I keep thinking I'm almost done with getting my new TV all setup, but I never seem to cross the finish line.
My latest wrestling match was against the IR relay function of my Media Center. I stayed up half the night trying to get it to work, to no avail. Everything seems good on the software side, but the IR transceiver (pictured here) that came with my Media PC doesn't seem to want to relay IR signals to the IR flasher I have plugged into it.
The only thought I have left is that almost every picture I've ever seen of this thing out on the net has batteries in the picture, but mine doesn't take batteries (as far as I can tell). I would have assumed it'll pull power from the USB port anyway.
Anyone got any ideas why this thing won't relay signals for me?
"the IR transceiver (pictured here) that came with my Media PC doesn't seem to want to relay IR signals to the IR flasher I have plugged into it."
Two Things:
(1) Are you saying in the sentence above that you plugged in the IR flasher into the IR transceiver? I assume that you mean that you plugged it into the Media PC which should be how it works. You can actually see the IR flasher flash red when it changes the channel with my setup.
(2) Your user manual should tell you if it took batteries, but you're probably right in that it takes power from the USB. You might try a different USB port. That might be where the fault is.
(3) OK, I guess it was really three things. Does the IR flasher work OK? Have you verified that it is the transeiver?
1) The transceiver has two ports on the back of it, labeled "1" and "2" - both 3.5mm jacks. According to Media Center documentation at microsoft.com, this is where I should be plugging in a relay. Besides, I don't have an "IR out" type of connection on the PC itself.
2) Can't find the manual (my bad!), but I really don't think this thing takes batteries. I've tried reseating the connection, but not selecting a different port. I'll try that.
3) I have two, neither work. But I have not independently verified either of them. I know that the transceiver is working okay at least in so far as it can receive signals, because I use it every day to control my Media Center using its remote. Where it falls down is in trying to relay those signals to my STB.
Thanks for the reply!
1) My IR comes out of my PC. I guess yours works differently. Interesting.
2) Definitely try another port.
3) Your IR flasher might be bad. Do you have one that you can temporarily swap ing and try that you know is working?
Have tried different ports and two different flashers. Next, I think I'm going to reinstall Windows MCE, but we all know that could cause more harm than good. I want to anyway, though, since a friend at MS hooked me up with an upgrade CD to get me to the 2005 edition, so I can have an XBox extender. Woohoo!