Mailing List Archive

Well, it all depends what you consider "directv support", in my opinion..

1) I have LIRC, which serves to control my receiver.. Many people,
especially those using sony / RCA use some serial cable thingi..

2) There are some outstanding issues.. because there aren't that many
people using directv and myth, I think it may be a while longer before
they're sorted out.. These issues include some channel change problems
(using the menu to change channels).. Not much you can do about those
except for maybe patch them if you have the knowhow once you recognize them..

3) This has NOTHING to do with mythtv, but absolutely the worst thing about
using directv with MythTV is that zap2it's channel guide system has *no*
ability to get pay per view movie information.. I have been trying to
figure out how to appropriately query www.directv.com 's site for PPV
information.. This is, as I understand, totally a zap2it.com / xmltv
issue.. but it still hurts me deeply..

tarek : )

>First of all, awesome program you have here :)
>I haven't installed it yet, but im seriously considering it. The key
>factor is whether i can make it control my direct tv receiever.
>
>Just as i finished this email asking a bunch of questions about whether a
>direct tv receiever was supported i realized that i hadn't checked out the
>FAQ yet.. Ooops... i almost did the same thing i curse other people for
>doing.. ;)
>
>Anyways, whats the status of the direct tv support
>(http://www.snowman.net/pipermail/mythtv-dev/2002-July/000020.html), is
>anybody working on it right now or should i take a stab at it? I don't
>want to start on something if someone else is already working on it.
>
>Thanks,
>Magnus Ullberg

At 06:37 PM 11/11/2002, tarek Lubani wrote:
>Well, it all depends what you consider "directv support", in my opinion..
>
>1) I have LIRC, which serves to control my receiver.. Many people,
>especially those using sony / RCA use some serial cable thingi..

What did you have to do to get it working? Is it already bundled with
MythTV or did you write some scripts on your own?

>2) There are some outstanding issues.. because there aren't that many
>people using directv and myth, I think it may be a while longer before
>they're sorted out.. These issues include some channel change problems
>(using the menu to change channels).. Not much you can do about those
>except for maybe patch them if you have the knowhow once you recognize them..

If i get a box good enough to run this and if noone else is working on it
right now i'll probably take a stab at it.

>3) This has NOTHING to do with mythtv, but absolutely the worst thing
>about using directv with MythTV is that zap2it's channel guide system has
>*no* ability to get pay per view movie information.. I have been trying to
>figure out how to appropriately query www.directv.com 's site for PPV
>information.. This is, as I understand, totally a zap2it.com / xmltv
>issue.. but it still hurts me deeply..

If i actually get a system up and running maybe we can combine our efforts :)

>tarek : )
>
>>First of all, awesome program you have here :)
>>I haven't installed it yet, but im seriously considering it. The key
>>factor is whether i can make it control my direct tv receiever.
>>
>>Just as i finished this email asking a bunch of questions about whether a
>>direct tv receiever was supported i realized that i hadn't checked out
>>the FAQ yet.. Ooops... i almost did the same thing i curse other people
>>for doing.. ;)
>>
>>Anyways, whats the status of the direct tv support
>>(http://www.snowman.net/pipermail/mythtv-dev/2002-July/000020.html), is
>>anybody working on it right now or should i take a stab at it? I don't
>>want to start on something if someone else is already working on it.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Magnus Ullberg
>
>_______________________________________________
>mythtv-dev mailing list
>mythtv-dev@snowman.net
>http://www.snowman.net/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-dev

On Mon, Nov 11, 2002 at 07:37:07PM -0500, tarek Lubani wrote:
> Well, it all depends what you consider "directv support", in my opinion..
>
> 1) I have LIRC, which serves to control my receiver.. Many people,
> especially those using sony / RCA use some serial cable thingi..

Just to add to this, since I'm using this setup:

1a. Connect your RCA or compatable receiver to your pc with a serial cable.

1b. Add a line like "str ExternalChannelCommand=/usr/local/bin/changechannel" to
your settings.txt

1c. Put your channel changer utility in usr/local/bin and call it
changechannel (or whatever you want). If you don't have such a utility
check the archives, I think I posted where I got mine from a while back.

>
> 2) There are some outstanding issues.. because there aren't that many
> people using directv and myth, I think it may be a while longer before
> they're sorted out.. These issues include some channel change problems
> (using the menu to change channels).. Not much you can do about those
> except for maybe patch them if you have the knowhow once you recognize
> them..

What do you mean?

> 3) This has NOTHING to do with mythtv, but absolutely the worst thing about
> using directv with MythTV is that zap2it's channel guide system has *no*
> ability to get pay per view movie information.. I have been trying to
> figure out how to appropriately query www.directv.com 's site for PPV
> information.. This is, as I understand, totally a zap2it.com / xmltv
> issue.. but it still hurts me deeply..

I'm going to take a shot dealing with tonight so if you have any
ideas/comments about parsing the directv listings please post or email me
(use ray@sonictech.net address rather than maillists@...).

--
Ray

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ray" <maillists@sonictech.net>
To: <mythtv-dev@snowman.net>
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 7:15 PM
Subject: Re: [mythtv] DirectTv, etc.


> On Mon, Nov 11, 2002 at 07:37:07PM -0500, tarek Lubani wrote:
> > Well, it all depends what you consider "directv support", in my
opinion..
> >
> > 1) I have LIRC, which serves to control my receiver.. Many people,
> > especially those using sony / RCA use some serial cable thingi..
>
> Just to add to this, since I'm using this setup:
>
> 1a. Connect your RCA or compatable receiver to your pc with a serial
cable.

Do you have a actuall serial port on the back? All i have that sounds
similar is a "low speed data" RJ11 jack..

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/snapstreammedia/cablepacks.html

with RCA, the low-speed goes to a serial..

tarek : )

>Do you have a actuall serial port on the back? All i have that sounds
>similar is a "low speed data" RJ11 jack..

On Mon, Nov 11, 2002 at 08:13:25PM -0600, Magnus Ullberg wrote:
> > 1a. Connect your RCA or compatable receiver to your pc with a serial
> cable.
>
> Do you have a actuall serial port on the back? All i have that sounds
> similar is a "low speed data" RJ11 jack..

Mine has a real serial port but I wouldn't be surprised if yours was really
just a serial port with a different plug :) I'll bet a google search would
turn up a wiring diagram for an adapter.

There have been adapters to turn 15pin serial to rj45 (and others) around
forever. Presumably they were used to allow long runs of serial cable over
cheaper cat3/5 cable.

--
Ray

----- Original Message -----
From: "tarek Lubani" <tarek@tarek.2y.net>
To: <mythtv-dev@snowman.net>
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 8:25 PM
Subject: Re: [mythtv] DirectTv, etc.


> http://shop.store.yahoo.com/snapstreammedia/cablepacks.html
>
> with RCA, the low-speed goes to a serial..
>

do you have one of these?
if so, can you map out the pins using a voltmeter? :)

I think i found a wiring diagram if anyone is interested :)
http://www.snapstream.com/products/irblaster/rca-cable-diagram.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: "tarek Lubani" <tarek@tarek.2y.net>
To: <mythtv-dev@snowman.net>
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2002 8:25 PM
Subject: Re: [mythtv] DirectTv, etc.


> http://shop.store.yahoo.com/snapstreammedia/cablepacks.html
>
> with RCA, the low-speed goes to a serial..
>
> tarek : )
>
> >Do you have a actuall serial port on the back? All i have that sounds
> >similar is a "low speed data" RJ11 jack..
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-dev mailing list
> mythtv-dev@snowman.net
> http://www.snowman.net/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-dev
>

Map them out? You must be joking : ) That's what google is for, as
previously mentioned..

http://www.snapstream.com/products/irblaster/rca-cable-diagram.htm

>do you have one of these?
>if so, can you map out the pins using a voltmeter? :)
>
>_______________________________________________
>mythtv-dev mailing list
>mythtv-dev@snowman.net
>http://www.snowman.net/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-dev

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Hash: SHA1

> > 3) This has NOTHING to do with mythtv, but absolutely the
> > > worst thing about
> > using directv with MythTV is that zap2it's channel guide
> system has *no*
> > ability to get pay per view movie information.. I have been
> trying to
> > figure out how to appropriately query www.directv.com 's
> site for PPV
> > information.. This is, as I understand, totally a
> zap2it.com / xmltv
> > issue.. but it still hurts me deeply..
>
> I'm going to take a shot dealing with tonight so if you have any
> ideas/comments about parsing the directv listings please post
> or email me
> (use ray@sonictech.net address rather than maillists@...).

Why use zap2it when you can get guide data from TVGuide?

http://www.cherrynebula.net/projects/tvlisting/tvlisting.html

After compiling it on my system, getting the service ID for Central
DirecTV region, I ran it like this:

% tvlisting --serviceid=63892 --dumper > a.dumper

And I got this in a.dumper:
"DIRECTV - Central Time Zone"
"Mon 11"
[
"10:00 PM",
"10:30 PM",
"11:00 PM",
"11:30 PM"
]
[.
"199#HDNET#6#SpORt NW#6#World Report#6#Mark Cuban#6#Comedy Shorts",
"202#CNN#6#Connie Chung Tonight#6#Lou Dobbs Moneyline#12#Larry King
Live",
"203#COURT#12#NYPD Blue#12#The System",
"204#HN#12#Headline News#12#Headline News",
<etc>

First field is the channel, second is the network, third is the
number of 5 minute segments it occupies (6 == 30 minutes, 12 == 1
hour).

There are other output formats like --text, --html, --xml, etc, but
dumper is nice and simple.

Program details aren't grabbed automatically, so you can do this:
[mythtv@pvr tvlisting-2.0.6]$ tvlisting --serviceid=63892 --detail
"To Hell and Back"
v-string in use/require non-portable at /usr/bin/tvlisting line 62.
Using an array as a reference is deprecated at
lib/TVListing/TVGuide.pm line 301.
To Hell and Back
To Hell and Back
106 min.
Audie Murphy plays himself in this account of his WWII service in
Europe. Johnson: Marshall Thompson. Brandon: Charles Drake. Manning:
Gregg Palmer. Kerrigan: Jack Kelly. Maria: Susan Kohner. Valentino:
Paul Picerni. Kovak: Richard Castle. Sanchez: Art Aragon. Swope:
Felix Noriego. Lee: David Janssen. Saunders: Brett Halsey. Jesse
Hibbs directed.
Read the CineBooks movie review
Cast:
Felix Noriego, David Janssen, Brett Halsey, Paul Picerni, Richard
Castle, Art Aragon, Gregg Palmer, Jack Kelly, Susan Kohner, Audie
Murphy, Marshall Thompson, Charles Drake
Category:
Movie, Biography
Director:
Jesse Hibbs
Release Year:
1955
Additional Airings
Date
Time

Channel
VCR Plus+
Monday, 11
254 AMC
N/A

I'm sure a motivated person can use this knowlege as a springboard...

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I've been looking closely at tv guide.. it, like zap2it, doesn't have the
payperviews (100 channels) of DTV.. It seems that really only directv has
them.. We'll have to see what happens.. There was a script that Ray
pointed me to that has a way to grab them, though it is by now slightly out
of date.. We'll work on it and see what happens..

tarek : )

>Why use zap2it when you can get guide data from TVGuide?
>
>http://www.cherrynebula.net/projects/tvlisting/tvlisting.html
>
>After compiling it on my system, getting the service ID for Central
>DirecTV region, I ran it like this:

On Mon, Nov 11, 2002 at 10:18:03PM -0600, Robert Kulagowski wrote:
>
> Why use zap2it when you can get guide data from TVGuide?

xmltv uses zap2it because.... well that's what they felt like. Myth
currently uses xmltv because Isaac felt like it. It currently
works just fine except:

1. It doesn't retrieve title and descriptions for the ppv channels.
2. Same as above for local channels (netorks) accessed via directv.

What I'm attempting is to make a grabber for xmltv that uses the guide
available at www.directv.com in place of zap2it in order to fill in the gaps
or act as a replacement for the current grabber.

>
> http://www.cherrynebula.net/projects/tvlisting/tvlisting.html
>
> After compiling it on my system, getting the service ID for Central
> DirecTV region, I ran it like this:
>
> % tvlisting --serviceid=63892 --dumper > a.dumper

Maybe I havn't looked at it hard enough but tvlisting seems to have the same
limitations as the current xmltv + Zap2it. It gave me channels 199-654 and
that's it. Is is possible to get the other channels?

The reason I'm working within xmltv is that's what Myth allready uses and
all I'd need to write is the grabber, everything else keeps working exactly
the way it does now. The output of tvlisting does look nice and easy to
deal with if it can be made to retrieve the missing channels.


--
Ray

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> > > 3) This has NOTHING to do with mythtv, but absolutely the
> > > > worst thing about
> > > using directv with MythTV is that zap2it's channel guide
> > system has *no*
> > > ability to get pay per view movie information.. I have been
> > trying to
> > > figure out how to appropriately query www.directv.com 's
> > site for PPV
> > > information.. This is, as I understand, totally a
> > zap2it.com / xmltv
> > > issue.. but it still hurts me deeply..
> >
> > I'm going to take a shot dealing with tonight so if you have any
> > ideas/comments about parsing the directv listings please post
> > or email me
> > (use ray@sonictech.net address rather than maillists@...).
>
> Why use zap2it when you can get guide data from TVGuide?
<snip>

OK, I think I mis-read the question. I don't have DirecTV, and
didn't know that the PPV channels were < 200, and that TVGuide
doesn't have the information either.

Howabout using the JPAG scripts, originally for Tivo.
http://www.geocities.com/paglierani/

Looking at showlist.jpg (it's actually a text file)

I can see, for example, that "All about the Benjamins" is "PR48", and
PR48 is mapped to PPV142:
<snip>
adp PR48 A001496db {All About the Benjamins} "1 368 133 32 34 40 41
105 114 167 371" "2002" "Cube|Ice Epps|Mike Mendes|Eva Flanagan|Tommy
Chaplin|Carmen {Miller|Valarie Rae} {Smith|Roger Guenveur}
{Hall|Anthony Michael} Giaimo|Anthony Chase|Jeff Salvano|Gino
Brooks|Evelyn" {Ice Cube & Mike Epps ('Friday,' 'Next Friday') team
up as a solid bounty hunter and a slippery con man caught up in a
multi-million dollar Miami diamond heist.} "4"

ads 0 PPV142 12000 48600 5880 PR48

Now, as to what all that's supposed to mean, I guess you can read the
code on the page and determine how to map it to something you can
use.

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Wow. very cool.. I think this could be much more easily turned into
something usable..

tarek : )

>OK, I think I mis-read the question. I don't have DirecTV, and
>didn't know that the PPV channels were < 200, and that TVGuide
>doesn't have the information either.
>
>Howabout using the JPAG scripts, originally for Tivo.
>http://www.geocities.com/paglierani/
>
>Looking at showlist.jpg (it's actually a text file)
>
>I can see, for example, that "All about the Benjamins" is "PR48", and
>PR48 is mapped to PPV142:
><snip>
>adp PR48 A001496db {All About the Benjamins} "1 368 133 32 34 40 41
>105 114 167 371" "2002" "Cube|Ice Epps|Mike Mendes|Eva Flanagan|Tommy
>Chaplin|Carmen {Miller|Valarie Rae} {Smith|Roger Guenveur}
>{Hall|Anthony Michael} Giaimo|Anthony Chase|Jeff Salvano|Gino
>Brooks|Evelyn" {Ice Cube & Mike Epps ('Friday,' 'Next Friday') team
>up as a solid bounty hunter and a slippery con man caught up in a
>multi-million dollar Miami diamond heist.} "4"
>
>ads 0 PPV142 12000 48600 5880 PR48
>
>Now, as to what all that's supposed to mean, I guess you can read the
>code on the page and determine how to map it to something you can
>use.
>
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>
>_______________________________________________
>mythtv-dev mailing list
>mythtv-dev@snowman.net
>http://www.snowman.net/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-dev