Mailing List Archive: Channel changing on from mythtv ideas

Channel changing on from mythtv ideas

May 22, 2003, 8:02 PM

Post #1 of 5 (1481 views)

Hi all - I've been using mythtv for about a month and I absolutely love
it. I already have a Tivo, and it seems that as soon as I got my mythtv
up and running, my Tivo (in a blatantly obvious spat of jealousy)
started flaking out on me.

Thus, I'm looking to replace my Tivo entirely with mythtv. ;)

One of the things that the Tivo has is serial-port channel changing
capability for cable boxes on the Series 2 models. It turns out that
the Series 1 models also have this functionality if you have hacked your
Tivo and run an enabling script. Since reverse-engineering isn't
completely illegal yet in the U.S. (I hope!) would it be possible to
sniff the serial communication between the Tivo and the cable box
(Motorola DCT2000/2224/2244) box? Then write scripts to use those
commands for external channel changing from within MythTV?

I've actually tried this, but I couldn't see any communication going
on. (Using some serial-sniffing software that I found on
freshmeat.net...)

Does this sound like a good idea? If so, could someone else give this a
shot? If it works, even though you'll still need a cable box to get
digital cable channels, you won't need an IR blaster, which is not
always reliable anyway... ;)

Thanks,
-Ian

Re: Channel changing on from mythtv ideas [ In reply to ]

matt at solecize

May 23, 2003, 12:57 PM

Post #2 of 5 (1461 views)

Permalink

I'd be willing to give the sniffing a shot. If I had a Tivo or a
motorola cable box :-)
Although, I would be interested for the cable box that I have.
However, is sniffing necessary? Have you tried getting the information
from the manufacturer?

Also, have you looked around on the net? Perhaps someone has already
done the work.

Ian Forde wrote:

>Hi all - I've been using mythtv for about a month and I absolutely love
>it. I already have a Tivo, and it seems that as soon as I got my mythtv
>up and running, my Tivo (in a blatantly obvious spat of jealousy)
>started flaking out on me.
>
>Thus, I'm looking to replace my Tivo entirely with mythtv. ;)
>
>One of the things that the Tivo has is serial-port channel changing
>capability for cable boxes on the Series 2 models. It turns out that
>the Series 1 models also have this functionality if you have hacked your
>Tivo and run an enabling script. Since reverse-engineering isn't
>completely illegal yet in the U.S. (I hope!) would it be possible to
>sniff the serial communication between the Tivo and the cable box
>(Motorola DCT2000/2224/2244) box? Then write scripts to use those
>commands for external channel changing from within MythTV?
>
>I've actually tried this, but I couldn't see any communication going
>on. (Using some serial-sniffing software that I found on
>freshmeat.net...)
>
>Does this sound like a good idea? If so, could someone else give this a
>shot? If it works, even though you'll still need a cable box to get
>digital cable channels, you won't need an IR blaster, which is not
>always reliable anyway... ;)
>
> Thanks,
> -Ian
>
>_______________________________________________
>mythtv-users mailing list
>mythtv-users@snowman.net
>http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

RE: Channel changing on from mythtv ideas [ In reply to ]

danman at dtconnect

May 23, 2003, 1:18 PM

Post #3 of 5 (1460 views)

Permalink

I looked for a long time for information about doing this. So, the Tivo
actually can use the serial port to control the box? I read and was told
that this was not possible. I've had several people email me looking for
this information... It'd be nice to figure out. ; )

............................................
Dan Mount

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Forde [mailto:ian@duckland.org]
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 11:02 PM
To: mythtv-users@snowman.net
Subject: [mythtv-users] Channel changing on from mythtv ideas
<snip>
sniff the serial communication between the Tivo and the cable box
(Motorola DCT2000/2224/2244) box? Then write scripts to use those
commands for external channel changing from within MythTV?
</snip>

RE: Channel changing on from mythtv ideas [ In reply to ]

ian at duckland

May 23, 2003, 1:45 PM

Post #4 of 5 (1462 views)

Permalink

Yep - I found it on avsforum... although I'm sure that I can post it -
DMCA fears and all that... ;) Here's the link:
http://www.tivohelp.com/archive/tivohelp.swiki.net/56.html

In any case, it works on my Tivo, but I wasn't able to figure out baud
rates so that I sniff successfully...

-Ian

Once that's run on my Series 1 Sony SVR2000 Tivo,
On Fri, 2003-05-23 at 13:18, Dan Man wrote:
> I looked for a long time for information about doing this. So, the Tivo
> actually can use the serial port to control the box? I read and was told
> that this was not possible. I've had several people email me looking for
> this information... It'd be nice to figure out. ; )
>
> ............................................
> Dan Mount
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ian Forde [mailto:ian@duckland.org]
> Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 11:02 PM
> To: mythtv-users@snowman.net
> Subject: [mythtv-users] Channel changing on from mythtv ideas
> <snip>
> sniff the serial communication between the Tivo and the cable box
> (Motorola DCT2000/2224/2244) box? Then write scripts to use those
> commands for external channel changing from within MythTV?
> </snip>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
--
__________________________________
Ian Forde, RHCE, CCSE, SCNA, SCDME
CYTBeN, Inc.
ian@duckland.org / ian@cytben.com

Re: Channel changing on from mythtv ideas [ In reply to ]

ian at duckland

May 23, 2003, 1:52 PM

Post #5 of 5 (1464 views)

Permalink

Did *lots* of searching on the net... I can't even begin to imagine
asking Comcast or Motorola for specs on the box... besides, there's a
nice note in the manual for the cable box stating, "DO NOT CONNECT TO
YOUR PC!" I don't expect that Tivo would give away the code either,
since they're probably under NDA from Motorola... ;)

Most importantly, I figure that if the info comes from sniffing, then
it's true reverse engineering, pretty much clean-room stuff, and thus
not very likely to run afoul of any existing statutes (DMCA, RIAA, MPAA,
etc...) Or maybe I'm just paranoid... ;)

-I

On Fri, 2003-05-23 at 12:57, Matt wrote:
> I'd be willing to give the sniffing a shot. If I had a Tivo or a
> motorola cable box :-)
> Although, I would be interested for the cable box that I have.
> However, is sniffing necessary? Have you tried getting the information
> from the manufacturer?
>
> Also, have you looked around on the net? Perhaps someone has already
> done the work.
>
>
> Ian Forde wrote:
>
> >Hi all - I've been using mythtv for about a month and I absolutely love
> >it. I already have a Tivo, and it seems that as soon as I got my mythtv
> >up and running, my Tivo (in a blatantly obvious spat of jealousy)
> >started flaking out on me.
> >
> >Thus, I'm looking to replace my Tivo entirely with mythtv. ;)
> >
> >One of the things that the Tivo has is serial-port channel changing
> >capability for cable boxes on the Series 2 models. It turns out that
> >the Series 1 models also have this functionality if you have hacked your
> >Tivo and run an enabling script. Since reverse-engineering isn't
> >completely illegal yet in the U.S. (I hope!) would it be possible to
> >sniff the serial communication between the Tivo and the cable box
> >(Motorola DCT2000/2224/2244) box? Then write scripts to use those
> >commands for external channel changing from within MythTV?
> >
> >I've actually tried this, but I couldn't see any communication going
> >on. (Using some serial-sniffing software that I found on
> >freshmeat.net...)
> >
> >Does this sound like a good idea? If so, could someone else give this a
> >shot? If it works, even though you'll still need a cable box to get
> >digital cable channels, you won't need an IR blaster, which is not
> >always reliable anyway... ;)
> >
> > Thanks,
> > -Ian
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >mythtv-users mailing list
> >mythtv-users@snowman.net
> >http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
--
__________________________________
Ian Forde, RHCE, CCSE, SCNA, SCDME
CYTBeN, Inc.
ian@duckland.org / ian@cytben.com