[mythtv-users] Desperate: Help with ir-keytable and IguanaIR

Sun Jan 7 17:04:34 UTC 2018

On Sun, Jan 7, 2018 at 11:47 AM, Greg Oliver <oliver.greg at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Jan 7, 2018 at 9:28 AM, Tom Dexter <digitalaudiorock at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On Sat, Jan 6, 2018 at 10:10 PM, Greg Oliver <oliver.greg at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > On Sat, Jan 6, 2018 at 7:00 PM, Tom Dexter <digitalaudiorock at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> On Wed, Nov 22, 2017 at 7:55 PM, Tom Dexter <
>> digitalaudiorock at gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >> > On Wed, Nov 22, 2017 at 5:52 PM, Tom Dexter <
>> digitalaudiorock at gmail.com>
>> >> > wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I give with these things. The ebay seller I got this from sent me
>> >> >> another one of these and it's just as void of any life as the first
>> >> >> one...again, even testing with the Windows stuff as described above.
>> >> >> If knows the device is there but simply isn't getting anything from
>> >> >> any remotes.
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> > OMG...I emailed Iguanaworks support with the details and got a reply
>> >> > which may have answered all of this...though I'm waiting for another
>> >> > reply confirming this.
>> >> >
>> >> > It's looking like I may have received the wrong unit. That is rather
>> >> > than this, with a built-in receiver:
>> >> >
>> >> > https://www.iguanaworks.net/products/usb-ir-transceiver/
>> >> >
>> >> > ...it appears I may have received this, which has NO receiver at all
>> >> > and works with a wired receiver:
>> >> >
>> >> > https://www.iguanaworks.net/products/usb-ir-transceiver/sock
>> et-receive/
>> >> >
>> >> > Unless you look into the end of the thing with a light, they look
>> >> > basically identical. Again...waiting for another reply to confirm but
>> >> > I'm almost sure that's what happened. For the love of all that is
>> holy
>> >> > anyway...
>> >> >
>> >> > Tom
>> >>
>> >> Wow I don't know what it is with me an IR receivers but this one just
>> >> keeps getting worse.
>> >>
>> >> I verified for sure that I have the Iguanaworks "socket receiver"
>> >> which is intended to have a wired receiver plugged into the 1/8 jack
>> >> farthest from the USB plug. I bought a wired receiver on ebay that
>> >> took a month and  a half to arrive from China and it didn't work...not
>> >> even testing with the Windows igclient. It behaved just like it did
>> >> when I was trying to use it without a receiver. At that point I
>> >> assumed that the wired receiver may have been wired differently (the
>> >> support folks at Iguanaworks mentioned that that was a 50/50 shot), so
>> >> I ordered a wired receiver from Iganaworks. I got that today and STILL
>> >> no luck at all. I even have two of the USB units still (as I was
>> >> shipped a second from the ebay seller) and no luck with either one.
>> >>
>> >> Under both Linux and Windows it's the same. The unit itself is seen
>> >> but gets no input. Just plain crazy.
>> >>
>> >> What concerns me is that, which nVidia dropping support for 32 bit
>> >> operating systems, a time will come where I'll need to replace my old
>> >> frontend (which has a very reliable serial port receiver), and I
>> >> simply can NOT find a USB IR that works. Beyond insane.
>> >>
>> >> As I've mentioned before I have an MCE receiver that works, but has so
>> >> much lag and is so unreliable as to be unusable, and now I'm at a
>> >> total brick wall with this. Just insane.
>> >>
>> >> Tom
>> >
>> >
>> > I know you do not like the lag on MCE usb stuff, but I have several of
>> these
>> > receivers:
>> >
>> > GP-IR02BK(TSES-IR18)
>> >
>> > That's the model number on it.  I never knew IR could be faster - it is
>> no
>> > more laggy than a remote that comes with my TVs controlling the TVs
>> > themselves.  And of course MythTV running on a quad core i7 will
>> obviously
>> > feel faster than any "rented" provider's piece of equipment no matter
>> how
>> > laggy the IR feels to you :)
>> >
>> > I have never had anything else to compare with though....
>> >
>> > I have used these units since 2009 or 2010 since I started using MythTV
>> - I
>> > cannot recall ever missing a keypress.  The remotes that come with them
>> are
>> > crap, but I use harmonies with Windows Media Center as the type in the
>> > Harmony software.  I just switched most frontends to nVidia Shields, so
>> they
>> > are decommissioned, but if you can still find that model number
>> somewhere -
>> > they work well for me (my TV still uses one).  I velcro(ed) them to the
>> > bottoms of the TVs and they have 2 IR blaster ports that I assume just
>> > repeat whatever they receive - I have never used them.
>> >
>> > Of course if your Iguana fiasco doesn't pan out - that is weird - must
>> be
>> > something with USB.  Does your motherboard have the serial header that
>> you
>> > could get the DB9 cable and use actual serial?  I know the latest board
>> I
>> > bought still had it, but have also seen new ones without the header at
>> all..
>> >
>> > If you have a /dev/ttyS0, etc - then you may have the header too.  I
>> cannot
>> > imagine them putting a 232 (or more advanced) chip on the board without
>> > adding the header.  RS232 has no loopback signals, so with or without
>> being
>> > cabled up, you should still see it if it is active in BIOS or EFI.
>> >
>> >
>>
>> Thanks for the reply! Actually my current situation is that I'm still
>> using my old x86 frontend which has an RS232 serial port. I was
>> without my serial IR for a while but was able to fix a broken solder
>> joint on it, so I'm fine with that for now. I've been mostly trying to
>> determine the best option once I need to go USB, and it's been grim.
>> With that Iguana, I'm hoping I can possibly return the wired receiver,
>> plus the USB units I have and have them tell me if any of it works, as
>> I'm at a complete impasse...insane. With both USB units (which are
>> recognized by the OS) I get no data testing on this Linux machine or
>> two different Windows 10 machines.
>>
>> I'd love to find one of the MCE receivers you're talking about. The
>> one I bought has no visible model and looks like this one:
>>
>> https://www.ebay.com/itm/Inteset-USB-External-Infrared-IR-
>> Media-Center-Receiver-with-Cable-NEW/172971805481
>>
>> This is what the kernel sees:
>>
>> [962933.888618] rc rc1: Media Center Ed. eHome Infrared Remote
>> Transceiver (1934:5168) as
>> /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:02:02.0/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.0/rc/rc1
>> [962933.888703] input: Media Center Ed. eHome Infrared Remote
>> Transceiver (1934:5168) as
>> /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:02:02.0/usb5/5-1/5-1:
>> 1.0/rc/rc1/input29
>> [962934.038551] mceusb 5-1:1.0: Registered FINTEK eHome Infrared
>> Transceiver with mce emulator interface version 2
>> [962934.038556] mceusb 5-1:1.0: 0 tx ports (0x0 cabled) and 2 rx
>> sensors (0x1 active)
>>
>> If I search for that GP-IR02BK(TSES-IR18) it appears that the
>> GP-IR02BK part is a model for an actual MCE remote control(?). Can't
>> find much on that.
>>
>> Thanks again
>> Tom
>>
>
>
> Mine is :
> [1843343.252305] usb 1-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=1784,
> idProduct=0008
> [1843343.252311] usb 1-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
> SerialNumber=3
> [1843343.252315] usb 1-1.1: Product: eHome Infrared Transceiver
> [1843343.252376] usb 1-1.1: Manufacturer: Topseed Technology Corp.
> [1843343.252379] usb 1-1.1: SerialNumber: TS000D0r
> [1843343.254262] rc rc0: Media Center Ed. eHome Infrared Remote
> Transceiver (1784:0008) as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:
> 1a.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1:1.0/rc/rc0
> [1843343.254701] rc rc0: lirc_dev: driver ir-lirc-codec (mceusb)
> registered at minor = 0
> [1843343.254715] Registered IR keymap rc-rc6-mce
> [1843343.254832] input: Media Center Ed. eHome Infrared Remote Transceiver
> (1784:0008) as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1:1.0/
> rc/rc0/input9
> [1843343.363079] mceusb 1-1.1:1.0: Registered Topseed Technology Corp.
> eHome Infrared Transceiver with mce emulator interface version 1
> [1843343.363086] mceusb 1-1.1:1.0: 2 tx ports (0x0 cabled) and 2 rx
> sensors (0x1 active)
>
> And this is the actual unit - although Amazon does not sell them any more,
> but I bought them from NewEgg back in the "pre-Amazon" days :)
>
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W5GK5C?_encoding=UTF8&%
> 2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0&showDetailTechData=1#technical-data
>
> I see it is rc6 versus your rc1 - not sure if that matters - I am no IR
> expert, but I used to buy Phillips Prontos, which were very cool for
> programming and look, but had very few hard buttons.  I came to realize
> quickly that a cheaper remote with hard buttons was much more important to
> me (for not having to look at it) than blingy (is that a word) remotes.
>
> I doubt you can find them any longer, (I just spent a few minutes trying
> to find one to buy) nor if they are any better/worse than other MCE
> devices, but like I said, I have not had any issues, and more importantly
> for your usage - have no way to benchmark it versus an Iguana.  I know back
> in the early days, there were a lot of Myth users using Iguana prior to MCE
> remotes coming out.  It seemed the most stable and easy to configure at the
> time - I am just a hobbyist who tinkers, but I have not yet had to tinker
> with remotes - I have just "been happy".  sub-second responses are not
> important to me while I watch TV usually..  Just menu, exit, ff, rw, skip
> f, skip b, play and pause are all I usually use - if I find myself trying
> to do something else, I am usually getting the keyboard out or having to
> switch my remote to "device" mode which puts human lag in the situation
> anyhow..
>
>
Mine is also from Newegg and is out of stock.  I ordered it at least 4
years ago.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880121003

The remote itself has some bad buttons now and I use a Harmony remote
instead.  The receiver keeps on going and I've never had an issue with it.
Newegg has similar items listed from that link -- maybe they have one that
will work for you.

I've had issues keeping LIRC running when there's an update but it's never
been because of the receiver, and it's just taken a configuration tweak.  I
use a slightly modified .lircrc that I got from the Mythdora days.
Everything just works and I have no lag that I can notice.

I don't do any IR blasting so if you need that, I guess you'll need
something like the Iguana.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20180107/4506b4d1/attachment-0001.html>