Control Cable Box from Firewire

[anthonyfellows]

I got everything working ... I'm using BTV4 and a Motorola 6200 in XP MCE 2005 ... Will this work in XP Pro? I'd much rather go back to using XP Pro, It seemed to run a lot smoother on my system.

[cat6man]

i'm using xp pro........channel.dll works fine with my MOT stb

[anthonyfellows]

But is there a version of the Motorola DCT6200 Firewire drivers that work with anything besides XP MCE 2005? The drivers I have say they only work with MCE2005. I tried installing this package before I put mce2005 on the machine and it didn't work ... I have firestb.msi from http://home.comcast.net/~timmmoore/firewire/readme.htm

[anthonyfellows]

Originally Posted by cat6man

i'm using xp pro........channel.dll works fine with my MOT stb

Which motorola stb do you have and how did you get the firewire drivers installed?

[cat6man]

MOT6200 here....

btv instructions here
Let's develop a firewire recording plugin!

==========

from timmmoore's readme

How to I install on a non-MCE machine?

The package by default checks for MCE 2005. However, the drivers and command line utilities are useful on non-MCE machines, to install on a non-MCE machine run the following command:

MSIEXEC /i firestb.msi IDENT=0


==========
link to timmmoore's latest readme file:



http://home.comcast.net/~timmmoore/firewire/readme.htm

[mlloyd1]

During my recent upgrade to BTV 4.4, I FINALLY decided to move to channel changing via firewire for my DCT 6200.

I am running MS XP 2. Followed the directions from jdiff's handy step by step guide (post #22). Everything is great until step 8. I identified my DCT6200 as Device Number 2. That worked great in the tests prior to step 8. So, I edited "Arguments" in the registry and put in a 2 (the two lines in the registry under "timmoore/channel" look like this:

(Default) REG_SZ (value not set)
Arguments REG_SZ 2

When I close the registry and restart BTV, I can't cause the DCT channels to change either with the remote (which worked OK with IR previously using USB-UIRT) or by scrolling the up/down arrows on BTV screen.

It's got to be something simple/stupid that I'm doing wrong, but I don't know what it is.

Help, please ....

Michael

[jdowdle]

I'm having a problem similar to Michael's.

I am trying to control channels through the firewire interface with a Motorola DCT3412. I have BTV 4.5 installed. I have followed jdiff’s Step-by-Step directions (posting #22), with only limited success. I am able to control channels with the command line program channel.exe, and have determined that the device number is 2. I put channel.dll into the folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\SnapStream\Beyond TV\tuner

However, when I went to Web Admin->Settings->Audio and Video Inputs, I was not able to find “Channel Change” from the Tuner drop-down. Has this menu changed with BTV 4.5?

I am also confused about the required registry edits. jdiff’s directions indicate that the string Arguments should have a value of the device number (2 in my case) under
\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Timmmoore\channel. In another thread ("EXE file tuner plugin"), jdiff indicates that the registry edits are as follows:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\snapstream media\EXETunerPlugin]
"Executable"="C:\\Program Files\\Timmmoore\\MCE 2005 STB Controller\\channelw.exe"
"Arguments"="2 %CHANNEL%"

where the “2” above is the device number.

Are both registry changes required to get this to work?

Does anyone have this working with a Motorola DCT3412 and BTV4.5?

Thanks in advance.

John

Asus P4P800-E Deluxe
512MB RAM
1.8GHz P4 CPU
Hauppauge PVR 150
Silverstone LC10 Case
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9250/128MB

[rander]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\snapstream media\EXETunerPlugin]
"Executable"="C:\\Program Files\\Timmmoore\\MCE 2005 STB Controller\\channelw.exe"
"Arguments"="2 %CHANNEL%"

where the “2” above is the device number.

This is definitely NOT needed.

There should be a string value named "Arguments" under \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Timmmoore\channel. Just change that to "2".

I Just checked my server (BTV 4.5) and you need to edit the tuner that's connected to the firewire channel changer. For example, mine says "External Cable Box ..." I hit the Edit Settings. There's an External Tuning option at the bottom. That's where you should find the Firewire tuner to select.

Good luck!

[jdowdle]

Thanks Rander. I've deleted the unnecessary entries in the registry, and checked the Arguments entry under \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Timmmoore\channel. Everything looks ok but it still doesn't work.

I should have mentioned that I am running Windows XP Pro with SP2. I wouldn't think that it would make a difference, but I did see on another board something about problems with firewire drivers under SP2.

Any other tips would be appreciated.

[rander]

I'm running WinXP Pro SP2 as well and have no problems.

Did you find the fire wire tuner in the drop down list?

Also, check your channel change latency value. I have mine set to .50 (the lowest). Not sure if that helps since everything works with channel.exe. Very Strange

Also, did you reboot after modifying the registry? You probably did, but I have to ask. Sometimes these changes don't actually occur until a reboot and I can't remember if I rebooted or not but it's worth a shot.

Also, did you install everything from Timm Moore's site? Check a couple of posts above this and see how to install on a non-MCE system. That might give you a clue as to why it's not working. Again, if I remember correctly I only installed the drivers and channel.exe for testing during the install of Timm's firewire stuff.

Good luck!

[jdowdle]

Rander,

Thanks for the help. I was using older versions of the dll - when I found the new version it all began to work.

[rander]

Great!

Always glad when someone is able to figure out their problem.

Glad I could be of service.

[AzDragonLord]

Originally Posted by cat6man

MOT6200 here....

btv instructions here
Let's develop a firewire recording plugin!

==========

from timmmoore's readme

How to I install on a non-MCE machine?

The package by default checks for MCE 2005. However, the drivers and command line utilities are useful on non-MCE machines, to install on a non-MCE machine run the following command:

MSIEXEC /i firestb.msi IDENT=0


==========
link to timmmoore's latest readme file:



http://home.comcast.net/~timmmoore/firewire/readme.htm

I tried this on my XP Pro SP2 machine, but still could not get it to load. It still says I need MCE 2005 edition. I need these drivers to get the PC to talk to the STB right?

[TV Scheduler]

Try Channel.zip. http://forums.snapstream.com/vb/show...ers#post152454

Bob

[AzDragonLord]

I have gone thru all the threads, made sure channel.dll, channel.exe and channelw.exe are in place and made the necessary registry entries as per the thread instructions. Nothing happens when I try to change channels. I think I need AV/C Panel and AV/C Tuner drivers before I can use firewire to change the channels on my STB, but I cannot get firestb.msi to load on my machine.