[mythtv-users] DirecTV D10-300 receiver + serial cable - SUCCESS

Nelson Tang tang at cs.ucla.edu
Mon Oct 31 10:47:30 EST 2005


Hi everyone -

Just wanted to report a success story to the list, in case others are
in the same situation.  I got a new D10-300 DirecTV receiver and tried
to figure out if it can change channels via serial cable.  Google
searches turned up lots of messages saying it doesn't work, but it
sounded like a few people using BeyondTV got it to work, so
theoretically it should work with Myth too.  Well, I did get it to
work, and here's how to do it:

1.  Buy a cable from http://dtvcontrol.com (even though they say this
receiver is not compatible) - though if you have nimbler fingers than
me, feel free to make your own from parts from Radio Shack (I couldn't
deal with the tiny wires in the handset cord).

2.  Update the software on the receiver itself.  To do this, open the
access card door and press the little red reset button; as soon as it
resets and the "Hello" message is displaying on the screen, press
02468 on the remote.  This needs to be done relatively quickly, before
the message goes away.  Press the numbers only once, and don't hit
Enter afterwards.  If you did it right, you should see a message
saying "Downloading new software".  If not, hit reset and try again. 
After it downloads the new software, your receiver will respond to the
Low-Speed Serial with the D10-100 command set.

3.  Peel off the little black sticker on the back of the receiver that
hides the Low-Speed Serial port and plug the cable in there.  Plug the
other end into a free serial port on the Myth box.

4.  Download the directv.pl file at
http://www.pdp8.net/directv/directv.shtml.  Make it executable and set
it as your channel changing script from mythsetup; I use the command: 
"/usr/local/bin/directv.pl box_type D10-100 setup_channel" (Myth
appends the channel number to the end of the command).

This is exactly what I did, and my box now changes channels
flawlessly, so I'm a happy camper.  Hope this information helps
someone else out there.

--nelson


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list