Mailing List Archive: serial port control of Motorola/General Instruments DCT2000

serial port control of Motorola/General Instruments DCT2000

May 31, 2003, 5:30 PM

Post #1 of 3 (1401 views)

I just got digital cable and want to get a Myth host controlling the
digital interface box, which appears to be a DCT2000. I see the LIRC site
has the IR Blaster codes well documented, and I'll try that as soon as the
IR Blaster I ordered arrives.

In the meantime ... I notice that the box has a 9-pin serial port, and that
TiVo seems to offer the ability to control the device via this port. But I
can't find any discussion of the port itself ... things like DTE or DCE,
what baud rate, parity and stop bits ... the usual serial stuff ... as well
as whether this connection uses the same code set as the IR remote. I did
find a thread on this list, just a week or two ago ... but it was all
questions, no answers (Iecept for the tivohelp link, which did not appear
to address any of these questions).

I'll work on figuring this out myself next week, when I have the chance to
set things up for a test. But in the meantime, if anyone has already worked
out some of these details, I'd appreciate knowing what you've already
figured out (not just if you have it working, but any partial solution you
might have reached). Especially anything that someone who has a TiVo has
worked out, since I don't have one and don't expact to get access to one
any time soon.

Re: serial port control of Motorola/General Instruments DCT2000 [ In reply to ]

acs at hourglassone

May 31, 2003, 6:34 PM

Post #2 of 3 (1345 views)

Permalink

My investigation has shown that the tiVo actually _doesn't_ control via
this port.. in fact, what people were experiencing as success was
actually direct control using the built-in ir blaster on the newer TiVo
boxes.

According to motorola's site, the 9pin serial is used to connect a Hi
Definition receiver, and that's it. I did notice that they have some
hardware specific documentation on their site, but everything not
normally consumer accessible is passworded. Anybody got an axe? :)

Cheers,
Aaron

On Sat, 2003-05-31 at 17:30, Ray Olszewski wrote:
> I just got digital cable and want to get a Myth host controlling the
> digital interface box, which appears to be a DCT2000. I see the LIRC site
> has the IR Blaster codes well documented, and I'll try that as soon as the
> IR Blaster I ordered arrives.
>
> In the meantime ... I notice that the box has a 9-pin serial port, and that
> TiVo seems to offer the ability to control the device via this port. But I
> can't find any discussion of the port itself ... things like DTE or DCE,
> what baud rate, parity and stop bits ... the usual serial stuff ... as well
> as whether this connection uses the same code set as the IR remote. I did
> find a thread on this list, just a week or two ago ... but it was all
> questions, no answers (Iecept for the tivohelp link, which did not appear
> to address any of these questions).
>
> I'll work on figuring this out myself next week, when I have the chance to
> set things up for a test. But in the meantime, if anyone has already worked
> out some of these details, I'd appreciate knowing what you've already
> figured out (not just if you have it working, but any partial solution you
> might have reached). Especially anything that someone who has a TiVo has
> worked out, since I don't have one and don't expact to get access to one
> any time soon.
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

Re: serial port control of Motorola/General Instruments DCT2000 [ In reply to ]

ian at duckland

Jun 1, 2003, 11:07 AM

Post #3 of 3 (1361 views)

Permalink

Actually, that's true is *most* cases. But since I've got a physical
barrier between my Tivo and my cable box (3/4" block of wood), the
serial cable works fine. It's a Sony SVR2000 (Series 1), with a
Turbonet card, and the script posted on avsforum (attached) has been run
to enable serial control from the menus. It enables another set of menu
screens that let you turn on serial control.

So I actually am getting serial control from my Tivo...

-Ian

On Sat, 2003-05-31 at 18:34, Aaron Stewart wrote:
> My investigation has shown that the tiVo actually _doesn't_ control via
> this port.. in fact, what people were experiencing as success was
> actually direct control using the built-in ir blaster on the newer TiVo
> boxes.
>
> According to motorola's site, the 9pin serial is used to connect a Hi
> Definition receiver, and that's it. I did notice that they have some
> hardware specific documentation on their site, but everything not
> normally consumer accessible is passworded. Anybody got an axe? :)
>
> Cheers,
> Aaron
>
> On Sat, 2003-05-31 at 17:30, Ray Olszewski wrote:
> > I just got digital cable and want to get a Myth host controlling the
> > digital interface box, which appears to be a DCT2000. I see the LIRC site
> > has the IR Blaster codes well documented, and I'll try that as soon as the
> > IR Blaster I ordered arrives.
> >
> > In the meantime ... I notice that the box has a 9-pin serial port, and that
> > TiVo seems to offer the ability to control the device via this port. But I
> > can't find any discussion of the port itself ... things like DTE or DCE,
> > what baud rate, parity and stop bits ... the usual serial stuff ... as well
> > as whether this connection uses the same code set as the IR remote. I did
> > find a thread on this list, just a week or two ago ... but it was all
> > questions, no answers (Iecept for the tivohelp link, which did not appear
> > to address any of these questions).
> >
> > I'll work on figuring this out myself next week, when I have the chance to
> > set things up for a test. But in the meantime, if anyone has already worked
> > out some of these details, I'd appreciate knowing what you've already
> > figured out (not just if you have it working, but any partial solution you
> > might have reached). Especially anything that someone who has a TiVo has
> > worked out, since I don't have one and don't expact to get access to one
> > any time soon.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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

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