Messages

346

Installation issues / Re: How do I control a Bell ExpressVU Dish Receiver with the remotes?

« on: March 11, 2008, 03:32:19 am »

I would SERIOUSLY recommend getting a usb-uirt, and using the learn feature on it to get your IR codes. It is the most painless option, and you'll be up and running in roughly 10 minutes.
I would also recommend getting a Xantech 286 double IR emitter in addition.

 Ok...

 Is this the proper USB-UIRT to buy? I think I need the 56Khz to appease my 4700 receiver...

http://www.usbuirt.com/overview.htm

 And the Xantech 286...

 This one?

http://www.futurehomesystems.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=FHS&Product_Code=XN-286M

 or this one:

http://www.smarthome.com/8172.html

 Would the ones that plug into the MCE transceiver work? (ducks)

 I will be ready to order these soon.. they are the last piece of the puzzle I require.

347

Installation issues / Re: How do I control a Bell ExpressVU Dish Receiver with the remotes?

« on: March 10, 2008, 09:46:02 pm »

you know.. I really love it when people don't follow our hardware recommendations, and then have the balls to complain...

And after reading and researching, I was led to believe support for the IR Transceiver was here.

But that's an issue with this thing. Documentation is hard to find and many times there are different versions saying different things. And you wonder why I have the balls to complain?

I'm trying to find answers to questions, and for some reason everybody speaks in tongue here.

LinuxMCE is _A LOT MORE THAN MYTHTV_
if you want just TV and media control. Install MythTV, and be happy.

Yep, and that's why I started with LinuxMCE in the first place.

Yes, more money, the devices I am telling you about, WORK OUT OF THE BOX.  Please stop assuming things, and if you really want help with your hardware, jump onto the chat session so you can talk to us, we can help you.

Well, I guess, other than the IR Transceivers, my choice of equipment has been correct so far. Yes, if you search my other posts, I used a one-NIC configuration (oh boo scary), and again, I did that because the documentation said I could! Thank goodness I received help from somebody last night who steered me in yet another direction, which works (my media directors can now boot).

I never thought to enter the chat session thing. That would have likely saved me some panic time over the weekend.

348

Installation issues / Re: How do I control a Bell ExpressVU Dish Receiver with the remotes?

« on: March 10, 2008, 09:25:44 pm »

those are not pronto codes...

pronto codes are groups of four hex digits, and yes, the pronto codes that you'll find, are in CCF format... there are tools to extract this information if needed...

 Thanks. That gives me a little more info to go on at least.

I would SERIOUSLY recommend getting a usb-uirt, and using the learn feature on it to get your IR codes. It is the most painless option, and you'll be up and running in roughly 10 minutes.

 Something that can be done in 10 minutes? holy cow batman!

 But seriously...

 It's $50 + shipping for the USB-UIRT, PLUS the cost of yet another emitter?. What happens with the existing USB IR Transceiver that the MCE remote uses? sell them on eBay? or does it just stays there too? or would it take the place of the MCE USB thingy?

 Crap, I'd have to buy two of those things, one for upstairs, and one for downstairs.

 I specifically bought the Hauppage PVR-150-MCE's that included the remote and USB IR Transceivers so "it would work"

 Am I mistaken in thinking that these work fine in MythTV or would I have the same problem?

I would also recommend getting a Xantech 286 double IR emitter in addition.

 Nice, more money.

 I think I'm up to $1200 CDN in equipment now for a core and two media directors. And to think I had simple samba shares, Tversity (on Vista) or TwonkyVision (on ubuntu) as the server software connected on the LAN to two D-Link DSM320's working just fine.. with web access to any other device in the house, and gave that all up for the thrill and disappointments that await me with LinuxMCE. At least, for now, I can still chuckle over it. My wife thinks I've completely lost it. 

349

Installation issues / Re: How do I control a Bell ExpressVU Dish Receiver with the remotes?

« on: March 10, 2008, 08:31:04 pm »

you can choose to either Learn the code (this will be available for your mce ir blaster very soon), or
you can enter in a Pronto code (you can google for pronto codes for your reciever).

 Searching for pronto codes brings up a lot of stuff, of which, since I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for, is all rather strange.

 I keep seeing remotecentral.com but their *.ccf files are binary.

 I found this, which I thought may be helpful:

begin codes
          info                     0x0000000000000000
          power                    0x0000000000000800
          play                     0x0000000000000C10
          1                        0x0000000000001000
          2                        0x0000000000001400
          3                        0x0000000000001800
          frwd                     0x0000000000001C10
          4                        0x0000000000002000
          5                        0x0000000000002400
          6                        0x0000000000002800
          menu                     0x0000000000002C00
          7                        0x0000000000003000
          8                        0x0000000000003400
          9                        0x0000000000003800
          ffwd                     0x0000000000003C10
          select                   0x0000000000004000
          0                        0x0000000000004400

etc...

 And I pasted that into the admin screen but still nothing.

 I'm at a complete loss here. Since I can't record the key presses from the remote that came with the receiver, I can't be sure of anything right now.

 Making this work is one of the last things I need to do before I can say, "there! it works!"  To get stalled on what should be a simple step makes my last 4 or 5 days of pissing around seem like a total waste of time and effort. Oh well, it is what it is.

350

Installation issues / Re: Diskless Media Directors on a 1 NIC Core, is that possible?

« on: March 10, 2008, 01:06:08 pm »

At the risk of sounding like Microsoft, going outside of the supported configurations can be difficult to sort out.

What's surprising to me the Wiki gave explicit directions on how to set up with 1 nic and they appear to be wrong. It was those instructions I followed.

               
Actually with so many interlocking settings you may be troubleshooting for a week.

If it came down to struggling with this for yet another week, it would be gone. My wife misses me.

So at the end of last night, I had a test MD going through the setup phase, and frooze in the AV Wizard. At that time the core screen was just a big gray background, but I could see the network lights blinking so I powered off the MD and let the core do whatever it wanted all night.

This morning (MON - Day 5 of my experiment) the core is still doing whatever it is doing, so it's HARD RESET #2 (of Sun, or #1 of Mon), rebuild all orbiter screens, it's back.

Then I fire up the test MD (this is actually the machine destined for use upstairs in the living room with the other dish) and it boots up just fine into the LinuxMCE interface! Nice. I can view pictures, playback music, playback video and even watch TV. It actually works!

I think for fun I'll even try to set up my old compaq as a MD today.

I have a box of X10 home automation arriving this week. I got too excited about LinuxMCE and ordered some stuff online last week. If I knew then what I know now, I would have waited and saved my $70. But that's another challenge forthcoming (I think).

Getting a MD running is another success story. But again, something that shouldn't take a day to accomplish.

Where I'm stuck at now is getting my IR Transceiver set up to change channels on the dish receiver. The dish is our main source for TV viewing (antenna feed out here sucks). If we can't have the unit change channels it is no good.

Over at MythTV and all their distros, they talk about using the Hauppage PVR15-MCE IRD transceiver (the one that includes the usb blaster) as a piece of cake (to control the dish).

Here in LinuxMCE land? I have no idea. I did post about it yesterday, with a thorough description of what I had done and where I got lost. Will it take a week before somebody has time to drop me another 'tip'? can you? ;-)

Without your advice I'd never have gotten the MD to fire up, and I thank you for that. If I ever find the wiki page I will add a comment about setting up the network config as you have suggested.

351

Installation issues / Re: Diskless Media Directors on a 1 NIC Core, is that possible?

« on: March 10, 2008, 02:29:38 am »

I'm really sorry that someones effort to use the system in a non-standard way lead you down this path. I know that its frustrating when this happens. I have been going in circles for weeks sorting out Alsa with tons of misleading info on the web.

I appreciate your response, especially after my last rant. However, your response is like "tease". It gives me a "hint"

So here's what I did (with failed results again of course).

First, let's talk about the "admin" page

http://192.168.0.2/pluto-admin/index.php

I go there, click on Advanced > Network > Network Settings.

This is what I have:

EXTERNAL_IFACE     eth0
EXTERNAL_MAC    00:04:4B:06:F4:9A
EXTERNAL_IP    192.168.0.2
EXTERNAL_NETMASK    255.255.255.0
EXTERNAL_DHCP    0
INTERNAL_IFACE    eth0:0
INTERNAL_MAC    00:04:4B:06:F4:9A
INTERNAL_IP    192.168.0.2
INTERNAL_NETMASK    255.255.255.0
GATEWAY    192.168.0.1
DNS1    192.168.0.1
DNS2    207.164.234.193

DHCP server on Core:
   Enable DHCP server (checked)
     Range of IP addresses for Pluto devices: 192.168.80.2 - 192.168.80.129
     Provide IP addresses for anonymous devices not in Pluto's database.
             Range of IP addresses for non-Pluto devices: 192.168.80.130 - 192.168.80.254
Number of network adapters: 1

Your core has the following network adapters:
1. External network card eth0
Obtain an IP address from DHCP
Use a static IP address
     Core's IP address:    192.168.0.2
     Subnet mask:    255.255.255.0
     Gateway:    192.168.0.1
     Nameserver (DNS) #1:    207.164.234.193
     Nameserver (DNS) #2:    192.168.0.1
2. Internal network card eth0:0
     IP address:    192.168.0.2
     Subnet mask:    255.255.255.0
   OfflineMode (unchecked)

I'm "guessing" the internal network should be 192.168.80.1?

Then, in  /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf

--start---
option domain-name-servers 192.168.0.1;
authoritative;

option routers 192.168.0.1;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
(other lines omitted)
subnet 192.168.80.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
        next-server 192.168.0.2;
        filename "/tftpboot/pxelinux.0";
        option pxelinux.reboottime = 30;

        default-lease-time 86400;
        max-lease-time 604800;
        pool {
                 allow unknown-clients;
                 range 192.168.80.130 192.168.80.254;
        }
}

# PXE booting machines
group {
        next-server 192.168.0.2;
        filename "/tftpboot/pxelinux.0";
        option pxelinux.reboottime = 30;

}
# regular machines
group {
}
----end---

From your perspective, what needs to be corrected?

After Edit:

I did update the ip on the core for the internal IP address to 192.168.80.1

reload, etc..

Hmmm. One of my test machines actually booted off the network! I've been through the A/V wizard and I'm waiting for it to finish.

Odd, she comes up and I get if you can see and hear me, but then it freezes and no mouse/keyboard.

Hard Reset #1.

Then the core talks about a device being added but something needs to be downloaded from the net.

The core screensaver (flickr) images can't be seen, the background is all gray, and the boxes around your options are "empty" so going by memory, I tell the core to reload and I power off the MD.

The core now has a grey screen/background and I can see the network lights blinking... beats me what's going on. I'll let the core do its thing for a while. Since it's now 11pm ET, I think I'll go to bed, let the core do whatever it's doing, and see what's happening in the morning.

My MythUbuntu iso image is here and I've burned it to a CD. If nothing happens in the morning, I'll load MythTV on the "MD" box I was just trying to play with and see what happens.

352

Installation issues / Re: Diskless Media Directors on a 1 NIC Core, is that possible?

« on: March 10, 2008, 12:26:44 am »

You changed the default settings. The external needs to be in the range that the router supports DHCP off. The internal needs to be  192.168.80.1 and the DHCP needs to be on. The default will work fine except for setting the external IP to talk to the router. If both the internal and external are the same it won't work.

 Yes, but I followed the instructions given in "Single NIC & Existing DHCPd" which I can't locate the link for, because I guess, I hate this wiki system.

 I printed that page out and as far as I can figure, both nics are to given the same IP.

 I have a linksys router, 192.168.0.1

 I said, I disabled the DHCP server in it.

 I set both nic specs in admin to 192.168.0.2 as instructed...

 And the DHCP server is active in LinuxMCE.

 My wireless and networked computers that need DHCP work OK.

 I've asked about the wording in /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf but nobody has responded.

 I'm beginning to feel if you want to run LinuxMCE, you either have to be part of the development team or part of the "gang" or else you're screwed. The documentation is terrible, the forum support is not that great, and you get "yeah it works" or "no it doesn't work" answers instead of "instructions" that people can read and follow, or worse, you get pointed to several variations that do different things but claim the same result and nothing works.

 I'm no dummy, but after 4 days of struggling (and hey, I have made great progress to date) with LinuxMCE, my views about it are rather dim right now.

 Search my posts. I've made it a point to document my experiences in the hopes of helping the "team" or "gang" follow along. I've asked decent questions and I've provided (what I think) are good details.

 I spent the entire day today just trying to figure out how to make my remote change the channel on my Bell Dish Receiver with no luck. No setup should take an entire day just to configure a remote!

 So I gave up on that, thought I'd see if a MD would boot up. 3 machines. Nada.

 That "demo video" should be taken down and destroyed. It's completely mis-leading.

 Sure, if you gave me all the equipment that he had I could do the same thing. Try building it yourself? and you're s-o-l, unless you're "in the club"

 Yeah, I'm steamed, 'cause I spent 4 days friggin with the stuff. Believing the "demo video" I went out and spend $300-$400 on equipment to make media directors, get gyro mouses, video capture cards, IRD transceivers and remote, and gave up my ubuntu workstation to act as the core.

 Impressed? Not.

353

Installation issues / Re: Diskless Media Directors on a 1 NIC Core, is that possible?

« on: March 09, 2008, 11:11:28 pm »

A one NIC core works fine as long as you are using the default settings that LMCE setup. You will need to set the external address to static and point it at the router. Otherwise strange things could happen. Also you must disable the DHCP in the external router or the PXE will never work.

 I set up both network cards in the admin to 192.168.0.2 yada yada.

 I disabled the DHCP server in my LinkSys router.

 I tried to boot 3 machines via network today. Nothing.

 Sorry, but MythTV is looking better all the time. I'm downloading the ISO now and will set it up on yet another test machine before wiping LinuxMCE with my ass.

354

Installation issues / Diskless Media Directors on a 1 NIC Core, is that possible?

« on: March 09, 2008, 10:19:12 pm »

Does LinuxMCE support diskless MD's when configured to use only 1 NIC and be the DHCP server?

My very old Compaq supports PXE booting. It just kept trying to load different ranges of the same thing.

A new AMD 4200+ system stalled and then fell back to HD. (yes a slight contradiction of terms. The drive is only a 40 GB test drive but can be utilized the MD. I'm just 'seeing if it works')

My Dell Latitude D600 Notebook... talks about PXE booting when you select internal NIC from the temp boot menu. it eventually times out and falls back to a HD boot.

Nobody answered one of my posts about the dhcp config.

It talks about "next-server 192.168.0.2"

and I asked if that was correct (that's the IP # of the core) or should it be changed to the regular IP pool? I changed it to the first IP of the pool. No idea if that is correct.

355

Installation issues / How do I control a Bell ExpressVU Dish Receiver with the remotes?

« on: March 09, 2008, 07:41:05 pm »

I've been fiddling now for at least 4 hours and I'm completely lost.

On my core, I have a Microsoft MCE 2005 Remote with the USB IR Transceiver.

It appears fine in the Admin page, Media Director, and uses mce_usb2.

The remote itself is working fine in LinuxMCE and partially in MythTV, but I want/need it to control my Bell ExpressVU Receiver.

In the admin, I've managed to add an interface..

#47, Lirc embedded Transmitter, in the RecRoom, controlled by mce_usb2.

So now I go to A/V Equipment, Select RecRoom, and add device.

For Manufacturer, I select EchoStar (80)

Under Device Category, I select Satellite Boxes < AV (108)

Apply Filter comes up with nothing.

So I Add Device Template.

Provide Model Number 4700 with infrared. Click Next.

Next on delays.

Next on how to tune.

single toggle button, next.

Then for

#1 - My device does not have multiple input sources, it only provides this 1 type of media

I choose "Live TV" and next

My device doesn't have DSP Modes, next.

And then I get a few notices on the core saying the device was added but some config files are missing and need to be downloaded from the internet later. Then eventually you are told to regen.

Now I have

Pick the Infrared Group that works for your device

and there's nothing in there that matches/works. (well, one of my tests but it doesn't do anything)

So I type in an infrared group, like Bell Black Remote, and add IR Group button.

And now I'm here:

Edit IR codes
WARNING: the changes will afect all devices created from device template 4700.
Device Template 4700, category Satellite Boxes and manufacturer Echostar.   
Delays: Power: 7000 miliseconds, Mode: 2000 miliseconds, Other: 0.25 miliseconds [change/explain]   
Tuning: No fixed digits

• terminate with enter [change/explain]   

Power: Toggle [change/explain]   
Inputs Discrete: [change/explain]   
DSP Modes Discrete: [change/explain]
This device is controlled via: LIRC Embedded Transmitter
Uses Group/Codeset: Bell Black Remote
Implement Command Groups:
I check off
EPG (TV/Cbl/Sat) Control
On-Screen Menu Navigation
Click Update

And now I get a screen where I can type in the IR codes I assume?

Each of the input lines are empty, and I have the desired command on the left, the input line, and delete or test code buttons.

This is where I'm lost. What it is looking for? Where can I find the codes?

I've searched and read and been to other sites and I'm more confused than ever.

I opened up a Terminal window and ran:

irrecord -f --device=/dev/lircd test.conf

and pressed some keys and then I get:

-no data for 10 seconds, aborting
-gap not found, can't continue

Also today, which is my 4th day tinkering with LinuxMCE, at 1:24pm I once again had no keyboard or mouse control. I had to tell it to power down. Then I powered back up. I notice it always says Failed to get IVTV drivers. Odd, since I can see in the dmesg display there really are there?

I do my tinkering, and by 2:16pm, I can't load the admin page. The core is doing weird things, I have my first HARD RESET of the day (I had at least 3 yesterday).

And why is it, when I go to the KDE screen, and then want to get back to the orbiter, most times if I click on the orbiterGL box, nothing happens? I have to regen in order for it to appear. Sometimes I have to power down.

I think I've done pretty darned good over the last 3 days. But if i can't control the dish, this system is completely useless to us.



 

356

Feature requests & roadmap / Re: Add support for the IR blaster on the MCE Remote (mce_usb2)

« on: March 09, 2008, 06:07:29 pm »

 I think I've just spent about 90 minutes going nowhere fast.

 When I went to the Media Wizard, it said my devices weren't there so I'd have to add them in the Admin screen.

 I did add the IR Blaster, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to add my Bell (Echostar 4700) receiver with remote codes.

 I found a web page with a list of codes, three numbers (or less) per code. I could manually enter them all into the LInuxmce screen, but when I test absolutely nothing happens.

 What type of code formatting is the screen looking for?

 Yesterday I remember seeing something about running a program that would monitor the IR Receiver and tell you what the code was for a keypress, ya think I can find that page or into today in the wiki? I'm quickly learning to bookmark everything as you may see it once and never again.

 You would think there would be a template for Bell ExpressVu equipment, but perhaps LinuxMCE isn't so popular here in Canada.

 

357

Feature requests & roadmap / Re: Add support for the IR blaster on the MCE Remote (mce_usb2)

« on: March 09, 2008, 04:29:45 pm »

The simplest way to do the setup for this is to use the Media Player Wizard to define how/what you are controlling. Run the Media Player Wizard from the Media Director that has your MCE Transceiver attached (it should auto-detect it). See the Wiki here for some basic info http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Media_Player_Wizard

 That is super! thanks very much! If I get the blaster part working then I move on to my first Media Director attempt!

 Have a great day!

358

Feature requests & roadmap / Re: Add support for the IR blaster on the MCE Remote (mce_usb2)

« on: March 09, 2008, 04:12:59 pm »

LinuxMCE 0710 Beta4 has inbuilt support for IR blasting using the MCE IR transceiver and mce_usb2

 Hi! I've been reading your posts ;-)

 OK, so that's what my Media Director is configured to use right now.. can you point me to where the files are or what I should be poking around in to:

- possibly capture codes from the existing dish remote (I've read that somewhere.... run a program, push the buttons, note what appears)
- put that into a file that LinuxMCE uses (I guess this is what I need to know)

 Thanks for any advice you may have.

359

Feature requests & roadmap / Re: Add support for the IR blaster on the MCE Remote (mce_usb2)

« on: March 09, 2008, 02:16:02 am »

It would be great if the mce remote receiver's built in ir blasters (mce_usb2) could be utilized in LinuxMCE.
A lot of people have them, and therefore would not need to spend additional $$ on a seperate blaster.

This what I'm looking into right now...

I have two MCE Remotes that have the IR Receiver/Blaster. Naturally, the remote works plug 'n play for me, but I need to be able to control an external bell satellite dish receiver too. It would make more sense to use the equipment I have instead of dumping them and buying something else, but naturally, if I have to, I have to.

It's a *must* to be able to control the dish receiver, it's our main source for television.

Is this link valid for 0710 Beta 4?

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Windows_MCE_Receiver

Although these two lines confuse me:

* IR Transmitter is supported with driver module lirc_mceusb2 version >= 0.24 (lirc-0.8.2).

    * However, the transmitter is not currently supported in LinuxMCE

First it says it's supported, then it says it isn't and goes on to talk about lots of things.

Currently in my MD screen, I don't have "lirc_mceusb2" as option for "Infrared Receivers", but there are couple of "mce_usb2" in there?

360

Users / Morning 3 with 0710 Beta 4 - progress with MythTV!

« on: March 08, 2008, 06:07:31 pm »

8:30am
This morning my goal was to get MythTV going. I thought I would load the mythbackend from the KDE desktop, so it wanted to add me to the usergroup and said to reboot, so I did. Loaded Mythbackend (don't really know why) and as usual the text is off the screen and I can't make heads or tails out of the prompts, so I ESC out.

The LinuxMCE screen freezes. Admin web page won't load. No keyboard response. HARD RESET #1.

9:30am
I decide to reconnect my VGA monitor and run the AV Wizard in order to see the MythTV screens. Connect the VGA monitor and the core freezes again. HARD RESET #2.

During reboot, I held down the left shift key. No AV Wizard. So I rebooted again.
During the next reboot, I held down the right shift key, No AV Wizard. hmm

So I go to the KDE desktop and go to the Launch Manager -> Video -> Change Resolution and it says it will run the AV Wizard for me upon reboot. Super!

I set the system up to use my VGA monitor and head into the MythTV Setup.

I used this wiki page for reference:

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/MythTV

Even though I had read it a couple times, I guess the light bulb didn't go off about the tip "Refer to the Myth user's Manual for details" mentioned  in Step 6.

But I did go to MythTV's web site to look for information on the setup screens, and I found this:

http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-9.html

It finally explained to me what all the options and steps were and I was able to tell it that I use an Antenna feed on the tuner card and Bell Expressvu input on the composite input, and as best I can figure, the schedulesdirect.org was set to the right thing for both.

I had to follow the steps about setting the mysql password at the end, and then mythfilldatabase did its thing.

I completed those steps, then told the system to run the AV Wizard upon reboot so I can go back to using my LCD HD TV. Done.

Now I go to "TV" and I see video and hear sound. I can't remember what input I was on, but I was able to flip inputs and using the MCE remote (the gyro mouse doesn't seem to control MythTV?) call up the guide and select other channels.

At first my guide didn't know any channels.

From the web interface:

http://192.168.0.2/mythweb/tv/list

I could see things looking better (but how I view the Dish schedule instead of antenna?)

11:20am
While watching TV the box completely froze up. HARD RESET #3.

11:32am
I decided I would do the Nvidia Tweaks mentioned here:

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Nvidia_Card_Tweaks_For_Better_MythTV_and_UI_Performance

I only unchecked the "Sync to VBlank" item (and the other automatically unchecked) and exited.

Then I went back and the TV is working like it was before, although I do notice the guide is showing channels and programs by now. I can switch inputs to the dish but I don't see the guide for the dish displayed. I would like to figure that part out.

And now it's Noon and I have to go out and blow the snow out of the driveway, as us here in Ontario Canada are enjoying yet another snow fall, so I stopped the TV and will come back and play some more this afternoon!

But things are looking much today... on day 3. :-)