[mythtv-users] Need IR advice

Sun Aug 28 19:47:41 UTC 2005

This probably isn't what you want to hear, but going
RC-5 and getting a programmable remote (like the
OneForAll series) is one of the easiest ways to go. 
They have advanced key mapping capabilities which will
allow you to use almost every button on the remote
control, and the RC-5 receiver in the Hauppauge will
work with it.  (BTW, for RC-5 in my remote, I use VCR
code 0081, which works with the Hauppauge card - I
think that the VCR part is the key).

I don't use the Hauppauge receiver anymore myself (the
jack where it plugs into the card became loose), so
I'm using an irman again.  Using RC-5 with the irman
is also good, because it eliminated the conflicts with
my IR wireless keyboard.

You're probably using your universal remote control
setup as a device which uses the changes in code to
mean something specific to that device.

To summarize: If you're not attached to your
particular remote, get an OneForAll remote (or a
similar Radio Shack remote), and use the button
programming functions to assign extended RC-5 codes to
the extra buttons you wish to use.  It doesn't take
long (it only took me a couple of hours to setup), and
on my URC-6131 remote control, I can use every button
with MythTV, except for SET and the buttons that
select devices.

-- Joe

--- Michael Tiller <michael.tiller at gmail.com> wrote:

> After getting my Myth box set up, I have been on a
> quest to improve the WAF 
> for my system. There have been many tweaks, but my
> "holy grail" has been to 
> get all the functions (both media center + TV + ...)
> on to a single 
> universal remote. I thought my objective was within
> my grasp, but I've been 
> thwarted once again and I'm hoping somebody can
> provide me with a solution 
> to my latest problem.
> 
> First, a bit of background. I have a PVR-150 card. I
> got the LIRC stuff 
> going with the IR pickup that came with the card.
> But, it only works with 
> the Hauppauge supplied remote. I know in theory I
> could probably get it to 
> work with other RC-5 remotes, but none of the codes
> I tried on my universal 
> remote seemed to work.
> 
> I tried making my own, but the voltages weren't
> right and I just didn't have 
> the time to iterate on that thing.
> 
> So I bought an IRA-3 from www.home-electro.com
> <http://www.home-electro.com>thinking my days of
> screwing around were
> over. Sadly, I was wrong. The IRA-3
> uses the IRMAN protocol, BTW.
> 
> I hooked the thing up and tried to get it to work
> with the version of LIRC 
> already installed on my machine (0.7.1). No dice. I
> couldn't seem to get 
> anything. It kept giving me an error in
> irman_init(). Crap. So I got the 
> source to LIRC and tried building it. No dice, same
> error. Because I could 
> initialize the device on my Windows machine, I
> didn't understand what the 
> problem was. I got the latest versions of LIRC and
> libirman and tried to 
> sort things out.
> 
> After a considerable amount of digging and learning
> far more about IRMAN, 
> IR, LIRC and serial ports than I ever wanted to
> learn, I eventually managed 
> to narrow down the problem. While the IRMAN protocol
> specifies 9600 baud, 8 
> data bits, no partity, no flow control and 1 stop
> bit, the port 
> initialization fails to actually specify one stop
> bit (although it doesn 
> explicitly handle all the other parameters). I added
> one line to the 
> initialization routine in libirman (to set the stop
> bit to 1, something it 
> should have already been doing even according to the
> comments in the code) 
> and low and behold...it worked!!! My IRA-3
> initialized and I started getting 
> data from it in the expected 6 byte chunks.
> Hooray!!!
> 
> At this point, I thought I had finally conquered
> this stupid issue. I 
> rebuilt libirman and LIRC using the new
> initialization code and I was well 
> on my after running irrecord and building up a .conf
> file for my remote.
> 
> Then...disaster struck. After trying to use Myth
> with the new remote it 
> seemed like it was ignoring some of the key presses.
> I went back into raw 
> mode (using test_io in libirman to output the codes)
> and it turns out that 
> the stupid thing is spitting out multiple codes for
> the same key. I don't 
> mean it repeats itself (which it does, but that is a
> different issue). I 
> mean it gives a different code sequence! God Damn
> IT!!!!
> 
> The problem seems to be related to the history of
> key presses. As I said, a 
> single keypress send a duplicated code but that
> doesn't seem to cause any 
> problem. The real problem is when the codes change.
> For example, running 
> 'test_io', these sequences are for the same key:
> 
> [29][14][7d][f7][5f][ff]
> [29][14][7d][f7][5f][ff]
> [2a][e8][4e][f7][5f][3f]
> [2a][e8][4e][f7][5f][3f]
> [29][14][7d][f7][5f][ff]
> [29][14][7d][f7][5f][ff]
> 
> WTF? I find that if I hit the same key repeatedly I
> pretty much get 
> consistent codes. But, if I jump around (e.g. LEFT,
> RIGHT, Channel-UP, LEFT) 
> that the same key (e.g. LEFT) will have different
> codes.
> 
> My hope is that somebody has some simple remedy
> (e.g. something simple like 
> turning on flow or changing the parity or
> something). By the way, the 
> Hauppauge remote works fine. But it only send 2
> bytes?!?
> 
> Any suggestions?!? I was so close. After having
> hacked may way through all 
> this to have it fail to read remote key signals
> reliably is so 
> aggravating!!!!!
> 
> Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated.
> 
> --
> Mike
> > _______________________________________________
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> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>
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> 

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