Yet Another DirecTV Thread...
jjames
Posts: 2,908
So I don't really care for Duet modules - they're terribly bloated and when I've got 11 DirecTVs to control, it bogs down the system terribly at startup.
Anyway - I decided to go with my own code. However, I've noticed that the satellite boxes are very sluggish at first if they've not been used for quite some time. I can't recall if this is normal or there's something special the Duet module is doing to keep the boxes "alert" . . . I've tried sending a "power on" command to keep it "awake" . . . but it doesn't seem to help.
Any ideas?
Anyway - I decided to go with my own code. However, I've noticed that the satellite boxes are very sluggish at first if they've not been used for quite some time. I can't recall if this is normal or there's something special the Duet module is doing to keep the boxes "alert" . . . I've tried sending a "power on" command to keep it "awake" . . . but it doesn't seem to help.
Any ideas?
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Comments
Every once in a while I send them the "Wake up you lazy bum!" command.
Paul
Maybe sending a command to check signal strength or current channel would be better to keep the box alert because they will actually make the box do some processing?
I still haven't seen enough benefit to justify switching to rs232 on the DirecTV. They've burned me so many times in the past with their serial ports that I'm pretty shy to dive in again.
1) Once the box is awake - it's very quick. No channel "macros" to send, just a "Go to this channel" and voila, it's there.
2) Channel feedback.
3) Much easier to change baud rate than it is to find a new IR spot and / or having to tape up 95% of the IR window because their new firmware update messed with the IR sensitivity.
I am sending it an "$FA,$82" command (Active) every 10 seconds, but that does not seem to help. I guess I'll have to load up a duet module and just watch what it does.
If you set up your IR just right this is possible over IR as well, at least very, very close.
This would be nice to have, but I can't see dealing with the headaches to get it though.
If new firmware messes up the IR sensitivity then an installer has to go out and fix it. If its a baud rate issue, then its a programming problem.
Paul
Not a headache at all, very simple actually. You ask it it's current channel, and it tells you. I can't see it being any more simple . . . of course you just need to do some parsing, but it's quite simple.
Exactly. I can change the baud rate remotely as to where an installer needs to go out. Our company would much rather spend 5 minutes on a programming fix for one job over an installer with 30 minute drive time, an unknown amount of time to fix the sensitivity issue, and then 30 minutes again to drive back.
That's pretty fast, but like you say tuning the channel takes 2-3 seconds so shaving off a few milliseconds from the channel selection won't make much difference to the user.
It's not a headache until DTV changes the way it works and breaks everything.
I would rather send a tech than a programmer because we have more techs than programmers. Sending these highly paid, prima donna AMX programmers to do simple little fix ups isn't really economical.
Paul
Time yourself in changing the following text:
SEND_COMMAND DATA.DEVICE,"'SET BAUD 9600,N,8,1 485 DISABLE'"
to
SEND_COMMAND DATA.DEVICE,"'SET BAUD 19200,N,8,1 485 DISABLE'"
I dunno - took me about 5 seconds. Unless you're typing with your ear - I don't see how this takes more time than it would sending a tech out to fix it. Just my humble opinion though . . . I very well could be wrong.
Sorry, I meant:
I was REALLY confused as to why one would think sending someone out would cost cheaper . . . LOL! I'm thinking to myself, "He truly can't think that!"
I?ve been on the fence while deciding if the RS-232 controlled boxes offer any real bang for the buck.
The ability to know which station the box is on would be much more appealing if it notified us on COS instead of making us poll it all day long. It just doesn?t seem worth it. A lot of stations now overlay their logo on the picture and if need be the info button is always handy. I can see how knowing the current station would come in handy though if you wanted to record the current state of the device.
I sure wish DirecTV would bring back the 5.17 DisplayText (0xAA) command as shown in the attached image.
If I could send text to the OSD I?d be all over it like stink on a pig.
I wonder why DirecTV decided to ditch the idea.
I have mine in a routine that fires if the response from the box is "zzzzzzzzzzzz"
-John
The other thing too - and I'm sure you could fix this with some CANCEL_WAITs, etc. - but you could hit 15 presets as fast as you could (say 2-3 per second), and it will go through all of them and wind up on the last one you hit without it ever missing a beat. So the "reliability" of serial is what we've (I've) fallen in love with. And like I said, the channel and signal feedback is nice.
Are we 100% certain it's gone? I'll check today to see if it was just taken out of the protocol or if it's actually gone.
I noticed that the module sends out several things every so often: time & date request, channel request firmware request and signal quality request. I've thrown these things into my programming to see if it'll make any difference - though I doubt it will. The client is complaining that AMX is slow to communicate with DirecTV; I've tried to tell him that it's not AMX, but that it's DirecTV - he keeps comparing it to his Dish Network boxes which he says are super quick to respond. I'm afraid he'll want to rip them out and go with the local cable company or Dish Network, thus switching all 11 boxes to IR. We shall see though.
Is this with all commands? Have you cycled power on the DirecTV boxes? In my experience they slow down over time, even for IR control. Cycling power usually helps, at least for a while.
My biggest complaint with the DTV 232 is the numeric entry. If you send several digits in a row you will not get them all 75% of the time. It isn't necessarily worse than IR, but definitely not better. I've written a buffer to improve reliability, but at the cost of speed.
As mentioned, however the "direct tune" option works awesome! Super fast and super reliable. So the case can be made to queue the numeric entry until enter is selected, then direct tune that channel. That definitely would work for changing channels, but it would kill the ability to just send digits to the box. The biggest issue in my mind is jumping around in the guide (via channel). Sending a direct entry when in the guide changes the tuner's channel, not the position in the guide.
A worse option? Two keypads (like the AMX Module). Or a button to toggle the type of keypad. Yeah, clients would understand that....
That's why I just quit going there. If they give us a good 2 to 3 years of the actual db9 port staying on and working correctly, I'll maybe give it a try. But, I have a very low threshold of pain when it comes to having to go reprogram 40+ systems because a manufacturer is playing games.
I have not reboot the boxes at all; perhaps putting in a reboot command at midnight or 1AM might help?
Surprisingly, after putting in some commands (signal request, channel request, etc.) *most* of the boxes were much more responsive this morning. There's one particular box that will not "get with it" - and of course it's the master bedroom! Perhaps a bit of a faulty box?
Have you checked to see how much free space is left on the harddrive on the Master Bed box?
The boxes slow waaaaay down when the hard drive starts to get full.
I just checked . . . 1% left.
This does make sense as the fastest satellite box has 100% free. Thanks for the tip, I'll let them know!
This is a great tip for any DirecTV owner, not just ones we control. Thanks!!
Jimmy
I'll be honest, it's nothing fancy - it's just enough to control the thing.
I had this working a couple years back, but switched back to IR for reasons I no longer recall. In attempting to restore RS232 and gain the beloved SPEED of channel presets, I find BOTH of my personal receivers with the same behavior: I get a single FA following a receiver reboot, then nothing.
Any tips from JJames or others who have been repeatedly successful with these DirecTV receivers?
Thanks
Are you using one of the recommended Serial->USB cables?
Have you tried a hard power cycle of the DTV box?
Thanks for the reply, Tony. Yes, I'm using the GUC232A, and performed multiple hard reboots after plugging / unplugging the adapter. Following each reboot, I get a single incoming string "$FA,$0D,$0A" .
These are the same adapters I used to write a NetLinx code block that was posted here a few years ago. It worked then...I'm not sure what's different now.
I recall there was a baud rate change from earlier versions of DirecTV software, but I've tried 115200 (original), 9600 (as documented) and 19200.
I'm using a standard AMX programming cable between the USB adapter and the AMX port. Is that still correct? (2-3, 3-2, 5-5)
No more testing this week, but any other suggestions are appreciated for my next opportunity.
Thanks!
I've seen GUC232As go bad from time to time, only exhibiting one way communication (either from dev->AMX or vice verse.) You may want to try a different one.
The baud that I'm using is 9600,N,8,1. The protocol is fairly straight forward, so I highly doubt it's your programming. I'll be on site tomorrow through the remainder of the week and will tinker a little bit with the DTVs. I would have suggested that you plug in the USB>Serial adapter with the box off, and then power it up. I do know that certain boxes do not support "hot swappable" USB devices and need to be powered up after the adapter is plugged in . . . but it sounds like you've done this already.
I do run a timeline asking for the current channel every 10 seconds or so, and also about 2 seconds after I send a preset. Like I said, I know the protocol is not too difficult, but try sending this command every 5-10 seconds.
It should return something.
What DTV box do you have?
Just use the ir ports as serial. Set mode to data and use USB to serial adapters. There are tons of brands of adapters that work. We have them on over 100 receivers in many properties. Work great. I have all the protocol is here with a great ultility to control them through a pc that gives you the commands.
http://www.dtvcontrol.com/
I don't see how this addresses the issue. If he can't control it using a standard 232 port why would a one-way serial port work instead?
I actually don't remember the pinouts of the patch cable between the AMX and the adapter, so trying a null modem might be worth it.
As James said make sure the adapter is plugged in when doing the hard reboot.