How to get MCE Remote to control Foxtel box in another room?

sakor1 · **10th April 2007, 08:35 PM**

Hey.

I need a little help setting up the MCE remote.

At the moment I have my computer set up in a separate room from my TV and Foxtel (well, Optus digital) box. I have an AV sender which is transmitting the pay tv to my PC with no issues (Hauppauge PCI II PVR analogue tuner, I can see the signal no problems through Media Centre).

However, what I want to do is keep the Optus remote in the room with the box, and be able to use the MCE remote instead in the room where my PC is set up. I am not sure how to do this? At the moment I can enter the channel (eg: 108) and it will show on the screen in Media Centre, but it will not change the channel.

How can I fix this so I have a remote in the room with the PC that can change the channel on the box in the other room?

Thanks for any help!
Stu

TiggerK · **10th April 2007, 09:37 PM**

Hi Stu, and welcome to the forums!!

The only way I can think of is to extend the cable on the IR blaster (I assume you got one with your MCE remote?? One or two should come as standard), which plugs into the IR receiver for the MCE remote, and will need to have the cable extended to have the IR 'bud' placed in front of the Foxtel set top box... so depending on location, there could be some serious cable length required... I'm not certain it will run over a long distance, but expect it should be OK.

Someone else may have an ingenious idea, but I suspect there will need to be a cable run between the two rooms....

Cheers and good to have you around!!

TiggerK

sakor1 · **10th April 2007, 10:18 PM**

Thanks mate.

I don't get it though, why does the blaster have to be in front of the Optus box? I have the IR receiver for the MCE remote plugged into the PC, and the 'IR Blaster' plugged into that also in the same room... why does it make a difference whether the blaster is in front of the Optus Box or not? (I'm not having a go, I just don't understand how the thing works).

Stu

TiggerK · **10th April 2007, 11:08 PM**

The IR blaster flashes the IR codes (e.g ...1...0....1... for TV1, same as the Optus remote would do) for the channel number so the Optus box knows what channel you want to watch. Otherwise the Optus box doesn't know how to change the channel that MCE has been told to turn to. MCE doesn't actually know if the Optus box has changed channels or not, it just flashes the channel via the IR blaster and then starts recording.

Hope that makes sense...

Cheers
TiggerK

sakor1 · **10th April 2007, 11:37 PM**

Oh OK, I gotcha now. Thanks for your patience mate, looks like I'll have to work out a way to extend it (the rooms are only a few metres apart so hopefully I can work out something).

Cheers!
Stu

drturner · **10th April 2007, 11:44 PM**

The AV sender plugged into you computer should have an IR receiver in it.
You need to put the MCE receivers ir transmitter bud over the AV senders sensor, then in the TV/Foxtel room have a IR extender/bud coming from the AV receiver box and place it over the foxtel box IR receiver.

I think this is what you mean.

I have a similar setup, but with computer and foxtel in main room. I have foxtel and MCE hard wired to bedroom, but change channels via the AV sender -> foxtel box or MCE.

sakor1 · **11th April 2007, 12:20 AM**

OK, I think I get what you mean. Let me try and illustrate and see if I have it right. My setup should be:

So have two IR blasters, one from the sender to the Optus; the other from the receiver to the MCE remote thing?

Stu

drturner · **11th April 2007, 03:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakor1

OK, I think I get what you mean. Let me try and illustrate and see if I have it right. My setup should be:

So have two IR blasters, one from the sender to the Optus; the other from the receiver to the MCE remote thing?

Stu

The living room looks correct. In the bedroom, you need the blaster coming from the MCE receiver with the bud placed over the AV receiver's IR receiver window.

sakor1 · **11th April 2007, 08:27 AM**

OK yes, I think I was getting mixed around a bit drawing the diagram

. I'll give this a try after I get home from work tonite and let ya know how it goes.

Thank-you both for all your help!

Stu

sakor1 · **11th April 2007, 06:59 PM**

Bingo, can change the channel through the MCE remote now! Thanks guys. Couple of things to get cleared up:

Setting up the remote, obviously the channel up/ down and numbers work... what is the button to bring up the Optus channel menu (if it can be done via this remote...).

The other I will put in the sticky, relating to getting program guide up and running in lieu of aforementioned control.

Edit: OK, sticky is too old and I cannot reply to it, so q goes here: EPGRunner no longer seems to be available (site down). How can I get the EPG set up for my Pay TV connection in MCE now?

Stu