Vista upgrade - convince me!

[mathusulah]

I have a Sony XL201 running MCE, displaying on a Samsung HD 32" LCD. Also plugged into the TV is: Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii, Cable TV through a Samsung NTL box.

The NTL (Virgin) Cable TV is also fed into the MCE PC, the PC is wireless linked to my network and the Internet

I use the PC as a recorder, and schedule regular recordings to take place when out - but have found that the IR blaster will not send consecutive digits that are the same - so it wont change channels from 101 to 122 for instance. This has been a pain, but most of the time I can manage.

I have a couple of questions:
I have my 'free' Vista home premium upgrade disc (eventually!) - Do I install it? what is/are the advantage/s?
If not is there a way of getting the blaster to send identical consecutive digits?

Thanks
Dave

[Steve.J.Davies]

if what you have works why change ?

[mathusulah]

Thats the problem - its okay, but not perfect - because of the identical consecutive digit prolem - so is it worth the upgrade, or is it possible to fix the problem?

Thanks

Dave

[Uridium]

Do you have room for another drive or disk space to create another partition?

then you can dual boot, see if Vista does what you need without ruining what you have already got

[Steve.J.Davies]

Sounds like problem withe IR blaster (timing related maybe ). Changing to vista won't change the blaster - and when things go wrong you won't know what is causing it. best way to fix a problem is to research it and then change one thing at a time.
Going to Vista changes squillions of lines of code....

unless you have proof that it is an XP problem with the blaster (as it were) and that it is guaranteed to work on Vista...then you just gotta worry about all your other software, drivers etc etc.
best bet is open a thread on the blaster problem and see if it can bottomed out.
If you do quote h/w and s/w details, blaster info, symptoms.

[mathusulah]

I have opened a thread in the Windows MCE forum, and had some really useful comments - thanks for the suggestion.

It seems that the IR blaster problem is not unheard of - and there are a couple of fixes - I have tried them but no luck.

So it looks like I will install Vista and see how that goes.

Cheers

dave

[Steve.J.Davies]

did you look further afield that just this board ? shocking as it seems there are some other useful sites out there.

also before you go down the Vista rout it is worth find out of anyone is running your blaster trouble free in Vista...and that all your hardware and software will work in Vista as well...changing to a new operating system to get a single piece of hardware or software running would normally be done if that was the ONLY way to get that piece of kit supported and the need for the kit warranted all the work.
It's not my dog but you are taking a very big hammer to crack a very small nut...
what model Blaster is it BTW ?

addition - I have not looked thru the MCE threads... but have you seen this ?
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;896480

which I found on
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...z_xpmedia.mspx

[mathusulah]

Thanks for the info - Yes I had seen the MS support page - it does not work, as it is relates to the duration taken to send the signal - not the gaps between sending each digit. From my microelectronics history, it seems that it sends an analogue set of three signals, without a break between them rather than a 'digital' sequence of digit-space-digit-space-digit.

I have also searched through lots of postings and other sites for a solution, and this forum seemed the most likely to suggest a solution. I have not found one elsewhere!

I will post a query under the Vista forum to see if anyone has it working on their system.

The IR blaster came with the Sony XL201 - so I am assuming it is a Sony part.

Thanks for the ideas.

Dave

[Steve.J.Davies]

Sorry to have repeated a known sol then. But the description is just so perfect.
You tried lots of values as suggested by the fix I take it....and followed the directions carefully ?
(gotta ask, done way to much work on software not to ask...).

what model set top box is it ? any idea what specific timing it is looking for ?
just thinking it is worth following the string from that end rather than multiple attempts at changing values at the other end (with all the system restarts). It would take quite some time to cover it from that direction comprehensively I would guess.

Apologies if I am just further flogging your expired horse..

[mathusulah]

I like a challenge! Its not dead yet!

I worked through the values -50, 100, 150, 200, 250.....1000 after each restart the same thing happened - the numbers changed on the screen - matching what was sent - in a small black panel top left - and the display on the STB started to change, but the double digit caused the display to halt - for instance - if I put 101 the display would show the first 1, then delay (longer time delay as the values were increased) then 0, delay, then 1. fine. If I put 133 the display would show 1, then delay, then 3 then delay, then delay, then as it had only received 'two' digits it would revert to 101.

Its a Samsung STB. The MCE is running on a Sony XL201, the IR Blaster came with it. I have been in touch with Sony - they sent me the same MS support link - and a new remote! I contacted NTL (now Virgin) but they said it was a PC problem and they couldn't help (as usual).

Thanks

dave

[Steve.J.Davies]

have you tried to locate the timing info for the samsung box ?
or posted on a samsung forum ? (if there is one for the set top box, I assume there is as there one for everything nowadays..).
I suppose you have delved into the MS support fora as well.
the hit is just too accurate to ignore IMV
you have eliminated the 'double' issue ?

[mathusulah]

I tried to locate the timings, including checking various forums and contacting NTL - the default is 100 when it 'knows' the connection. But as I said, I think it is a red herring - the speed of transferring the digits is not an issue - they are transferred, the issue is the break between the digits - and I can not find a setting for that.

133 is read as 13, but 101 is read as 101 - the duration is obviously fine - its the way the signal is sent.

Thanks anyway.

Dave

[Steve.J.Davies]

Oh well. must admit the wording of the M/S fix does seem to indicate the interval is modified.
Do you have the clincher symptom "This doesn't happen during the TV setup wizard " ?
Still seems this hit is too close to not be valid.

[mathusulah]

it does happen during the setup - the PC detects the signal from the remote - its the stb that does not detect the signal properly.

[Steve.J.Davies]

arrghh!
looks like this has been know about for a while (see date and contents on) http://www.redremote.co.uk/mce.html#P4001

but the date on the M/S fix (linked earlier) supersedes this...
seems the miniguide display may be relevant viz:-
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb.../t-181479.html

I googled on
samsung set box blaster MCE -sound
a la
http://www.google.com/search?as_q=sa...s=&safe=images

and got lots of hits.
sorry if you have been there already - I just don;t like unsolved puzzles..