Motorola DTC2000 Plugin

[AndyS]

Patrick, did you try running the executable standalone? It has a GUI that you can use to change channels. You need to make sure that this works before interfacing with SageTV.

Andy.

[Redemption]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
Well I tried it on my DCT2244 and it doesn't change channels,, when I tried to open the exe file it just flashes open and then closes again, doesn't give a chance to see what is happening. BUT I have the com port 1 as the port the cable is connected to.
Patrick

Can't double click it in windows, it's not a gui app.
Start --> Run --> cmd
change to the directory it's in
then type dct ###
where ### equals the channel you want to change to. No need to include zero's ahead of numbers. For channel 4 you'd type dct 4 in the dos box. For 105 you'd type dct 105
It returns I believe two lines of code.
If it fails to work, please post what, if anything happens on your cable box (such as message lights, etc) as well as any text in the dos window.

Originally posted by AndyS
Patrick, did you try running the executable standalone? It has a GUI that you can use to change channels. You need to make sure that this works before interfacing with SageTV.
Andy.

The most recently listed attachment (posted by snewman) appeared to only be a dos based application.

[Crowdx42]

You are referring to the DCT.exe file?
It just pops up really quick and then closes.
Patrick

[AndyS]

Yes - I meant DCT.EXE. When I tried it from the command-prompt (no parameters) it brought up a little GUI where I could input the COM: port, and select channels with either a numeric keypad or up/down buttons. This worked great for me on my DCT2000.

I'd advise pulling the latest DCT2000Plugin.ZIP posted in this thread (post #41). It worked for me....

Andy.

[Redemption]

Originally posted by AndyS
Yes - I meant DCT.EXE. When I tried it from the command-prompt (no parameters) it brought up a little GUI where I could input the COM: port, and select channels with either a numeric keypad or up/down buttons. This worked great for me on my DCT2000.

I'd advise pulling the latest DCT2000Plugin.ZIP posted on this site (in this thread I think). It worked for me....

Andy.

Talking about the one on the top of page 3?

[Crowdx42]

Below is the responses from the dos prompt. I am presuming that the com port on the box is not enabled, everything seems to work on the plug in side.
Patrick

C:\Program Files\Frey Technologies\SageTV>dct 160
DCT2000 Serial Tuner EXE version 2.0
Initializing Tuner....Done
Setting tuner to channel 160....Done
Shutting down tuner....Done

[snewman]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
You are referring to the DCT.exe file?
It just pops up really quick and then closes.
Patrick

yeah, this is what I would expect if you are running it from the start menu, or clicking on it in windows explorer.

You need to open a command prompt (Start->Run->cmd and press enter). Then change to the directory where you have the dct.exe file. Mine is in "C:\Program Files\Frey Technologies\SageTV". Once you're in the directory, just type "dct" and press enter. You should see 1 line of output that reads: "DCT2000 Serial Tuner EXE version 2.0".

If you want to try changing channels, type something like "dct 7" to change to channel 7. You will get many more lines of output from this. Most likely it will tell you that it changed the channel correctly, even if it doesn't change. If you get an error such as "unable to open port COM1" make sure you don't have something else running that's using that port.

If it is plugging into COM1 and you have a normal, straight through serial cable, it might just be that the serial port on the cable box is disabled.

[Redemption]

Originally posted by Crowdx42
Below is the responses from the dos prompt. I am presuming that the com port on the box is not enabled, everything seems to work on the plug in side.
Patrick

C:\Program Files\Frey Technologies\SageTV>dct 160
DCT2000 Serial Tuner EXE version 2.0
Initializing Tuner....Done
Setting tuner to channel 160....Done
Shutting down tuner....Done

Nothing happened on the cable box? Not even the message light blinking? Dig up your firmware version as yours might not be on the compatible list (wouldn't know why not). (Also start with something simple like dct 5 (instead of going for a full 3 digit channel).
Try the gui that was just mentioned.
Regarding using this version of the plugin, you've verified that it's plugged into com 1 and that the cable you have works? (i've come across a few router cables that have proprietary pinouts).

[AndyS]

Originally posted by Redemption
Talking about the one on the top of page 3?

Yes - in post# 41

Andy.

[Crowdx42]

Tried the GUI version and still nothing,, no sign of contact with the cable box at all, no light or nothing.
Presume the com port is disabled
Patrick

[AndyS]

Sorry to hear that.

Did you get any errors about MSCOMM32.OCX? If you don't already have it installed you need to get it from http://www.martin2k.co.uk/vb6/vb6download.php .

Give your cable company a call. Get to speak with the people who operate the computer that actually sets up the settings for customers and tell 'em that they need to issue "app_is enable" to switch the serial port on. I'd suggest telling them it's for a PVR rather than mentioning it's for connection to a PC - they aren't usually keen on you connecting your PC to their boxes.

Andy.

[Crowdx42]

I found the MSCOMM32.OCX from the previous post in this thread. From what I heard Comcast will not enable a com port if it is disabled, they are not helpful from what was said before.
Patrick

[snewman]

Seems to only be in certain areas from what I can tell. Redemption posted that he's using the serial port on his Comcast box in CA, and I'm using the serial port on mine in GA. Maybe you just have to get past the first level tech guys and see if you can get to someone else who will enable it for you.

[AndyS]

That seems to generally be the case. I read a post somewhere that suggested there would be no point talking to a tech unless they were at least level 2.

I attached a program I pulled from the MythTV threads archive. You might want to see if it gives you any more info. You can ignore all the files except the executable.

Andy.

[Crowdx42]

This is the output I get from the DCT Test file

DCTTest v1.0 Copyright (c) 2003 Don Starr
opening serial port 0: 9600/8/1/none ...
opening serial port 1: 9600/8/1/none ...
press ESC to exit

Sidecar (e.g. TiVo) DCT
===============================================================================

[AndyS]

Looks like your serial port isn't enabled, sorry I'd still be tempted to hook it up to hyperterm (programs/accessories/communications) to see if I could get any kind of response back from the box.

Also - as I mentioned before, your serial cable might be wrong as well, so it's worth investigating that option.

If anyone's interested in the protocol I found a very interesting thread here that (around post 135) has some really useful information.

Andy.

[AndyS]

So - are we all saying that it's not possible to control two (or more) DCT2000s serially? That would surely suck.....

Is there any kind of API available for SageTV that we could use to fire off commands when certain events occurred?

How do I request a feature request to have a second variable (card-id?) added to EXETunerPlugin.DLL ?

Andy.

[Redemption]

Originally posted by AndyS
So - are we all saying that it's not possible to control two (or more) DCT2000s serially? That would surely suck.....

Is there any kind of API available for SageTV that we could use to fire off commands when certain events occurred?

How do I request a feature request to have a second variable (card-id?) added to EXETunerPlugin.DLL ?

Andy.

No, there are commands and methods to initiate commands to change the cable boxes. Just a matter of doing what you said, a variable being added to the plugin. Not a clue who "runs/owns" the plugin.

[AndyS]

I understand that, but isn't the plugin only as good as the parameters that can be passed to it by SageTV? As you say, the clean way to do it is to have a second parameter passed to the target command in the same way that the channel number is passed. This would require a recoding of EXETunerPlugin.DLL (owned by Frey Technologies I believe) but also a recoding (albeit minor) within SageTV. This is what I would like to put in a modification request for.

Andy.

[AndyS]

I found this thread from Jeff where he's written a multi-tuner plugin. I'll pull it down and check its functionality. I've also requested the source-code so hopefully we'll be in business really soon!

One thing that I found on the Tivo forum was that the DCT2000 sends its current status/channel information back to the requestor whenever a command (or a request for status) is sent. We can't do it with this write-only plugin solution, but tighter integration with SageTV would mean that SageTV could query the status of the box before changing channels to ensure that a) the box was on (and to switch it on if it wasn't), b) it wasn't already tuned to the correct channel, and c) use tune up/down instead of sending the channel number if the target channel is next to the currently tuned channel (much faster).

I'll report back as I get more info.

Andy.