Wow, you guys are johhny-on-the-spot with the responses. I went ahead and posted a new thread for the IR side of this. I hope I can get a lot of help from everyone here. I want to be able to control all my IR devices (stereos,TVs,etc.) with my iPhone, or possibly another remote as inexpensive as possible. I am open for suggestions but here is what I am looking at so far. Use iPhone to send signal to Vera to “Watch Movie”. Vera sends ALL the IR commands out through the UIRT. Have a powered IR distribution block plugged into the IR output of the UIRT each output of the dist. block is plugged into an inline IR injector (from Xantech) that sends the IR signal through all the coax in the house. At the receivers and TVs there is an inline coupler hooked to the coax before it terminates at the A/V equipment that pulls the IR signals out from the coax. Hooked to the second output of the coupler is an IR emitter that is pasted to the TV/Stereo which receives ALL the IR signals and only the ones meant for it will work. That was a mouthful. Does that seem like it work work to those that have been doing this for a while? I am open to easier ways and am interested in the satellite idea but am not familiar with wrt so I will have to do some research.
You pretty much nailed it.
The other option, which was suggested in the Vera Satellites thread, would be to use WiFi instead of Coax injection. So, your iPhone command would be sent to Vera, resent to a cheap WiFi box with UIRT emitter, which controls your A/V gear (or maybe feed a local IR distribution box).
Not sure which option will be cheaper, but either way beats GC100+WiFi combo…
Thanks. After some thought I think this will be a little easier though [url=http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=16.0]http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=16.0[/url] I do like the satellite idea though. It seems as though the idea that 325xi has about that is useful for all kinds of things, not just the IR. I don’t know anything about scripting but hopefully he will get something up and running and, once he gets some ideas implemented for it, he will share his scripts to the less knowledgeable (ME) 
That’s the topic I was referring to…
I like the satellite concept as well. It’s very general purpose. And, from a software architecture standpoint, it leverages what Vera is good at. Since it’s essentially a socket based messaging system, having distributed clients around the home is exactly what Vera should do very well.
I wasn’t sure in what thread to post… But here it goes:
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=16.msg108#msg108
[quote=“325xi, post:19, topic:163988”]Integration of universal remote controls into Z-Wave – another cool feature and potential selling point.
As we now have IR transceiver connected to a satellite, we can allow user to control z-wave devices using his universal IR remote control, such as Logitech Harmony. Prepare a set of IR commands, satellite receives them, and translates into a message to Vera sent over WiFi, which issues the required Z-Wave command. And this is fairly simple to implement.[/quote]
I’m getting excited about that I love my Harmony 880, and it would be very cool to extend it into RF without RF…
Are there any good IR transceivers other then USB-UIRT?
An example - you point your TV remote to a satellite, it translates command to a message and gets passed to the main device which broadcasts it into other satellites, which translate it back to IR, allowing you to use your regular IR remotes regardless of where you are. Kinda cool for universal remotes - each one can operate every single piece of AV equipment in the house from any room…
only problem with that idea is that now we need 2 ir dongles hooked up and 2 usb ports. One for receiving ir from the remote and one to transmit to the AV equipment of the room you are in. Since the transmit will have to be facing the AV equipment ( that means it will be facing AWAY from your remote) you will have to have at least one usb extension cable to go from the other usb port (assuming we get a cheap router with 2 ports) and use it to point the receiver for the remote at the user. Might have to possibly tape the receiver dongle to the top of the router. I am not one bit trying to downplay this idea but now we are getting into a router, at least 1 USB ext. cable (probably 2), an IR-to-USB transmitter, and an IR-to-USB receiver (and maybe some tape) in every room. I would rather use your satellite for other stuff that will make my life easier
All you need is one (1) USB transceiver such as USB-UIRT placed on open space… a coffee table, a book shelf…
My Harmony 880 operates everything even if I point it up, vertically. No need for multiple receivers with precise alignment
My wife is very picky about anythign wrong looking in the living room, and still I see many ways to do it
Not sure if there are any devices with IR receiver and IR transmitter in a single package with a single USB connection.
The idea is useful, but not new. I have a very similar setup right now, which allows me to use my universal remote to control devices in other rooms, ultimately controlling Z-Wave devices around the house. It uses my HDHomeRun to receive IR signals and send them to my LIRC server in the other room over Ethernet. LIRC server then issues necessary commands depending on IR code it receives.
Being new is not important. Vera represents amazingly convenient platform for this kind of things. It’s easy and cheap to get enough cheapo Asus routers and flash them with modded OpenWRT - and to setup such device in each and every room. No one would do that with PC based servers. I don’t think HDHomeRun is affordable enough to do that either.
That’s nice.
Being new is not important. Vera represents amazingly convenient platform for this kind of things. It’s easy and cheap to get enough cheapo Asus routers and flash them with modded OpenWRT - and to setup such device in each and every room. No one would do that with PC based servers. I don’t think HDHomeRun is affordable enough to do that either.[/quote]
Huh, I guess I left a big chunk of my thoughts in between the lines…
I didn’t mean HDHomeRun should be used instead - that’s just what I used, because I already had it in my living room.
I was implying that it’s easy to setup, and very similar to the Satellite idea - just replace HDHomeRun with IR-receiving Satellite and run LIRC server on Vera.
From a technical perspective - it’s quite easy. Now the commercial side of it is another story. I was just trying to assure everyone, that it’s easily doable technically. Whether or not Mi Casa Verde is going to sell it is not known yet.
Being new is not important. Vera represents amazingly convenient platform for this kind of things. It’s easy and cheap to get enough cheapo Asus routers and flash them with modded OpenWRT - and to setup such device in each and every room. No one would do that with PC based servers. I don’t think HDHomeRun is affordable enough to do that either.[/quote]It won’t be that cheap if we have to put a http://usbuirt.com/ plus a router…plus a IR receiver…plus a IR transmitter in every room. I don’t think anyone sees what I am saying about the separate ir dongles for send and receive. Picture sitting with your couch against the wall and the TV against the opposite wall. Even if you could find a transeiver that was USB, explain where you would position the box so that you could point the IR remote at it and it still pointed to all your AV stuff? These aren’t Harmony remotes. They are cheap little non-branded IR devices. They don’t work THAT well. I am going to stick with [quote=“nolos, post:12, topic:163988”]I didn’t even think about this at first. Kinda cheesy but you could hook the UIRT to Vera and line up the IR out of the UIRT to the IR in on the Powermid Transmitter (maybe some good old fashion duct tape to keep the alignment) and then just buy the $17 dollar Powermid receivers for each room and a couple emitters. Cheapest way so far and you don’t have to worry about anything obstructing the IR beam from across the room.[/quote] but then again I don’t need to use another remote since I am going to be using the iPhone.
Some nice overview how IR-to-computer stuff works.
The USBUIRT has internal IR receivers (one for learning and one for control) and an IR transmitter. It also has jacks for external transmitters.
It would be possible to connect one to a remote USB device (USB to Ethernet) and control it over a network. Possibly some wireless USB to WiFi adapter [url=http://www.lantronix.com/device-networking/external-device-servers/ubox.html]Discontinued Products | Lantronix for printing. however the low level firmware/software to make it work will be a chore. I’m not sure you would save much over a GC100 [url=http://www.globalcache.com/products/gc-index.html]Products but you might, and have a lot more flexibility in the long run.
Not to push, but is there any headway on the USBUIRT support yet? I am really anxious to get the IR end lined out at my house and that is going to be the backbone.
Not yet. We’re working to resolve any outstanding glitches in the Z-Wave stuff before moving on to wrap up this support.
IR, see ya in 2009!
I’m surprised nobody but ‘rickg’ has ever mentioned using the IRTrans unit with Vera…
http://www.irtrans.de/en/shop/lan.php
Is it too pricey? EU-only? Not as feature-rich as more preferred IR transceivers?
I guess I just don’t understand why everyone is thinking of running wire or buying more routers and flashing them to make satellites. What’s wrong with getting a USBUIRT and pointing it at a remote extender? That’s what I did and I just put a remote extender receiver by each TV/Stereo/Etc, hid it, and used a sticky IR extender wire. extra receivers cost $16 each
Easy as pie. I do Like the satellite idea but the only benefit over the extenders for me would be the usb ports
Link to extenders
[url=http://www.automatedoutlet.com/Home?search=powermid]Automated Outlet - Smart Home Automation Solutions