Re: USB Receiver Advice?

On Sunday 15 Oct 2017 00:39:28 Wade Berrier wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> In short, I'm having some issues with my ir setup, and am looking for
> some advice on how to continue.
> 
> TL;DR version: what's the best/easiest rock-solid usb ir receiver
> option?
> 
> The long version:
> 
> I previously had a homebrew serial ir receiver along with a tivo directv
> remote, and it worked wonderfully (very responsive, accurate, great
> range).
> 
> My next computer upgrade didn't have serial, so I opted for an hp mce
> usb receiver from ebay.  There were some issues using this receiver with
> usb2, so I pursued[1] getting a patch upstream to get it working.
> 
> The problem is, it only "registers" about 80% of the button presses.
> I'm not sure where the issue lies.  mceusb driver issue?  Pulse
> frequency mismatch issue?  (ie: remote is 38kHz, and I think the mce
> receiver is 36kHz?)  Not sure... Any thoughts on this?
> 
> In any case, I started investigating other options.  I happened to
> stumble upon building a receiver with an ftdi chip.  I got a
> TTL-232R-3V3-PCB and a TSOP53438 from digikey and soldered it together.
> It seems to have great range, and xmode2 looks pretty good.  But, when I
> go to use irrecord to generate a remote file, I get the following error:
> 
>      Something went wrong: Cannot decode data
> 
> I can record in "raw" mode, but that seems wrong to not be able to
> decode a well know ir signal (NEC).  Plus, it appears that this method
> doesn't properly decode the "repeated" button marker code.  Any
> suggestions for this?
> 
> So, my next thought is to try another receiver that's well used and
> tested among lirc folks, which seem to be: IguanaIR, IrToy, or
> GIR/arduino.
> 
> I'm tempted to buy something pre-made and run with it (ie: IguanaIR or
> IrToy) but the "open hardware/software" aspect of the arduino option is
> appealing.
> 
> The other option is to get all of them and see which one works best :)
> 
> Any suggestions on how to proceed?  What are other users having success
> with that works *really* well?  Do any of the above options have common
> pitfalls?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Wade
> 
> 1. https://sourceforge.net/p/lirc/mailman/message/35037509/
> 
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Hi,
    some suggestions on the FTDI receiver,
  the FT232R chip used on your pcb module has some timing jitter problems. The 
FT230X chip is recommended for use with LIRC.
  I have built a receiver using an FT230X chip and found that gives better 
decoding if the baud rate is set to 4800 (add baud=4800) to the device= line 
in lirc_options.conf). This might not apply to FT232R.
  Use lirc version 0.10 or later, as this corrects a bug that makes the timing 
values twice what they should be. 
 36kHz or 38kHz IR modules will work as the bandwidth of the filter is wide 
enough to accomodate it. I am using a 36kHz receiver with a 38kHz NEC protocol 
remite.

Hope this is helpful,

       John.
 
  

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