, for this? It's really not that hard to build
> this sort of thing, though interfacing with LIRC is a PITA for me as I just
> don't understand their code all that well. I knocked out a USB based IR
> receiver in a weekend with a microcontroller, sending isn't that much more
> work. There are also the FTDI chips, those have an LIRC driver that uses the
> bit-bang mode to send and receive IR signals. I didn't have much luck
> getting it to work right though. Either option would allow
> for multiple blasters and a receiver without much work and be in that price
> range.  There wasn't much interest in the LIRC list when I asked for someone
> to collaborate on the LIRC side. I just don't have time right now to learn
> another codebase.

+2 for a dual channel device. Possibly only +0.5 for a single channel device.

What might a device like this look like on the transmitting side? Is
it an external USB device? Plugs into any USB slot? Has two ports on
it to hook up to two IR transmitter devices? What IR transmitters
would you support so I can check out the costs on those? Can I use
multiple devices if I want to control more than 2 STBs?

I'd certainly pony up a little money (say $25-$50) to help with your
initial PCB costs, etc. I assume that if and when I works I get at
least a 2-channel device to own, etc.

As an alternative a 2 or 4 channel 1x PCI-Express card for internal
use might be of interest if you already know of an appropriate
microcontroller and want to go that way.

- Mark