Whats the best pvr software to interface with direct tv?

[nofx1510]

I have a friend who wants to setup a pvr for his wife and he wants it to all interface threw sage tv. Is this possible since he has direct tv or will he have to change the channel on the direct tv box to chance it on sage. It will be running threw composite and im just trying to figure out if its possible to have it all interface threw sage tv. Thanks
Also will he be able to set recordings in advanced see how the direct tv box will have its own channel at the time. Will it be able to change it? Any info would be great.

[rampy]

I have a friend who wants to setup a pvr for his wife and he wants it to all interface threw sage tv. Is this possible since he has direct tv or will he have to change the channel on the direct tv box to chance it on sage. It will be running threw composite and im just trying to figure out if its possible to have it all interface threw sage tv. Thanks
Also will he be able to set recordings in advanced see how the direct tv box will have its own channel at the time. Will it be able to change it? Any info would be great.

You can absolutely do everything through sagetv (or beyondTV.. or gbpvr or...)

"he" will have to slave the direcTV box to the PC PVR/SageTV, but he won't have to change the channel manually... model of direcTV receiver depending, you can use an IR blaster or serial cable/low speed port to have the PVr control the DirecTv box.

Also will he be able to set recordings in advanced see how the direct tv box will have its own channel at the time.

I dont' understand a word you're saying... but he'll be able to setup recordings in advance and season passes for shows and the PVR will change the channel on the STB automagically at the appropriate time.

rampy

[nofx1510]

I was just afraid i wouldnt be able to slave the direct tv box. Sorry about bad grammer just couldnt think of the words. So i can use the serial port to control the direct tv box threw sage your saying if so that is exactly what im looking for thanks.

[g808]

He can use a serial connection depending on the DTV box model. A recent firmware update by DTV to the D10 box has disabled serial tuning. There are people who have tried to put together fixes for this with the use of Girder, but it's not 100% successful.

If serial tuning won't work with this box, then he should be able to use an IR blaster.

[nofx1510]

How exactly does the ir blaster work and could i have a link to one if possible thanks. Also will setup be easy with it thanks.

[BigBear]

nofx1510 ,
Make sure you check the serial control list that Rampy linked.   Like g808 said if if you model is up there you should be in luck, but not all models work.

A blaster can be as a simple as a red led soldered to a piece of wire (or as sophisticated  as a USB-UIRT). You attach it to your DirecTV box and PC. Then software, like Sage, will send a “blast” of infrared to change channels without your remote.

 SageTV supports USB-UIRT (~$50) and other models out of the box. Also, the 150 retail comes with a little blaster in the package.

  It can be easy or hard depending on blaster and STB you use. Mostly it’s just looking up a code, then pressing  ‘2’, for example, on your keyboard and seeing if ‘2’ shows up on your STB.   

[nofx1510]

So your saying if i was to press channel 38 on the remote for the pvr it will send a signal to the direct tv box telling it that it pressed channel 38? Also im guessing when it needs something recorded it will send a signal threw the ir blaster tell the box to change channels if needs be?

[BigBear]

So your saying if i was to press channel 38 on the remote for the pvr it will send a signal to the direct tv box telling it that it pressed channel 38?

Yes. That is the way a lot of people handle it.  My HTPC setup has changed, but I formerly used the blaster only to record. Some set top boxes while used with blasters cause a delay (that some people find irritating) when using your remote to change channels.

By the way do you have two tuners? If not, may have a situation where you want to look at “The Tonight Show” live while SageTV wants to record “David Letterman’ on another channel at the same time.  Oh-oh!    No-can-do. 

Also im guessing when it needs something recorded it will send a signal threw the ir blaster tell the box to change channels if needs be?

Correct.  If “Monday Night Football” starts at 8pm on channel 7, Sage will send the
code to the blaster to change to that channel at 8pm.

For this to work of course your STB must always be on.
 

[nofx1510]

Hes planning on buying the pvr 500 so we wont have a problem there.
But thanks for all the help.

[rampy]

just to point out the (not so) obvious... if your primary and only source is satellite, and you plan on using a dual tuner , unless you have some other plan like hooking up an antenna or cable to the 2nd tuner, you'll need two satellite STB's or a dual tuner satellite STB.

*shrug*

rampy