[mythtv-users] HD-PVR Channel Changing Inquiry

[Jarod Wilson]

On Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 3:25 PM, Larry K <lunchtimelarry at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Kenneth Emerson
> <kenneth.emerson at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jul 17, 2010 at 7:50 AM, Larry K <lunchtimelarry at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Since Comcast hosed pretty much all my unencrypted QAM (except the
>>> networks, of course), I just picked up an HD-PVR, another STB, and have been
>>> reading through all the materials I can find.
>>> On this wiki -> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_HD-PVR
>>>
>>> Larry:
>>
>> A lot depends on what STB Comcast gave you.
>
> I have the Motorola DCX3200 HD box.  It comes with an IR remote.
>
>>
>> People on this list seem to have had good luck using firewire to change
>> channels on STB's (as do I).  If your STB has a firewire port AND it is
>> enabled I'd suggest you look at 6200ch which AFAIK is included in the mythtv
>> packages (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MythTV_External_Channel_Changer)
>> or try mythchanger (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/majoridiot).  Personally I use
>> mythchanger because it produced better debug for me to understand what was
>> going on when I was attempting to record over the firewire. I since gave up
>> that goal and purchased an HDPVR, as you did.
>
> I guess my question is, given my STB, should I pursue channel changing with
> the HD-PVR builtin IR blaster, since my STB can respond to IR commands, or
> should I go with a channel changing script, which I assume requires a
> firewire connection?

No. Channel change scripts are just scripts you point mythtv-setup at.
Its pretty much completely arbitrary what you put inside them. But
generally speaking, you're going to put calls to another program in
there, such as irsend, to do IR blasting, calls to 6200ch or
mythchanger or whatever to send AVC commands over firewire, etc.

> It's not clear to me if the myth - HD-PVR USB
> connection is just to receive content, or if that is bi-directional and can
> support commands to the HD-PVR as well.  For instance, the HDHR I have uses
> the Ethernet connection bidirectionally, both to receive channel change
> commands, and to dump content back on the wire for myth to pick up.

Well, the usb connection to the hd-pvr is what's used to send
instructions to the zilog z8 chip on the hd-pvr, which in turn acts
upon those instructions to send the appropriate raw IR signals out the
blaster port. But you need lirc_zilog binding to the thing first.


-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod at wilsonet.com