[mythtv-users] Satellite TV and MythTV, getting started

[john]

On Jan 23, 2009, at 9:54 AM, David George wrote:

> On 1/23/2009 11:16 AM, David Asher wrote:
>>> ...I thought the problem was the DirecTV box, not Linux.
>>>
>>
>> I don't think that is correct.  Most (all?) of the directv receivers
>> work with serial channel changing scripts, but the trick is to get  
>> the
>> serial output from MBs which only have USB.  The chipset used in the
>> usb->serial converters that was compatible with linux has started to
>> disappear, so finding a source with the correct chipset has become
>> difficult.  The MythTV wiki has a page on it:
>> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Controlling_DirecTV_Set_Top_Box_(STB)_via_USB_or_Serial
>>
>> Again, this is just what my research has told me, I have not tried  
>> any
>> of this yet.  (Though I did buy 2 of those adapters in preparation to
>> getting 2 directv HD receivers and a HD-PVR and a PVR-150).
>>
>
> This is incorrect.  Linux supports a lot of USB serial interface  
> chips.  It is the Directv box that only supports the pl2303 chip.   
> Several of us have tried many different serial cables.  So far it  
> appears Directv only supports the original pl2303 (as of March 2008  
> anyway).

David is correct.

In doing a search, I came across:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PL2303-ADAPTER-CABLE-SERIAL-DB9-PIN-TO-USB-RS232-A06_W0QQitemZ380096172717QQcmdZViewItem

Which claims to be pl2303.  The specifications seem to back this up,  
since it lists usb 1.1.  I seem to remember the pl2303x as usb 2.0  
(but my memory may be faulty).


John