GBPVR and MCE IR Blaster problem

Topic # 15105 4-Aug-2007 16:35

Okay, so my new media center box is built and running well.

Specs: (Mauricio will recognise some of the gear)

Silverstone LC16M Black HTPC Case
Abit NF7-S Mobo
AMD Athlon 2100+ CPU (Not overclocked yet)
2GB DDR400 RAM
Nvidia Ge6200 (I think) AGP 128MB
Vista Ultimate
PVR150MCE+FM (about to add 2xNovaS or HVR3000 cards as well)
MCE Remote + IR Reciever and blaster

Vista MCE works great, and looks really nice, but the EPG is a massive mission to get going (im about halfway and stuck), but its lack of support to run the Sky box AND the freeview cards at the same time mean that Vista MCE is not going to be my software of choice unless they fix this.

GBPVR runs good. Nowhere near as polished UI as Vista MCE (or even XP MCE), but has way more configurability. I have the guide going - that was quick and easy (but XMLTVNZ guide is not working for SkyTV today?).

But...

I cannot get GBPVR to change the channel on the SKY stb. No signal seems to be hitting the stb at all - no red lights.
Channel changing is working perfectly under MCE. I also tried installing XP MCE + GBPVR and had same issue.

I have set it to use the IR Blaster plugin, and tried every combination of blaster 1 and 2 and both (and changing the physical blaster plug too).

Any help out there?

Do I need to explore the use of "HIP" - I had a quick squiz but wasnt sure...

lchiu7

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Reply # 81117 4-Aug-2007 16:59

No idea since I use a USB-UIRT and I had to teach gbpvr the remote codes from my TCL box, but might not this question get a more wider audience if posted in the gbpvr forum?

BTW if you hadn't noticed the latest version of gbpvr (1.08) has slickened the interface a fair bit, especially if you use the Community WS skins)

Larry

System One: Popcorn Hour A200, PS3 SuperSlim, NPVR and Plex Server running on Gigabyte Brix (Windows 10 Pro), Sony BDP-S390 BD player, Pioneer AVR, Raspberry Pi running Kodi and Plex, Panasonic 60" 3D plasma, Google Chromecast

System Two: Popcorn Hour A200 , Oppo BDP-80 BluRay Player with hardware mode to be region free, Vivitek HD1080P 1080P DLP projector with 100" screen. Harman Kardon HK AVR 254 7.1 receiver, Samsung 4K player, Google Chromecast

sbiddle

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Reply # 81121 4-Aug-2007 17:29

It should just be a simple case of going to the recording source, setting the channel changer settings to MCE2005 IR Blaster then creating a new profile which will require aiming your remote at the IR receiver so it can learn the commands number by number. I've set this up several times and never had any problems.

lchiu7

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Reply # 81194 5-Aug-2007 17:49

I purchased a Hauppauge WinTV-USB2 MCE edition kit a while ago but have never used it. It comes with the USB2 capture device, an IR receiver, a cable with IR emitter and the remote. Looking at the configuration settings for gbpvr it seems that it would be supported (there is a setting as you note sbiddle for MCE2005). I wonder if this kit would work with Vista MCE?

Larry

tonyhughes

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Reply # 81202 5-Aug-2007 18:53

sbiddle:
It should just be a simple case of going to the recording source, setting the channel changer settings to MCE2005 IR Blaster then creating a new profile which will require aiming your remote at the IR receiver so it can learn the commands number by number. I've set this up several times and never had any problems.

Under XP MCE and Vista I could not get this to behave... it would display the instructions for 1/100th of a second (quick flash - couldnt read anything), then display 'waiting' then about ten seconds later would say 'learning complete' - all without any input from me...

lchiu7

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Reply # 81207 5-Aug-2007 20:19

Have you tried using HIP?

http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Tips/HipGuide

Larry

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Reply # 81208 5-Aug-2007 20:30

yes, and I am having issues getting that to learn anything

lchiu7

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Reply # 81272 6-Aug-2007 12:14

A quick scan of the gbpvr forums shows a few folks having problems with the MCE2005 IR emitter so it doesn't look like it's plug and play. Might try asking over there - sub might be able to help.

I bought the USB-UIRT since I had no MCE2005 kit (then). It caused me a few problems like when trying to learn it would just flash on and off but once I got the learning done, it's performed flawlessly for me. Never tried it with a Sky box but I see folks have got that to work. Works fine on the TCL cable box

Larry

tonyhughes

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Reply # 81282 6-Aug-2007 14:01

I have given up for a few days, and waiting for more kit to arrive, will ditch Vista, and use a fresh install of XP SP2.

Some of the kit thats coming is a Hauppauge IR reciever and blaster.

lchiu7

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Reply # 81407 7-Aug-2007 09:06

Well good luck with that. While gbpvr does have problem every now and then and perhaps in terms of presentation isn't as sophisticated as MCE, for me at least it works well and the epg is much easier to work that what I have seen needs to be done for MCE.

Functionality over form!

Larry

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Reply # 81411 7-Aug-2007 09:20

lchiu7: Well good luck with that. While gbpvr does have problem every now and then and perhaps in terms of presentation isn't as sophisticated as MCE, for me at least it works well and the epg is much easier to work that what I have seen needs to be done for MCE.

Functionality over form!

Larry

I agree completely.

I still haven't managed to get xmltvnz+bladerunner working with Vista despite following the guides people have set up. I've played with Vista MCE (and running GB-PVR on Vista) but will be sticking with GB-PVR anyway since neither Vista or XP MCE will handle our DVB-T broadcasts when they start next year.

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Reply # 81461 7-Aug-2007 15:12

GBPVR + XMLTVNZ + 5 minutes = Working EPG

XP MCE + XMLTVNZ + Bladerunner Pro + 10 minutes + Aligned planets = Working EPG

Vista MCE + XMLTVNZ + Bladerunner Pro + Some dudes interweb guide + 2 hours + mis-aligned planets = No EPG Yet

GB-PVR is what I am focussed on now - I have had a few hiccups, but putting that down to Vista, and my dodgy XP SP1 install.
XP SP2 + GBPVR + HVR3000 + PVR150FM with Freeview and Sky should give me a good setup....

sbiddle

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Reply # 81464 7-Aug-2007 15:39

tonyhughes: GBPVR + XMLTVNZ + 5 minutes = Working EPG

XP MCE + XMLTVNZ + Bladerunner Pro + 10 minutes + Aligned planets = Working EPG

Vista MCE + XMLTVNZ + Bladerunner Pro + Some dudes interweb guide + 2 hours + mis-aligned planets = No EPG Yet

There are a few problems to overcome.

Bladerunner Pro 3.5 doesn't work with Vista only Bladerunner 3.0 does.

XMLTVNZ 3.0 (the beta I'm playing with) doesn't work with Bladerunner. The solution is to run Bladerunner Pro 3.5 on a seperate standalone machine with XMLTVNZ 3.0 and IIS or Apache which gets a working EPG which you can then access from Vista MCE.

Unfortunately I haven't go the planet alingment right yet either and since anything that I can't fix in 5 minutes gets cursed at I gave up!

Maybe there is somebody hosting a Vista MCE EPG somewhere who wouldn't mind sharing.. PM me if you are because I wouldn't mind playing with it a bit more but just don't have the time to mess around with it at present.

lchiu7

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Reply # 81488 7-Aug-2007 19:04

tonyhughes: GBPVR + XMLTVNZ + 5 minutes = Working EPG

XP MCE + XMLTVNZ + Bladerunner Pro + 10 minutes + Aligned planets = Working EPG

Vista MCE + XMLTVNZ + Bladerunner Pro + Some dudes interweb guide + 2 hours + mis-aligned planets = No EPG Yet

GB-PVR is what I am focussed on now - I have had a few hiccups, but putting that down to Vista, and my dodgy XP SP1 install.
XP SP2 + GBPVR + HVR3000 + PVR150FM with Freeview and Sky should give me a good setup....

For me that is the solution that works for me. I do plan to upgrade my PVR from a Shuttle based Athlon 2000+ to the following gear (most of it purchased) or transplanted

Silverstone SG01 Evolution SFF case
Foxconn Socket 754MB
AMD Sempon 2600 (64 bit)
1G DDR333 memory
Nvidia N6200 card 256MB DVI out
USB-UIRT
Hauppauge WinTV250 card

Reason for upgrade - Shuttle has only one PCI slot and I would like to put in a DVB-S/T card like the HVR-3000. Also slightly slow - the Sempron 2600 should be a bit better (slight tearing in image using gbpvr 1.08 which forces you to use VMR9 custom) and should play HD content better.

Happy with gbpvr - works fine and apparently supports DVB-T MPEG4

Larry