USB-UIRT + Russound 857 Dist. Box = Ok...I think

[Guest]

Hey all,

Just wanted to let you all know that I recieved my Russound 857 1-in 6-out powered dist box and it seems picks up the codes from the USB-UIRT just fine. There's an IR Confirm LED that flashes when the UIRT sends a code out and it blinks just happily. But I am having a problem and we'll get to that next.

I'm trying to control a Interactive Digital Communications Digital Cable reciever, a Hitachi 51UWX20B and a Sony DVP-NS715-P DVD Player through Girder.

I got the DVD player to power up and down on the first try with the default settings, but I can't get either the Digital Reciever or the TV to recognize any of the codes.

Now whether the TV and Cable receiver aren't answering the call because the code from the UIRT to the dist box is getting mangled, because I've got the codes setup incorrectly in the Girder plugin, or because the UIRT isn't reading the codes correctly I'm not sure. Only more testing and fiddling will tell.

Just as a heads up, I've been testing the dist box all of 30 minutes, and haven't tried to get the UIRT plugin to learn any of my remotes prior to this so my problems are probably user error . I'll be sure to come back a little later and let you all know how it's working out.

Micah

[Micah]

Ok, quick update. Don't know why, but I couldn't figure out learning my Cable box manually. Remotecentral.com to the rescue! I found a Proto ccf for my particular box, did a learn, import, Pronto -> RAW code and blamo, it works beautifully.

All I need to do now is figure out my TV and I'd say this particular dist box works just fine jacked in directly.

[jrhees]

Micah,

The 'learn' algorithm for the USB-UIRT is constantly being improved. A new firmware/plugin will be out in a few days which will likely fix your TV learn problem

Now I'll ask a dumb question: Since I have no time to figure this out for myself and I don't own a Pronto, what method do you use to read a .ccf and extract the pronto HEX code for a button (which is then imported into the plugin)?

Thanks,

Jon

[Micah]

Jon,

To get the pronto code I loaded ProntoEdit onto my HTPC. Using ProntoEdit I went through button by button and copied the IR code programmed for each and pasted it into the import window in the UIRT plugin.

It was a little time consuming, but with a glass of Jack'n'Coke to keep me company it seemed like it was done in a jiffy.

I did find a CCF for my TV as well, but I can't get it to work any better than learning. Glad to hear there's an update coming down the pipe soon. I'm looking forward to trying it out.

[jpfieber]

Based on your post I bought an 857 and some of their emmitters. Unfortunately they aren't working for me. The signal light on the 857 never lights. I've tried plugging an emmitter directly into the UIRT and that didn't work either. What am I missing here?

[Guest]

I figured out the problem. I assumed (I know, never assume) that IR signals received from the UIRT would be passed through the external connector. Not true. If I hook up an 857 with emmitters to the UIRT, and send a signal from Girder, it does go out the 857 properly, and distributes to the emitters. If you want 'passthrough', presumably you would need to setup Girder to send an IR signal when it recieves an IR signal. I will hopefully get around this by using a y-splitter on the input to the 857, and connect both the UIRT and a normal IR receiver. That way, both can send signals out the emmitters. So, as mentioned earlier in this thread, the Russound 857 1-in 6-out powered dist box with Russound emmitters (I have a single and two duals) are confirmed to work with the external jack on the USB-UIRT...

[jrhees]

jpfieber,

Sorry I wasn't more clear on this. Yes, the USB-UIRT does *not* automatically echo received signals out the emitter jack. This is for a number of technical reasons -- one of the main ones is that the receiver the USB-UIRT uses is very different than the type used in an IR receiver module used by Xantech, Russound, etc.

-Jon