[mythtv-users] USB to Serial Adapter cable for IR Blaster?

[Brian Wood]

On Tuesday 16 March 2010 10:12:03 am Bruce Taber wrote:
> On 03/16/2010 11:33 AM, Brent Meyer wrote:
> > On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 7:58 AM, Ben Eisemann <ben at locojeeper.com> wrote:
> >> Has anyone had any success running the USB to Serial adapter cables?
> >> I read (okay, skimmed) an article in Linux Journal about kernel driver
> >> versions and it just made my head hurt.    Is there anything out there
> >> that I can use?
> >
> > Unfortunately, serial IR blasters do not work with USB adapters. As I
> > understand it, the serial blasters exploit a feature of the serial
> > port that simply cannot be recreated by a USB adapter.
> >
> > A few months ago, I faced the same situation you're facing now. After
> > spending too much time and money trying to get various solutions to
> > work, I threw in the towel and bought a CommandIR mini. It's an
> > expensive unit, but it works very well and was very easy to set up.
> > It's definitely worth the price.
> >
> > You might also look into the IguanaWorks IR blaster, which is half the
> > price. It seems like some people have been able to get it working
> > pretty reliably.
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> 
> I don't know about the serial IR blaster but I use a USB to serial
> converter (UMC-211) to go directly to the STB and it works without
> issue. Just had to change the channel changer to point to the USB port
> instead of the serial port.

That makes sense, because the STB uses the serial port in the "normal" manner. 
LIRC type blasters do not, they toggle the handshake lines, which is why such 
a converter won't work with an IR blaster.