[mythtv-users] Comcast OnDemand on Multiple STBs

[Michael T. Dean]

On 09/27/2007 03:09 PM, Paul Onley wrote:
> I need to send non-channel info to the STBs to use the On Demand
> programing feature (this is channel 1 on Comcast and once there you
> interact with onscreen menus to select a show to watch. Many feel this
> service has no value with a Myth system but it has great content for
> the kids) on Comcast cable. I have the 4 STBs working and have
> added code to DCT2000 channel_change script so that it will accept
> a command line arg for the serial port. I then give the serial arg in
> the "external tuner command" area in myth so that all 4 STBs can use
> the same script. This is all working very well. My problem is that I
> need to be able to send other codes to the STBs to interact with on
> screen menus that are not part of myth. I would like to be able to send
> these through the SAME mechanism that we have outlined here so that I
> don't have to interogate the backend to see which tuner I am watching
> and then send the left, right, up, down, and select codes to a daemon
> on the backend which will then pass them to the appropriate STB.
>
> My first approach was to choose dummy channels and setup the lircrc
> config file to send say 981 when you press the down arrow. Then I went
> into the channel_change script and setup a case that would change 981
> to DOWN and send it to the STB. This worked like a charm but Myth will
> not send a channel change to the STB if you are already on that channel
> so you could never send 2 consective down arrows for example. I posed
> this in DEV as I thought it would be possible to preface a command
> (esc code it if you will) so that myth would send it to the built in
> "external tuner command" but digging into the Myth code is above my
> ability. The best approach I have yet been able to come up with is to
> have lircrc call a script when the down arrow is pressed that will
> interogate the backend to see which STB I am watching then send the
> STBs ID and the desired code to a daemon on the backend which would
> forward the code to the correct STB. This is a lot more monkey motion
> than being able to ask Myth to do it through the channel change mechanism.

Have the channel change script write some status information to a file
and use it to determine which capture card is watching what?

Basically, the point is that the external channel change command knows
which capture card/input is being used, so, don't throw that information
away.  Put it somewhere you can find it...  Specific implementation
instructions would require knowledge of exactly what your plan is for
navigating the On Demand menus, but it shouldn't be too difficult to
figure out (once you start going down the right path ;).

Mike