switching to digital cable, need help

[ketchup_gsr]

hi all,

i've done a couple of searches on a digital setup, but have questions. the main one is why do i need girder or a blaster to change channels?

currently i have analog cable at home, and what i do is that i hook the cable line directly to my computer, no cable box. from there i use my firefly remote to change channels and such.

so now i'm moving to an area where they only have digital cable (comcast cable). it's not satellite or directTV, so i figure i would just do the same and hook up the cable straight to my computer, no box... I'd reconfigure the channels and such, but that's about it...

why wouldn't this work? will it work? will my firefly remote not work anymore cause it's really useful. does this mean it's obsolete when i switch over? thanks for the help

[RobertH]

It all depends in the new area are you able to hook up a tv set directly to the wall outlet and see tv, if the provider in that area is really crappy and only provides digital that is a shame, but then again everything is slated to move that way over the next few years...

If you can hook up a plain old tv set directly to the wall and still see tv signals then yeah you can continue with your current setup. If not then you would have to get an irblaster and a cable box (you can get the irblaster on the webstore) and that would allow beyondTV to control the digital cable box, however you'd need one control device and one cable box for each tv tuner in your system if thats the case.

the irblaster basically mimics the remote control of the digital cable box, you tell beyondtv (using firefly) you want to see channel 10, beyondtv then tells the blaster that it wants channel 10, the blaster then tells the cable box by sending 1 then 0 to tune to channel 10 just like you would if you were using the cable box, the box changes channels and beyond tv starts recording.

[ketchup_gsr]

thanks, that cleared things up... so basically with the IRBlaster, instead of my firefly directly talking to snapstream via the usb, it talks to the IRblaster and that sends a signal to the cable box?

do i need a direct (serial) link to the cable box like some people were saying? and if my remote is talking to the IRBlaster, how does snapstream know to update the channel info (ie switch from channel 2 to channel 5) thanks again

[RobertH]

Actually thats a little off, with your current setup you use your firefly remote wich is RF (radio) based and it sends commands to beyondTV directly using the firefly receiver and software, beyondTV then in-turn tells your tv tuner to change to channel X wich beyondTV then starts recording.

(firefly->firefly receiver->firefly software->beyondTV->tv tuner)

When setting up in a digital cable / satelite setup, it basically does the same thing, except beyondTV tells your tv tuner to stay on say channel 3/4, or to capture from its svideo input, and then tells the irblaster to tell the cable box to change channels.

(firefly->firefly receiver->firefly software->beyondTV(sets tv tuner to correct channel/input)->irblaster->cable box)

The only thing your changing here is what is changing the channels, in your current setup its your tv tuner, in the digital cable setup it would be the irblaster->cable box. Just think about it this way, if youve got digital cable hooked up to a regular old tv set, you dont tell use the tuner in the tv to change channels you set it to the video input or on channel 3/4 and then use the cable box's remote. BeyondTV with an irblaster does the same thing, you tell beyondTV what you want to see and it tells your cable box to show it to you.

Some cable boxes such as the motorola 2xxx series, and satelite receivers from directv can be controlled directly using a serial cable.

[winclk]

does anybody know if the d10 receiver from direct tv can use the serial cable?

winclk

[edgore]

Originally Posted by winclk

does anybody know if the d10 receiver from direct tv can use the serial cable?

Within the last two weeks or so DirectTV sent out an automatic firmware update that has broken switching to the lower channels on the D10. According to support Snapstream does not know whether they will be able to adjust or not, and they are recommending switching over to IR-Blaster for that unit. I on, the other hand, just switched to an older recieiver...works fine.

[winclk]

ok. thanks for the information. i am using the usb-uirt right now. but i wanted to setup another htpc and was looking at the serial cables(a little cheaper than usb-uirt).


winclk

[ketchup_gsr]

update:

i got myself digital cable and have reinstalled windows and BTV. I'm in the process of getting UIRT to play nicely with the cable box. It all seems to be working, just maybe a little bit more tweaking.

i was wondering can the USBUIRT control my surround sound system also? I have no idea where to start looking at that. I tried searching for it in the UIRT forums and the girder forums, but can't figure it out. Can anyone help... i'm still using the SS Firefly.

what i really don't understand is this... is the USBUIRT a transmitter or receiver. Currently i'm using it as a transmitter to change the channels on the cable box.

i am also hearing people teaching the USBUIRT though girder remote control codes... does this mean that you also have to use it as a receiver? If so, which way does the red blinking light face, the equipment or me (with the remote)?