First digit in 3-digit channels lost during changing

[keith_marrocco]

I am running a dedicated machine on 24/7 with an IR200L pointed at my Dish 301 receiver. It is using the built-in channel-changing plugin. The recording device is a Hauppauge WinTV 350.

When the machine fires up to record something from a 3-digit channel, such as the Thursday night lineup on channel 234, the first show to be recorded will actually record channel 34 instead. I end up with an hour of PBS instead of Smallville. However, all subsequent channel changes and programs work correctly; I get Supernatural recorded correctly after the failed Smallville. I have just figured out a workaround; by recording Everybody Loves Raymond in the slot just before Smallville I can get Smallville itself to record correctly (and then discard the 30 minutes of Everybody Loves PBS).

It has been difficult to identify and diagnose this, as it appears that as long as I'm watching or recording any channel prior to the change to a 3-digit channel it will change correctly. After changing a parameter, I can do scores of channel changes without experiencing a problem, only to have PBS instead of Smallville again come Thursday night.

I have tried moving the IR200L closer to and farther from the receiver.

I have tried putting yellow sticky notes over the receiver's IR receiver in case the strength of the signal was overwhelming the receiver.

I have tried varying the repeat count in the config utility from 4 to 7, and have similarly varied the delay.

I do have zero padding and 3-digit channels turned on; I suspect if I could send 4-digit, zero-padded channels the problem would not be apparent, but that isn't possible.

Has anybody else experienced something similar?

Keith

[keith_marrocco]

Sub,

This could turn into a request for a change in the way GBPVR handles Dish receivers (sending an enter prior to sending the channel information or zero-padding with four zeros instead of three).

Just caught a flash of the problem which provided enough information to use Google to find other references to the problem in a Tivo forum.

The latest Dish upgrade installed a screensaver that pops up after four hours of inactivity or after a program update. When the screensaver is running, one must hit a key on the remote to get the device's attention, which is why the first digit of an initial 3-digit channel is lost. The general situation is documented by Dish at http://tech.dishnetwork.com/departmental...reco.shtml . Members of other forums have advocated pressing ReplayTV and Tivo to add an enter at the start of the channel command sequence to catch the device's attention.

I've disabled the Power Off mode for my receiver, which Dish indicates should help for the 301. More recent receivers could benefit from a wake-up digit being sent prior to the actual channel change.

Thanks,
Keith

[sub]

Sorry, you'd have to look at using Girder or HIP if you want to do this sort of custom logic.

[sub]

Its a bit of ugly hack, but I've added this setting in config.xml for the next release:

<IR200LPrependEnter>false</IR200LPrependEnter>

Defaults to false, but change to 'true' if you need this.

[keith_marrocco]

I appreciate your doing this.

After finally figuring out that (1) only the first show in a sequence of shows wasn't being recorded, and (2) catching a glimpse of the previously unseen screensaver early this morning during live TV, I believe I was able to turn off the screensaver for my 301. Dish customers with other equipment may still be vulnerable to the situation, and I hope that your fix makes it easier for them to deal with it. It's been a frustrating problem to identify.

Thanks,

Keith