serial cable connect to sattelite receiver

[jca27]

It seems that most of the options for controlling a satellite receiver use IR. I would rather use a serial cable connection. Can I do this with DishNetwork? Can I do this with DirecTV?

[toddyus]

Theoretically it depends first on whether your satellite receiver has an input for serial control. I don't know of any Dish boxes that do.

I use Directv and control my reciever with a serial connection. The key thing to look for is a "low speed data" port on the receiver. My receiver is an RCA DRD435RH. I'm sure there are others.

You can build a cable yourself (serial connector on one end, phone handset termination on the other -- note this is not the same as the connector on a standard phone cord). You can also buy the cable from snapstream.com or do a search on Google for "dtvcon". This is also where you can get the pinouts for the cable.

SageTv lets you set up serial control directly in the setup wizard. Very straightforward. If you have trouble, make sure you don't have anything using the com port (nothing has to be plugged into it for it to be "in use.")

[SteinyD]

After a bit of struggling with the frail wires inside the handset 'coil' (RJ9) cord, I have managed to finally build my own cable between my DirecTV STB and PC's DB9 serial port. However, calculate the value of your time. If you would prefer not to spend the time building it, order the cable from Snapstream.

In essence, here is what I ended up doing. I purchased a 'coiled' cord (the one used between a phone handset and it's base), a RJ11 to DB9F adapter with breakout wires (allows you to connect pins you need). This eliminates the need to cut and splice the wires in the coil cord. I can give you more detail via PM if you are going to go down this path.

Again, if you don't need this cable right away, you won't save too much more money by building it. Instead, buy it from Snapstream.

David

Originally posted by jca27
It seems that most of the options for controlling a satellite receiver use IR. I would rather use a serial cable connection. Can I do this with DishNetwork? Can I do this with DirecTV?