Do I need NTL Remote when I get my MCE Remote

Wavey

Evening all,

The parts for my htpc have begun to arrive and it has suddenly occured to me. Will I still need to use the crappy NTL remote when I get MCE up and running with the MCE remote?
Or can I take it out the back and put it out of its misery? (stupid crappy remote)

Will be using the 2 tuner Hauppauge card if that makes a difference.


Thanks
Wavey

FrankGrimes

alright wayne,

The MCE remote can 'learn' the NTL remote's language. There are two IR emitters that come with the MCE remote and these plug into the receiver device that picks up signals from the MCE remote. Stick one of those to the front of your set top box.

Then, when you press '101' on the MCE remote, receiver picks it up, translates it into NTL speak, and sends it to the NTL stb via the IR emitter. NTL remote enters retirement.

Couple of things to note though: some NTL boxes do not use RC6 for IR transmission - they use some other mad format and you need to get a translator device. THe new STBs I have, and mentioned in your other thread, use RC6 and dont need this device, but the old big blue samsung ones, which I think you have, do need it I think. One other reason to persuade NTL to replace it for you

By the way, if you want to watch one channel while you record the other, or watch two channels at once (which will be very likely if you plan on using an Xbox360 as an extender so two people in different rooms might be using it at once) you WILL need two separate NTL set top boxes (fiver a month extra for the second one).

What Hauppage card, or cards are you using? Obviously you need two tuners to watch two channels concurrently. The PVR MCE 500 is great and has dual tuners, which can be used to split a single cable feed into two channels. but as each stb will only output one channel at a time, you need to separate inputs on your tuner card(s). To do this with the PVR 500 MCE you will need to get an extra back plate costing around 20 quid including delivery. PM me if you need it and I'll give you the URL.

Wavey

Thanks Frank,

Stop calling me Wayne!

I have everything for my htpc except the mce remote.
Do I need this to get the systme up and running?

FrankGrimes

Yep Wayne (you know its gonna stick now don't ya?) - afaik you cant set it up without the remote. i think Peats sell them if you need to get your mitts on it quickly

Krusty_Clown

Komplett sells the remote for 38 quid (+10 quid deliver).
Didn't see it in Peats the last time I was there, although they do sell the Media Centre Remote keyboard (which doesn't come with the remote signal receiver - AFAIK).

Wavey

Have ordered one from komplett but its not in stock till next week.

Conlai

Hi,
On a related problem, can someone tell me how to setup ntl digital with MCE 2005 as I've tried & tried and just can't get it working. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

SouperComputer

Conlai wrote:

Hi,
On a related problem, can someone tell me how to setup ntl digital with MCE 2005 as I've tried & tried and just can't get it working. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

what aspect of it is not working exactly?

Conlai

No matter what way I connect the stb to my tuner card I can't get media centre to detect the signal. I've setup the microsoft remote to control the ntl stb but I can't get media centre to see the signal. Again any help would be great. Thanks.

SouperComputer

by signal you mean that you cant see any video?

Have you tried different types of cable, IE SVideo and composite?

Conlai

Yeah I've tried both svideo & composite and no joy. I've got to different TV cards, a Haupauge 150mce & a Sapphire Theatrix Theatre 550 PRO. no matter what source or card I use I can't MCE to see the signal.

SouperComputer

Conlai wrote:

Yeah I've tried both svideo & composite and no joy. I've got to different TV cards, a Haupauge 150mce & a Sapphire Theatrix Theatre 550 PRO. no matter what source or card I use I can't MCE to see the signal.

jeeze, you got me there. I think it would be fair to say that there is no signal coming from the STB. Have you tried hooking it up with a VCR perhaps, usuing the same connections?

Conlai

I haven't tried that yet, will do that tonight. I tried both scart to svideo & to composite and also the coaxial. Can you set out how you've set yours up as the whole thing is getting close to the window. Thanks.

SouperComputer

Im not using a STB right now. Actually the HTPC here is more of a development platform if you will.

What you can also try, is putting the VCR's output into the TV card during the channel setup, just to see if you get any joy.

What cables/connectors are you using? Remember that some "SCART to Whatever" cables are directional.

IE a SCART - Svideo cable could be be SCART in Svideo out, or vice versa. The same applies to composite and RGB.

Are you using a SCART block adaptor with SCART on one end and RCA's and SVideo on the other? If it doesnt have a switch on the block the connectors could be wired to the "In" part of the SCART plug.

SCART basically has a series of types of connections & signals, in both in and out configs. Some cables and adaptors have a mix and match of connectors according to this (Svideo in, Svideo out, Comp in, Comp out, Audio L in, Audio L out etc etc), some have directional switches and some are just badly and cheapy wired (IE both in and out pins on the SCART are wired to the same connector)

So:

1) Check your cables and adaptor's direction
2) Play a video in the VCR and try its output with the TV card.

Eurochild

FrankGrimes wrote:

alright wayne,

The MCE remote can 'learn' the NTL remote's language. There are two IR emitters that come with the MCE remote and these plug into the receiver device that picks up signals from the MCE remote. Stick one of those to the front of your set top box.

Then, when you press '101' on the MCE remote, receiver picks it up, translates it into NTL speak, and sends it to the NTL stb via the IR emitter. NTL remote enters retirement.

Couple of things to note though: some NTL boxes do not use RC6 for IR transmission - they use some other mad format and you need to get a translator device. THe new STBs I have, and mentioned in your other thread, use RC6 and dont need this device, but the old big blue samsung ones, which I think you have, do need it I think. One other reason to persuade NTL to replace it for you

By the way, if you want to watch one channel while you record the other, or watch two channels at once (which will be very likely if you plan on using an Xbox360 as an extender so two people in different rooms might be using it at once) you WILL need two separate NTL set top boxes (fiver a month extra for the second one).

What Hauppage card, or cards are you using? Obviously you need two tuners to watch two channels concurrently. The PVR MCE 500 is great and has dual tuners, which can be used to split a single cable feed into two channels. but as each stb will only output one channel at a time, you need to separate inputs on your tuner card(s). To do this with the PVR 500 MCE you will need to get an extra back plate costing around 20 quid including delivery. PM me if you need it and I'll give you the URL.

If you're going for the 2 set-top box setup (to watch and record at the same time) how do you change the channel on one STB without it changing on the other? In other words, can you control them independently with a single remote?

SouperComputer

Eurochild wrote:

If you're going for the 2 set-top box setup (to watch and record at the same time) how do you change the channel on one STB without it changing on the other? In other words, can you control them independently with a single remote?

MCE basically takes care of it. If its recording, it will use one encoder for that and automatically use the second for your channel browsing, until you decide to record two shows, in which case you can only watch one or the other.