serial control of the H20 Directv receiver

[Skybolt]

I have 2 H20's and would like to control them via the built in sage directvserialcontrol.dll. I have read more then a few posts on this and it seems that there are a few types of USB converters that the H20 supports. This site seems to lean towards the Paterson one for $50 or so. Other site's say the GWC UC320 will work and tey are $15. I have tried a few differant ones with no luck. I am trying onse with an FTDI chip set. They have leds that flicker with the data flow. I just ordered the GWC to tryout, I can always use it for somthing else if it does not work well.

So which USB converters are having the best success? I whant to move to 2 H20's and 2 HD-PVR's at some point and really don't want to spend the extra $100 if I don't have too.

I am currently using a USB-UIRT, and I I believe that I won't be able to use that with 2 H20's. And I would like to get the H20's working before I get the HD-PVR's as there IR would work if I shielded the emitters, I think

Right now I have flickering leds on a USB adapter whichh doesn't work in the H20. Any input or advice would be very welcomed.

-Skybolt

[BFisher]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

So which USB converters are having the best success?

Many people here use the Patterson with good success (I have 2 with no issues, and I use it's customization capabilities). Make sure you have updated the registry (search the forums, there are several posts about it). Once I did that, it's worked great ever since.

[chasmetz]

I have two H20's connected to HD-PVR's with two Patterson devices, both work perfectly. I tried other solutions but had no success...I was similar to you, looking to get by without having to soak a lot of money in it. In the end I wish I would have just purchased the Pattersons from the start, would have saved me a little money and a LOT of time...

Charles

[Olias]

I originally had a USB-UIRT controlling two H23s. Channel changing was very slow so I picked up one of the Patterson devices and that seemed to work well for the first H23.

I did not need any of the extra functionality of the Patterson and really didn't want to spend that much for a second controller so I picked up two generic USB to serial converters and an adapter from monoprice for about ten bucks to see if the cheap solution would work. Hooked it up today and channel changing on the second H23 is now as quick and accurate as the first one.

[bhyman1]

I use three of those GWC USB adapters with two H21's and a D11, they work great. Juts use them with a null modem serial cable and use the Fast Channel Changing registry edit posted on this forum and you'll be good to go.

[Beefcake550]

Here's a link to parts I ordered from Monoprice that work....

http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...php?t=35663#12

Enjoy saving the money and knowing you are getting parts that work.

[Skybolt]

Thanks for all of the responses. Amazingly enough I used another USB adapter(GWC USB) recommended on another site, and things still did not work until I add the reg entry found in the original DLL post by narflex, DirecTVSerialFastChannelChanges = 1. Now everything is working great - Thanks!

The DirecTv serial control external app worked fine but not with single digits only the entire chan at once. Setting DirectSerialControl = 1 in the registry tells Sage to do this apparently. My reg did not have any settings for DirecTv, I added it as a DWORD, not sure if thats correct or not,but it seems to work, a little faster then the USB-UIRT too.

Thanks,
Skybolt

[landshark]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

Thanks for all of the responses. Amazingly enough I used another USB adapter(GWC USB) recommended on another site, and things still did not work until I add the reg entry found in the original DLL post by narflex, DirectSerialControl = 1. Now everything is working great - Thanks!

The DirecTv serial control external app worked fine but not with single digits only the entire chan at once. Setting DirectSerialControl = 1 in the registry tells Sage to do this apparently. My reg did not have any settings for DirecTv, I added it as a DWORD, not sure if thats correct or not,but it seems to work, a little faster then the USB-UIRT too.

Thanks,
Skybolt

could you please post more detail as to where in registry and how to make it work???

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by landshark

could you please post more detail as to where in registry and how to make it work???

sorry landshark, my bad.

I edited the regkey in my previous post to reflect the correct key, but this is what you need to edit in any case. And in my case I had to add this.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Frey Technologies\SageTV]
"DirecTVSerialFastChannelChanges"=dword:00000001

As far as what adapter to use goes, take your pick. I have the GWC USB one working. I chose that one because I had a credit wiith newegg and got them for free basically. I am sure the other work equally as well. I also got a no mane one to work after the regedit was performed. I am sure there are others, but they need to be supported by LINUX as I found on another site. The regedit was my key to succuss. Also make sure the DirecTvSerialControl.dll is in the correct spot. Mine was in the Sage root folder. I moved it to the SageTV\Common directory. Not sure if that matters or not but that was the path that the video source was looking for it seemed. I do not know the version of the DLL either the properties did not show one.There seem to be a few floating around on this board.

Hope this helps,
-Skybolt

[bastian74]

so why can't you just go usb h20 -> usb pc?

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by bastian74

so why can't you just go usb h20 -> usb pc?

You would think that could be done wouldn't you. But there is no such cable which supports that. I guess you could swap pin's 2 & 3 of the usb and cut the +5v and that might work. I've never tried that. Usally there is that little mini connector when that is supported. Not having the mini connector implies that this would not work, but maybe that's not so.

-Skybolt

EDIT: After actually thinking about, you also need a viirtual commport driver on the PC side to actuall use the DirecTvSerialControl.dll - it needs a comport to comtrol, other wise making the cable would probably work.

[BBCritical]

I have an H20-600 reciever, null modem adapter, serial ->usb adapter.. Can anyone pls layout a step by step way to complete this process?

Thanks

[bastian74]

I bought a generic usb-serial adapter and it worked, AFTER I did the fast channel change reg hack mentioned above. You do need a 9-pin null modem cable, or a regular 9-pin serial cable with a null modem adapter. If your motherboard doesn't have a serial interface you'll need two usb-serial adapters (one for the DTV, one for the PC - with null modem cable in the middle)

I used a program called dtvcontrol (free download) to do my testing as it gives you a live view of the packets passed on the serial cable.

[samvonac]

Originally Posted by bastian74

I bought a generic usb-serial adapter and it worked, AFTER I did the fast channel change reg hack mentioned above. You do need a 9-pin null modem cable, or a regular 9-pin serial cable with a null modem adapter. If your motherboard doesn't have a serial interface you'll need two usb-serial adapters (one for the DTV, one for the PC - with null modem cable in the middle)

I used a program called dtvcontrol (free download) to do my testing as it gives you a live view of the packets passed on the serial cable.

I just bought a new PC that has no serial ports. My old PC did have a serial port and I was using a Paterson Tech cable. Are you saying that I need to get a USB -> serial cable in order to get a serial port on the PC then connect the Paterson Tech cable?

[bastian74]

Thats correct. You might want to check if your motherboard has a serial port connector on it. Mine did but didn't come with the "jack" to connect to the motherboard, but I had one from another motherboard that did come wtih it. You could probably find them for a couple dollars on ebay if that is all you need.