Setting Up DirecTV Receiver with Sage

[samvonac]

I have been a long time user of Sage with Cable. I just made the switch today to DirecTV. I've searched for posts on how to setup the DirecTV with Sage but haven't been able to find step by step instructions.

Here is my setup:

Sage V.5.0.4.92
Hauppauge PVR-150
DirecTV D12-100
Paterson USB-Serial controller

I connected the DTV box to the PVR-150 via s-video. When I try to setup the video source I don't get any picture.

Can someone provide step by step instructions on how to get this setup or point me to a post if this has already been asked and answered.

Thanks!

[bcjenkins]

I know on the linux version, SVideo doesn't work out of the box. I find that I have to tweak the svideo input number from 3 to 1. Please post more info on your setup.

B

[samvonac]

I have also tried to connect using composite cable but that doesnt give me a picture either.

What other information can I post about my setup?

Thanks for the response and the help!

[samvonac]

Ok, I feel like an idiot.... I actually have two PVR-150 cards but just one receiver. So I just selected the wrong card when configuring the video source. I get a picture now. Next step it is asking for which tuning plugin to use. Which should I selected if I am using the Paterson USB-Serial cable?

The choices are:

DirecTV Serial Control
EXE Tuner Plugin
MultiDCTTuner Plugin
ACTiSYS IR2000L
Hauppauge IR Blaster
USB-UIRT Transceiver

[bcjenkins]

dtv serial

B

[samvonac]

I selected DTV Serial and selected COM1 as that is the only com port that I have. It does not change channels. I cannot connect using the TVT Utility either. Also tried using the DTVControl.exe and it says Unable to open port COM1 - Port is already in use (Error 5). I plugged both ends of the TVT to my PC to make sure I have the latest firmware.

Any other ideas?

[bcjenkins]

Check the port number in device manager, turn off the dtv box, reboot the computer, turn on the dtv box.

B

[samvonac]

The DTVControl.exe program works now. The Paterson Utility doesn't connect. The test window says that the serial is connected but USB is not connect. However, it does seem to be changing channels in Sage!

Thanks for all the help!

[samvonac]

I have my PC setup to automatically reboot after every 4 days (the wonders of windows....) to do cleanup and such to make the machine run better. As such it seems to mess up the connection to the D12 and changing channel no longer works. I had to go to the device manager, remove COM1, reboot, then turn on the D12 to get things working again.

Has anyone else had this annoying behavior and is there anything else that can be done to avoid this short of not rebooting the computer?

[mike1961]

I have been using Sage with DTV almost flawlessly for over a year. I have an XP Pro as a server running Sage TV Service with three DTV boxes and serial cables I built myself to change the channels on each box. One thing I noticed is that the new DirecTVSerial DLL seems to have bugs in it and I use the old DirecTVSerial DLL from May 2006. The new one seems to change channels and then out of the blue it just stops and you have to restart Sage Service to change channels again. The old one seems to work with no problem at all. But, for me it is kind of moot because I'm switching to Verizon FIOS tomorrow so I'm going to have my hands full. But, if you have any questions about DTV I can help. I have the old SD D-100 boxes with the serial in the back and I use a serial cable to change channels. But, you must use the old DirecTVSerialControl file in your main SageTV folder (on your file server or where you run the sagetv - sagetv client does not matter but just the main sagetv folder). If you don't have the file, I can post it. Also, every time there is a sage update, it overwrites the old directvserialcontrol with the new one and you then have to copy the old one back again.

Mike

[samvonac]

Thanks Mike, The dll file I have is dated 5/31/2006. I can't be certain if this is the old one or the new one. Can you post yours or point me to where I can download it?

Also, last night my PC didn't reboot and channel changing ceased to function again

[mike1961]

Right click on it and click properties. If the file size is 65536 then you have the right one if it is 69632 then you have the wrong one. Either way, you have to overwrite it with the old one every time you install a new version of SageTV or you will have the new one again which is 69632 and is the one with bugs in it.

Let us know.

Mike

[samvonac]

I have the correct version of the dll. It seems to work most of the time but if my PC stays idle for an extended amount of time then channel changing no longer works. When this happens, I try to use the DirecTVControl.exe test program and it fails to connect to COM1 saying that it is in use. I have to reboot my PC to get it working again. So, it works... just not stable and not reliable.

[mike1961]

If you want to zip the version you have and post it I can compare it to mine. You should have to reinstall the old version with every new version of Sage that has been released for some time now.

Mike

[Morgan111]

So where can I find the DirecTvControl.exe test program? I can't find it anywhere.

[unkyjoe]

Last time DirecTV changed thier firmware on their STB I had to visit the Patterson Tech website for instruction on forcing the DirecTV stb to use 9600 baud instead of 19200 baud.

DirecTV made a change on thier STB's a while back that uses this newer baud rate, check the Patterson Tech website or e-mail them to see about instructions on permanently changing the STB back to 9600 baud.

This may be the problem you are having.

Here is the link to the instructions

http://www.patersontech.com/support/...eshooting.aspx

[Morgan111]

What I was really looking for was the "DirecTv Control.exe" test program that I tracked down at DTVControl.com.

SageTV wouldn't change my channels and the Paterson Translator program wasn't finding anything on my motherboard COM port, or my 4 port PCI. Frustrated I found and tried the DTVControl utility which had no troubles reading from the STB or controlling them through the Paterson cables. I did find an old DirecTvSerialControl.dll file from 4/23/2006 that I swapped in and now Sage has no trouble. I better keep a copy of that stashed away for the next time I update the server.