Motorola DTC2000 Plugin

[heffe2001]

I'll have to give this a try again, hopefully it'll work, then I can put boxes on all my tuners (well, at least 4 of 'em).

*EDIT* Works like a charm. Gonna order 2 more digital boxes, and another USB serial cable and use 4 at once . (It does work just fine on USB serial dongles btw).

[DRM2PVR]

I finally found the right serial cable and now have my Motorola 2524 digital cable box working with Sage. I do however have a few loose ends to tie up which I beleive to be related to MultiDCTuner1.2.dll. I followed all the installation instructions relevent to a single tuner install. SageTV does not run as a service but I'm thinking of doing so due to the crashes. Channels 2-68 are through the tuner , 250 up to 955 are via s-video and serial control.

Here are the problems I'm trying to identify:

1. Ever since the MultiDCTTuner install, I have had 3 spontanious reboots and one crash of SageTV. Nothing else has changed but I'm open to suggestions which may be releated to the adding of the additional source.

2. Some channel changes over serial are fast (within 3 seconds), others can take up to 15 seconds, and sometimes it retries to change to a channel it has already succesfully tuned to. Looking at the multidcttuner.log I see I have some frequent serial timeouts in either changing the channel or getting the current channel.

[Settings]
scale=1.6875
scale_max=2.0
log=true
logfile=c:\Program Files\Frey Technologies\Common\multidcttuner.log
blind=false
power=false
port=1
StubDevice=1
AnotherReceiver=2


Related Log file entry:

Device StubDevice on port 1
MultiDCTTunerDLL $Rev: 20 $ Initializing Serial Port 1 for device StubDevice ... done
Reading current channel
SENT: type 0x78, len 3, id 0x04, seq 0x03
data 0x21
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x80
Serial timeout
Didn't get channel status message
Failed to get current channel, trying again
Reading current channel
SENT: type 0x78, len 3, id 0x04, seq 0x10
data 0x21
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x91
RECV: type 0x78, len 8, id 0x00, seq 0x21
data 0xa1 0x00 0x37 0x00 0x00 0x00
Sending automatic ACK
SENT: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0xa2
Current Channel: 55
Got channel, attempting to change
Setting channel to: 215
SENT: type 0x78, len 4, id 0x04, seq 0x32
data 0x22 0x02
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0xb3
SENT: type 0x78, len 4, id 0x04, seq 0x03
data 0x22 0x01
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x80
SENT: type 0x78, len 4, id 0x04, seq 0x10
data 0x22 0x05
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x91
RECV: type 0x78, len 25, id 0x00, seq 0x21
data 0x20 0x00 0xd7 0x01 0x08 0xd4 0xe5 0xcd 0x22 0x2f 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Sending automatic ACK
SENT: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0xa2
RECV: type 0x78, len 25, id 0x00, seq 0x32
data 0x20 0x00 0xd7 0x01 0x08 0xd0 0xe5 0xcd 0x22 0x2f 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
Sending automatic ACK
SENT: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0xb3
Got extra status back
Serial timeout
SENT: type 0x78, len 4, id 0x04, seq 0x03
data 0x22 0x12
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x80
Successful
Closing device StubDevice


Any thoughts?

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by heffe2001

My fix was to move one of the cable boxes to another machine with Sage Recorder on it, not much of a fix I'm afraid, but it's all that I could do to get it to work. Guess that 3rd cable box won't be needed until someone fixes this plugin.

I've been fighting adding a DCT2244 to my PVR250 network mode in my HTPC for a couple days. Using DCT.exe v1 (GUI) which changes the channels fine. Exe.dll in common dir both HTPC and SageServer. DCT.exe in SageRecorder dir & SageClinet dir's in HTPC & in SageTV dir Sage Server. REG added both HTPC & SageServer. (stuff added everywhere 'cuz can't get it to work )

PVR250 in HTPC was previously connected analog cable. In setup wizard removed and added back on TVTuner ch3. EPG populates fine. In setup wizard channel setup if try view a channel get null error, box does not change channels. In TVGuide if click watch now on digital cable station does nothing, absolutely nothing.

With SageRecorder on channel 3 can manually tune digital cable box (not with Recorder), SageRecorder can preview and record whatever comes down the ch3 pipe from the cable box. I've selected exe for control in Recorder.

I've read every single post in this thread mutiple times, Sage manual, network mode instructions, Recorder manual and for the life of me can't get this sucker to work in Sage! I want it connected via the Network Encoder in the HTPC so the digital cable box is also direct connected to TV for On Demand etc which doesn't need to go through Sage and another layer of encoding decoding. On Demand already has pause, FF RR etc. (unless it's something I'd want to archive of course then would use Sage:-)

What the frick am I missing.

[mdmint]

Progress of sorts but no success. Now in TVGuide if selecting a digital cable channel in Client it timeshifts not the correct channel but the current channel the box is set to. Atleast getting playback through Client and not just Recorder. Funny thing is if I click on say channel 555 in TVGuide Recorder shows channel 555 even though the cable box is on a totally different channel. I fooled around with every setting I can think of in Recorder to no avail.

[mdmint]

Got a reply back from George at Frey support. Turns out I NEVER would have gotten SageRecorder to serial control channel changes without manually adding info to SageRecorder properties file. Information not in the DCT2000 Pluggin thread or SageRecorder manual or any other of a dozen or more places and threads I searched. Totally undocumented how to.

Originally Posted by Sage Support

Besides all the other stuff you have done, SageTV Recorder running as a
stand alone app is not changing channels on the box, correct? That should be
the first thing done before setting up network encoding and everything else.
From my understanding the issue is just changing channels on the box using
SageTV Recorder, but it worked in SageTV before. Correct? I'm guessing you
are setting it up using a coax input since you refer to having Recorder on
channel 3. If so follow the below directions to correctly add this type of
input into Recorder.

I'm pasting the directions and it has two ways to do this. That second way
is the easier way.

This is all going to happen from the machine that is running SageTV Recorder
currently. To get that to show up in recorder requires a few steps. First
close recorder. Now install SageTV on that machine and set it up to change
channels on the receiver. Here's how you are going to set it up. First
select your capture card -> select TV Tuner -> Use external Cable or Sat.
rec. to tune channel -> pick channel 3 -> select USB-UIRT(or your tuning
plugin) -> and you should understand the rest from this point on since you
set it up before. Now close down SageTV.

You will now need to open up your Sage.properties file in that same machine.
In there under the mmc/encoders lines will be two specific lines you need.
These two lines will be copied over to the SageRecorder.properties file. In
the Sage.properties file look for your encoder that you set up in Sage.
Since you only setup one capture device you will only see one set of
encoders. Basically the line mmc/encoders/XXXXXXX correlates to one capture
device. If you had two capture devices there would be a different set of
numbers correlating to that capture device. These unique numbers will more
than likely be the same on both the Sage.properties file and
SageRecorder.properties file.

Here is an example from mine. When you setup SageTV like I described above
you will have this section created in your Sage.properties file:

mmc/encoders/133509170/1/3/video_crossbar_index=3
mmc/encoders/133509170/1/3/video_crossbar_type=1

The mmc/encoders/XXXXXXX/1/3 is the important line you are looking for.
There will be other lines like this created, but the two lines above are
the important ones, the rest can be ignored.

Now open up your SageRecorder.properties file and add those two lines to it.
Just make sure that those unique numbers match up to yours.

Here is the easier way to do all this and that is to add two new lines to
your SageRecorder.properties file. There is no need to install SageTV. Go
to the mmc/encoders line and add these two lines like above. I gave you the
long directions first so you understand what we are doing here. If you do it
the easy way just make sure to change the "X's" to your number that
correlates to the capture card in that system.

mmc/encoders/XXXXXXXX/1/3/video_crossbar_index=3
mmc/encoders/XXXXXXXX/1/3/video_crossbar_type=1

After you have verified that this works then you can proceed and setup the
network encoder you were trying to setup.

Since I'd already previously had the PVR250 in network mode working analog cable I simple added the two lines in both SageRecorder prop and SageTV prop on Server.

Adding the lines in Recorder created a new tuner option in SageRecorder setup. Namely tuner fixed on channel 3. Assigned the DCT exe dll plugin to it and bingo. (Same thing that is user configurable in SageTV but not normally available in SageRecorder by default)

[InTheFlow]

Originally Posted by andrewswright

Just so you know, I had an error message that mscomm32.ocx was not registered. I had to find a download site to get a copy of the .ocx control and put it into the SageTV folder.
Andrew

Hey ya'll,

I had this same error and needed the mscomm32.ocx file as well. In case someone else needs it, I'm attaching it to this post to save you the hassle of trying to find it.

You will need to rename the file to .ocx in order for it to work. The system wouldn't let me upload a .ocx file.

[InTheFlow]

Originally Posted by aramh

I just removed the modem (and the drivers from Windows XP). I still get the same message in the DCT2000 utility: "Run-time error '8018': Operation valid only when the port is open." I checked the COM1 Port settings in Windows and under the COM port number, it's listed as COM1 and it says COM2 is already in use. This makes complete sense to me, as COM2 is being used by the second serial port. I guess I'm stumped. Everything should add up to this working and it's not.

Hey Aramh,

I had many of the same issues you experienced throughout this thread and was able to get things working.

Hopefully the steps I took and share here will assist you and others.

First, thank you Snewman for the dll...it works GREAT now that I got my issues fixed!

I have a UPS which attached to the serial port and originally thought it was probably just a straight through cable and could use it with my DCT.

After a lot of testing, I found out that this was not true.

So, I went to my local radioshack and picked up an straight through serial cable. You need the male to female cable for this to work. (My radioshack was out of that one so I got a female to female and used an adapter I had at the house.)

If you are getting the above error you need to check and make sure the UPS process is not running. Once I killed it I also had to go into to the UPS settings and switch the COM port to 2. (My computer only has one physical COM port.)

After doing that, it no longer gave me the "Run-time error '8018': Operation valid only when the port is open." error!

So, use a regular straight through serial cable and if you have a UPS or had one, check the settings I mentioned.

Now the bad boy changes channels like a mega-champ! Woohoo!

Thanks to everyone who worked on making this a reality! It is great to not have to use the IR Blaster with the DCT!

[gadgetfox]

Just a heads-up to any Comcast users trying to get a serial connection to their Motorola digital cable box working. I've just struck out here in Saint Paul, MN using every technique in the book trying to get them to enable it. Nope. They are adamant about forcing people to buy THEIR DVR option and will support nothing else via the Serial connection.

But it's a big American media corporation, so I had already assumed that customer service would be last on their minds. Looks like I'm stuck using IR Blaster until they decide to turn THAT off too in the interest of making a little more money.

[Manol]

I have some problems running the plug IN with Sage Tv 2.2.7. As soon as I select the MultiDCT plugin during the setup of my tuner , SageTV disappear (Crash ? ). Anybody with the same Problem ?

Edit : I found my problem : the path to the log file in the .ini ponted to an invalid directory which caused SageTV to crash during the tuner setup.

[DAIBHI5]

I can't get this to work right. I downloaded the patch and can change the channels via dct.exe so I know the serial port/cable work. However, in SageTV I cannot change the channel. I can only view the channel that the box is set to at that time. Any help would be appreciated.

[jbitely]

Originally Posted by DRM2PVR

1. Ever since the MultiDCTTuner install, I have had 3 spontanious reboots and one crash of SageTV. Nothing else has changed but I'm open to suggestions which may be releated to the adding of the additional source.

I have the same problem, except much more frequently. Using the .dll plugin version, the computer reboots every 5-30 minutes. No warning, no error messages, no events in the event viewer. If I use dct.exe the machine reboots much less frequently, but usually can't make it through recording a full 2 hour movie.

Changing channels works perfectly using either method, but the reboots make using Sage impossible. I know it is related to the serial control because when I uninstall/disable the plugin Sage runs rock solid (but obviously then can't change channels).

Any ideas about where to start looking for conflicts/things to change?

[zecora]

If anyone could help me that would be great. Here is my thread.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12459

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12467

[georgebarr]

I got the MultiDCTTuner working with my DCT2244. The trick is to modify the INI file. In this file, set the 'logfile' parameter to an existing path, and change the com ports in 'port' and 'StubDevice' parameters. Of course, you must follow the instructions in the readme.txt file.

Also, you must know what com port your PC uses for the serial cable. The serial cable is a straight-thru DB9 cable.

[zecora]

Can you post your .ini file?

[Homebuilder]

Hi, read through this thread and saw a few mentions of the "carrier detect changed state" problem but not sure, has it ever been solved?

In my set up when I restart my machine and it first changes a channel this pops up. It still changes the channel, but it does this pop up. If I click it "ok" everything is fine.

Otherwise if I try to change channels without clicking the ok on the pop up, it wont change channels and another pop up error comes up. My girlfriend will keep trying to change channels and I will have over 50 pop ups to clear on my server...

If it would be possible to just automatically click ok on the pop up that would solve my problem.

Is there an updated plug in that solves this?

Thanks in advance!

[Bandit]

Well, I read through all of this an didnt see a mention of my problem. After a reboot it works fine for the first channel change, however, any other attempts to change the channel all I get is a beep in the background and no channel change. I can launch the GUI and hit the up and down arrow and change channels all day long....anyone have any clues?

[gtruta]

I am a newbie, I won't hide that... I have Sage running except for the control of the cable box. I am also trying to setup the EXETunerPlugin for my comcast DCT2000 series motorola box, every time I choose the EXETunerPlugin.exe from the setup, SageTV just turns off (crashes). Is this because I like the above post suggests do not have the SageTv running in service mode? Or something else?

I downloaded what appears to be the newest EXETunerPlugin from sourceforge website but no go. Looks like you are trying to use girder to do this, I am not not but if you or anyone can help I would appreciate it, the thread that the EXETunerPlugin is in is somewhat old, over 1 year...it appears V4 of Sage might have a compatibility issue or a difference causing this conflict. Thanks again in advance.

Greg - Denver, CO
Oracle Application Programmer/Analyst

[Tdog]

has anyone gotten this to work with v4.1? I can change the channels when i run the application seprate but sage won't change the channels.

update: nm i switched it to com port 1 and it worked in sage. not sure why it wouldn't work for com port 2.

[k9k9]

gtruta.. I use exeTuner with sageV4 and it works great.

I got it from here:

http://www.sagetv.com/2_papers/EXETunerPlugin.zip

I use an IR blaster with HIP, but that really isn't relevant if you're having problems just getting the tuner installed.

Oh yeah, I have sageTV used as a service, that could be it. I'm not sure though, I think I installed EXEtuner without problems before I switched over to using it as a service.

It's really easy to switch it back and forth. With the service control (start>sageTV>sageTV service control) I would try experimenting with a lot of different settings.

If you can get it to stop crashing and actually take the install, then I would suggest you follow step 1 of Steerpikes guide to test that EXEtuner is working:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...0&postcount=10

Hope that helps.

-k9k9

[k9k9]

oh wow, just noticed he posted back in december .. haha I hope he got it working. It's way to late.