[mythtvnz] Myth, LIRC, TelstraClear Analog STB and MCE remote blaster issues

[Robin Gilks]

> Has anyone on list got an MCE remote, blaster and myth working reliably?
>
> On my shiny new install the remote happily talks to the frontend but I
> just can't get the blaster to send reliable channel changes using the
> remote.
>
> Using the channel changing script I'm only getting about an 80% hit
> rate from the command-line and  I suspect a timing issue with my
> script. Until I can hit 100% success with the command-line I figure
> I'm going to make no progress with why channel changing from the
> MCE-remote isn't working.
>
> Anybody recognise this issue with the analog STB?  Any pointers?
>
> Anyone have a working lircd.conf, a changer script etc they'd care to
> share?

You're right about timing being a potential source of problems but more
likely is the positioning of the IR LED on the blaster. Note that you
should get exactly the same results from the command line, in LiveTV and
channel changes required by scheduled recordings - they are all using the
same script after all!!

One issue with external channel changers that is not obvious from the
docos is that the frequency value entered in mythtv-setup for each channel
is the value that gets passed to the changer script. This field should
therefore contain the channel number the STB expects to see from a remote.

First the timing. Depending on what the STB expects, it may ignore
commands that arrive too quickly - it is expecting button pushes from a
remote after all. Try extending the delay in your blaster script.

The LED positioning on my Sky box was really critical as the IR LED I used
was directing its output from the top and I had it stuck on the front of
the Sky box sideways. Some careful shaping with blue-tack allowed me to
point the LED more at the front panel of the box and it improved
reliability no end.

This is my Sky STB script - pretty generic so probably what you already
have. The remote name 'sky' is to access the correct set of codes in my
/etc/lircd.conf file. Unless there are some codes that never work, you
probably have the correct codes for your TC STB already.

#!/bin/sh

REMOTE_NAME=sky
cmd="$1"
DEVICE=/dev/lircd

case $cmd in
    [0-9]*)
    for digit in $(echo $1 | sed -e 's/./& /g'); do
        /usr/bin/irsend -d $DEVICE SEND_ONCE $REMOTE_NAME $digit
        sleep 0.1
        # Adjust this sleep value for faster channel changes:
    done
    ;;

    *)
        /usr/bin/irsend -d $DEVICE SEND_ONCE $REMOTE_NAME $cmd
        ;;
esac



-- 
Robin Gilks