[mythtv-users] Controlling STB with Lirc

[Rick]

On 05/22/2013 02:19 PM, aaron wrote:
> 
> 
> On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 11:47 AM, George Nassas <gnassas at mac.com
> <mailto:gnassas at mac.com>> wrote:
> 
>     On 2013-05-22, at 9:49 AM, aaron wrote:
> 
>>     On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 2:58 PM, George Nassas <gnassas at mac.com
>>     <mailto:gnassas at mac.com>> wrote:
>>
>>         issuing a SEND_START, sleeping for 0.5 seconds, and then doing
>>         a SEND_STOP.
>>
>>     Thanks, I'll give this a try when I get a chance. It sounds
>>     promising...
> 
>     One other thing I forgot to mention is how my digital terminal is
>     very sensitive to reflections. Originally it was on a light coloured
>     surface and maybe 20% of the transmissions would be received wrong
>     for no apparent reason. On a hunch I put some black cardboard
>     underneath the IR receiver area and my error rate went to pretty
>     much zero. Finally, I repeat each channel change two more times with
>     a 10 or 15 second pause in between and that has eliminated misfires
>     totally.
> 
>     This DTA is the cheapest of the cheap and yours is probably built
>     better but if not I’d look at reflections as a source of trouble.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, very interesting. Thanks, I'll definitely keep it in mind. I don't
> think it's on a reflective surface, but you never know. I haven't had
> any trouble with the actual remote... except when I'm trying to search,
> I tend to jerk the remote a bit as I try to quickly hit the number keys
> to get the right letters, and it tends to miss a lot of my typing
> because of that... which gives me hope that reflection won't be such a
> problem ;-)
> 
> aaron
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> http://www.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> 

I use my PVR-150 IR Blaster to control a comcast STB.  Something I
discovered was the IR Blaster had to be at the exact right spot for the
STB to read the signal.  I'm told the IR Blaster doesn't send a "strong"
signal.  By the way, when I say the exact right spot it had to be within
a millimeter, otherwise it wouldn't pick it up.  To find the spot, I did
an irsend with repeat (SEND_START) and moved the blaster all over the
front of the STB until it registered.  Also, the blaster seemed to come
out of the tip better than the side.

I hope that helps.

R