Motorola DTC2000 Plugin

[snewman]

I haven't had any bug reports on the Beta 2 version, so I decided to release a 1.0 version. The only bug I was aware of was the scale value being reported incorrectly in the log file when it was changed. I have fixed that in the 1.0 version.

Also, this version will save the scale value in the .ini file anytime it's changed. This could be a bad thing, but we'll see. The idea being, if it needs to change the scale value, it thinks it might be sending keystrokes too fast to the cable box. So saving that value will result in less errors in the future when trying to change channels.

The zip file is available on the sourceforge page here . The sourcecode is also on the sourceforge page, but they don't seem to list it as being commited. You can get it from here also. If you find any bugs, please use the sourceforge page to log them.

snewman

[aramh]

I think the problem that I'm having is with the serial cable itself, as others on this forum have used the same cable setup fine: Firmware 7.85 S/W Version: 17.67. Also I contacted Adelphia and they activated the serial ports on both of my boxes and told me that a gentlemen in the neighborhood has been using a serial connection with his Tivo without any problems.

Which one of these should I use:

* A straight through cable with no flow control
* A straight through cable with flow control
* A cross over cable with no flow control
* A cross over cable with flow control
* A straight through cable with "NULLED" flow control
* A cross over cable with "NULLED" flow control

Thanks!

[heffe2001]

I think what I'm using is the 2nd option, Straight with flow (it's a standard 9pin with all connections present, no pins jumped or unconnected).

[aramh]

I just went to Fry's and bought a Serial Mouse Extension DB9 (Male/Female) Pins 1-8 Wired Straight Through. I still am having problems, so this is obviously not a problem with my serial cable. Unless someone can see something wrong with the serial extension I just bought. Thanks

[aramh]

Here's some information to help everyone on this thread help me. I also might note that I haven't hooked up my tuner card yet. Would this make a difference? (I'm just testing channel changing through the serial cable connection right now through Girder or through the SageTV DCT.exe utility, so I believe that the tuner is irrelevant at this point)

When I went to check the settings on COM2, and looked at the available COM Port Numbers, it listed COM3 and COM4 as in use. I have a modem hooked up on COM4 and a Palm serial cradle on COM1, but I can't explain what's in use on COM3. This may be my problem (or not).


Cable Provider: Adelphia
Region: Los Angeles
Cable Box: Motorola DCT-2224
Firmware: 7.85
S/W Version: 17.67

Windows XP SP2
CPU: AMD Athlon 1.4ghz
Motherboard: ECS K7AMA
BIOS: American Megatrends
512MB DDR Memory
Nvidia GeForce 3 Ti 200
Western Digital 40GB HD
Seagate 40GB HD (Slave)
Sound Blaster Audigy OEM
BTC 4x DVD Burner
Palm m105 Serial Cradle

BIOS Settings
Plug and Play OS: Yes
Serial Port 1: COM1
Serial Port 2: COM2
Serial IR: Disabled

COM Port Settings
Bits per second: 9600
Data bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop bits: 1
Flow control: None
Use FIFO Buffers: Yes
Receive Buffer: Highest setting (14)
Transmit Buffer: Highest setting (16)
COM Port Number: COM2

[heffe2001]

You're probably having IRQ problems, since Com1 uses the same IRQ as com3, and com4 uses the same as com2. If you remove your modem, or change its irq to something not being used (7 is for the parallel port if you're not using it currently), you should be fine. At least this has been a problem for me in the past (irq sharing works with some programs, but not with others, and communications software pretty much keeps the IRQ and doesn't play nice with other software).

[mpowerz3]

I was wondering if anyone has had any luck configuring Sage to control 2 DCT2000 series boxes. I have 2 Hauppauge PVR-250s: 1 using the MultiDCTTuner plugin to control one box and the other PVR-250 using USB-UIRT (via builtin support in Sage 2.0) to control a separate box. The problem is that only 1 of the 2 will work at any given time, and not both at the same time. As it turns out, the tuner that I setup last via the Setup Wizard is the one that remains working. When I go to the Remote Options of the Setup Wizard for the tuner that isn't working, there don't seem to be any configurable options, such as ms between channel changes or channel delay. Is there any special trick in making this configuration work? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mpowerz3

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
AthlonXP 2000
2x 512MB Mushkin PC2100
ATI Radeon 8500DV
2x Hauppauge PVR-250

[aramh]

Originally Posted by heffe2001

You're probably having IRQ problems, since Com1 uses the same IRQ as com3, and com4 uses the same as com2. If you remove your modem, or change its irq to something not being used (7 is for the parallel port if you're not using it currently), you should be fine. At least this has been a problem for me in the past (irq sharing works with some programs, but not with others, and communications software pretty much keeps the IRQ and doesn't play nice with other software).

That sounds probable, but I have had a Palm Pilot Serial Cradle hooked up to COM1 fine (and it was the only serial device hooked up). Then I tested the DCT2000 as the only device hooked up to COM1 and it didn't work fine. Tell you what--I'm going to just yank the modem out since I don't use it and we'll see what happens. I'll get back with that info. Thanks for your help.

[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.

[themeister]

Snewman.....

I hope you're out there. Was running your Beta2 version ever since it came out.....working like a charm. Upgraded to Release 1.0....that was working also. Then the cable box broke. Got a new one. Tried both versions but cannot get it to work correctly. I'm sure it probably has something to do with config on the cable box. The installer changed the factory setting to eliminate need for always typing 3 digits. Don't know if that has anything to do with it....

Anyway, here is the log of trying to set 2 channels - first channel 3 and then 301. It eventually got 3 right; however, it hung on 301. Thanks a bunch.

Port set to 0 ... delaying COM Port initialization
MultiDCTTunerDLL $Rev: 10 $ Initializing Serial Port 1 on device StubDevice ... done
Attempting to initialize DCT StubDevice
SENT: type 0x70, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0x03
RECV: type 0x70, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x80
SENT: type 0x78, len 3, id 0x04, seq 0x03
data 0x00
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x80
RECV: type 0x78, len 15, id 0x00, seq 0x10
data 0x80 0x30 0x31 0x2e 0x30 0x30 0x30 0x37 0x2e 0x38 0x35 0x00 0x08
Sending automatic ACK
SENT: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0x91
Closing COM device
Port set to 0 ... delaying COM Port initialization
MultiDCTTunerDLL $Rev: 10 $ Initializing Serial Port 1 on device StubDevice ... done
Attempting to initialize DCT StubDevice
SENT: type 0x70, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0x03
RECV: type 0x70, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x80
SENT: type 0x78, len 3, id 0x04, seq 0x03
data 0x00
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x80
RECV: type 0x78, len 15, id 0x00, seq 0x10
data 0x80 0x30 0x31 0x2e 0x30 0x30 0x30 0x37 0x2e 0x38 0x35 0x00 0x08
Sending automatic ACK
SENT: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0x91
Reading current channel
SENT: type 0x78, len 3, id 0x04, seq 0x21
data 0x21
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0xa2
RECV: type 0x78, len 25, id 0x00, seq 0x32
data 0xa1 0x01 0x2d 0x01 0x08 0xd0 0x2e 0xa1 0xbf 0x3b 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
Current Channel: 301
Setting channel to: 3
SENT: type 0x78, len 4, id 0x04, seq 0x03
data 0x22 0x00
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x80
SENT: type 0x78, len 4, id 0x04, seq 0x10
data 0x22 0x00
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x91
SENT: type 0x78, len 4, id 0x04, seq 0x21
data 0x22 0x03
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0xa2
RECV: type 0x78, len 8, id 0x00, seq 0x32
data 0x20 0x00 0x03 0x00 0x01 0x00
Sending automatic ACK
SENT: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0xb3
RECV: type 0x78, len 8, id 0x00, seq 0x32
data 0x20 0x00 0x03 0x00 0x01 0x00
Sending automatic ACK
SENT: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0xb3
Got extra status back
RECV: type 0x78, len 8, id 0x00, seq 0x32
data 0x20 0x00 0x03 0x00 0x01 0x00
Sending automatic ACK
SENT: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0xb3
Got extra status back
RECV: type 0x70, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x03
Sending automatic ACK
SENT: type 0x70, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0x80
channel status: wrong type or too short
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x83
channel status: wrong type or too short
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x93
channel status: wrong type or too short
Serial timeout
SENT: type 0x78, len 4, id 0x04, seq 0x23
data 0x22 0x12
RECV: type 0x70, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x03
Sending automatic ACK
SENT: type 0x70, len 2, id 0x04, seq 0x80
Got response, but it's not an ACK; waiting for more.
Serial timeout
No response to packet
Successful
Reading current channel
SENT: type 0x78, len 3, id 0x04, seq 0x10
data 0x21
RECV: type 0x78, len 2, id 0x00, seq 0x80
Wrong sequence number in ACK?

[snewman]

Sorry for the delayed response. I stopped getting notices that there had been new posts.

I'm not sure what happened there themeister. There was a bug in the 1.0 release and I pulled it down off Sourceforge as soon as I realized it. It seems you might have downloaded it before I was able to pull it. It would cause the delay between sends to keep growing until it was too long and the cable box would not interpret the commands correctly. I have fixed this in the 1.1 release so that you can set a maximum delay amount. Once the delay reaches this amount, it is reset to the default amount, the cable box is re-initialized and it tries again. I also changed some of the initialization / negotiation stuff so that it will attempt to re-initialize the cable box a couple of times before it increases the delay. In most cases, this is all that's required, a sort of "kick in the pants" to the cable box to wake it up.

I also fixed some logging issues that were occurring, so the channel changes and increases to the delay are correctly logged now.

I've been using the 1.1 release on my setup for a few months now. A couple of times the cable box has gone to the wrong channel, but after it re-initializes the box, the channel is reset correctly. It hasn't set the channel incorrectly, or failed to change the channel the whole time I've been using the 1.1 release, so I think it's pretty stable.

[themeister]

Snewman...

Yes, shortly after I posted, I went to SourceForge and got 1.1. Installed it and it has been working great.

Thanks a bunch.

[heffe2001]

I had the multi tuner plugin set up and working on 2 seperate machines, but decided to make some changes in my PVR setup. I moved 3 of my tuners from the machine at our HDTV to a storage/tuner server in a closet (hopefully this will cobber some heat issues we are having in the HDTV PC.

The old configuration had one tuner in my HTPC with a cable box connected, using com1 to a DCT2k cable box, and 2 tuners on analog cable. I also had 2 network encoders on another PC, with a cable box on one with the plugin, and the other analog cable.

When I re-setup the systems, I dropped 3 tuners in the server, 2 PVR2000 boards with digital cable, and one analog on a Adaptec Video-Oh, the 2 digital cable boxes are connected to com1 & com2. For the life of me, I can't get the multi-tuner plugin to control the 2nd box at all. I've made the .ini edit, and called my 2nd box Conexant, and set it to port 2, and left the StubDevice entry alone. The box on the 1st tuner works and changes, but the 2nd never changes at all.

I also edited my sage.properties so that device_name=Conexant, but still no joy. Anybody got a multi-tuner setup ini & sage.properties file I can look at to see what I'm doing wrong? I'm about at the end of my rope, an missed several shows tonight that's going to get me killed by the other half...

[delgross]

I have the same exact problem with both 2.1 and the latest beta. Have you come up with a fix....

ED

[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.

[snewman]

I'm working on it. I'll put up another post when it's done, hopefully later today.

[snewman]

My apologies. When I first created this, I based it on some code I got from the Sage guys and had to make assumptions about how multiple tuner support worked, because I didn't have 2 tuners to test with. I've added a second tuner now, and it turns out that was the wrong thing to do.

I added a second tuner to my rig and fixed the plugin now. It's a little tricky to setup, though it looks like you guys already have most of it figured out. You must make sure that you have a .ir file in your

C:\Program Files\Frey Technologies\Common\RemoteCodes\MultiDCTTuner Plugin

directory. In my setup, I have 2 tuners named PVR150 and PVR350. In that directory there are 2 files, each named PVR150.ir and PVR350.ir. In the MultiDCTTuner.ini file, there are 2 entries identifying which port each cable box is connected to:

 
PVR350=2
PVR150=1

Of course, you have to edit the Sage.properties file and change the names of your Tuner devices so this will work.

The new 1.2 version is available at the Sourceforge Page. There is another link in the readme.txt for those wanting access to the source code. I will upload the code to the Sourceforge repository when I get a chance.

I have verified this on my setup with 2 tuners and it does change channels correctly across both tuners. I believe it will work with more, but I don't have more than 2 tuners to test with. So if someone else can test that and let me know if there are any problems, I would appreciate it. Let me know if you have any other issues with it. Logging bugs at the Sourceforge bug Page will probably get my attention faster.

[delgross]

When you say I have to change the tuner device.....

Do you mean I have to change the name or change
stub device to the appropriate .ir file. Also the comports
in the sage properties file do not seem to get updated with the appropriate com ports???

ED

[snewman]

Originally Posted by delgross

When you say I have to change the tuner device.....

Do you mean I have to change the name or change
stub device to the appropriate .ir file.

You change the "device_name=" setting for the tuner. The easiest way to do this is to setup 1 tuner at a time. With no tuners configured, launch Sage and configure 1. Once it's working, exit Sage and open the Sage.properties file.

(1) Change everywhere that it says "StubDevice" to whatever you want to call it (let's say PVR150). I don't think you will have to make more than 2 changes per tuner. There will be a line in your Sage.properties file, which looks something like this:

mmc/encoders/1642691032/1/3/device_name=PVR150

The big string of numbers in the middle will be different for you. "PVR150" is what I named my first tuner. There must also be a file in the "C:\Program Files\Frey Technologies\Common\RemoteCodes\MultiDCTTuner Plugin" directory called PVR150.ir. You must also have an entry in the MultiDCTTuner.ini file, which tells the plugin which COM port the cable box is connected to. So in my .ini file, I have a line that reads "PVR150=1", which tells the plugin that the tuner named "PVR150" is connected to COM Port 1. There must be an entry like this in the .ini file for every tuner connected. Since my second tuner is called "PVR350", I also have an entry in the .ini file which reads "PVR350=2". There is plenty of information about editing the Sage.properties file in other forums on here.

Once that change is made, launch Sage and make sure your tuner still works. You should be able to see the new Tuner name from within Sage by looking at the tuner properties. Once you've verified it's working, add your next tuner then repeat the above steps. Shutdown Sage, rename tuner entry, add .ir file, add .ini entry, restart Sage.

Note that if you're using the SageTV Service, you must shut it down as well while you are making changes. I don't know if that's how it should be, but that's the only way I could get the changes to work correctly for me.

Also the comports
in the sage properties file do not seem to get updated with the appropriate com ports???

ED

The comports in the Sage.properties file has nothing to do with the MultiDCTTuner plugin. I believe those are probably for Satellite boxes and such, that Sage knows how to control directly.

[delgross]

You solved my problems.... I was overthinking it.

Thank you,

ED