Will multiple USB-UIRT units work on a single computer?

[Redwuff]

Hi.

I'm currently building an entertainment center computer with an ATi Radeon All-In-Wonder 9600XT, an older ATi TV Wonder Pro card, an ATi Remote Wonder II, and Windows XP MCE '04. The entertainment center it's going into has a Dish Network sat box, a VCR, and an Apex DVD player which I may or may not pull out, since the media computer can play DVDs. The three units currently in the stack are connected to the TV through a switchbox. Additionally, two rooms away, there is a second Dish receiver hooked up to a second, smaller TV with just regular coax, since the smaller TV doesn't have an S-vid input.

What I would like to do is to hook up the output from the switcher to one of my inputs, and run the s-vid out from the second Dish box (along with audio) to the second input, then put USB-UIRT blasters in each room, so that the computer (and the master ATi remote) can control all the console items with one unit, and the second Dish receiver with the other, so that I can use ATi's MultiView functions for PiP and switching between the two inputs.. I am aware of the 5m distance limitation on USB, and would be using one of the twisted-pair extenders to send the USB signal most of the distance.

Is this possible? Will the drivers for the USB-UIRT allow me to address two different units completely separately? Will MCE be able to control the two inputs separately, and the remote? Do I need to use BTV or Sage TV or ATi's native media center software (which I'm hoping to avoid because I've heard it has limited PVR functionality) instead? Has anyone used a USB-UIRT attached to one of the signal amp/extenders before, and did it work? All of these seem to me possible stumbling blocks to my plan.

Am I missing anything? Comments and help would be much appreciated.

Redwuff

[jrhees]

You're describing a fairly complex setup so I'll just scratch the surface with my initial comments:

1. You *can* use multiple USB-UIRT's on a single machine, but the software sending/receiving IR signals must support it. At this point in time the only two apps that this works with are Girder and Sage.

2. AFAIK, Windows MCE will *only* work with its own supplied IR receiver and blaster.

3. If you do not need an IR receiver in the second room (only a blaster), you could avoid the USB extender and instead extend a long external IR emitter plugged into the USB-UIRT's IR emitter jack.

-Jon

[Redwuff]

You are correct, I don't need an IR receiver in the second room, only a transmitter. Wouldn't plugging in a second IR transmitter into the back of a single USB-UIRT result in both transmitters sending the same signals, though? Or can they be controlled separately? Since both Dish receivers use the same IR codes, I need to be able send a signal to one box or the other. Also, if it /can/ transmit on two different channels, as it were, is it still a situation where only Sage or Girder will control it, or can BTV and ATi's media center do so as well?

How long a cable run can I put an extra transmitter on, and is it possible to get one with the USB-UIRT, or will I need to be bashing one together myself out of Rat Shack parts?

I'm not married to the idea of using XP MCE; I just have not yet had the chance to do a hands-on comparison of BTV and Sage, which seem to be the main choices for a Windows XP based machine.

Full of questions (or at least full of something...),

Redwuff

[jrhees]

Redwuff,

The USB-UIRT has multi-zone capability so *yes* you can with a little effort modify your setup files for Sage or BTV or other programs that support the USB-UIRT to send out of either:

- all emitters,
- only the built-in blaster
- only the rear jack's L channel
- only the rear jack's R channel

Alterbatively, you can reprogram one of your Dish receivers to a different IR 'address' (something Dish receivers can do), so that each receiver uses a different set of IR codes.

You'd have to either put together your own emitter (rather simple) or you could buy a standard emitter (I don't sell them) and then buy a standard headphone extension cable to extend the length.

For programs which don't natively support the USB-UIRT (like ATI's media center or MCE, you would have to rely on a program like Girder to control the USB-UIRT -- and hope that you can get Girder to talk to MCE or ATI...

-Jon

[ScottBot]

At this point in time the only two apps that this works with are Girder and Sage.

Jon, What is required for an app to support it. I added the zone support to the HouseBot plugin. Is there more that needs to be done to share the port?

Thanks,
Scott

[jrhees]

Scott,

Supporting multiple zones is a different beast than supporting multiple USB-UIRT's.

Multiple Zones can be supported by simply modifying the irCode parameter to 'transmitIR()'.

OTOH, multiple USB-UIRT's requires the app or plugin to open and treat each USB-UIRt separately (call Open multiple times and have handles to each unit).

If you want to do this, email me at support for more info.

-Jon