Re: USB Receiver Advice?

>> 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?
>
> As has been said many time (but still is not in the FAQ?), 38 vs 36 kHz is
> not an issue.

In my case, the HP usb ir receiver doesn't do a good enough job
filtering out interference from my plasma tv. Put about 4 layers of
masking tape behind the red plastic cover helped but still didn't fix
the problem completely. So, my hp box just sits in a drawer untouched
now.

>> 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?

I also tried the FTDI route but ran into problems there as well. All
the various FTDI cables & modules I tried are keeping that HP box
company in the drawer.

> IMHO, it is time to retire irrecord. You can use IrScrutinizer instead,
> either reading from /dev/lirc or by using mode2.

Isn't IrScrutinizer a graphical app only? Can you create remote
configs from command-line only like you can with irrecord? If not then
I wouldn't consider it a replacement. I know a lot of people who don't
have a desktop environment (or a keyboard/mouse attached for that
matter) to run gui apps. For those users it's not reasonable to
recommend they install one just for something like creating a remote
config. I've used irrecord in the past both successfully and
unsuccessfully. I don't know what's wrong with it but perhaps the
better option is to fix whatever is ailing it because a command-line
only config generator is certainly a useful tool to have for a lot of
people.

>> 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 don't know if this is an option for you but a homebrew serial ir has
been by far the most reliable & successful receiver for all my systems
farther than about 8ft. away from the boxes they're connected to. I
also tried the GIR/arduino setup as well, which IIRC worked but also
suffered from plasma interference. Bengt was a big help getting that
working and I'd actually like to try getting it going again. I ran out
of free time and needed a properly working setup so I went back to the
homebrew serial ir.

>> The other option is to get all of them and see which one works best :)

I second this recommendation if you have a little free time and a few
extra bucks to throw at it.

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