[mythtv-users] Detecting all-black videos

David Shay david at shay.net
Sat May 17 01:43:47 UTC 2008


On 5/16/08, Richard Freeman <r-mythtv at thefreemanclan.net> wrote:
> As has been discussed a few times on this list, I have a DirecTV
> receiver that occasionally outputs only black screen with no
> video/sound.  When this happens the tuner appears to work normally from
> the serial interface as far as I can tell, but it outputs only black.
>
> My question is whether it is possible to detect these all-black no-sound
> videos from a script of some sort.  I'd like to set up some kind of cron
> job or maybe a user job that detects these videos and sends out some
> kind of alert when the receiver is in this state so that the damage is
> minimized (I've sometimes discovered the problem after several days of
> recordings are all blank).

I use this script, as linked in the wiki :

http://evuraan.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-ensure-set-top-box-stb-is.html

I've incorporated it into my channel changer script so it checks for
black first, and if it is powers the STB back on.  The script could be
modified to send an alert instead of powering the STB back on.

I've had really good luck with it.  Since my cable co. every once and
a while sends something down the line that resets and turns off the
box, it's been helpful to autodetect and repair this situation.


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