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How to configure IR Blaster to Run with Knoppmyth R5E50
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Author:  cando [ Tue May 15, 2007 12:05 pm ]
Post subject:  How to configure IR Blaster to Run with Knoppmyth R5E50
Hi,
I have got a serial IR blaster by http://www.irblaster.info/ It’s the
Light Up MythTV LIRC RS232 IR Blaster
Just like the standard, but with a clear IR Head
That lights up red on TX
How do I configure mythtv to use it? Is there any tutorial anywhere I could look at? I am running Knoppmyth R5E50.
Also after running the irblaster.sh script how do I test my IR blaster. I have got a Scientific Atlanta’s 3200 settop box.
Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks
Author:  manicmike [ Tue May 15, 2007 5:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How to configure IR Blaster to Run with Knoppmyth R5E50
cando wrote:
Hi,
I have got a serial IR blaster by http://www.irblaster.info/ It’s the
Light Up MythTV LIRC RS232 IR Blaster
Just like the standard, but with a clear IR Head
That lights up red on TX
How do I configure mythtv to use it? Is there any tutorial anywhere I could look at? I am running Knoppmyth R5E50.
Also after running the irblaster.sh script how do I test my IR blaster. I have got a Scientific Atlanta’s 3200 settop box.
Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks


Try http://www.lirc.org/html/index.html

I don't use serial blasters, ATM, but looked at them a few months ago.

Good luck

Mike
Author:  cando [ Wed May 16, 2007 8:03 am ]
Post subject: 
I think the solution to my problem is a little less trivial.

Here is what I have done.

I have a hauppauge pvr 150...(actually I bought a hauppauge pvr 250 off ebay.. that’s what it said there... but when I was configuring remote while installation of myth frontend I had to select option d which said "d. PVR-150 w/ transmitter and receiver" coz when I choose "b. Grey remote" my remote was not fully mapped... any idea which PVR I have got???) But its IR blaster didnt seem to work, so I ordered one from www.irblaster.info

So, I plugged in the serial IR Blaster to my only serial port. The IR blaster red light lit up, as I said I have a Light Up MythTV LIRC RS232 IR Blaster and they say that its IR Head lights up red on TX. IS this the right behavior?

Anyway, while my blaster was hooked up I ran the the irblaster.sh script, selected com1 then SA 2200 (I have a SA 3200 but its not listed there, but I believe its ir codes are same as SA 2200 am I right?) after that I got a error saying that the port was busy and hence the script failed. Well then I ran the script again and selected com2 this time and the same settop box and the script seem to have executed (I am not sure though, as I did not get any error message this time).
Then according to http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php? ... asterHowTo there was suppose to be a change_channel.sh script at
Code:
/etc/irblaster/channel_change.sh

But, I didnt find any (Does this mean the irblaster.sh didnt run properly?)
so I got one from http://www.smartspidey.com/change_channel.sh
and stored it as such in that directory. Then I compiled it by typing
Code:
chmod -x change_channel.sh

after that I tried to blast IR by this code
Code:
./change_channel.sh 30

It said
Code:
changing to 30

The IR Blaster is still lit up, and I brought it close to the settops IR receiver but see no channel change.
Is my IR Blaster properly configured?
Is that because I have PVR 150 my lirc is screwed up?
Whats up with the COM port how to figure out which one is the right one?

I am very close and feels like I have hit some kinda rock bottom. Any help would be highly appriciated.
Thakns
Author:  slowtolearn [ Wed May 16, 2007 8:38 am ]
Post subject: 
cando wrote:
So, I plugged in the serial IR Blaster to my only serial port. The IR blaster red light lit up, as I said I have a Light Up MythTV LIRC RS232 IR Blaster and they say that its IR Head lights up red on TX. IS this the right behavior?
If it's constantly lit, I would say your COM port is already in use by something else. I am not using the blaster, but I do have 3 of the IR receivers from irblaster.info. You probably need to add the following to the bottom of your /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh file (if not already present):
Code:
setserial /dev/ttyS0 uart none
modprobe lirc_serial

Also see tjc's R5E50 Hints and hazards post http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13108 , look for "Serial port changes"

cando wrote:
Whats up with the COM port how to figure out which one is the right one?
That would be entirely dependent on your motherboard, check the BIOS. While you're in there, be sure the COM port is enabled.
Author:  cando [ Thu May 17, 2007 7:41 am ]
Post subject: 
Thanks slowtolearn, I got the IRBlaster working. Thanks a lot as I was having much trouble in that area.

Now that my IR blaster is blasting the right frequencies. I configured Myth Backend and specified the external channel change command as
Code:
/etc/irblaster/channel_change.sh
and in the Preset Tuner to channel I typed 3. After the configuration, when I launched live TV all I see is static. Could you tell me how I tune my PVR to channel 3? Is there any config file which I could edit?

Also, I have more that 124 channels through my settop but MythTV won't let me select channels above 100. How do I change this limit?
Author:  elgordo123 [ Thu May 17, 2007 9:17 am ]
Post subject: 
You want to run ivtv-tune -c3 -d /dev/video0. I have to do this everytime I restart the computer so I created an entry in /home/mythtv/.fluxbox/apps
[startup] {xterm -C ivtv-tune -c3 -d /dev/video0}
Author:  slowtolearn [ Thu May 17, 2007 11:13 am ]
Post subject: 
cando wrote:
Also, I have more that 124 channels through my settop but MythTV won't let me select channels above 100. How do I change this limit?
What did you select for your lineup at labs.zap2it.com? You will need a lineup that corresponds to your digital cable feed. Also, don't scan for channels, allow the "Fetch channels from lineup" (to that effect) in mythtv-setup to do it's thing for you. See http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php? ... WatchingTV where it talks about
Quote:
Under "3. Video Source" make sure you have a channel lineup..."
Author:  cando [ Fri May 18, 2007 8:34 am ]
Post subject: 
Hi guys,
Thanks a lot for all the great help! :D The channel problem is solved.
I also tried ivtv-tune -c3 -d /dev/video0 and was able to tune my tuner.

There is a problem though I don't want to enter this every time I restart my box so as elgordo123 said I pasted
Code:
 [startup] {xterm -C ivtv-tune -c3 -d /dev/video0}
in
Code:
/home/mythtv/.fluxbox/apps
But this is not doing the trick... is /home/mythtv/.fluxbox/apps the right place?

Also, is there anything I could do to improve the video quality of live tv. Can I make it sharper as it’s a little blurry right now. The resolution is set to the highest.
In the myth front end -> utilities/setup ->Recording
There were 4 options
* Default
* Live TV
* Low Quality
* High Quality
for all of these 4 options I changed the resolution to the highest.

Next thing, when I go to watch live tv and press channel up and channel down buttons on my remote, it doesn’t changes channel, all it does is browses the next channel and displays its information, I have to press ok button to make mythtv blast the IR. Is there anyway that I could change this so that when I press channel up/down it actually blasted the IR?
And, when I change channel using number buttons and press OK, the OK IR is not blasted just the numbers are blasted.
In the irblaster.sh I choose SA 2200 but I have SA 3200 which was not listed there. But I believe thay have the same IR codes.

I was also wondering with one thing. When the channel is changed, IR is blasted and settop changes channel then the tuner processes it and sends it to the TV. This take around 3 seconds in my box. Can this latency be reduced? Because, the processing of the video is taking 3 seconds which can get irritating. In short my live TV via myth box is 3 second delayed from the actual live tv. How to reduce this?

Thanks again for sticking around!
Author:  bruce_s01 [ Fri May 18, 2007 9:31 am ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
Also, is there anything I could do to improve the video quality of live tv. Can I make it sharper as it’s a little blurry right now. The resolution is set to the highest.

Check your capture bit rates, if your bit rate is too low then you may run in to problems. Check that your capture resolution is a "sensible" one, like one of the DVD resolutions given in the MythTV HOWTO.
For Live TV only the Live TV profile is used.

Quote:
Also, when I go to watch live tv and press channel up and channel down buttons on my remote, it doesn’t changes channel, all it does is browses the next channel and displays its information, I have to press ok button to make mythtv blast the IR. Is there anyway that I could change this so that when I press channel up/down it actually blasted the IR?
This was introduced as a feature, because you are using a PVR, each channel change could take some time, what with the retuning and the buffering, so to get around the problem, the browse function was set as default. I believe the option for this in Utilities/Setup->Setup->TV Settings->General->Change Channels Immediately.

Bruce S.
Author:  elgordo123 [ Fri May 18, 2007 9:50 am ]
Post subject: 
Cando
Try ivtv-tune -c3 -d /dev/video0 as user mythtv from command line (alt-x to get terminal) and see if that works. If not try it from root. Your device might be on a different /dev/.... But should be on /dev/video0. If it works from root then you have that permission problem. chmod a+rwx /usr/local/bin/ivtv-tune




[startup] {xterm -C ivtv-tune -c3 -d /dev/video0}
Author:  cando [ Fri May 18, 2007 9:59 am ]
Post subject: 
elgordo123 wrote:
Cando
Try ivtv-tune -c3 -d /dev/video0 as user mythtv from command line (alt-x to get terminal) and see if that works. If not try it from root. Your device might be on a different /dev/.... But should be on /dev/video0


I tried ivtv-tune -c3 -d /dev/video0 after alt-x works with root for sure. Dosent this mean that is on /dev/video0 . I will also check it with user mythtv
Author:  cando [ Fri May 18, 2007 10:00 am ]
Post subject: 
elgordo123 wrote:
Cando
Try ivtv-tune -c3 -d /dev/video0 as user mythtv from command line (alt-x to get terminal) and see if that works. If not try it from root. Your device might be on a different /dev/.... But should be on /dev/video0


I tried ivtv-tune -c3 -d /dev/video0 after alt-x works with root for sure. Dosent this mean that its on /dev/video0 ? I will also check it with user mythtv .
Author:  elgordo123 [ Fri May 18, 2007 10:23 am ]
Post subject: 
so did it work as mythtv user?
Author:  tjc [ Fri May 18, 2007 6:06 pm ]
Post subject: 
I would suggest adding this to the /etc/init.d/set_ivtv_params script and enabling it at boot time.
Code:
update-rc.d set_ivtv_params defaults
Author:  cando [ Fri May 18, 2007 8:59 pm ]
Post subject: 
elgordo123 wrote:
so did it work as mythtv user?

yes it also works as mythtv user, but the process doesn't start on restarting the mythbox.

tjc wrote:
I would suggest adding this to the /etc/init.d/set_ivtv_params script and enabling it at boot time.

how to enable at boot time?
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