DirecTV Serial Channel Changing...

[kingwr]

I have finally installed SageTV 7 RC for use with my Hauppauge HD-PVR. During setup of the video source for the HD-PVR, I selected DirecTV Serial Channel Change control for channel changing (the only option provided). I set it up for COM3. I have my DirecTV H23 connected with a Patterson Technologies cable to COM3 on the computer. I know the cable works because I use serial channel changing through COM3 in Windows Media Center for the HD-PVR as well. However, SageTV is not changing the channel. Does Sage's serial channel changer work through the Patterson Tech. cable?

Thanks for the help.

[JetreL]

Sage works great with Serial and the Patterson device. Some things you can try is:

Confirm that the com port is 3 you can do this though device manager in Windows. You can also set it up to be any port you want in device manager too.

After you have it all connected you need to reset the DirecTV receiver using the little red button beside sim card.

On Patersons website he has a listing of what device work and what special setting are needed using his appication that you can download. Also you may need to flash your patterson device.

Best of luck

[toricred]

Also make sure you have Windows MC completely shut down before starting Sage. MC may be grabbing COM3 and not letting Sage have it.

[SprDtyF350]

There used to be a setting in detailed setup to change directv tuning type. I don't see it anymore so it may have to be changed in the properties file now, or may be gone. It used to help sometimes.

[kingwr]

I did the reset and that did not help. In MCE, I am chaning channels via the Hauppauge drivers alternate channel changing method specified in the registry. I have a channel changing program that I wrote that takes the channel number from the driver and passes it to the DirecTV H23. That is all working correctly, so I don't think I need to flash the Patterson Tech. cable. Also, the channel changing program opens the port, sends the bytes to change the channel, and closes the port. So MCE can't be leaving the port open.

Now, when I change channels in SageTV, it does reset the HD-PVR (the blue light goes out, I get "No Signal," then the blue light comes back on again.) Media Center does not do this if you have alternate channel changing program specified. This is nice, because you can set the resolution of your STB to fixed and change channels in 2 to 3 seconds. However, I wonder if having the alternative channel changing setup for the driver is conflicting with SageTV's DirecTV channel changing program.

I will look through the properties file for any settings affecting the DirecTV channel changing. This sounds like a likely culprit.

[Bikeman]

I needed to change the Directv Serial settings to Fast for it to work.

Detailed Setup | Customize | DirecTV Serial Channel Changing mode about halfway done.

Jeff

[kingwr]

Rebooted PC and STB. Changed DirecTV speed to high. I cannot flash the firmware in the Patterson Tech. cable because the Prolific USB-to-Serial driver won't install correctly. But Media Center through the Hauppauge driver and my serial channel changing program works just fine changing channels.

I get absolutely nothing from SageTVs DirecTV Serial Channel Changer, though. This is the only option being provided for me. Can SageTV not use the HD-PVRs native blaster? Also, is there any way to prevent SageTV from resetting the HD-PVR every time the channel is changed?

[Bikeman]

Had the same problem, the Prolific driver wouldn't work with Win 7.

Don't remember where I found them, but these did work for me. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2128079/Prol...in_drivers.zip

[kingwr]

I installed those drivers with same results. Oddly enough, I then uninstalled the drivers and rebooted the PC, this time leaving the Patterson Tech. cable plugged in. When Windows 7 rebooted, it recognized the cable and set it up as COM4. I flashed the Patterson Tech. cable to 4.23 and tested it. It works great. Still works with Media Center and Hauppauge drivers as well.

However, the SageTV DirecTV Serial Channel Change still does nothing to change channels!

Would an uninstall and reinstall of SageTV help (seems extreme). Does SageTV's tech support support trials?

[Bikeman]

Make sure that Sage is seeing the change.

Setup | Setup Video Sources | select the HD-PVR tuner | last line Tuner Control: should point to ?:SageTV folder\Common\DirectTVSerialControl COM? <name of DirecTV device>

If this info is incorrect, delete the tuner and add in back in.

[Wrx4me]

One more thing to check, on mine the DirecTVSerialControl.dll was not in my common folder but in my main SageTv folder. I had to copy it over before channel changing worked. You may have to do the same or vice versa depending on where your HD-PVR is mapped to for serial control.

[kingwr]

DirecTVSerialControl.dll is in C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV, which is also where the setup says that is located.

Deleted the source and re-added several times (with reboots in between, etc.). This made no difference. however my settings just say "Tuner Control: C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\DirecTVSerialControl COM3." There is no <DirecTV device name> on the end of that. Is supposed to say "H21" or "H23" after the COM3? Where do I set that up?

[kingwr]

Another thing. SageTV gives me the choice of COM1-COM4 for the serial channel change. But I don't have a COM1 or COM4 on my computer, just COM2 and COM3. Further, these are not using standard resources (as is often the case on modern computers). Is it possible that SageTV or Java can't see the serial port because it doesn't use the standard resources?

[mguebert]

Originally Posted by kingwr

Another thing. SageTV gives me the choice of COM1-COM4 for the serial channel change. But I don't have a COM1 or COM4 on my computer, just COM2 and COM3. Further, these are not using standard resources (as is often the case on modern computers). Is it possible that SageTV or Java can't see the serial port because it doesn't use the standard resources?

I doubt that very much, both of my directv boxes are using usb-serial converters. Sage tunes them both fine.

[JetreL]

You should be able to set it to whatever Com port you want. I hard coded my usb-to-serial ports to 5 and 6 and that worked fine with Sage. Sage7 may be a bit different? You may want to try some older firmwares for the Paterson device too.

I don't have DirecTV anymore so can't tell you. (I was thinking you were the one I gave my Patterson devices to, honestly I can't remember) When removing and replugging the Patterson devices in remember to hit the reset button on the DirecTv receiver.

[Bikeman]

I think the DirecTV model # came from Sage, seems like it asks for one, but it could of come from the Pattersen setup, I don't remember.

If the computer sees it OK, than I think Sage has options 1-4 and "other" that one can set. Can you not change the serial port number to match? Its on the Advanced button page of the COM port's properties page.

[Polypro]

Probably semantics, but to get mine working, I have to turn the PC OFF...reboot the DTV boxes and let them acquire the guide data, etc...THEN I turn on The PC. Anytime the DTV box loses power (now only when they update it, thanks to a UPS) channel changing screws up. The only way to get it back, is to do the above procedure. My kingdom for a way to block updates from DirecTV!

P

[kingwr]

Only 5 days left in my SageTV 7 trial and I have not been able to get this to work. Tried every suggestion posted above and then some. The Patterson Cable is good and updated to the latest firmware. The STB responds to commands sent via the cable from other sources, e.g. a utility program that sends commands to change channel. SageTV opens and holds port COM3 while it is running. But as far as I can tell, SageTV never sends a command via the cable to the STB during channel change, or the command that is sent is not compatible with my DirecTV H23 STB.

And this is the only option provided for channel change on the HD-PVR with SageTV 7. So I assume everyone with an HD-PVR on SageTV (which there must be quite a few) has this working.

[kingwr]

Originally Posted by Bikeman

I think the DirecTV model # came from Sage, seems like it asks for one, but it could of come from the Pattersen setup, I don't remember.

Can anyone confirm this? I was never asked by SageTV the type of my DirecTV STB, and I don't see an option in the Patterson configuration utility to set an STB type. Just "Normal" vs. "-600" mode. I've tried both, as well as "Pass thru" mode to no avail.

[sflamm]

Quick thought - if you can't get the serial tuning to work with your DirectTV box can't you set up a USB-UIRT to change the channels using IR?