[mythtv-users] Re: Quality of Capture of HDTV satellite

Tue Nov 23 13:44:07 UTC 2004

OK, I'm sold.  Now I just have to figure out how to do it!  My DirecTV
Samsung TS-360 HD receiver does have serial out so I assume I could do
it either of the two ways you suggest.  I was planning to order up one
of these:

   http://www.irblaster.info/

plug it in to the RS232 port on my TS-360 and use some code I found
from another mythtv-users post (see below) that succesfully got his
TS-360 working. Will this work?

Thanks!
TLD

--

Posted:  Jun 25, 2004, 8:30 AM

To all,

My issue is solved! I now have MythTV talking to the Samsung SIR-TS360
DirecTV set top box via the RS232 port! I was given some code (in C) to
accomplish this. The author stated that he was unable to get a perl
program to work, so he wrote some C code instead. It is working on both
his and my system. He's asked me to post the code since he's unable to
post the mailing list yet.

First, edit the source to make sure the correct serial port is in there
for your particular setup. It's currently set to /dev/ttyS0. To
compile, simply save the source code attached to this email. Then, at
the prompt, do a simple C compile with the command "cc channel.c". This
will spit out a program called a.out. I renamed a.out to
channel.changer and moved into /usr/bin. I then had to change
permissions on my serial port which happened to be /dev/ttyS0. I then
ran "mythtvsetup" and went to option 4 (if I remember right). In that
option, I chose the value that was being used by MythTV (for me this is
S-Video 0) and selected it. In the box that says external channel
changer (or something like that anyway), I entered "channel.changer". I
works.

PLEASE...if anyone improves this code, post back to the list. If anyone
can hack up a perl script, please post back. I've included at the
bottom of this email the codes for some of the functions (each code
starts with *DTV...funny). Feedback on how this program works on your
setup would be appreciated too.

Thanks again to DVH for taking the time to contact me off list and pass
along the code. The community wins again!

Geoff

>
> In searching through the net, I came across a post over in the AVS
> forums concerning this stb (Samsung SIR-TS360) and the RS232 port.
> Someone had picked apart the software (Crestron software) that the
> engineers at Samsung use, presumably with MS boxes, to talk to the stb.
> He was able to get some codes and he listed them as follows:
>
> <snip>
>
> Com port setting need to be: none 8 1 none 5760
> Off 2A6474764A0D0A
> On 2A647476490D0A
> 5 2A647476350D0A
> 0 2A647476300D0A
> 9 2A647476390D0A
> Enter 2A647476480D0A
> 1 2A647476310D0A
> 2 2A647476320D0A
> 3 2A647476330D0A
> 4 2A647476340D0A
> 6 2A647476360D0A
> 7 2A647476370D0A
> 8 2A647476380D0A
> ch+ 2A6474763E0D0A
> ch- 2A6474763D0D0A
>
> </snip>
>
> I'm assuming the "5760" is missing a zero...?

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 23:06:27 -0500, Robin Smith <1canuck2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks for the opinions Steve and Footer, it sounds like its worth it,
> esp. if the Bell HD receiver has a serial input (for channel
> changing).
> 
> Footer, while your receiver remote will change channels for you, how
> you gonna record? The point (at least for me and many others) of the
> MythTV box is to have it record stuff while you are not there. To do
> this, MythTV needs to change the channels on your HD receiver to the
> channel you want to record. It can't do this through your capture card
> as it only has a cable tuner. There are two ways I have read about
> that will let you do it. One is to make a serial to IR transmitter
> cable, (cheap but home made) and come up with a second LIRC profile to
> have Myth change the channel on the sat. receiver via your ir
> transmitter cable. The second way (and I haven't looked into it much)
> is if your sat receiver has a serial in (apparently some do) and it is
> easy(-ish?) to have Myth change via straight serial, without requiring
> the custom IR cable. Not sure how yet though.
> 
> The alternative is to match the recording schedule manually having the
> sat receiver programmed to the same sched as Myth and assume it will
> do the channel change for you (which is how satellites work with
> VCRs). This sounds like a shitty double-entry system, defeating the
> point of my "set it and forget it" recording via Myth.
> 
> Also, I am certain that the shows are NOT recorded in HD, since the
> max res of the PVR-250 is 720x480, however, I was hoping the
> difference/improvement would be noticeable enough to still justify
> doing it, and it sounds like it is.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Robin
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 13:55:52 -0600, Footer <footer at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi Robin,
> >
> > I got my pvr-250 hooked up via my HD receiver now.  I'd say the
> > capture quality is every bit as good as right out of the HD receiver
> > into the TV.  Of course, I can't really tell because I have a crummy
> > video card driving the display to my HDTV.  :-)  But it's not too bad
> > even given the crappy video card ...
> >
> > To get the proper display from the receiver, I had to go into MythTV's settings:
> >
> >    Utilities/Setup --> Setup --> TV Settings --> Playback
> >
> > and set the "Aspect Override" to 16/9 Anamorphic.  Otherwise, I had
> > black bars on either side of the display.
> >
> > You mentioned that I would have to figure out how to get LIRC to
> > change the channels on my HD receiver ... Well, when I'm watching TV
> > via Myth, the regular remote for the HD receiver changes channels!
> > Which is what I really want.
> >
> > As far as HD, since the signal is being passed through the HD
> > receiver, if the program is in HD, I would think it would be recorded
> > in HD therefore not requiring an HD capture card ... ?
> >
> > Just more of my .02 worth!
> >
> >
> >
> > TLD
> >
> > On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 16:15:59 -0600, Footer <footer at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hi Robin,
> > >
> > > As I mentioned earlier, I have satellite but haven't hooked it up
> > > properly yet so not sure if/how it works with Myth.  But I plan to do
> > > that in the next day or two so I'll let you know.  Also, I don't
> > > subscribe to the DirecTV hi-def package (there's only 4 HD channels so
> > > far) so I won't be able to speak to that but I do get hi-def off my
> > > OTA antenna.  Unfortunately, I only have the pvr-250 so no recording
> > > in hi-def anyway!  But I do plan to get a hi-def capture card one of
> > > these days ...
> > >
> > > At any rate, S-video is pretty good so I would think hi-def recordings
> > > should display fairly well ... I'll stay tuned to this thread to see
> > > what others have to say ...
> > >
> > > My .02 worth.
> > >
> > > TLD
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 16:58:24 -0500, Robin Smith <1canuck2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Replying to myself here...
> > > >
> > > > Does ANYONE have any experience with what I am talking about?
> > > >
> > > > I would like to make a decision on satellite soon, and would like to
> > > > know if it is at all worth me going for HiDef satellite if all I am
> > > > going to do is capture through the svideo in on my PVR250? I rarely
> > > > watch live TV (esp. since MythTV came into my world)
> > > >
> > > > The two questions are:
> > > > Will the capture quality be better than regular basic cable capture quality?
> > > > What will it do with widescreen satellite programming?
> > > >
> > > > I'd appreciate some comments or opinions on whether this is worth doing.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Robin
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 08:35:40 -0500, Robin Smith <1canuck2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > > The tuner that is builkt in to the PVR-250 is a cable tuner, it won't
> > > > > tune any satellite system. You will certainly need the HD receiver in
> > > > > between. You should take the svideo out and hook it to the PVRs svideo
> > > > > in. You'll need to also find a way to get LIRC to change the channels
> > > > > on your set-top box.
> > > > >
> > > > > While I know that all of this is necessary, I am wondering if anyone
> > > > > can tell me if there is any point? Will the HDTV captured shows be
> > > > > better quality than cable? How will it handle aspect ratio changes?
> > > > >
> > > > > Anyone?
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 08:16:01 -0600, Footer <footer at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > > > I have a similar setup.  I have the Samsung TS-360 HD receiver and a
> > > > > > Samsung DLP 46" monitor.  I have not tried what you suggest but I'm
> > > > > > thinking this might be the way to go ... Right now, when I hook the
> > > > > > satellite (DirecTV) cable directly to the PVR250, I only get local
> > > > > > channels (?).  So I'm wondering if I need the HD receiver in-between?
> > > > > > I thought the PVR250 had the tuner built-in!?!?  Or maybe I don't have
> > > > > > MythSetup completely right yet ...
> > > > > >
> > > > > > At any rate, I'm looking for suggestions about this setup as well.
> > > > > > I've come to the realization over the past couple of days that I might
> > > > > > need a totally new Myth frontend, mostly due to video out issues ...
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Any and all suggestions, greatly appreciated!
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Thanks,
> > > > > > TLD
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Fri, Nov 12, 2004, 6:39 AM, <1canuck2 at gmail> wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > So, I am running MythTV with the venerable Hauppage PVR-250. I used to
> > > > > > have it hooke dup to a 27" TV and quality was fine, now I have a sweet
> > > > > > 53" Panasonic HDTV.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > SD programming looks like poo. I know it is not possible to capture at
> > > > > > pure HDTV quality with any user class capture card, but I was
> > > > > > wondering what it would look like if I got hi def satellite.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I rarely watch live TV (esp. since MythTV came along...).
> > > > > >
> > > > > > If I got a hi def receiver and hooked it's video out to the svideo in
> > > > > > of my PVR250, would I get recordings that are ntoiceably better
> > > > > > quality than my SD Cable signal? I know it won't be hidef quality, but
> > > > > > will it be better at all.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Also, what will the capture card do with widescreen broadcasts? Will
> > > > > > it capture the image in widescreen but skew the aspects? How will it
> > > > > > handle that some programming is in widescreen hidef and some is in
> > > > > > 4:3?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Basically, I want to know what my options are for using MythTV with
> > > > > > HiDef satellite and what I can expect out of this.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I am in Canada, so DOA is patchy at best...
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Anyone using Bell ExpressVu with MythTV? Do their receivers have
> > > > > > serial out to make remote compatibility easier, or am I looking at
> > > > > > some IR repeater configuration.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Robin
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > > mythtv-users mailing list
> > > > > > mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> > > > > > http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>