[mythtv-users] Possible to change channels via USB?

[Rod Smith]

On Monday 14 December 2009 09:04:30 pm Ajay Sharma wrote:
> I have a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3100 and it has a USB port on the
> front.  So naturally I plugged in a keyboard and was able to change
> channels on the cable box!  So now this begs the question, how can I script
> this?
>
> Does anyone know of a way to make my system "appear" as a keyboard to the
> cable box and a way that I send send keyboard commands to the box?
>
> OR should I just get an ir transmitter and go that route?

Does this box have an IEEE-1394 (FireWire) port? If so, you might be able to 
use that for channel changes, even if your cable company encrypts everything 
coming off that port. I've got a Motorola box from which I can extract video 
via FireWire for most channels, but even for the channels that come over that 
port encrypted, I can still use the FireWire port to tune the channel, which 
I then capture via S-Video output to a Hauppauge tuner card.

-- 
Rod Smith