<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jul 9, 2012 at 4:36 PM, Andrew Stadt <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:acstadt@stadt.ca" target="_blank">acstadt@stadt.ca</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">On 25/06/2012 1:19 PM, Gary Buhrmaster wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
On Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 2:40 PM, jr &lt;<a href="mailto:jraymyth@gmail.com" target="_blank">jraymyth@gmail.com</a>&gt; wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I have been having trouble with my Cable Box shutting off on a weekly<br>
basis.<br>
</blockquote>
It is my understanding that some cable boxes will turn themselves<br>
off after some period of &quot;idle&quot; (determined by lack of button pushes).<br>
<br>
In some cases, some cable boxes can be configured to disable<br>
&quot;sleep&quot; mode (also called Auto Power Down mode).  From what<br>
I recall, that usually means you have to go into settings menu<br>
of the cable box (not the cable company&#39;s menu), and requires<br>
various incantations (power off/menu, or equivalent) that are totally<br>
STB dependent.  You might want to see if your STB has been<br>
references in some posting on the various STB forums.  I would<br>
search for combinations of your STB model and idle or standby<br>
to see if you can get any hints.  Sometimes you can even contact<br>
the cable company and get assistance (either via a phone call, or<br>
their online forums).  Here are a couple of example posts by<br>
people with similar issues:<br>
   <a href="http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=125410&amp;page=14" target="_blank">http://www.digitalhome.ca/<u></u>forum/showthread.php?t=125410&amp;<u></u>page=14</a><br>
   <a href="http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=382333" target="_blank">http://www.tivocommunity.com/<u></u>tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=<u></u>382333</a><br>
<br>
The other approach may be to send &quot;empty&quot; commands to the<br>
STB on some (irregular) schedule to keep the box thinking<br>
that it has someone watching it.  Often there is a command<br>
that has (essentially) few side effects that you can consider<br>
(sometimes you can use the &quot;exit&quot; key; you might have to<br>
experiment a bit with your STB).  My recollection is that using the<br>
MythTV bindings you can determine whether a particular tuner is in<br>
use, and if it is not, you could send an &quot;empty&quot; command to the STB<br>
every (few) hours or so keeping it from going into idle/standby.<br>
<br>
Gary<br>
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</blockquote></div></div>
In my neck of the woods I&#39;m stuck with Rogers for cable. Periodically they push updates up the pipe and the box shuts down after the update.  Unfortunately from talking to the very (lack of) tech support, there is no way around these shutdowns.  Never thought of testing for a black screen.... have to give that a shot.<br>

<br>
Thanks for the idea,<br>
<br>
Andrew.<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all">if you use firewire then stb-command maybe able to check the power status of the cable box.<br><br><a href="http://code.google.com/p/stb-command/">http://code.google.com/p/stb-command/</a><br>
<br><pre class="prettyprint"><span class="pln"> USAGE</span><span class="pun">:</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="typ">Usage</span><span class="pun">:</span><span class="pln"> stb</span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln">command </span><span class="pun">[-</span><span class="pln">hrtv</span><span class="pun">]</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln">n </span><span class="str">&lt;node&gt;</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="str">&lt;command&gt;</span><span class="pln"><br>
           </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln">h </span><span class="pun">:</span><span class="pln"> detailed </span><span class="typ">Help</span><span class="pln"> including supported commands<br>           </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln">n </span><span class="pun">:</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="typ">Node</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="kwd">for</span><span class="pln"> command </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln"> required<br>
           </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln">r </span><span class="pun">:</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="kwd">use</span><span class="pln"> key </span><span class="typ">Release</span><span class="pln"> instead of key press<br>
           </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln">t </span><span class="pun">:</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="typ">Test</span><span class="pln"> mode </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln"> does </span><span class="kwd">not</span><span class="pln"> actually send the message<br>
           </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln">v </span><span class="pun">:</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="typ">Verbose</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="typ">Mode</span><span class="pln"><br>
    </span><span class="str">&lt;command&gt;</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">:</span><span class="pln"> command to send to the </span><span class="kwd">set</span><span class="pln"> top box </span><span class="pun">(</span><span class="kwd">use</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="pln">h </span><span class="kwd">for</span><span class="pln"> list of commands<br>
 <br>  RETURN </span><span class="typ">Value</span><span class="pun">:</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="typ">Dependent</span><span class="pln"> on command<br>                </span><span class="pun">-</span><span class="lit">1</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">=</span><span class="pln"> error<br>
                </span><span class="lit">0</span><span class="pln">  </span><span class="pun">=</span><span class="pln"> success but </span><span class="kwd">no</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="kwd">return</span><span class="pln"> value<br>
                power_on</span><span class="pun">,</span><span class="pln"> power_off</span><span class="pun">,</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="kwd">and</span><span class="pln"> power_status </span><span class="kwd">return</span><span class="pun">:</span><span class="pln"><br>
                </span><span class="lit">1</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">=</span><span class="pln"> OFF<br>                </span><span class="lit">2</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="pun">=</span><span class="pln"> ON</span></pre>
<br>-- <br>Working on World Domination since 2001<br><br>