# 211 and Media Center PC?



## DivinedSin (Oct 14, 2006)

I'm fairly new to satelite and since I'm kind of stuck in a contract, I'm forcing myself to learn as much as I can. My problem today is the Vip211's compatibility with a Media Center PC, or, more appropriately, the 211's remote control. 

In case you don't know wth a Media Center PC is or have never used one to give any insight, the setup is simple: Instead of connecting your 211 to the TV, you hook it into a computer with Windows MCE OS on it, and if you have the other neccessary hardware, you can use Window's take on a TV guide and use your hard drive as a DVR, so on and so forth. Part of the process of hooking up any set top box config to a PC is getting it to understand the remote controls codes so that you can use the Media Center remote, and also if you want to schedule a recording, it needs to be able to change the channel on its own w/o the remote, so in other words, it needs to learn it or you won't be able to use it at all. 

Okay, well herein lies the problem. For whatever reason, Media Center is not recognizing the damn remote for anything!! I'm familiar with the process because I've built several Media Center PCs so I've been successful before, but for some reason, this particular remote control is being difficult. For one, you have to use a IR Blaster over the sensor of the 211. I assumed the sensor on the 211 is the 3 little holes that line the front but if that's not the case then please, do enlighten. Other than that, I can't get it to learn the IR code. 

My question is, has anyone had any success with the 211 and a Media Center PC. If so, how did you get the remote to work? If not, does anyone have any suggestions on how to possibly reprogram the remote, or if another remote could work? I've tried a few different indirect ways, including using a universal remote to learn the 211's code, and then trying to teach the PC the universal's code, but still the same thing. Any help or constructive comment would definately help, no matter how much of a stretch it may be. I'm literally stuck here and I would like to get this to function very badly. Thanks.


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## ChrisR (Sep 23, 2006)

I don't know what your tuning software is like, but I have *exactly* the same configuration you have with the 211 except it's just a normal Windows-based PC with a capture card, using SageTV and a customized program called TuneItAll (this is no longer available). When I got my 211 I could not get the IR blaster to control the receiver, either; a friend who develops computer software sent me a file with the Dish ViP series remote codes, which I now have and is compatible with my setup - works perfectly. I just don't know if this file would be useable for you, but might be worth a shot. PM me and I can email it to you.

Chris


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## tsdid (Dec 12, 2006)

can you please send me this info as well. I just got dish network, and i am trying to get use out of my media center pc with dual tuners. i like the original message cant get media center to see the controller. can you send me the codes for the remotes that come with the 211. do you have any other tricks for getting the full advantage of these boxs. Would it work best to have a specific box for the media center?
Thanks


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