Is there a way to power on external tuner before recording

[Cybergy]

Sorry if this is dead simple or buried deep in some options panel, but I'm not seeing it...

My tuner source for recordings is external. It's a digital cable box plugged into the SVideo port on my PVR150. When I setup a recording, my IR Blaster sends the channel code to the tuner and away she goes - works great.

However, GBPVR is connected to the family TV set and we all share this digital cable box on the common household TV. IE; ONE tuner for both GBPVR and biological units. They have proven to be much more difficult to program than the computer; sometimes they turn the tuner off when they are done, sometimes not.

If the last person to use the TV has powered the external tuner off, then changing the channel prior to my next recording does not do a damn bit of good if the tuner isn't powered on. Is there a way for GBPVR to confirm that the external tuner is on? Sending a "change power state" type of command to the tuner may in fact turn it off if it was powered on already - so I'm not sure if this is possible..

Do I just try make sure nobody ever powers the tuner off? :eek:

Thanks,

Signed, Noob +1

[Pioneer4x4]

On my cable box, there is a power receptacle on the back , that can be set to "Switched" from the cable box setup. It will turn off whenever the box is told to turn off.
Rig up a emergency power lamp on that. It will light up the room whenever somebody turns off the cable box like an interrogation lamp. They will feel guilty, and turn it back on...

All joking aside, you could probably rig something up that way as a reminder, or signal.

[AOSandman]

As silly as Pioneer's idea might initially sound, it would work. For the cost of an $8 relay (Radio Shack Cat # 275-217) and a few minutes of basic soldering, you could rig up pretty much anything to turn on when the cable box turns off. This is assuming, as Pioneer mentioned, that you have a switched power receptacle on the box.

[Cybergy]

The receptacle can be set to "switched" mode - goes off when the box does. If it went ON when the box went off, that would be easy - I'd just plug a 500Watt halogen pointing at the couch...

Maybe if I'm inspired after a McGyver episode, I'll try to rig something up. In the meantime I'll probably just tape the button on the remote to remind them to leave it on!

Thanks for your suggestions guys.

[stefan]

If you're really in McGyver mode, you should try to disable the power button on your remote ;-)

[peabody]

see if a button on the remote (e.g. 'enter' or 'select') will bring the cable box back 'on'. on my dish receiver, this is how i wake it up. (channel changer script sends <select> <digit> ... <select>) if the box is already on, it has no bad effect (just displays data for a few seconds).