Newbie to DirectTV/Sat Box Help/Advice Please?

[malbec]

I am coming to the conclusion that I need to dump my cable provder and jump on the DirectTV bandwagon. However, I am struggling with the best setup for capturing DirectTV in my HTPC network (a Sage server and three MVPs ... soon to be four - total of five TVs in the house). I am also Dutch and therefore annoyed by their pricing policy of so much per satellite box. The ideal setup, if I could get it to work, would be somehow to hook up two Satellite boxes to the server (never seem to watch more than two different things at once, especially with recorded shows), and then watch all content through the HTPC network. I am not looking to bite off the HD bullet yet ... hopefully that simplifies things.

Anyway, what advice/recommendations do you have on getting the content from DirectTV to my Sage Server? Is there a particular receiver box I should get? If so, how do I go about getting the particular model? Do I buy it outright, or will DirectTV provide the box I ask? I have read (part of) the R-5000 thread on getting a modified box. I am not ready to drop that kind of dough yet. So, given that, can you please give me a recommendation on a setup, maybe point me to a FAQ on this topic (I am seeing a lot of variety of opinions, but nothing I would consider "solid"). Again, I know just enough to be dangerous, so is it possible to have two satellite boxes hooked up to Sage? Do I need two UIRT devices? Can Sage control two separate ones?

Please help/point me the way.

Thanks!

[Jesse]

Hi,

First off, if you are looking at going for the R5000 mod in the future then you may just want to go with Dish Network rather than Directv. The R5000 folks can mod the latest mpeg4 capable dish boxs, but can only mod the older mpeg2 Directv boxes. This will be a major problem if you expect to receive any of your locals in HD via satellite from Directv because Directv broadcasts the locals in mpeg4 only.

With that said, on to Directv in SD. IMO one of the advantages Directv has over Dish (in a sagetv application) is that a number of the Directv boxes can be serially controlled. This virtually eliminates tuning to the wrong channel. Many folks do use IR to control their STB, but I feel that serial control gives one a major advantage. I use a couple of ancient Sony SAT-A2 boxes. I have also used a Directv D10-100 box. They should still be readily available and are also serially controllable. For more info on which boxes can be controlled via serial search here or with Google. You should find plenty of info. Keep in mind that if you opt for serial control (which I think you should) you will need a serial port for each box. Since most pc's have only one serial port you will most likely need some sort of usb --> serial adapter. I bought a 4 port Edgeport adapter on ebay. Two, or more, boxes at once is no problem at all. I use two myself and lots of folks around here use more than that.

With both Directv and Dish you will need to capture via SVideo and stereo audio. Composite and coax are an option, but they are inferior and should not be used if you can possibly avoid it. Pretty much all the sagetv approved capture cards will do svideo and stereo audio so that should be possible with whatever card(s) you now have.

As for what box Directv will provide all I can say is check out the hardware they list on their website. If they don't list the specific model then just ask what they intend to install. Keep in mind that they do not officially support serial control, so asking for it will get you nowhere. Worst case is you take whatever they give you and pick up what you need on ebay. Then just call and have them send you new cards to activate these boxes. Once you have them up and running with sage you can have them disable the original box.

HTH

Jesse

[naln]

look up this website for compatibility

The most popular so far is the D10-100....u can build your own serial control cable or buy it for relatively less. (Look under cables in the dtvcontrol website).

However, with the availability of serial to usb adapters from Patersontech, the D11-100s are quite popular too.

I have received D11-100s for new connection in the last month or so. I think getting a D11-100 should be no real problem.

You can also buy these receivers used (specially the D10-100s)- you may have to pay for a new access card in that case. So the cost just adds up one way or the other....ie cost of box+cost of access card + cable (bought or building cost- for D10-100s)....

Of course you need to have serial ports for the controller....but if you do not- you can get usb to serial adapters and hook that up to the serial to usb cable for sat box control.

Hope this helps.

[malbec]

Thanks guys!

[malbec]

I thought about this some more ... and came up with a few more "stupid" questions if you don't mind...

To control the sat box via serial, do you need anything special? An adiditonal software package perhaps, or do you just plug the cable from the sat box to the PC and Sage does the rest? Yeah, maybe I need to look at those links you gave me first before asking that. Sorry, laziness got the better of me.

Second, lets put the whole modified R-5000 aside for a moment please. Are there any capture cards out there that can capture component video (assuming the so called "analog hole" continues to remain "unplugged")?

If so, any sat box models out there that play HD via component that have a serial control?

[Ted@TNT]

malbec,

Regarding the D10 solution for DirecTV, some of them have active serial ports while others do not - beware. The ones that DirecTV wanted to provide had no active serial ports. I ended buying mine from BestBuy.

Next, I built the adapter cables to go from the D-Sub 9 pin serial connectors on a PC to the RJ-11 style plugs on the back of the D10's.

SageTV allowed me to simply select Com1 or Com2 when I set up the video sources. If you don't have two comm ports on your PC (or even one, many new PC's don't), you can add a PCI card with them or, as some have been successful with, USB to serial adapters (I have no experience with this).

Finally, if this is the setup that you are looking for, you might want to PM me as this is the setup that I just retired. Let me know.

[naln]

if you cannot get your hands on a D10-100, you'll probably have to go for a D11-100, in which case you need to buy cables from patersontech.

If you do not have com ports, you can also get USB to serial adapters. But all this will cost a fair bit...since you have to again buy the serial to usb controller cables......