[mythtv-users] DirecTV D10-300 Serial Interface

Blaine Nelson blaine.m.nelson at gmail.com
Sun Aug 26 12:11:20 UTC 2007


I tried putting the port command up front as the first parameter, and
I tried both /dev/ttyS0 and /dev/ttyS1. I did this for both serial
outs on the back of the machine.  No luck.  Same "Error excessive
retries" message.

Any other ideas?

You've got a D10-100.  Mine's a D10-300.  Maybe the software upgrade
for the D10-300 that's supposed to make it behave like a D10-100
doesn't do the trick any more?  Like directv has put out a newer
version that sucks?

The cable?  Could it be bad?

Again, thanks for the help.  And the encouragement!

On 8/25/07, George Mari <george_mythusers at mari1938.org> wrote:
> 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 Apologies if this post is boring and outdated.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.
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list