UK BeyondTV users/Sky digital

[martyc]

Hello,

Has anyone found a viable solution to controlling a sky digibox with BetondTV? I understand that the Actisys IR blaster will probably work but they are unavailable in the UK. My VCR came with an IR transmitter for controlling external receivers but it has a 3.5mm headphone type plug - could this be modified to work with BeyondTV?

Any help or advice would be most welcome.

Martin.

[Sef]

Not much use to you, but I can tell you that the Actisys IR200L definitely does work with Sky digiboxes. I managed to pick one up online a while back in a sale. I haven't seen any more since, unfortunately. Have a look on ebay; with the current exchange rate, you might find a bargain.

[pukka_parker]

Have at look at http://www.redremote.co.uk/serial/index.html.

I've been using this solution with BTV and a Telewest Pace STB. It works very nicely.

[martyc]

Thanks for your replies - I think I will go for this red eye thing. Pukka_Parker, are you using the driver (on the red eye site) by Mick Wall? If so is it easy to configure with BeyondTV?

Cheers,
Martin.

[pukka_parker]

Martin,

Yes. I've been using the driver supplied on the red-eye site and it worked perfectly. Once the files are copied to the correct place (and your machine rebooted), you run the BTV setup wizard and red-eye serial magically appears along with the list of other IR blasters where you select the tuning device.

Nice!

[mickwall]

I can recommend the driver supplied by Mick Wall

You shouldn't need to reboot, just stop and start BTV.

Mick

[martyc]

Excellent work!

Thanks a lot,

Martin.

[martyc]

I may be jumping the gun here (my redeye device hasn't arrived yet) but I can't see redeye in the tuning device list when I try to run the beyondtv configuration. I am using the latest version of beyondtv and I copied the redeye tuner files into the directories specified in the readme -
Install:

Put SSRedEyeSerialTuner.dll into:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SnapStream\Beyond TV\tuner\

Put SSRedEyeSerialTuner.ini into:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SnapStream\

Does the redeye device have to be plugged in or am I missing something else?

Thanks,
Martin.

[mickwall]

Marty

It doesn't come up in the set up wizard. Select No tuning device in the wizard, then once BTV has been configured go to web admin->configure->advanced->video sources. Edit the source you want to control with the Red Eye device and at the botton of the page you will find the Tuning device to use Red Eye Serial should be in this list.

Regards

Mick

[martyc]

Mick,
I've found it now, thanks a lot!

Cheers,
Martin.

[martyc]

My redeye device has arrived now and (after changing it to sky mode and changing the com port) works perfectly. Unfortunately my RT xmltv grabber is now generating invalid files! Damn!
Note to snapstream staff - users in the UK already have to pay a £120 annual fee just to WATCH tv, the idea of someone charging £15000 to supply tv listings is ridiculous.
On a different note is there any way to make BetondTV send an additional "red" and "back up" button press when changing channels to get rid of the annoying interactive red dot?

Martin.

[mickwall]

Marty, I use the UK_RT Grabber and its fine, what problems are you seeing?

The Red Eye device is a good device though!

Mick

[martyc]

Mick,
I agree, redeye is great, I like the fact that it is tiny and can be stuck on the front of the STB - Snapstream should recommend this device to all UK users, it works perfectly on my Sky Digibox and I assume (from previous posts and the instructions that came with your driver) that it can control most cable boxes too.

The error I was having with the RT grabber appeared to be some kind of error with the radio times web site when trying to grab the listings for "Discovery Wings" at 06:00 on 25/02/04 - some error message appeared in the dos window about not being able to parse some data and the xml file generated was only 1KB. I don't know if this makes any difference but WIngs isn't broadcast at this time. To get round this I have deleted this channel from my xmltv configuration file and, so far, the grabber seems to be working again. I will try grabbing the listings again tomorrow with Wings included and see what happens.

This may be of interest to you - I have found a website (www.bleb.org) that appears to offer UK listings in xmltv form, unfortunately there is a seperate file for each channel and each day. From what I know about XMLTV (very little) this site would be an ideal candidate for a new UK listings feed.

Thanks to pukka_parker for originally suggesting the redeye and thanks to you, Mick, for the driver and your help in this forum.

Marty.

[m1ket]

question for everyone i am currently using sky digital but will soon be moving an will probably then have freeview, will this device http://www.redremote.co.uk/serial/index.html. work with freeview boxes? if possible anyone who currently uses it with a certain make would be helpful thanks

[mickwall]

I sent an email to the developer of the red eye device and he said it does not support the IR codes required by the freeview boxes.

Mick