Direct TV in use for Satellite Music on MSP's mod?

ondrovic

Hi,

Anyone have a soultion for using the direct tv box for the xm music ( a list of presets ) on the msp keypads?


thanks

DHawthorne

Nothing packaged up that I could just post the code - but what I generally do is create a number pad on the MSP, and build a string for the channel number. Then I store that string in the master. When the XM station is first called, I switch the box to the last "known" XM channel used. If they switch to TV on the same box, I use a similar convention to switch back. It gets tricky with channel up and down - more often than not, since lineups change so frequently, I just tell the customer it's an unavoidable shortcoming of how they work (no real feedback) and that it might be off a staiton or two if they channel up or down. But if you really wanted, you could track that as well.

If there are multiple keypads, I keep a seperate number string for each so they can't collide. In a multi-room system, you also need to lock out one user if another is operating the box on some order of priority. Definitely, you don't want the teenage kid putting on his alternative rock station while Dad is watching CNN .

I generally force them to punch in the full channel. But you could just as easily adopt if to preset favorites. Have the number 1 just refer to station "801," or whatever, with a lookup table in our code (I prefer that to putting it in the button event, because it's easier to change a table entry when they want an update than to dig through code looking for what to change). If you have a small MSP and no spare buttons for numbers, make a shift button so your buttons can have dual functions.