Re: How to troubleshoot IR blaster

[Peter K. <ja...@su...>]

>>>>> "Jan" == Jan Ceuleers <jan...@gm...> writes:

Hi,

 Jan> I've been trying for some time to control a set-top
 Jan> box. Unsuccessfully.  Please could anyone tell me how to
 Jan> troubleshoot this?

 Jan> The STB is a Telenet Digibox HD, type DB-AD210, manufactured by
 Jan> Advanced Digital Broadcast. I'm using an MCE IR transceiver:

 Jan> Bus 005 Device 002: ID 1934:5168 Feature Integration Technology Inc.
 Jan> (Fintek) F71610A or F71612A Consumer Infrared Receiver/Transceiver

 Jan> I generated a config file using the following irrecord command:

 Jan> # irrecord -f -n -d /dev/lirc0 digibox

 Jan> As you can see I needed to force raw mode because (as reported by
 Jan> others over the years) otherwise irrecord thinks it's an RC6
 Jan> remote but then doesn't find a toggle bit.

 Jan> The red light in the blaster flashes when I issue the appropriate
 Jan> irsend command, but the STB does not seem to accept it. I've held
 Jan> the blaster just about everywhere on the front panel, no joy.

 Jan> How can I troubleshoot this? Have I generated the config file
 Jan> correctly?  Have I incorporated it correctly in lirc's overall
 Jan> configuration?

I have one of the old DB-A110 (SD) boxes, and had similar problems when
I tried to get it working:

http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/telenet/DB-AD110
http://old.nabble.com/irrecord-troubles-with-RC6-td26761416.html

I ended up using a serial receiver/transmitter, which seems to have
higher accuracy than the MCE ones. It more or less works, but not
100%. Sometimes the STB misses a keypress (which typically causes mythtv
to record the wrong channel :/)

A 100% working solution would be good. I haven't spent much time on it
since 2009, but perhaps the way forward is to measure the IR receiver
response from the original remote using a scope and make a custom
transmitter with an AVR or so, instead of generating the timing using
the PC serial port.

-- 
Bye, Peter Korsgaard