Re: Microsoft, please, a solution for the STB!!!!!!!
- From: Axel <Axel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 17:53:01 -0700
Hi Guys,
there is a free bit of code called lirc on linux that can do
what the entire mite of Microsoft seem to be unable to do.
It can record and scan from any reciever any IR Code from a home made or
purchased IR Blaster connected to a serial port (I made my own).
Just do a search on Mythtv IR Blaster and lirc.
If Microsoft are incapabable of fixing this perhaps the open source
community can port lirc to mono and therefore .Net
...Then if we could intercept the system calls that MCE uses to control the
STB via the MS IR Blaster ... we could redirect them via our own IR Blaster
and sort this problem out.
It is not difficult MS !!!! All you need to do is what Tivo does .....
...INSERT A DUMMY CODE eg the <RED> Button's IR Code AFTER EACH Key Press.
Job done 6 Million NTL Users no longer p@ssed off.
Even better open up the MS RC5 Database so that users can hack it themselfs
and add the extra code on the end ..... no liability from MS.
For heck sake this pushing NTL Customers to Sky ......Has MS done a deal
with Sky?
Thx
"Mike" wrote:
It not just Terry with this concern (Hi Terry! still no luck then;) ), its.
the entire of the UK NTL population that either use the samsun 2100 stb and
rest of the older NTL users that are due to be upgraded to the samsung 2100
stb !!
Quote : "Today, NTL has 3.3 million residential customers using over 6
million services - Source : NTL
Ive posted multiple threads regarding this issue over the last few months,
and have had no response from Microsoft or from anyone that might be able
to help, apart from Kalev and Terry ;) still no luck though....
When you say, there not any plans in the near future to fix this issue,
are you serious ? how does Microsoft expect to make even a slight dent in
the Media center arena if you cant be "assed" to fix problems that prevents
entire
cable company STB's from changing channels ???? its simply not good enough.
What are your developers doing all day ? surley this is not a complicated
problem
for them ? Please can someone at least explain why this isnt going to be
fixed, or even if this issue will still exist in the new Windows Vista MCE
???????? god i hope not.
MCE 2005 really is an excellent product so far and i would love to continue
following this route, as it is a perfect solution for "easy" media in the
home, but not being able to run TV over it is a nightmare and means once
again the pc in the living room gets pushed further and further into the
corner and not being used to the extent i would like it to ! :) If my house
hold use it for TV (before this issue appeared) everyone used it continuously
but now TV isnt working they hardly bother to use it even for playing music
waching DVD's etc etc
RE: "daunting task of dealing with dis-similar TV systems" er ? please...
this is the toggle bit were talking about its quite a common technique in
many media devices, in fact media center uses it itself!! why is it i cant
learn/repeat these codes ?
Ed, nothing personal mate, but this had driven me and a lot of others up the
wall, and i thought id pounce while it looks like we have a little attention
from microsoft.
It seems you are in the right channels to kick up a fuss about this, and im
sure you can see its well worth it for microsoft to fix this issue ASAP else
no one in UK/spain/etc will be buying your "software" for use in the lounge :)
Yours hopefully,
Mike
"Ed Rich [MSFT]" wrote:
Hi Terry,
I will contact the Program Manager and let him know about your concerns.
Unfortuantely I can't promise that it will be fixed. Capturing the IR codes
is not necessary. The IR codes are actually protected and cannot be modifed.
--
Ed Rich [MSFT]
edrich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
"Terry" <Terry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5174F2EF-6D79-46D6-948F-7C33214AAA92@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ed,
Thanks for your reply!. Is there anything that we can do to help progress
any fixes? For example If we can find some software for capturing the raw
IR
codes from the remote would it be useful to Microsoft?
Also, if anyone can tell me the answer? When using the MCE to Learn
remote codes, where do the IR Codes get stored? can I edit/view it?
Thanks
Terry
"Ed Rich [MSFT]" wrote:
Terry,
I'm sorry that you are in this situation. I confirmed that the Media
Center
team is aware of this issue. Unfortuately I cannot guarantee that it will
be
fixed anytime soon.
Kind Regards,
Ed Rich
Program Manager
Windows eHome
--
Ed Rich [MSFT]
edrich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
"Terry" <Terry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:B2CB3BE9-4A91-4E58-AA6F-C7BF4BEA629D@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ed,
I have indeed looked at www.redremote.co.uk. I have also emailed them
and
the reply was
This problem is due to a bug in MCE, and there is no fix for it at the
moment. I can only suggest you pester your MCE supplier as MS are only
likely
to fix it of they get enough complaints.
But thnks for pointing this out!
"Ed Rich [MSFT]" wrote:
Hi Terry,
Have you looked at http://www.redremote.co.uk/mce.html
--
Ed Rich [MSFT]
edrich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
"Terry" <Terry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:B68D7ECD-DDB8-4B92-AA71-A024EDB41159@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ed,
I am having the same issue, with in the UK with NTL Samsung
SMT-2100C.
When two consecutive numbers are the same MCE doesn't change the
channel.
The only information I can find from Microsoft Knowledge base is due
to
a
timing issue - I did try reg hacks but they were unsucessful. After
much
searching on the net I discovered that I am by no means the only
person
with
this issue . It appears to be a toggle bit that is NOT sent from
MCE
IR
Blaster. I configured the remote as NTL - C1060 this works of any
number
that is not repeated for exampl 51 will work but 55 will change to
channel
5.
I did also tried to use learning remote keys via MCE Setup however,
when
you
press and Hold 0 the first time the system then asks you to confirm
the
key
press by pressing again, this of course doesn't work as it sees a
different
code the next time around (due to the toggle bit). So you end up
with
MCE
asking for you to press 0 again, and again and again..............
It would be great if Microsoft could sort this out, I understand
that
the
issue is complex as there are many different boxes out there, but
from
our
point of view we paid good money out and rightly expect it to work.
Incidently, TIVO had the same issue and they have resolved it, and
also
a
number of All in One Learning remotes have the same issue when
dealing
with
these STBs, so it is not down to a timing issue and Microsoft are
not
the
only ones that have the issue!
Do you think it would be hard for Microsoft to change the MCE
Learning
to
detect the toggle of the remote?
"Ed Rich [MSFT]" wrote:
Your points are well taken. MCE 2005 only recently became available
in
Spain. What you are seeing is the daunting task of dealing with
dis-similar
TV systems throughout the world. This is not me making excuses,
these
are
the problems that the Windows TV team face on a daily basis. We
(the
eHome
team) are working on making this better but it will take time.
Since
we
are
both a PC and a platform , we must design our product to work for
the
broadest audience and don't have the advantage that a dedicated STB
(read:
Closed System/BlackBox) has where each feature is discreetly
handled
in a
firmware chip or software. While I can't discuss forward looking
activities
of the team in detail, I can tell you that
1) The team is aware of these issues intends to address them in the
best
way
possible.
2) Evolving an open platform for TV on a PC takes time. We have
been
releasing code every year for the last 4 years and each release is
solving
more and more of the TV platform related issues.
3) MCE was released to a total of 33 countries in 2005 (up from 13
in
2004)
based on the continual requests from customer and our local
Microsoft
subsidiaries on behalf of customers and partners. In order to
accommodate
this (also considering MCE is used for more than the TV experience)
certain
tradeoffs had to be made to meet the schedule. TV features take the
longest
to implement so the tradeoffs are more obvious to you the
customer/consumer.
I am giving you honest answers within the constraints of my being a
Microsoft employee. Feel free to ask any long time user of this
forum
about
the honesty/consistency of my responses.
I hope you remain a fan and use of MCE while we continue to evolve
it
and
solve those more complex issue in the TV space.
Regards,
--
Ed Rich [MSFT]
edrich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
"Spanish Main" <SpanishMain@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message
news:41128E09-E2A9-4A1F-969B-6935DDC1F356@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I thinks this is not a solution for all the places. Here in Spain,
we
can
access to the payTV only for one way, satellite , and you need
the
subscription card from the company of the TV services... here you
cant
choose
the STB... always is the same, the STB from the TV company...
and
here,
in
Spain all the systems have the same problem.. not me. And here
it´s
normal
no
get this kind of TV and Digital DVB-T... and the system can MIX
this
system... with two tuners....
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