I am a Bell Expressvu subscriber and recently got myself a Panasonic DMR-EH55S recorder. Thing is, although the Pana supports a TV Guide it only works for some cable and Direct TV - apparently not ExpressVu. In order to really make use of the hours and hours of recording that this unit is capable off, one really need to be able to program a recording schedule that will result in the changing of channels on the, in my case, 2700 satellite receiver and to initiate the start and stop recording of the recorder.

OmniRemote is a Palm PDA based software utility that does exactly what I want and the $24 for the SW is right in the ball park that I would be willing to spend on something like this, but in this case I would also need to purchase a PDA that could be dedicated for this task. Since I do have a PC in the same room that runs 24/7 does any one know of something similar to Omniremote that runs on a PC? It goes without saying that I would need an IR Blaster, or equivalent, to supply the IR interface.

I am aware that the Hauppauge PVRs come with software that can partially do this and the MythTV folks also include something like this. Both of them does not include controlling the DVD though, since both are PC based PVRs.

Any thoughts or knowledge that could be shared?

Thanks

Found something close called IRCommand2 at

http://www.wdpsoftware.com/IRC2/tn_irc2features.htm

25$ target will have to be tripled since my JetEyePC IR interface is not supported and I will have to get a supported IR interface.

Then there is also "Girder" which is apparently a bit more complicated to set-up

USB based IR interface that works with both applications is the USB-UIRT IR Blaster

http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_reviews_info.php/products_id/87/reviews_id/274

Errr,
Better late than never in this reply I suppose.

Why not use the built in "VCR" controls of the 2700 to control the Panasonic recorder? You likely will have to play around with the controller code to find one that works, but it is very likely that you can find a code that will control the Panasonic. You will need to leave the Panasonic powered on all the time, but it should work just fine.