DirecTV Serial Control Guide

[toricred]

This behavior only started recently with new firmware and may only apply to the H2X series of receivers.

[Nate]

Still, hours of my life were vaporized unnecessarily.

[Polypro]

I want to kill DirecTV. For 6 months everything was fine with a Patterson device. Then we had the recent firmware fiasco that LUCKILY was fixed by hard resetting the DTV receivers. Now, last night one of my boxes missed a change...turns out it no longer responds to the Patterson, the other two receivers are fine. Arrrrrrrrrrggggggggggg!!!

P

[toricred]

Do you have USB Reset turned off on your Patterson device? That's what fixed it for me.

[Polypro]

I went through a bunch of things, and after about 3 hours, finally got it working. The thing that I NEVER had to do before, was a complete power down of both the receivers AND the PC...don't know why, but that worked.

For those that may find this with a search:

1. Plug the Paterson device into your computers USB port and run the Paterson config utility. Make sure you have v4.20 firmware and uncheck "USB Reset" (I have H21-200's)

2. Make a direct connection from your DirecTV receiver to your TV (capture cards introduce a delay) and press the reset button. When you see "Hello your receiver..." press 02468 on the DirecTV remote and update the receiver to software 42EB (0x42eb)...you'll get it sooner or later anyway

3. After the upload is complete, and the receiver goes through its start up steps and finally displays a picture again...power it off with the front panel power button and then unplug it.

4. Reconnect your Paterson device to the receiver's USB port and the computer Serial to USB adapter. Power OFF the computer.

5. Plug the power cable back into the DirecTV receiver and walk away...it will power up on its own and go through the start up sequence and finally display a picture. I waited about 10 minutes.

6. Power on the computer. Wait for it to stabilize and start Sage Service (if used). And then test in the Guide or Channel Setup area.

YMMV, but that is what got me going again. This is NOT a SageTV problem...don't touch any settings for DirecTV Serial Speed (Fast) or COM Ports...if it was working before, you're still good.

P

[heathb]

How do I change the COM port that the DirecTV Serial Control program uses?

[Nate]

Right click on the icon in the upper left of the program's title bar. Took me forever to figure that out too.

[heathb]

Okay, I've got the DirecTV Serial Control program to where it controls my STB, but how do I change the settings in SageTV to where it controls my STB? Thanks.

[Nate]

Remvoe the video source and add it again. Choose DirecTV control this time through and set it to the right com port.

[heathb]

Thanks for the quick replies Nate.

[heathb]

It's still not changing the channels on SageTV but it is on Serial Tuner program.

[heathb]

After looking, I did not find a DirecTvSerialControl.dll in the folder that SageTV specified. Anyone know where I can get the .dll file?

[heathb]

Still not working. SageTV isn't sending commands to the DirecTV Serial Control.

[Beefcake550]

Don't forget to close the DirecTV control app while configuring/useing SageTV.....I don't think both can have the serial port open at the same time.

You could also try the EXETuner plugin to do the DirecTV serial control....

-Brian

[heathb]

Originally Posted by Beefcake550

Don't forget to close the DirecTV control app while configuring/useing SageTV.....I don't think both can have the serial port open at the same time.

You could also try the EXETuner plugin to do the DirecTV serial control....

-Brian

Thank you! I did not know that I had to close the DirecTV control app. It's working now.

[Beefcake550]

No problem, glad I could help. Oh, and I knew this for my own person experience as well .

[BBCritical]

Is there a command that can be sent through the usb ->serial control that will force a hard reset of the attached directv receiver (not a soft power on/off)?

[Ron]

Originally Posted by Polypro

I went through a bunch of things, and after about 3 hours, finally got it working. The thing that I NEVER had to do before, was a complete power down of both the receivers AND the PC...don't know why, but that worked.

P

Thanks for this post. I've been struggling to get my TV Translator to work with Sage over the past few weeks, to no avail. I tried resetting my HR21 many times. I then searched Sage and found your post. I believe that unplugging the HR21 was the step I missed. Now the TV Translator works this fine, just as it used to.

Thanks,

[Fencepost]

I am running a HDPVR with DirectTV. I have been holding on trying to use the blaster that came with it but it finally went crazy. Which is the best and easiest way to go? The USB cable or the Null port serial cable? I think I can use either as long as the cable is about 8' long.
I am dead in the water as for as scheduled recording until I get this fixed.
One other question: is any of this available at retail stores?
Thanks,
Roger
UPDATE: I looked and I am running H21-100 Directv receiver and it has no serial port on back of receiver. what now??????

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by Fencepost

I am running a HDPVR with DirectTV. I have been holding on trying to use the blaster that came with it but it finally went crazy. Which is the best and easiest way to go? The USB cable or the Null port serial cable? I think I can use either as long as the cable is about 8' long.
I am dead in the water as for as scheduled recording until I get this fixed.
One other question: is any of this available at retail stores?
Thanks,
Roger
UPDATE: I looked and I am running H21-100 Directv receiver and it has no serial port on back of receiver. what now??????

There should be a USB port on the receiver. You plug into it. YOu can build a cable that will go USB to USB or if you have a Serial port on your computer you can go Serial to USB.

I have used both the USB-UIRT and then changed to the direct control. I can't say I had any real problems with the USB-UIRT.