[mythtv-users] Cable box serial control

[Glen Johnson]

Here is the final word, at least from the rep I just spoke with.
Comcast will be pushing their own DVR/Cable box in our area real soon,
so when they hear the word TIVO, they refuse to help.
I'll be switching to Directv as soon as they start carrying our local
network channels, real soon now I hear.  Or maybe Dish network, they
already carry our local channels.
Oh well, money talks.
Mine walks.

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Ian Forde
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2004 2:58 AM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] Cable box serial control

On Thu, 2004-04-22 at 12:20, Bruce Smith wrote:
> > Tried one more call to Comcast and same thing.  This guy knew what a
> > TIVO is but said I'd have to call TIVO.  He couldn't control the
> > serial port.  I even told him "it's the serial port on my cable box,
> > not the port on my TIVO.
> 
> Are you sure the problem is in your cable box?  
> 
> You're sure your serial cable is good and has the correct pin-out? 
> You're sure the serial cable is plugged into the correct serial port?

> You're sure you're running the program to change channels correctly?
> You're sure the serial port is active in your BIOS?
> You're sure ... well, you get the idea.  Just checking!  :-)

All good questions.  Bear in mind - there's no pin-out to verify - it's
just a standard serial cable that you need.  Also - just read the README
files in the DCT2000 program archives.  (One in the Python scripts, one
in the C program.)  Make sure that you follow the steps in BOTH, if
necessary.

If you can't convince the cable company to enable the port (Calgary,
Canada excepted, since I remember Harondel Sibble's experiences as
posted to the list), simply return the box to the cable office
REPEATEDLY until they give you one that has the serial port enabled. 
It'll make you a PITA to them, but ultimately, you'll get to know a tech
who knows what you're talking about and can get the port enabled...

But first, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE verify that the problem is definitely
the cable box first...

	-I