StarChoice Navigo 405

[Nolan Jinx]

General Instruments StarChoice navigo 405:

This receiver has a 9 pin Data port and a Asynchronous Data port.
Is anyone able to connect the receiver to the commputer for direct control using any of the cable combinations offered for DTV; or have you used another cable for this purpose.
I am building my first PVR computer and have had StarChoice for over 4 years.
The GE 405 receiver uses rf for the remote and I see that FireFly is compatible with the 405.
I also have a Fortec Lifetime Ultra FTA receiver; but that will come later.

TIA
NJ

[Nolan Jinx]

Try a different approach.
Does anyone use a StarChoice Navigo 400 series receiver?
Would it be better to update to a DSR series (if so why not just wait for the dual tuner pvr from StarChoice)?
What problems and fixes did you find?

TIA
NJ

[Nolan Jinx]

What StarChoice receiver do the majority of people use?
ebay has a bunch of them listed, but which one is best for this application?

TIA
NJ

[bpsmicro]

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but the data port on the back of all SC receivers is proprietary, and there are no available interfaces for it other than the external HDTV box (also from SC).

The data stream to/from it is proprietary, undocumented, and SC ain't talking about it.

Interestingly, there was very early talk of an external PVR box for the SC that might have connected to this port, but that plan seems to have been dropped in favor of a whole new unit. Of course, I'll believe *that* when I see it.

I'm currently using the 421C connected to my HTPC, using the normal AV outputs and the USB-UIRT to "drive" it from BTV. It actually works better than I expected.

Brad.

[bpsmicro]

I should also point out that, in all honesty, if I knew how much this HTPC approach was going to end up costing me in hardware/software, fiddly time and minor irritations, I'd have waited a bit longer (well, maybe a *lot* longer) for SC's PVR offering.

There's no question that in terms of basic functionality what I have now is *way* better than anything SC can come up with, but if we go by the rumors that SC's PVR will be dual-tuner, combined with the fact it should be devoid of any "complications" that the HTPC suffers, it might be worth waiting.

I'm very happy with what I have, but if another SC user asked my opinion, I'd only recommend going the HTPC route if you "enjoy" futzing around with hardware and software. Luckily, I do. :-)

[Nolan Jinx]

I'm trying to find out how StarChoice subscribers have gotten around the UHF/RF remote control to IR Blaster change over.

or does it just work (somehow)

I've had this Navigo DRS401MN receiver for over 4 years, should I find a newer Motorola DRS321?

tia
NJ

[ertman]

I have a Starchoice Motorola Navigo 405. This box actually can use IR AND RF remotes - the RF remote was a $75 or so upgrade that I never bought.

Using an Actisys IR200L blaster and slightly modified "Starchoice 405" settings (the BTV settings are wrong - you don't need to press "enter" after changing the channel, but you do need to pad it to three digits) it works fine.

I'd say it's about 98% reliable (about 2% of the time it doesn't change the channel properly. When I trained it myself back before the IR settings were included with BTV, I had more like 99.9% reliability, so I might go in an train the IR codes again some day.)

The IR receiver on the 405 is on the upper-left side of the box. It's just to the right of the status LED/symbols. When it picks up an IR code, an small green LED will blink for each code that is received, which is handy when debugging the IR blaster.

Starchoice just recently rolled out brand new receivers to replace the older 305 and 405 models, and I have no idea how those work.

So grab yourself and IR blaster and have at it!

BTW, Starchoice has been promising customers a PVR for close to 6 years now. It is -always- ready to release next quarter, and it has never shipped. I don't expect that they will ever release one. (I have had an open support ticket with Starchoice for going on 3 years now asking "where can I buy the PVR that you promised me 6 months ago". It gets updated by me and by Starchoice about twice a year...)

[Nolan Jinx]

StarChoice has said that the dual PVR is due this spring.
I'm just tired of waiting for it myself; plus the challenge of the quest.
So Far:
Asus A7V7 mobo
AMD 1800+ cpu
512 meg DDR
Creative Audigy 2 pro sound
yet to come:
pvr 250 (x2) don't know if they are the same chip set yet, one form e-bay and one form Snapsring
ATI 9800 se video with 128 meg ram
BTV3 with IR Blaster set

NJ

[bpsmicro]

Go ahead and order your USB-UIRT now (http://usbuirt.com), you'll also want girder (http://www.promixis.com/). That's a great combo to control your SC receiver from BTV, and BTV from pretty much any remote. The USB-UIRT can sometimes take a few weeks to be shipped (they're constructed in batches as enough orders come in).

The PVR-150 supposedly has an IR Blaster, so if you're going dual tuner I wonder if the PVR-250 can be used for the IR receiver, and the PVR-150 can be used for the IR Blaster to get roughly the same results. I'm sure other PVR-150 owners here can comment on that. If that'd work, that may save purchase of the USB-UIRT and Girder.