IR codes and old AUSTAR boxes

Hi

My dad just got one of those new Austar boxes delivered that is incompatible with Tivo so what we did was talk one of the older Austar boxes from another room and hook it up to the TIVO.

I put it into guided setup mode and scrolled through IR codes to see what worked.

The AUSTAR box doesnt have big brand on it, but its called ADVANCED DIGITAL BROADCAST LIMITED on the back of the box.

Accordingly I tried ADB codes and AUSTAR codes.

The only one that vaguely worked was the AUSTAR 30017 code which I think was for the old ATLAS box.

Now when I say vaguely worked, not any of the speeds would reliably get the channel changed. Medium was the closest, but did not work about 30% of the time.

We mucked around with covering the IR blasters with tape to see if they were interfering. We also tried putting things like playing cards between the blaster and the sensor on the STB as we found that when we had our hand cover the sensor on the STB it actually worked more reliably?!?

It still only picking up 50% of channel changes, and the playing card and tape looks all to precarious. It aint gonna last.

Any ideas? I need to leave town in a few days and Dad wont let me leave without fixing it!

Any ides appreciated.

Cheers
Len

I'm a little confused.

Is this old box you are trying an Atlas box or something different?

What is the new box, Flinders?

Peter.

Hi Pete

Sorry to be confusing.

Initially he had two boxes, one of these was hooked up to the tivo.

They came and replaced that with a flinders box.

So we removed that and put it into the lounge room where it works standalone.

We took the other older STB (ADB version I think) and are now trying to get this older STB to work with the tivo.

So far only IR CODE AUSTAR 30017 seems to do anything, but its not reliable at all. Very very flaky.

When on fast or slow it only picks up the first or last of the channel numbers. But medium only gets them all right less than 50% of the time. The reliability improves if you put your hand over the STB sensor.

30017 is an ATLAS code right? I dont see ATLAS anywhere on this box, only the name that i noted in the original post. I am wondering if there are better codes for this box. My cousin vito (another tivo tinkerer) reckons that as it seems to be working some of the time its not the codes which are the issues, but some hardware issue?

Any ideas?
Cheers
Len

The 30017 codes are only reliable on the Atlas box. 30016 is for the Omega.

All other Austar supplied boxes have not had successful codes created.

Does 30017 make correct changes (intermittently) for all numbers, or are some not working at all? Also are some numbers more reliable than others?

It might be worth trying to capture the codes for this box yourself.

Peter.

Hi Pete,

It seems that some numbers were working better than others. Anything in the 5xx range did not work at all, where things worked much better for other channels.

I might try and capture the codes. I think Vito has done this before or knows how to do it.

Is it very difficult?

Hi Pete,

First of all after being harassed by my cousin I've finally learnt the IR codes with IrSliceCreator and installed it, we are having no response now. I should also note that each key used to work with the Austar 30017 codes but very very sporadically. I've got a feeling the original codes are correct but it could be interference or a very sensitive IR receiver

Attached you will find a zipped copy of the TCL file, can you have a quick flick to see if it looks right and also wondering if you might be able to give us some more detailed instructions on how to activate the new IR codes on the TiVo as I think I have not done it correctly.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Vito

Did you follow the instructions for IrSliceCreator?

It says "Devicecode: Use a value between 29992 - 29998 ( DO NOT USE 29999 it is listed by mistake )", but you have used 29999. Try using 29992 instead.

The codes you captured have a frequency of 43, and the ones that almost work are 55. So you might want to test a few different frequencies in this area.

Is there any model number on the box at all?

Peter.

Hi Pete,

I'll pass this onto Vito. I gotta say that this all got too hard when it came to creating IR codes.

They are the instructions I have loaded. Ill check with the issue of the frequency.

My thoughts are that they uploaded wrong somehow. Since Vito did what he did the TIVO itself is now sometimes quite unresponsive and hangs.

Plus I think he uploaded the file or initialised it or whatever you do when it was in guided setup. We think. Not sure.

Will retry it all when I can twist his arm to come back over.

The STB is strange.

These are the details I can tell you from the back of the box.

It originated from Advanced Digital Broadcast Limited, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

There is a sticker on the back

"Austar
Model Number ABS-6G76
S/N AG3MA1c145073101
Manufactured in Thailand"

There is a compliance notice: N3921 (tick) AS 3260/TS002

Then there is a sticker under it saying: Model Number ABS-6G76 - 3G

Does any of this help?

Ill try to get Vito over again now.

Cheers
Len

Using 29999 to upload the the captured codes is known to cause freezes, reboots and other issues.

Use and code 29992 - 29998 instead.

As for the Austar box, I don't have anything to with them so I can't help identifiy it.

Might be worth calling Austar to see what that box is called. If you make a new code use the box name to make the new file. Call it Austar_Model.tcl

Peter.