Controlling Set Top Box - no IR please

[bialio]

So this is bound to come up, but if the $250 HD Component Capture materializes as planned, there will be alot of interest in controlling set top boxes.

Other than the IR blasters, what options are there for :

DirecTV STB's
Dish STB's
Cable STB's

I've never been a fan of controlling a box via IR - so if there is another option (USB, serial, firewire, etc) post it here.

btl.

[Steve52]

The Paterson Device.

http://www.patersontech.com/

[MeInMaui]

If a cable box has a firewire port, you should be able to use that for channel changing. I wrote some instructions on setting this up about a year ago. I don't know about satellite boxes. I use firewire to change channels on 2 cable STB's. It takes a few seconds, but it has never let me down. HTH

Aloha,
Mike

[mattdcknsn]

If people are using cable boxes then I figured Firewire would be the way to go. I know the Verizon STBs are compatible with FW for channel changing.

Mike: Is the file you linked to in your how to the latest one? I noticed the post was from 2003 and want to make sure.

[bialio]

Originally Posted by Steve52

The Paterson Device.

http://www.patersontech.com/

Does this one work with Sage?

[Jesse]

There are a few threads about the patterson device. I have not had the time to read through the longest ones, but I guess I need to find the time. I think bcjenkins is using them, so they must be viable in sage.

Jesse

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by mattdcknsn

Mike: Is the file you linked to in your how to the latest one? I noticed the post was from 2003 and want to make sure.

If you are talking about the latest version of the exemultituner plugin, then yes it I believe this is the latest. There may be newer versions of the firewire drivers available than what was referenced, but that shouldn't affect the procedure. I hope that answers your question.

Aloha,
Mike

[Steve52]

Originally Posted by bialio

Does this one work with Sage?

I use this device with a DirecTv D10 and Sage and it works great. I used an IR blaser for some time before, but this works much better. They have devices for the H20 now I believe. Don't know about the H21 however. Check there web site and see. Serial control is much much better than IR!

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by bialio

So this is bound to come up, but if the $250 HD Component Capture materializes as planned, there will be alot of interest in controlling set top boxes.

Other than the IR blasters, what options are there for :

DirecTV STB's
Dish STB's
Cable STB's

I've never been a fan of controlling a box via IR - so if there is another option (USB, serial, firewire, etc) post it here.

btl.

There's no other option for Dish, DirecTV and Cable, I think it depends on which box.

FWIW, IR works 100% perfectly for me with my Dish VIP211.

[unkyjoe]

I am controlling 2 DirecTV boxes with the pattersontech device.

Been working great for over a year.

[toricred]

I'm using 4 of the Patersontech devices for 2 D10s and 2 D11s. All work well even with USB to Serial adapters (all BAFO 810s).

[Olias]

I'm using serial control on an older DTV H10-200. There was a problem with the native serial control dll that SageTV provided, but after working with the wonderful folk in SageTV support they were able to provide me with a rock solid dll.

[mattdcknsn]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

If you are talking about the latest version of the exemultituner plugin, then yes it I believe this is the latest. There may be newer versions of the firewire drivers available than what was referenced, but that shouldn't affect the procedure. I hope that answers your question.

Aloha,
Mike

Yep, exactly what I needed.

Thanks

[bialio]

So when you control a STB (via some mechanism) and use some capture card to get it into SageTV, does the OSD UI from the STB show up in Sage briefly? ie usually when you tune to a channel you get some information in a popup window that says what channel you are on, what's showing, etc. Mainly info from the EPG......

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by bialio

So when you control a STB (via some mechanism) and use some capture card to get it into SageTV, does the OSD UI from the STB show up in Sage briefly?

It doesn't if you capture via firewire. But if you capture via coax/s-vid/composite, yes, they STB's OSD will appear for a couple seconds.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by bialio

So when you control a STB (via some mechanism) and use some capture card to get it into SageTV, does the OSD UI from the STB show up in Sage briefly? ie usually when you tune to a channel you get some information in a popup window that says what channel you are on, what's showing, etc. Mainly info from the EPG......

It does on mine on an SA3250HD with channel changing via firewire. I get a mini-OSD that shows the channel number being entered. It disappears as soon as the channel changes.

Aloha,
Mike

Edit: Dang! beat to the punch again....