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

Sun Jan 7 17:30:30 UTC 2018

On Sun, Jan 7, 2018 at 11:04 AM, Jerry <mythtv at hambone.e4ward.com> wrote:

> 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-Me
>>> dia-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&%2AVersi
>> on%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.
>
> Yep - that's the same one I have.  The remotes definitely need help, but I
have never used one.  The receivers have never failed me once though..  I
have another that plugs directly into the USB port, but it is a little more
painful since you need fron side USB ports for it to catch IR (or an
extender cable), but it has never failed me either - I cannot find where I
bought it though.
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