[mythtv-users] DirecTV D10-300 Serial Interface

George Mari george_mythusers at mari1938.org
Sat Aug 25 20:43:48 UTC 2007


Blaine Nelson wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Apologies if this post is boring and outdated.  Most of my searches on
> this topic have yielded posts that are more than 2 or 3 years old.
> 
> Anyhow, I've been trying to get an old D10-300 satellite receiver to
> interface with a new install of MythTv.  

Naah! That's not old!  I have 3 DirecTV receivers - the *new* one is a 
D10-100, hooked up to my Myth box, the other two are Hughes HIRD-E11s, 
hooked up to my two televisions.  *Those* are old - they could pick up 
signals from Sputnik when I first got them... ;-)

> I've followed the
> instructions posted in the following:
> 

> http://www.pdp8.net/directv/directv.shtml
> http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/2005-October/107586.html
> 

Same script I'm using to control my archaic D10-100.

> That is,
> 
> 1. I've bought and installed the serial-to-low-rate cable from
> http://www.dtvcontrol.com/index.aspx?content=cable.
> 2. I've performed the reset on the satellite box to get the updated software
> 3. And, tried calling directv.pl at the command line with a number of options
> 
> So, for instance:
> 
> blaine at blaine-desktop:/usr/local/bin$ directv.pl box_type D10-100
> verbose version
> Version 1.7
> 
> blaine at blaine-desktop:/usr/local/bin$ directv.pl box_type D10-100
> verbose get_channel
> SEND: 0xFA [�] 0x87 [�]
> RECV: Timeout Error
> 
> 
> SEND: 0xFA [�] 0x87 [�]
> RECV: Timeout Error
> 
> 
> SEND: 0xFA [�] 0x87 [�]
> RECV: Timeout Error
> 
> 
> SEND: 0xFA [�] 0x87 [�]
> RECV: Timeout Error
> 
> 
> Error excessive retries
> 
> blaine at blaine-desktop:/usr/local/bin$ directv.pl box_type D10-100 port
> /dev/ttyS1 verbose get_channel
> 
Did you see this text on pdp8.net page?  "If your serial cable isn't on 
/dev/ttyS0 (com1) then use the port command to select the port, example 
port /dev/ttyS1. The port command must at the start of the command line 
before any command which talks to the directv box."

You have your port command at the end of your command line, not the 
beginning.  Try it with ttyS0 and ttyS1 if you're not sure which serial 
port the cable is connected to on your backend.

[deleted]

> Should I give up on the D10-300 receiver?  Is there equipment
> (satellite - directv) that is easier to interface with?  Is the reason
> I haven't been able to find any more recent posts on this topic b/c
> people have moved on to newer gear?
> 

I think the D10 is a great settop box to interface with, primarily 
because of the serial port.  In 2 years of operation, I've had two 
channel change failures, one actually due to an automatic firmware 
upgrade on the box causing the box to get in a non-responsive state.  It 
needed a reset.  That's a lot more reliable than most people are getting 
using IR blasters, from comments I've seen on the mailing list.

Don't give up - I made my cable from scratch from plans on Internet 
somewhere.  You're a step ahead with a commercially bought cable.  If 
you have another serial port on your backend, try that as well, along 
with different combinations of ttyS0/ttyS1 in your command line.


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