Motorola DTC2000 Plugin

[Beelzebub]

I made a exe that works with the ExeTunerPlugin. It works great on my system. This should also work with the DCT2224, but I haven't tested it yet.

I'm going to make a better App in C++ anyway. This was just something I did quick in VB

Anyway here it is
Download Here


Source Code

[andrewswright]

Just so you know, I had an error message that mscomm32.ocx was not registered. I had to find a download site to get a copy of the .ocx control and put it into the SageTV folder.

Once that was done the program worked like a charm. Thanks again for all of your work.

Andrew

[andrewswright]

I've just realized that the ExeTuner plugin isn't passing channels above 99 correctly. Only the first 2 digits are passed, so that channel 104 actually changes the cable box to channel 10.

3 digit channel numbers work just fine with the dct.exe program.

Any ideas?

Andrew

[salsbst]

The ExeTuner plugin changes 3-digits channels fine for me via Girder. I don't think the problem is in the ExeTuner plugin.

[msm]

Yep, fine here for ExeTuner as well. I would check the actual scripting that looks at the parameter passed by ExeTunre and make sure that all the numbers are looped over etc

Just an idea...

Matt

[farmboy03]

I have a Motorolla DCT2244 and installed the EXETuner plugin as instructed. It works great for 2 digit channels, but doesn't work for 3 digit channels. I have no idea what to look at, can anyone offer any help? Thanks.

[andrewswright]

I figured out how to fix the 3 digit channel problem. Using notepad edit the dct.reg file. Delete the # sign in front of %channel%. Save the file and double-click on it to change the registry key.

I learned this by playing around with the dct.exe program from the command line. When I call dct #104, it goes to channel 10. When I cal dct 104, it goes to channel 104. This may vary depending on the cable system and whether the enter key is needed after entering the channel number. For what it's worth, I have Charter Digital Cable.

Andrew

[farmboy03]

Serial control of my Motorolla DCT2244 is now working! I made the change to dct.reg this morning and it worked like a charm. Thanks for figuring this out! Once Sage TV 2.0 comes out I will finally have a real Tivo replacement.

[Beelzebub]

Oops, the # wasn't suppose to be there in the firest place. I will fix that.

[KJake]

Am I to understand that you can control a DCT2000 through the serial control now? Is the delay in changing the channel similar to using the IR contol?

[andrewswright]

It's much faster and more reliable than the IR control. Not all Motorola boxes are set up to accept serial inputs. From reading the TIVO forums you may have to call your cable company and tell them you have a tivo and want serial control enabled. My DCT2000 box worked just fine, however.

The only problem so far with the serial control is that I get an error if I try to change the channel too quickly. Although channel changing is rapid, if I hit the channel up button twice in a row I get an error message. The problem seems to occur every time I try to change the channel before a previous channel change has completed.

Andrew

[farmboy03]

When I run dct.exe and hit the plus/minus keys for channel up/down, it changes the channel on the box really quickly. But when I try channel up/down in SageTv, it sends the full 3 digits each time, which is as slow as the IR blaster. Is there a way to make Sage simply increment the channel # by one each time (like dct.exe does)? Thanks!

[andrewswright]

I requested this in the feature request thread. There were some comments by others not liking this feature, as not everyone likes to scan up and down by channel, and not everyone has their channels in numerical order.

I suggested that this be made an option that can be turned off and on. It shouldn't be too hard to make the program smart enough to know if the next channel in sequence is actually the next numerical channel. If it is then just send the channel up or down command. If it isn't then send the 3 digits.

As it stands now, I have my basic cable running into the RF connection of my PV250 and the digital cable running into the composite connector. I am using the new version of the XMLTV plugin that allows for two inputs. I have assigned the basic channels to the tuner-cable input and the digital channels to the composite input. That way all of the basic channels change very quickly. When I get to the higher channels, it uses the serial connection to the digital cable box to change channels.

Andrew

[Bandit]

I already have mine all setup and working great with the actsys. What benefit would I see from switching over to serial port control?

Thanks

[KJake]

Well, Comcast in my area doesn't know how to turn the port on. I called them saying I was trying to setup my Tivo, and explained lots of things to them, they also did research on the internet with me and believe me that this is a feature of Tivo, but they don't know. So I got their name and extension and I'm going to bug them about it until they can turn it on.

I can tell some part of it is working because when I unplug the power from the DCT and plug back in, I get a bunch of CTS notices from the program, but nothing will send. I have the right firmware and I'm using the serial cable from my UPS at the moment.

I will update to the status of Comcast, but from what I've heard they are shutting it off on purpose to force some people to start using the DVR that they are going to come out with. Apparently they sent an email/letter to a user on the Tivo forums about this.

Only time will tell...

Thanks for the tool though - I may be able to use it some day!

[salsbst]

This is great evidence that the cable companies have way too much market power.

[Beelzebub]

Originally posted by farmboy03
When I run dct.exe and hit the plus/minus keys for channel up/down, it changes the channel on the box really quickly. But when I try channel up/down in SageTv, it sends the full 3 digits each time, which is as slow as the IR blaster. Is there a way to make Sage simply increment the channel # by one each time (like dct.exe does)? Thanks!

That can't be helped, Sage only sends the Channel# not Channel UP/Down command. I did code it to use Channel Up/Down if the channels follow each other. I.e 245, 246,247,248, but if the next channel after 248 is 259. It will have to send All 3 Digits.

I've only spent a few hours on this plugin, I'm going to make a better one later.

[robn]

The plugin works great! However, everytime I change channels I am getting the popup boxes .. similar to the ones I would get if I changed channels after running dct.exe from the command line. Any ideas?

[robn]

Nevermind, helps if the serial cable is plugged in!

[rich]

Hello, could someone tell me where I could find the file refered to earlier in this thread "mscomm32.ocx".

Thanks!