There are many ways to get an IR Blaster working.

As of release R5C7, serial port IR Blasters are supported out of the box with KnoppMyth.

Also supported is CommandIR USB combining quad-blasters and a receiver for any remote which is officially "KnoppMyth Ready", see: http://mysettopbox.tv/kmready.html, http://www.commandir.com, http://support.commandir.com/content/view/14/29/

You are prompted during the install process as to whether you have a serial port IR blaster. If you respond Yes, you will be asked which serial port it is connected to. You will then be asked what device you will be controlling with the serial port IR Blaster.

If the device you wish to control is not listed you can elect to add your own config file. The LIRC config file for your device should be placed in /etc/irblaster/irblasterd.conf. If you do this, you should submit the LIRC config file (or a link to it) in the following thread so that it can be included in future versions of KnoppMyth: http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9352

The file /etc/irblaster/hardware.conf defines the serial port that the blaster is attached to (this file should be set up for you when you run irblaster.sh).

A channel change script is provided for you at /usr/local/bin/change-channel-lirc.sh. You need to specify the channel change script in mythtv-setup (#4 "input Connections") and make sure that all of the channels have frequency ids specified (this may happen automatically for datadirect users? - not here in Australia though). You may have to check the script and confirm the remote's name is set to the same value found in the irblasterd.conf, especially if your set top box is not on the aforementioned list.

Thats all there is to it!

Historical Information

For versions of KnoppMyth earlier than R5C7, you can follow one of the older howtos below (but lets be honest, its going to be easier to upgrade):

View the lengthy, complete howto at: http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/mythtv-info/MythTV_DISH_IR_LED_TX_via_Modified_LIRC.html

The information and procedures at the link above assume:

• you have a MythTV system built from KnoppMyth R4 or a similarly configured MythTV system.
• you know enough about Linux to do basic configuration, compilation, installation, and troubleshooting.
• you know enough about electronics to solder three discrete components and a connector onto a pair of wires.
• you have an available serial port on your MythTV box (i.e. COM1 or COM2 is unused).
• you have LIRC currently running as part of your MythTV setup (i.e. for a PVR-x50 remote) and you don't want to break it.
• you want MythTV to be able to change channels on a LIRC-supported receiver (e.g. DISH) via a simple IR LED transmitter.

Note that the page linked to above is quite lengthy, and is updated by the author at that location. I thought it'd be better to just link to it rather than try to duplicate it here.

added Sun Sep 5 2004: a note from the howto author -- if you have success or failure with the process *please* let me know which distro you run and if you had to make any tweaks (email address is in header of document linked above).

added Wed Sep 8 2004: here's a mirror link, as some folks behind firewalls had trouble with the link above... http://mirror.mmdsi.com/losdos.dyndns.org/public/mythtv-info/MythTV_DISH_IR_LED_TX_via_Modified_LIRC.html

added Mon Oct 4 2004: another note from the howto author -- i've added a note in stage 1 regarding how to resolve LIRC "make" problems when using KnoppMyth R4V5. (thanks marty)

added Sat Nov 6 2004: several additions of note... including how to resolve "missed digits" problems, and also a source of low cost IR Blasters for those of you not handy with a soldering iron.

added Sat Dec 4 2004: new location, but old URL's are symlinked here as well. http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/mythtv-info/IR-BLASTER-HOWTO.html or mirror http://mirror.mmdsi.com/losdos.dyndns.org/public/mythtv-info/IR-BLASTER-HOWTO.html

changes:

• additional info on using cable or satellite receivers besides DISH.
• LIRC configuration scripts tweaked for the recent LIRC 0.7.0 release.
• some errata on compiling LIRC under linux kernel 2.6.
• information on controlling two or more DISH receivers. (* note)

(*) note: before you try this, see issue of simultaneous channel changes when using a single serial port: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/97426

added Thu Jan 5 2005: updated

http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/mythtv-info/IR-BLASTER-HOWTO.html or mirror http://mirror.mmdsi.com/losdos.dyndns.org/public/mythtv-info/IR-BLASTER-HOWTO.html

changes:

• lots of info on troubleshooting LIRC make issues under various distros (*)
• tweaks to allow use of the Jeteye IR blaster

(*) note: if you have any additional info which could save folks time and frustration, please let me know at the address on the web page above.

added Tues May 5 2005:

An IR-Blaster for R5A15 How-To

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4462