Control Cable Box from Firewire

[jdiff]

The recordings worked perfectly, all three of them.

Crush,
I posted the text of my reg file for the ssexetuner in this thread:
EXE File Tuner Plugin

That is probably the most critical part of the whole thing, to make sure you have the settings and path to the plugin correct.

[crush157]

Awesome! Thanks for your hard work!

[timmmoore]

Originally Posted by jdiff

Update:

I found HeRemoteTuner1.log and it reads:

sent 2 2 0 7 Enter

(the first 2 is the argument for channel.exe to point to the right device, 207 is the channel I am trying to tune)

I think I am getting to the root of the problem.

When I run this command:
channel.exe 2 207
it tunes the STB to 207

When I run this command:
channel.exe 2 2 0 7
it discards what it perceives as extra arguments (the "0" and the "7") and sends "002" to the STB.

So it appears that HERemoteTuner.dll is sending spaces between the channel digits, which is causing channel.exe to ignore anything after the first digit.

Tuning other channels results inn behavior consistent with this hypothesis. Tuning channel 60 in BTV causes the STB to tune channel 6. Tuning channel 8 or 80 (or 81...89) in BTV causes the STB to tune channel 8.

It appears that HERemoteTuner.dll sends the command line argument as separate digits with spaces in between, while channel.exe expects a single argument consisting of one or more digits without spaces.

Hi, I am the preson who wrote channel.exe, I could modify it to concaternate digits together if you would find it useful.

[timmmoore]

Originally Posted by timmmoore

Hi, I am the preson who wrote channel.exe, I could modify it to concaternate digits together if you would find it useful.

The attached zip has a modified channel.exe, this should concaternate digits. I updated the zip file, it contains updated channel.exe and channelw.exe that should concaternate digits. There is also a channel.dll, I took a quick look at the API for BTV apis and added the apis to channel.exe and converted to a dll.
I tested with a test app, not with BTV. to set the arguments for channel.dll, run it once within btv. You should then find a key in the registry
HKLM\SOFTWARE\timmmoore\channel\Arguments
set this string to the arguments you need, e.g. the device number for the STB. The arguments are read on every call to channel.dll so you will not need to restart btv.
One change to channel.dll, the "channel" part of the registry key is dependent on the filename, i.e. if you rename channel.dll to channel1.dll then the reg key is at
HKLM\SOFTWARE\timmmoore\channel1\Arguments
useful if you need multiple tuners

[TV Scheduler]

Originally Posted by timmmoore

The attached zip has a modified channel.exe, this should concaternate digits.

Thanks Tim,

The up side is that there are two tuner dlls so BTV and operate two STBs.


Bob

[jdiff]

Tim,
I installed this into BTV 3.7.2 and it works like a charm. Many thanks!


Counting the channel.dll, SSExeTuner.dll (using channelw.exe), and HERemoteTuner.dll (using the modified channelw.exe that concatenates), we now have three tuner dlls for those that want to control THREE STBs!!!

[jdiff]

Step-by-step directions for setting up BTV to control your STB via Firewire:

(I figured I'd type this out for all the new people who just want to get this set up and running without a lot of trouble! If there are errors in these directions please PM me and I'll fix them.)

1. Download the firewire.zip file from this thread at The Green Button:
http://www.thegreenbutton.com/commun...ssageID=104152

2. Run firestb.msi to install the software. During installation you only need to check the command-line apps and drivers. The other Applications are used with MCE.

3. Install your STB hardware in Windows as directed in the readme under "Firewire Driver Installation".

4. Test your setup as directed in the readme under "Firewire Channel Change Testing". Make a note of the device number you are using - you will need this later.

5. From the above post by timmmoore, download channel.zip and put channel.dll into C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SnapStream\Beyond TV\tuner. Note that this is a hidden directory - you will have to turn on viewing of hidden files and folders in order to see it.

6. Restart BTV. In the Web Admin -> Settings -> Audio and Video Inputs, for the tuner connected to your STB, click Edit Settings, select Channel Change from the Tuner drop-down. Save changes.

7. Restart BTV, go to Live TV. Change to a channel that is only available via your STB. The channel on the STB will not change.

8. Run regedit. Navigate to HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\timmmoore\channel.
Edit Arguments and change the string to the device number noted in step 4.

9. In Live TV, change to a channel that is only available via your STB. The channel on the STB should now change. That's all there is to it!

Hope this helps those new to this or having problems!

[timmmoore]

Originally Posted by jdiff

Tim,
I installed this into BTV 3.7.2 and it works like a charm. Many thanks!


Counting the channel.dll, SSExeTuner.dll (using channelw.exe), and HERemoteTuner.dll (using the modified channelw.exe that concatenates), we now have three tuner dlls for those that want to control THREE STBs!!!

I just modified channel.zip, the channel.dll now uses the channel part of the filename for the reg key, so if you need to use it twice with different arguments, copy it to a different filename e.g. channel1.dll and the reg key will be HKLM\Software\timmmoore\channel1\Arguments, so you should be able to have as many STBs as you need

[optikhog]

Originally Posted by jdiff

Step-by-step directions for setting up BTV to control your STB via Firewire:

(I figured I'd type this out for all the new people who just want to get this set up and running without a lot of trouble! If there are errors in these directions please PM me and I'll fix them.)

Sweet - you might want to check with Brett to see if you can get this set up in the BTV Plugins group so that it'll be easy to find in the future...

Also, many thanks to Tim for the .dll! Awesome!

[bnflaherty]

Excellent work.

[Junfan]

Hi all,
I have a Motorola DCT 6200 STB from Comcast - I have followed the posted directions exactly, and the firewire ports are active. However, when installing the drivers, the AV TUNER device installs correctly, but the AV PANEL device does not. I get an error stating that "the device could not be started" (Code 10) Anyone else has seen this?

Funny thing is, I'm much more interested in changing channels than in capturing the MPEG stream...

The firmware on the STB is 7.15

The system uses
Win XP Pro SP1 - MyHTPC Front End with BTV 3.4 (pending 3.7 install)
Athlon XP 2600 CPU
Asus A7N266 Mobo
ATI 9600XT
PVR 250
Audigy 2
ATI Remote Wonder
Gyration mouse and KB

The Firewire port on the PC is the one on the Audigy 2
I've tried with both ports on the STB.

EDIT: Never mind, guys...all was well after installing SP2 - I found that famous MSTAPEO.SYS file mentioned in the readme for firewire.zip. Channel changing works much faster and at least as reliable as with the IR blaster - however, now I notice some choppiness in Live TV...greater CPU usage somehow?

Many thanks!

L.S.

[DodgeV83]

Comon Snapstream! Implement this!

[timmmoore]

I have updated channel.dll at http://www.thegreenbutton.com/commun...52&TopicPage=1It now includes support for the SA8000 and SA8300 STBs, the SA8300 has been tested, the SA8000 has not.

[mmmesq]

I seem to be a little dim. I cannot find channel.zip on the greenbutton thread.

Since it sounds like I just need channel.dll, will I be able to find this after running the firestb.msi per the step-by-step above?

If so, where will I find it?

Much obliged, as I await the cable guy,
Marc

[hlclark78]

Tim attached Channel.zip above.

I have been using this setup for a while and it's awesome. I honestly don't plan on getting BeyondTV 4.0 until they or the community implements this feature. Capture and channel changing via Firewire.