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PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:35 am 
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:54 am
Posts: 88
***EDIT 11/19/2009***

I got this working.

Here is what I have:

R6 LinHES - fresh install as "Stand Alone"
Computer hardware - doesn't matter too much as I'm sure yours will be different
Capture Card - Haupphauge PVR-250
I had everything installed and working "normally"
Here is what I assume: You have some Linux knowledge and can SSH to your R6 box.
If you are a windows user I would suggest getting Putty to SSH and WinSCP so you can move files to and from you R6 Box in a user friendly manner.

Here is what I did:

I got a 10' m/f 8-pin serial cable (RS232) from radio shack, it's basically a standard serial cable. I didn't have to order anything special in other words.

I connected the male end to my Motorola DCT2224 cable box and the female end to my serial port on my R6 LinHES box.

I connected the coax from the wall to the DCT2224 and a coax from the DCT2224 to the PVR-250.

Then I went here:

http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-user ... el.tar.bin

to get the channel changing program for Motorola DCT2XXX series cable boxes.

I unpacked that file in /usr/share/bin and ran "make" then "make install" from the folder it unpacks to - for me it was /usr/share/bin/dct-channel

Once I did that I had an executable called "channel"

Next I made sure my PVR-250 was tuned to channel 3 (using my hauppauge gray remote) and from a terminal I ran "/usr/share/bin/channel" to see if it worked and it did. It returned "4" because that is what the DCT2224 was tuned to.
If you run the command with no channel number argument it just returns the channel the DCT2224 is set to. To see if it would would change channels I ran:
"/usr/share/bin/channel 60" and it changed the DCT2224 to channel 60 with no problems. NOTE: I didn't have to do anything for R6 to use my serial port - it just worked.

Next I got the channel changing script to work in LinHES, here is how it did it:

At the keyboard connected to LinHES:

pressed alt+X to bring up a terminal window
changed to root user
typed in: sv stop mythbackend
typed in: mythtv-setup
went to "Input Connections" and went to my configured input connection
in the field to enter an external channel changing command I put in "/usr/share/bin/channel" (without the quotes)
made sure my "preset tuner to channel" "3" was set and exited out of it.
typed in (at the terminal): sv start mythbackend
and exited the terminal window.

I though everything would have worked but if you read the history of this post you will see it wasn't. To fix it I did this at a terminal window:
typed: chmod 777 /dev/ttyS0 (changed later to not make world writable)

the chmod fix isn't persistent after a reboot.

use this command: gpasswd -a mythtv uucp

And now it works. I have access to all my channels on my PVR-250 even digital ones.

I hope this helps someone. Post if you have questions and thanks to "ceenvee703" for helping me through this process.

Link to WIKI entry:

http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php? ... rial+Cable

**END EDIT**

I have dreaded this day...

I have been living the blissful life of the guy who still had all his channels in analog (I live in the sticks but actually get cable) so I had my PVR-250 and PVR-500 working and could record 3 shows at a time, bla bla bla

Now a few months ago - probably more, my cable was "upgraded" to digital and all that went down hill. Now I only get about 14 channels as analog and the rest are fuzzy AND I get nice cable boxes to plug into my TV's so they work.

So I start reading about digital tuners and go out and get a HDHomeRun thinking that will fix all my problems but nope... no clear digital stuff.
(anyone need one?)

So I start reading about using the "analog hole" out of my new cable box to my old tuners. Cool but I guess I would need one cable box for each tuner. And if I am guessing right, that would mean one box for each tuner. That would suck because they are big and cost $4 each a month so I am just getting one.

So I start reading on how to change the channels and here is where my head starts spinning. There is sooooo much stuff here about it but it's all fragmented in different posts.

So, here is my proposed setup and questions:

Coax cable -> provided box -> coax out of provided box -> PVR-250

How do I change the channels on the box for live tv and for scheduled recordings?

I have read about IR Blasters and serial cables and LIRC and all that stuff but have yet to find a good all-around guide. I know I am not the only one in this boat and thought it would be easier to find the information in a well organized manner.

Any help? Is the information available and I am just missing it?

Thanks.


    Last edited by johnboy68 on Sat Nov 21, 2009 6:25 am, edited 2 times in total.


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    PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 8:05 am 
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    Posts: 1637
    Location: Virginia, USA
    Basically, yeah, it all depends on the cable box you're using and what it has on it, but ultimately you're either going to have to change the channels via an IR blaster, a serial cable, or a Firewire cable.

    Luckily KnoppMyth has some out-of-the-box support for IR blasting. These are the basics.

    http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php? ... asterHowTo

    This page is old so I'm not sure how much is still relevant. Basically, though, if your computer has a serial port, you could get this for $12...

    http://www.irblaster.info/?gclid=CLve6P ... 5QodA37BLg

    plug it in, and then from a terminal window run (as root) the command "lirc-reconfig.sh". It should detect that you've got an IR blaster connected and configure it to be controlled by your computer.

    That's the easy part.

    Then you have to figure out which codes to send it for your particular set-top box (I recommend searching for your cable box's model number and "MythTV" in Google and see if someone has already determined what to do), configure that by copying and editing files in appropriate places, testing to make sure it's working, then setting a channel-change script in mythtv-setup.

    The whole process could definitely be made simpler. I mean, look at this page that's recommended reading from the irblaster.info website above:

    http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/my ... _LIRC.html

    That's enough to scare anyone off. I don't think it's quite that bad anymore, but it's definitely not as easy as getting a Tivo to do it.


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    PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:02 pm 
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    I'll soon be in this boat, so whatever you figure out that works, please post it...


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    PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 6:53 pm 
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    Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 11:33 am
    Posts: 400
    Location: Kitsap Peninsula, Wa., United States
    The Lirc system actually functioning is pretty straightforward these days.
    It is almost plug and play as Cenvee says.

    The Lirc codes for your cable box, now that can be another story. As I remember the Lirc configuration carries something like 6000 code sets and you have to get the one that works for you.

    That is the gist of most of the recommended reading, figuring out how to choose the correct code set for your box.

    The real thing that is a challenge and you might want to start researching today is your cable system and then the type of set top box you will need to control.


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    PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:07 pm 
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    Posts: 535
    Location: Ottawa, Canada
    johnboy68 wrote:
    So, here is my proposed setup and questions:

    Coax cable -> provided box -> coax out of provided box -> PVR-250

    How do I change the channels on the box for live tv and for scheduled recordings?

    I have read about IR Blasters and serial cables and LIRC and all that stuff but have yet to find a good all-around guide. I know I am not the only one in this boat and thought it would be easier to find the information in a well organized manner.


    First it would be good to know what the set top box is. There are options for Scientific Atlanta and Motorola boxes using ieee1394 (ie. firewire). This option would be highly reliable.

    Myth has much of this built in especially for the Motorola boxes but there are a number of scripts available for the scientific Atlanta boxes too.

    Yes, you will need a set top box for each recording source. Personally I use Scientific Atlanta boxes and can help you through that piece if that is what you have.

    You can also search on "majoridiot" for his firewire channel changing scripts. He has made a one size fits all solution. I have a better power on check script that I use but otherwise his stuff is great.

    C


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    PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 7:59 pm 
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    I have a Motorola DCT2224/1661/ACDEFGL


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    PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 3:36 am 
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    johnboy68 wrote:
    I have a Motorola DCT2224/1661/ACDEFGL


    That works fine. Just use the google as ceenvee suggested and you'll find what you need. Here's a link to get you going: http://www.ihtfp.org/mythtv/

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    PostPosted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:02 pm 
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    Location: Orlando FL
    and all of this wouldn't be a problem if we could just have cablecard tuners!

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    PostPosted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 2:05 pm 
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    mattbatt wrote:
    and all of this wouldn't be a problem if we could just have cablecard tuners!

    And the cable industry will fight to their last breath to make sure that we don't. They will never let a Linux distro decode their precious content, period. Don't forget, it's still illegal to even watch DVDs under Linux, at least in the US. ("Home of the free, land of the brave" my ass.)

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    PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:01 pm 
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    Well I finally got my Motorola DCT2224 for my R6 and am not sure where to start.

    Should I go from my R6 to the Motorola DCT2224 via serial (the Motorola DCT2224 has a serial interface) or go to it via an IR Blaster?

    I don't have a serial port on my R6 box. Maybe a USB to serial converter?

    I have no clue where to start. I appreciate all your help so far. I am confused why the suggested reading is so outdated. I still feel like I am missing something.

    More help would be great!


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    PostPosted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:06 am 
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    With regards to your R6 box not having a serial port: have you checked to see if there is a serial header on the motherboard?

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    PostPosted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 5:55 am 
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    kmkittre wrote:
    With regards to your R6 box not having a serial port: have you checked to see if there is a serial header on the motherboard?


    Yea, I thought of that as soon as I wrote the post... and yes it does and I added the ribbon cable/serial port to the outside of the case.

    So now I have a serial connection on my R6 box and the Motorola box.

    Now all I need to know is what to do. Run an RS232 cable between the two and run a script to two??

    Thanks for the help.


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    PostPosted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:47 am 
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    Yeah, run a serial cable to the box. I would look at the link that was posted earlier in this thread--that guy has the same cable box and was doing channel changing with the same scripts.

    But just use it as a guide. It's likely that LinHES has many if not all of the scripts and config files already on it.

    (later)

    I just checked my KnoppMyth R5.5 box, and in /usr/local/bin/ there is a script called "changechannel.py" Description in that script is that it's a "simple program to send remote control sequences via serial port to a Motorola DCT2000"

    So first I'd try changing channels manually, by bringing up a terminal window and trying some channel numbers. Once you've confirmed it works, then you need to run mythtv-setup, go to the appropriate screen (sorry, can't remember which one) and have it use "changechannel.py" for its channel changing script.

    Note, just for grins I tried to run changechannel.py, but got an error about not having pyserial. You might have to install that by hand if it's not already in R6.

    Let us know if this isn't enough info for you to proceed, or your success/lack thereof.

    EDIT: Did some more Googling and found references to this newer script by Jim Paris. Check if it's already in R6, or grab it and try this too.

    http://www.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv- ... 16829.html


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    PostPosted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:43 pm 
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    okay here is an update:

    I have a serial cable from my R6 to my Cable Box and I have a script that I can run from the command line that works to change the channels but I have no idea how to make it work like you would think it should.

    Anyone know where to go from here?


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    PostPosted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:39 pm 
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    johnboy68 wrote:
    okay here is an update:

    I have a serial cable from my R6 to my Cable Box and I have a script that I can run from the command line that works to change the channels but I have no idea how to make it work like you would think it should.

    Anyone know where to go from here?


    If you really have a script that runs from the command line and changes the channels, then you are 99% of the way there.

    Now all you have to do is:

    * temporarily shut down mythbackend (sorry to confess I don't know how to do this under R6)
    * run mythtv-setup (ditto with R6)
    * in one of the setup menus you specify the name of your channel change script. I think it's Input Connections. I usually put the entire path in the text box.
    * quit mythtv-setup, start mythbackend back up again
    * try LiveTV channel changing, or set up a program to record and see if it changes properly


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