two pvr 150 cards

[gregdselwah]

Is there any directions for doing this setup? I want to be able to watch and record at the same time. I already have one card installed and has worked great! I just want to setup the second card to control another Sateilite box. Whats the easiest way to do this? Do I need two of those wires that go to the sateilite box? How does it change the channel on the second Sateillite box? What do I need. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I've been looking everywhere and I cannot find any info. I don't want to buy the wrong hardware again. Thanks!!

My setup is Windows XP pro, Asus A8n SLI premium, AMD 3200 CPU, 512MB OCZ ram, Asus 7300GT video card, Hauppauge PVR 150(already installed) and another waiting to be installed.

[DerekR]

Having the same questions as you, I'm hoping someone will catch this thread and answer it. I've been looking everywhere I can think of, but I'm having no luck. My configuration is:

BTV 4.6.1
(2) Hauppauge PVR-150
(2) RCA DirecTV DRD435RH Receivers
(1) Firefly Remote
(1) DirecTV RJ6-DB9 serial cable (http://store.snapstream.com/dicaparre.html)

I've attached the PC to one of the receivers using the DB9 to RJ6 low speed serial cable and it works fine.

I hook up the second receiver and try to configure it, I see video but I cannot control the receiver. The PC has one DB-9 connector and one DB-25 connector. I verified the pinout of the RJ6-DB9 cable with the one shown at http://www.dtvcontrol.com under the cables section, so I built a DB25 to RJ6 cable following the pinout from that webpage. The DB25 cable does not seem to work for either box though, so I'm assuming, even with the proper pinout setup BTV doesn't work with comm2...

Is there any way to this up so that I can have the PC controlling both receivers and only need to use single firefly remote? I understand that the second card is only going to be used when I want to watch one show while recording another, but the PC has to have SOME way to change the channel on the second receiver to the show to record.

Derek

[myktek]

just set them individually like if you were setting up one card, they both should just work fine together.

[gregdselwah]

I have two separate set top satellite boxes, one in which the supplied (by the PVR 150) IR receiver/blaster is controlling, BUT how do I set the second PVR 150 up so I can control the other set top satellite box?

Do I need another IR receiver/blaster coming from the second card to the second set top box? How will this work (if I read correctly) if you can only use one IR receiver/blaster cable per computer? Will I have to purchase a USB-UIRT as this unit (as I've read) can control 3 separate units. Does this sound correct?

[RiderFan]

The USB-UIRT can control up to 16 different satalite boxes, if you can change the frequency of each remote control for each receiver. If your satalite receivers are fixed to 1 frequency, without anyway to change them, then the USB-UIRT will control 3, by setting up zones.

I am sorry, but I do not know about the blaster that came with your 150 card.

[DerekR]

The problem is, I'm not using a USB-UIRT, I'm using the firefly control, which is RF, not IR.

Derek

[Bigbird999]

It isn't really clearly stated, but it sounds like you are using serial tuning to have BTV control the first STB and you want to add a second STB and have BTV control it by serial cable as well. I'm not sure that this is possible (I might be wrong) but I think that you need to use a blaster (like USB IRT) set in zones to control multiple boxes.

BB

[gregdselwah]

So if I purchase the USB IRT that will solve my problems? Doesn't anyone here have more than one tuner in their machine working with multiple set top boxes?

[gregdselwah]

I found this article http://www.snapstream.com/Community/...ra/default.asp
BUT this is for cable NOT satellite. Why doesn't snap stream do one for satellite users? That would be awesome!

I also found this which gives me some really good info and might answer my question. http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/show...dual+satellite
I searched for dual satellite instead of dual tuners and a lot of info came up that I was looking for, I was just looking in the wrong place.

[gumpthestump]

I use a usbuirt to control 2 STBs and it works great. This thread has a great information on setup, particularly post #6.
http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/showthread.php?t=17746

Originally Posted by DerekR

The problem is, I'm not using a USB-UIRT, I'm using the firefly control, which is RF, not IR.


Derek

Doesn't matter, you can use the firefly RF for remote and the USBUirt for controlling the stbs.

[DerekR]

Originally Posted by Bigbird999

It isn't really clearly stated, but it sounds like you are using serial tuning to have BTV control the first STB and you want to add a second STB and have BTV control it by serial cable as well. I'm not sure that this is possible (I might be wrong) but I think that you need to use a blaster (like USB IRT) set in zones to control multiple boxes.

BB

Yep, that's what I'm doing. I went out and picked up a USB to Serial converter, attached the second box to that and it works... Sort of.

The boxes I'm using have a problem that require a .dll patch to resolve an issue where changing the channels powers the box off. I applied the patch, but it doesn't help when you're configuring it. During configuration when I setup each card, the correct STB powers off then comes back with a signal search when it attempts to change channels, so I know it's working. When I try to record on two channels though, it records one show under two different names.

I'm getting there, just slowly...

DerekR

[DerekR]

Resolved the problems:

1) Went to the local electronics store and picked up a USB to DB-9 converter and made a second control cable. Fixed the remote control problem.

2) Changed the definition of the Satellite box in the setup from "DirecTV Satellite Box 1" to "DirecTV Satellite Box 2". Since there was no specific definition for the receiver I had and the "Box 1" definition I was using worked with one, I assumed it was the correct one. Bad me. Appears to be the "Box 2" definition that I needed.

Watching one show, recording a second and all is happy in the world of HTPC land here.

DerekR