[mythtv] Remotes via IRDA?

[kevin thayer]

Heh, 
We always seem to answer each other's questions. 

I played around with lirc and my laptop last weekend.
Here's what I found:

For controlling things, it works in SIR mode (not FIR)
pretty well. 

For learning codes, it is horrible! All my remotes
seemed to be 'RC-5' whatever that means, and it got
90% of the way towards working then failed. (ie it
would get all the framing info for the codes, but when
you started doing actual buttons, it blew up). I am
told this is because for learning, irda is hardcoded
at 38000 hz. The home-brew serial port ones are
evidently more flexible.

Raw mode learning never worked for me. Probably the
38000hz thing.

Fortunately, the LIRC project has many remotes that
others have submitted, and my cable box and dvd player
were among them. They are all that I tested. Here's
the results:

Cable box (motorola): Worked fine from as far as i
needed it to (10-15 feet?). Pre-set file didn't have
'enter', so that sucked :) Channel input works fine. I
plan on playing tricks on my roommates soon heh.

DVD (panasonic): Worked, but only from within a few
feet. Even the regular remote is notorious for having
poor reception (in our house), so this isn't
surprising. I'm told that chaning the carrier
frequency can boost range. I tried a little, but
didn't notice a difference.

TV (mitsubishi big-screen): No remote code, couldn't
learn.

Long story short: Works great if you have a good
remote config file. 

-kevin

---
Has anyone tried using the IRDA ports built into most
motherboards with a
(lirc supported) remote?  It looks like software
shouldn't be a problem but
I'm concerned about range.

-- 
Ray

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