Utility: STBKeepAlive - scheduled commands for USB-UIRT

[nettech_gt]

Any ideas why this is not working for me ? THANX!

[davephan]

I would like to know if STBKeepAlive works with Windows 7 64-bit. It sounds like it might work with Windows 7 64 bit now.

Does anyone have this working with a Dish Network VIP222K set top box? If so, what are the steps to getting the STBKeepAlive utility working with the VIP222K?

Is there a way to run the utility so the Dish Network splash screen is not part of the recordings? Or is putting up with occasional Dish Network splash screens the only way to for the set top box to stay on continuously?

Dave

[nettech_gt]

As you can see from the post above I'm still waiting for help... The developer started to help but I have not heard anything in months and it still dosen't work for me. I have 2 VIP222 and 1 VIP211 and I'm using Win 7 64 bit on my server. Good Luck!

[davephan]

Originally Posted by nettech_gt

As you can see from the post above I'm still waiting for help... The developer started to help but I have not heard anything in months and it still dosen't work for me. I have 2 VIP222 and 1 VIP211 and I'm using Win 7 64 bit on my server. Good Luck!

I think the STBKeepAlive utility won't be needed for the VIP222K, I don't know about your other set top box. I have Windows 7 64-bit, and I think if you configure the USB-UIRT to transmit a 'select' IR code before the numeric digits, the VIP222K will go out of the power down mode to on. I got this advise on the post with the subject VIP222K.

I have my USB-UIRT programmed to send a 'select' IR code before and after the numeric digits. I will have to give it some time to go into sleep or power down mode to make sure that method works.The VIP222K set top box is probably not actually powering down at all, and I don't know if it is saving any power. However, that VIP222K set top box 'feature' is very annoying and cannot be disabled.

Dave

[davephan]

My Dish Network VIP222K set top box does not need the STBKeepAlive utility. I have SageTV programmed to send a 'select' before and after the numeric digits. If the set top box is in the automatic 'off' state, the 'select' command wakes up the set top box. The SageTV USB-UIRT configuration has been working flawlessly for two days. I had to remove all the non-subscribed channels from the configuration, otherwise the set top box could get stuck in a screen asking if I wanted to upgrade the service. Maybe putting parent lockout on the non subscribed channels would reduce the risk of the set top box losing USB-UIRT control if the USB-UIRT IR codes are mis-interpreted as a non-subscribed channel.

Dave

[sjwoo]

I'm getting an error with my install. Seems like it has to do wth USB-UIRT? I'm running Windows 8 64-bit. Using USB-UIRT driver Win7_Win8_Vista_v20601_signed.zip.

2013-01-27 12:22:14,698 [10] ERROR STBKeepAlive.Service [(null)] - [STBKeepAlive.Transmit] TRANSMISSION TO USBUIRT FAILED.
[STBKeepAlive.Transmit] ERROR: System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'UsbUirt.Controller' threw an exception. ---> System.ApplicationException: Unable to read UsbUirt driver version ---> System.BadImageFormatException: An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007000B)
at UsbUirt.Controller.UUIRTGetDrvInfo(UInt32& drvVersion)
at UsbUirt.Controller..cctor()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at UsbUirt.Controller..cctor()
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at UsbUirt.Controller..ctor()
at STBKeepAlive.Transmit.Program.Main(String[] args)

2013-01-27 12:22:14,823 [10] ERROR STBKeepAlive.Service [(null)] - IR COMMAND TRANSMISSION FAILED @ 12:22:08 PM

[bmellesmoen]

I'm getting the same issue. Does anyone know if there and updated STBKeepAlive application that supports Windows 8 (64-bits)? Or is the source code available?

[KryptoNyte]

I'm not a programmer I'm afraid and I can barely follow the logic in the config file, but after some testing, here are my experiences with Windows 7 64bit. All files mentioned below are in the root install directory for the application.

1) I made a backup of the original STBKeepAlive.exe.config file, calling it some other misc filename, to retain a copy of the original while I tested.

2) As mentioned previously in the thread, I had to shutdown the SageTV service prior to running the STBKeepAlive.IRLearn.exe to learn my remotes "Select" command. It learned the command and I highlighted and copied the command text to the clipboard. The SageTV service is left off for now.

3) After some fooling, I found that I can only get the default job ("Uverse STB Wake Up") to run, no matter what job I call up in the add key="Resume ... commands at the top of the config file, and because I wanted to test this with the 45 second job, I finally punted and just pasted the 45 second code (from the example lower in the original config file) into the default job ("Uverse STB Wake Up"). I then highlighted the default IR code inside the quotes in that job and pasted my own code in from the clipboard. I also changed the interval in quotes from "45" to "10" to ease testing.

4) I ran the "Run STBKeepAlive in Console" file in the root program directory and watched it succeed in sending my designated remote code every 10 seconds. Perfect!

5) I then restarted the SageTV service and the console continued to send the correct command every 10 seconds.

6) I then had Sage start a recording on the STB. I then played with it a bit with two different results:
a) The first time I tried this, STBKeepalive must have had control of the USB-UIRT driver, because Sage failed to change the channel, and STBKA just kept running its command every 10 seconds. This was a fluke due to my extremely short interval, and Sage trying to grab control while the driver was already in use by STBKA.
b) The second experience was when Sage grabbed control of the USB-UIRT driver and successfully changed the STB channel at which point the STBKA continue to attempt the IR transmit, but failed every 10 seconds from here on.

7) Moving on from result (b) above, I then told Sage to cancel the recording, but STBKA was still failing every 10 seconds. I let it run for another 5 minutes, failing every 10 seconds over that period of time.

8) I then stopped the SageTV service and immediately STBKA started to successfully transmit it's IR again, every 10 seconds.

9) I then restarted the SageTV service and STBKA continued to send it's IR command successfully until Sage actually attempts to use the USB-UIRT.

So, my layperson's conclusion is that I don't know how this could work successfully based on these results. As soon as Sage touches the USB-UIRT, STBKA can no longer access it until the Sage Service is shutdown and restarted.

I don't know a darn thing about SageTV V7 plugins, but it seems like STBKA would be a prime candidate for a plugin, where the control of the USB-UIRT is still within Sage and no external software is involved. Additionally, the plugin would have access to Sage's current state, so if something was actually recording, it would not send the KeepAlive command.

Any other folks have any thoughts?

I would however like to thank Shadeblue for going after this, it's much appreciated. Although I may very well be making a mistake with my config file, I'm not seeing how this can work as it stands today. My hacked up config file is attached - remember it has my STB's IR code in it.

[sflamm]

Is there any way to create a version of this plugin that would allow the remote invocation of a tuning command to the USB-UIRT:

1. installed on a SageTV Server as a plugin
2. accepts a REST-like call to:

Tune Channel=channel# Zone=zone#


This would allow the use of OpenDCT (or any network tuner) to use the USB-UIRT.

Thanks in advance.

[wayner]

One of the issues for this would that it would require a lot of OS specific back-end work. For example, on Linux the USB-UIRT doesn't support zones. Ideally you would like this to work with other tuning methods like firewire, etc.

[sflamm]

How about instead the ability to invoke the tuning plugin by name:

tuningPluginName Channel=channel#

For .ir the Tuning Plugin can be configured to use different .ir files for each zone (as it is done today in USB-UIRT).

This would be simply a REST invocation of the tuningPlugin by Name passing the channel...

[Fuzzy]

You should be able to use sagex to call this command:
TransmitCommandUsingInfraredTuningPlugin(java.lang.String, int, java.lang.String, java.lang.String, int)

[sflamm]

Thanks for the information.

I see the doc:

TransmitCommandUsingInfraredTuningPlugin

public void TransmitCommandUsingInfraredTuningPlugin(java.lang.String TuningPlugin,
int TuningPluginPort,
java.lang.String RemoteName,
java.lang.String CommandName,
int RepeatFactor)
Causes SageTV to instruct the specified tuning plugin to send a command
Parameters:
TuningPlugin - the name of the tuning plugin that should send the command
TuningPluginPort - the name of the port the specified tuning plugin is on
RemoteName - the name of the 'Remote Control' that should be used to send the command
CommandName - the name of the command to be sent
RepeatFactor - the 'repeat factor' to use for sending the infrared command, 2 is the default

Questions:

1.
So the format would be:

http://hostname/sagex/api?c=TransmitCommandUsingInfraredTuningPlugin&1=TuningPlugin&2=TuningPluginPort&3=RemoteName&4=CommandName

What should be used for parameters for the built in USB-UIRT tuning?

2. tried to list the command available using

http://hostname/sagex/api

this times out... how do I enable sagex on the Server?

3. does sagex work with Java 8?

[sflamm]

Installed the sagex api plug-in (image attached)... still cannot access the API:

hxxp://localhost/sagex/api


Am I missing a requirement? please advise


SageTV9 with Java 8.

[sflamm]

oops...

1. installed sagex-api instead of sagex-services...
2. url is: localhost:8080/sagex/api not localhost/sagex/api

after installing sagex-services and restarting works.

Now my question is #1 above - what parameters to invoke the built-in USB-UIRT tuner?

[sflamm]

I've tried many commands to get the parameters.. they are all not working ...

Please let me know how to do this properly (see attached image of source).


This is what I have done so far:

1:

http://10.0.0.25:8080/sagex/api/?c=GetActiveCaptureDevices

Output:

Result size="3">
<Item>
<![CDATA[
DCT-HDHomeRun Prime Tuner 131104FC-0 on 127.0.0.1:9000
]]>
</Item>
<Item>
<![CDATA[ STB-2 on 127.0.0.1:9000 ]]>
</Item>
<Item>
<![CDATA[ STB-1 on 127.0.0.1:9000 ]]>
</Item>
</Result>

2:

http://10.0.0.25:8080/sagex/api/?c=GetInfraredTuningPlugin&1=%22STB-2%20on%20127.0.0.1:9000%22

which returned this empty:

http://10.0.0.25:8080/sagex/api/?c=G....0.0.1:9000%22

3:

http://10.0.0.25:8080/sagex/api/?c=GetInfraredTuningPluginPortNumber&1=%22STB-2%20on%20127.0.0.1:9000%22

also returns empty:

<Result/>

4:

http://10.0.0.25:8080/sagex/api/?c=GetInfraredTunerRemoteName&1="STB-2%20on%20127.0.0.1:9000"

also returns empty:

<Result/>

[sflamm]

I've created a working powershell script that can tune the USB-UIRT channels remotely:

Param([string]$TunerNumber, [string]$ChannelNumber)


$ChannelNumberArray = $ChannelNumber.ToCharArray()

$TuningCommand = "http://10.0.0.25:8080/sagex/api/?c=TransmitCommandUsingInfraredTuningPlugin"
$TuningPlugin = "&1=USB-UIRT Transceiver"
$TuningPluginPort = "&2=0"
$BaseRemoteName = "PaceRNG150"
$RemoteName = "&3=" + $BaseRemoteName + "-" + $TunerNumber
$RepeatFactor = "&5=2"

$Username = "sage"
$Password = "frey"

$Headers = @{ Authorization = "Basic {0}" -f [Convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes(("{0}:{1}" -f $Username,$Password))) }

$Output = "output.txt"


foreach ($digit in $ChannelNumberArray) {

#Write-Output ********

$CommandName = "&4=$digit"
$Uri = $TuningCommand +  $TuningPlugin + $TuningPluginPort + $RemoteName + $CommandName + $RepeatFactor

Write-Output uri:$Uri

Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $Uri -Headers $Headers -Outfile $Output

This can be used with OpenDCT for the tuning executable (adjust parameter names accordingly)

sagetv.device.sagetv.device.<unique_id>.tuning_executable=/path/to/tuning/script --device=0 --tune=%c%