Can antenna rotator be controlled by GBPVR?

[jbyram2]

Has anyone managed to get an antenna rotator working? (search forums for "rotator" turns up blank)

I have a Channelmaster rotator that can be commanded with an IR blaster, (assuming I can program the IR blaster correctly). I'd like the rotator to turn to the proper direction automatically, so that when I'm recording I don't need to remember to point the antenna beforehand. The command to the rotator would be the channel number; the rotator itself is already programmed with the proper angle for each channel.

I am curious about the GBPVR setup for IR blasters. It seems as if the choices for the capture card are "fixed channel", or direct video input. I didn't see an option to send an IRblaster command and also tune the capture card at the same time, but maybe I just missed it.

Worst case I could set up a capture source for each channel I want to receive, and use a different fixed channel for each one, but that sounds painful.

Thanks!

Windows XP Pro
AMD Duron1600
384MB
80 GB
Nforce2 Motherboard
GEforceFX5200
Hauppauge PVR-150MCE
MediaMVP X 2

[Kevl]

this is certain to be possible using "girder" in combination with the GB PVR external channel changer.


Kev

[sub]

kevl is correct, you'd need to use Girder or some other third party software to do this.

[nightwalker]

If you are using Homeseer and the new homeseer plug in you can easily do this. You can even pop it up as an osd for fine tuning.

[jbyram2]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm not running Homeseer; gbpvr is as close as I'm getting right now.

So, I can have GBPVR make the tuner card tune in the proper station, and have Girder send a command to the rotator. I'll look at this tonite, and see if I can figure it out. I don't recall seeing where I could do both at once; At first blush it seemed that either tuning was done internally (no IR commands available) or externally (IR commands sent and input fixed to one station/input). IIRC, Girder was one of the entries on the dropdown menu, but still needed a fixed channel/input. I'll look at it again tonite.

BTW, Sub, the family is enjoying this Xmas gift a lot. Thanks for a great product.

[Kevl]

the girder functionality is via "event.exe".

Look into this and pass satellite number and channel number to a lua script and the job will be done.

Kev

[jbyram2]

Satellite number??:confused:

This is a rooftop antenna pointing at Philadelphia...or New York City.. or Trenton NJ. I can get clear analog and some Digital channels from each of these cities if my antenna is pointed correctly.

It looks as though it's possible, if instead of the IR Blaster I use a USB-UIRT. I think I can find/generate a USB-UIRT device profile for the rotator. It uses the same IR commands as a Pioneer CD player remote, so it may be out there somewhere already.

Proposed setup: (Bolds are entries in "Edit Recording Source" window, Italics are setting in lower settings windows)
Recording source: Direct recording plugin
Hauppauge PVR-150MCE
Internal tuner --- Antenna
Zap2it
USB-UIRT plugin
Pioneer DB-V1110 (or Learned command profile)

Would this work?

[sub]

You wont be able to use the USB-UIRT to transmit generic messages of your choosing - it'll only transmit channel numbers. I dont know anything about your antenna rotator, but if you can program it so the channel number are all it needs, then it might work. If you need to send more specific commands to your antenna rotator, then you'd need to use some third party software like Girder, which allows you to do all sorts of custom logic.

[jbyram2]

Thanks sub. Sounds like it should work, since I do have the rotator programmed like you said. Should have test results in a week or two.

[Kevl]

the girder functionality is via "event.exe".

Look into this and pass satellite number and channel number to a lua script and the job will be done.

Kev

When you said rotator I immediately presumed satellite rotator. Logic is the same however. You need to send a message to yor rotator telling it which angle to move to. I have used a similar system in the past with girder. I named channels associated with a given direction as 10001, 10002 etc, Next angle 11001, 11002 etc. Send this code to girder and get it to strip off first two characters as angle ident and last three chars as channel ident. Then get girder to control rotator on basis of angle ident code and external box channel number on basis of channel ident.

Girder learning curve is steep but it is well worth persevering with to learn. It can control anything with a comms interface. Girder is well worth the £30 asking price.


Kev.