[mythtv] Direct TV Support

[tarek Lubani]

Howdy..

It depends on what exactly you're talking about.. The basic structure means 
that you would hook your DirecTV receiver up to the computer in 3 ways:

1) DTV's Video out --> computer's video in (usually video capture card; tv 
card)
2) DTV's audio out (L/R) --> computer's line in (usually on a sound card)
3) DTV's "controller" port --> computer's serial port..

So, with these connections, video and audio flow to the computer, and your 
computer (with myth) can control the DTV receiver.. If your computer 
doesn't have a usable port (i.e., a Hughes HIRD-D0 I once had), then you 
would have to use an IR transmitter with something like LIRC..

You'll need "stuff".. For example, there is a script that we use to 
download our PPV movies, though currently there is no way to order the 
movies from myth.. Also, there is a script to do the Serial controlling, 
though you can make your own if you really want.. All of these things 
should be in the FAQ..

tarek : )

>Hi. I saw in the FAQ's a mention of directv support, but the linked 
>message was a bit vague. Is their support on linux for a direct tv box? or 
>would i have to write a program that emulated a remote and sent IR calls 
>to the box, and a program that did a screen capture and ocr to grab info 
>etc. As of right now, I don't use mythtv (i dont even have a tv card -- im 
>just investigating what i can do w/ it and how much code i'd have to right 
>for my situation to work). If these separate programs (or plugins or 
>whatever) would be needed, I could probably start working on them soon 
>(once I get a tv card, which should be this weekend).
>
>Oh yea, I was also wondering if their is any type of plugin architecture. 
>I'm wondering about this as I would be interested in passing the string in 
>a subtitle to a translation program for a basic translation of a tv show 
>(and then maybe use festival -- a tts program -- to dub / generate an 
>alternate audio for the show). This is more of a pipe dream than anything, 
>but I though it might be an interesting project to work on.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Matt Jones