Best IR option for dual STB's

[twooten]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of planning my build and have questions about the IR transmitters, etc. I'm currently running a MythTV system but am about to jump head first into LinuxMCE. I have 2 cable boxes from my provider and a PVR-500 with the two tuners. Right now I've only got one set-top box hooked up because  I only have one IR transmitter. I'm using a Firefly RF remote and a MyBlaster IR transmitter to send the signal to my cable box. The MyBlaster works great but unfortunately the company that sold them is out of business and I can't find another one.

Can someone please tell me the easiest way and what I need to buy to allow LinuxMCE/MythTV to control both boxes independently. I've found no way that I can set the cable boxes to use different codes and I'm not really clear on how LinuxMCE knows how to send an IR signal to one box and not the other. Say I'm watching live TV with one cable box and it's time for MythTV to kick off a recording, how does it know to use the box not currently in use?

I'm looking at the USB-UIRT and it seems that I can set up something called zones that will allow different signals to be sent to the different boxes. But all the forums talk about some control software called Girder. Does this work with LinuxMCE or is that something I even need. Also, with the USB-UIRT there seems to be some confusion about which kind of splitter and IR emitter to use in this situation.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Tim

[tschak909]

For setups like this, a GC-100 works best. You can then get two IR emitters, attach them to two of the ir/sensor ports, and control the boxes independently.

Alternatively, you can get one USB UIRT, and an IRTRans or Tira, to control the boxes separately.

-Thom

[seth]

 
I use 3 Dish Network Set Top Boxes. The 2 main ones are controlled by a USB-UIRT. And the 3rd is also controlled by an additional USB-UIRT in another room of my house. If I had the PCI slots available to me, they would all be controlled by a single USB-UIRT, but the dual STB MD only had enough PCI slots for 2 tuner cards. I have played with the Idea of 2 pvr500 cards, on my core, and switching back to a single USB-UIRT to control it, but that 2nd USB-UIRT also contols a VCR and a Roku Netflixplayer. However if all of these were in the same location, I could do it with only one USB-UIRT.

I have no experience with the GC100, but I am sure they are more than capable of doing it and about twice the price of a USB-UIRT.
If you do decide to go with the USB-UIRT, and install an i386 MD or core, please go and get my fixed module to allow the USB-UIRT to blast w/out dongles. It is here - http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/USB-UIRT_x86_Fix

Just go ahead and grab the module, and follow the instructions on the wiki as to where to copy it to. My USB-UIRT has a very powerful transmitter, I bought the one with the 56k ir bits in it. If I open up the french doors into my family room from the living room, it can blast across 2 rooms to control the tv connected there. But for accuracy and dependability, I bought a 2nd one for the room.

My experience with the USB-UIRT has been exceptional. They were in fact the best pieces I have purchased for my current installation.

Welcome, and Regards,

Seth

[twooten]

tschak909 and seth,

Thank, I'll be spending the weekend checking this out and doing a bit more research before I spend my $$.

Tim