Friday, September 2, 2011

Hauppauge PVR-150 IR Blaster and Comcast DTA - it doesn't work

At least not under Linux with LIRC. After several failed attempts following Mark's instructions and using various other lircd configs I found via Google, I've concluded that my PVR-150 IR blaster just don't work with my Comcast DTA. I keep a MythTV box in the States so that I can record and download American TV and it was working great until Comcast switched to all digital. My Silicondust HD Homerun only gets the unencrypted content and so in order to get the encrypted content, I need to use a Comcast DTA (or some other STB) with an IR blaster (yes, there are several other options, but this appears to be the easiest). However, the PVR-150 IR Blaster doesn't support the XMP remote protocol that the DTA's remote uses. From forum posts I read, it sounds like the hardware could support it, but that the Linux driver/firmware can't do it now and I don't have the expertise or time to fix it. So it looks like I need to fork over some cash to buy another IR blaster like the MCE remote or the USB UIRT.