[mythtv-users] Re: MythTV and Sky

[Allan Stirling]

> Have a look at this.
> 
> http://www.cornelius.demon.co.uk/lirc-sky-rflink-howto.html
> 
> I've not tried it yet, but have got all the stuff and should get
> around to it soon.

It works well enough - However, there were still missed channel changes 
for me. How this works is it allows LIRC to output the 32khz modulated 
IR (Modulated in software), which is then modulated on top of a 433Mhz 
(IIRC) carrier onto the input of the box.

For me, I got ghetto on the Sky box. If you remove the front panel and 
the PCB, you can see the IR receiver (silver box with black window). 
Either remove the receiver or cut the track leading from it's output - 
The 3 leads are 5v, Ground and output. I'm afraid the box is in the 
attic - So I can't give the pinout.

You can then attach the serial port to this input in the same fashion as 
shown on the above site - Multiple signal diodes to drop the voltage.

You then need to load the lirc-serial driver with the option:
options box1xmit_serial softcarrier=0

However, there's still a problem. The IR receiver in the Sky box is 
active-high, if I remember correctly. This is opposite to most other IR 
modules. This means that you have to record your own lircd.conf (Since 
any recorded by anyone else will tend to be wrong) - Or, like I usually 
do, you can cheat.

Change the following functions in lirc_serial.c:

static inline void on(void)
{
         soutp(UART_MCR,hardware[type].off);
}

static inline void off(void)
{
         soutp(UART_MCR,hardware[type].on);
}

But hey, that's just me. Noone else is this nuts. Just thought someone 
might enjoy this tale of waaaay excessive hardware hacking.

Cheers,

Allan.