[mythtv-users] controlling a dishnetwork receiver
Chris Petersen
lists at forevermore.net
Fri Jul 23 01:19:33 EDT 2004
> The one at that location is not amplified, but
> http://www.lirc.org/improved_transmitter.html is. It uses a (big) cap
> to store energy from the serial port so as to prevent a huge drain all
> at once.
ah, yeah. I saw that one. looked like overkill to me. heh.
> I do recommend starting
> with the simple transmitter--it's much easier to debug (i.e. get your
> LIRC software and remote definitions working, then try upgrading to a
> much-easier-to-miswire circuit).
I'm just more concerned about cost at the moment. And cost of parts vs
cost of blowing out my motherboard.
> Actually, it does. You hook it to the signal ground (GND - pin 5) and
> data terminal ready (DTR - pin 4) pins. ( See
> http://www.infonewsindia.com/pinout/Index.html#3 (Sections 3, 4, and 5) ).
ah. I was more confused by the lack of specific values for the
resistors, etc.
> That's what I thought, but if you want your transmitter to control
> devices other than the Dish receiver (i.e. A/V receiver, TV, DVD player,
Nope, no need. Although I admit that it'd be cool to be able to control
everything with the lola, but it sounds like a configuration nightmare
(especially since I couldn't get the lola to work with lirc).
>> And after searching the mythtv-users archives some more, I see that I
>> should also check which version of the receiver I'll be getting.
> Any recent one should have IR capability built-in.
Yes, I was more concerned about driver/signal differences -- I read
somewhere about certain models not working properly.
> To the best of my knowledge, none of the Dish receivers do. It seems
> that Dish wants you to buy their DishPlayers instead of hooking to your
> own... Then, for $5.99/mo you can have 1/10 the capabilities of Myth.
Yeah, that seems to be the case.
> According to the product brochure
ooh, cool.
> a) you have to keep it plugged in to a working phone jack or they
> charge you the $4.99/mo receiver charge (not good if you only have a
> cell phone),
hmm, sounds like viewing-habit-tracking.... I'll have to ask.
> b) the dual-tuner receivers have one S-Video out and one composite
> out--you can't do dual S-Video,
no biggie for me, but mildly annoying. Plus, the svideo plug on my TV
is already taken up by the mythbox.
> c) they do not have digital audio output (my Dish 4922 has digital
> optical out, but even the 301 single-tuner receiver doesn't have digital
> audio out--only the DishPlayer PVR's and HD receivers have digital audio
> out anymore)
No digital audio receiver, and honestly I doubt I could tell the difference.
> Therefore, for me (with only a cell phone), the dual-tuner receiver
> would cost the same as getting two single-tuner receivers, and the two
> receivers would give me two S-Video outputs, two IR receivers (i.e. not
> having to find a way around the RF only "blue" tuner on the dual-tuner),
> and an option to purchase right away. (Of course, I'm delaying, anyway,
> because I don't "need" a second receiver. That may change when the next
> season starts up, though.)
Ah. I only have one input card in my mythbox, so it wouldn't do me any
good, anyway. One tuner for the tv, one for the mythbox. And maybe a
second card in my workstation, but that'd be plugged into another
receiver box.
That, and I have to keep my phone line around for dsl (it ends up
costing like $2/month more to keep my phone line vs getting the "one
link" program from speakeasy -- costs $15 extra to not have a phone
line). But that explains why the sales gal didn't mention the extra
$5/tuner fee.
> I highly recommend checking out
> http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/mythtv-info/MythTV_DISH_IR_LED_TX_via_Modified_LIRC.html
> for info on setting up two instances of LIRC. You'll have one for your
> Lola (in my case it's the ATI Remote Wonder, but same drivers), and one
> (called ledxmit) for your Dish transmitter.
I don't use lirc for my lola. That was one of the big problems I had
with lirc -- I got it going to the point that lirc was seeing the remote
events, but wouldn't transmit them to mythtv for some reason. I ended
up going with the atiusb kernel module that was posted here, and it
worked like a charm the first time I turned it on (of course, it stops
working if lirc is running, so there may be some work to get that working)
-Chris
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