Simple utility to control multiple USB or Serial HD DirecTV STBs

[jchiso]

Nov 07 2009 - IMPORTANT NOTE: The instructions and file described here have been replaced by the version described here!
This is an attempt to document my configuration of a system controlling multiple DirecTV HD receivers via PC serial and set-top-box USB ports. This system supports the "-1" designation for applicable DirecTV channels.

I. Prerequisites
A. EXEMultiTunerPlugin
B. DirecTV Channel Control Program for GBPVR (directv.exe)
C. DirecTVMultiChg.bat file
D. One (1) USB to Serial Adapter per DirecTV receiver
E. One (1) Null Modem Cable (or Null Modem Adapter and Serial Cable) per DirecTV Receiver
F. One (1) PC Serial port per DirecTV receiver

A. EXEMultiTunerPlugin
Obtain a copy of the SageTV-provided plugin.

http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...33&postcount=7

Place the plugin into your SageTV directory

B. DirecTV Channel Control Program for GBPVR (directv.exe)
This is a serial control utility designed for GBPVR and is available on the GBPVR Wiki under "Utilities" It's a simple, DOS-based program that works from a command prompt and supports a wide variety of DirecTV receivers. See the Wiki page for details.

C. DirecTVMultiChg.bat file
This is a simple DOS-based batch file I created. It must be placed into the SageTV directory. This is the program that is executed by the EXEMultiTunerPlugin as referenced by the associated registry command. More on this batch file appears below.

D. and E. USB-to-Serial Adapter and Null Modem Cable
DirecTV boxes with USB ports (such as the Model H21) can be controlled via a USB-To-Serial adapter when paired with a null modem cable. You can easily find USB-To-Serial adapters for around $10 and null modem cables for around $2 online.

F. One (1) PC Serial port per DirecTV receiver
Obviously you will need a COM port on your PC for each receiver you want to control. If you have only one (or zero) COM ports on your motherboard you can add additional ports via onboard connectors (if available) and brackets, or via add-in PCI card, or more likely via USB-To-Serial adapters.

II. Configuration
A. Registry edits
B. Sage.properties Requirements
C. "IR" File and Tuner Control Setup
D. Channel Remapping (if applicable)
E. DirecTVMultiChg.bat file edits

A. Registry Edits
Add (or modify) a registry key to the following location:

HKLM\Software\Frey Technologies\Common\EXEMultiTunerPlugin

Add a DWORD with the following command

DirecTVMultiChg.bat %DEVICE% %CHANNEL%

B. Sage.properties Requirements
The key to the EXEMultiTunerPlugin is that it passes both "device" and "channel" parameters to the command it executes. The "device" parameter is that which is referenced in the device_name property for each input of the applicable capture device. IMPORTANT: To use this batch file you must set device_name as an integer. For simplicity, you can set the first device_name as "1", second as "2", et cetera. Again: it is important that you set the device_name properties in this manner.

C. "IR" File and Tuner Control Setup
I'm not sure this is required, but I believe the plugin requires an ".ir" file, even though it's not sending infrared commands. For what it's worth, I created a file named "1.ir" which has only one line "StubDevice 38000 400 4 600 800". The pertinent pieces of information here are the filename "x.ir", where "x" is the number referenced in the device_name property and the "4", which specifies the number of digits for the %CHANNEL% parameter. I also believe you can set the number of digit using the "Remote Options" setup under the Tuner Setup menu. This file is stored in the \SageTV\Common\Remote Codes directory. Again: I am not sure if this step is required.

D. Channel Remapping
One of the added features of using this batch file is that it supports sending the "dash" character via serial control, which is not supported via the native DirecTV serial plugin. However, to tune any of the "dash-1" channels you have to remap both the physical and logical channel numbers. As an example: HD NFL Sunday Ticket games are all shown on channels with "-1" extensions. To configure the system to tune a channel such as "704-1", remap the logical channel of the HD 704 channel in the guide to "704-1". This will show the channel's listing in its appropriate place in the Guide. To actually tune the channel you must remap the physical channel to "7041". Note the lack of a dash in the physical mapping; this is required for the batch file to work correctly. You should map any desired "dash" channels in this manner.

E. DirecTVMultiChg.bat File Edits
As it is curently configured this program handles up to six serially-controlled set-top boxes, though it can be easily edited to accommodate more. Also it assumes that your device_name properties are "1","2","3"... "6", and are connected to corresponding COM ports "COM1", COM2", "COM3"... "COM6". You can modify these assignments as required, but it's probably simple enough to map your receivers in this manner. In some cases your COM ports will install as ports other than "2", "3", et cetera, but you can either change the port number within Windows Device Manager, or modify the device_name property to correspond to the COM port.

III. Other Notes & Limitations
As it is configured today this attached batch file only supports generic 3-digit channels and channels with "-1" extensions. To date, DirecTV only uses "-1" for its national channels. Users who receive local channels via sub-channels with other extensions will not be able to tune such channels with this batch file.

Use this batch file at your own risk.

Hopefully this guide helps someone...

-J.R.