Waking up a satellite STB

[ninkynonk]

Hello,
I did search the forums and found someone with a similar setup and problem to mine.  NextPVR on a Windows box, Bell satellite STB and a Hauppauge Colossus 2.  The problem is recording.  When the time comes to start the recording, it is highly likely that the STB is in Standby mode.  So, when the Hauppauge blasts the channel, the channel doesn't change correctly as the STB was in Standby mode.  I saw a user on the forum say he sends a "select" command first.  Is this doable, and if so, how? 
Thanks
Greg

[mvallevand]

My Rogers STB requires a wake up too. This is done by send they appropriate remote sequence to do the wakeup before tuning in you tuning batch file. This varies by STB. If you are not calling a batch file and call the blaster EXE program directly you won't be able to do this.

Martin

[ninkynonk]

Thanks Martin. I am not currently using a batch file. Is there a tutorial on how to implement that in NextPVR. Could you supply a sample bat file?
Thanks
Greg

[ninkynonk]

I had an online chat with Hauppauge. They said even with the Blastcfg utility, they do not support a way to send an "enter/submit" to wakeup the STB. Searching the forum, Sub had stated the only parameter passed to HaupBlast is the channel. Everything else happens inside HaupBlast.
Can something like WinLIRC be used to control a USB-based IR transmitter? If so, any suggestions on a transmitter?

Also, I found on the Wiki how to implement a batch file solution for channel change, so that part is answered for me.
Thanks
Greg

[mvallevand]

Sorry I missed you last post, I found a sample via forum search but then I started searching to see if there was a way to globally change an existing Windows HDHR setup to use a batch file but I didn't find it and I forgot about your post.

I use LIRC to control my STB on Linux but I can't tell you if you can train WinLIRC to control the HDPVR blaster or not. If you can you might look at this thread https://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?tid=62168 I no longer support user scripts like I tried then, it rarely rewarding.

Martin

[ninkynonk]

In case anyone has the similar issue to mine, I thought I would share my hack to address this issue.
Reminder, I am running a Hauppauge Colossus 2, IR blasting to a Bell Satellite 6300 STB that has an inactivity timer that puts the receiver in Standby Mode between 4- 8 hours (a setting in the preferences). Since the remote for my Bell 6300 is an Echostar 132578 and the branding on the remote is Dish Network, I theorize that this hack may work on Echostar and/or Dish Network setups.
The issue was that when a scheduled recording would fire, if the STB was in Standby, it wouldn't wake up. There is a setting in the Hauppauge Blastcfg utility that allows for an "Enter" to be submitted after the channel is submitted. With that enabled, when the scheduled recording would fire, the desired channel would be ignored, but the "Enter" would wake the STB and the recording would record whatever channel the STB was on when it went into Standby. Either way, the desired recording was not recorded.

The Hack:
From Martin's reply about running a batch file, reading other forum posts, searching other IR blaster solutions and considering Hauppauge's capabilities and limitations, I decided to try this. For this hack to work, you must use Blastcfg and set these settings:
"Min. digits to send" to "2" (my Bell service uses 2-4 digits for channels) and
"Send 'Enter' after channel" to "Enabled"

I created a batch file called ChannelChange.bat that has one parameter, "Channel". You must use ChannelChang.bat as the "Blaster Executable Path" in NextPVR. The batch file is super simple:

@echo Off
"{drive}:\{path}\HaupBlast.exe" 10
timeout /t 2 /nobreak > nul
"{drive}:\{path}\HaupBlast.exe" %1

The objective of this hack is to get Hauppauge to send the "Enter" pulse to wake the STB if its in Standby.

Use Case #1: STB is in Standby mode and a recording fires
The recording fires, and calls ChannelChange.bat with the channel number (ex 123). HaupBlast.exe sends the hardcoded "10<Enter>". Since the STB is in Standby, it ignores the "10", but receives the "Enter" and wakes up. The timeout implements a 2 second pause to allow the STB to wake up. Then the batch files executes HaupBlast.exe with "123". The blaster sends "123" and the channel changes on the STB.

Use Case #2: STB is NOT in Standby mode and a recording fires
The recording fires, and calls ChannelChange.bat with the channel number (ex 123). HaupBlast.exe sends the hardcoded "10<Enter>". The channel changes to 10. The "Enter" is still useful here as it indicates that the channel number is complete (ie no more digits) and the STB changes the channel immediately. The timeout implements a 2 second pause to allow the STB to complete the change to channel 10. Then the batch files executes HaupBlast.exe with "123". The blaster sends "123" and the channel changes on the STB.

Use Case #3: STB is in Standby mode and a USER wants to tune to a station
The user navigates the Menu and selects a program to Watch. Watch calls ChannelChange.bat with the channel number (ex 123). The rest of the process is the same as in Use Case #1. There is no impact to the user

Use Case #4: STB is NOT in Standby mode and a USER wants to tune to a station
The user navigates the Menu and selects a program to Watch. Watch calls ChannelChange.bat with the channel number (ex 123). The rest of the process is the same as in Use Case #2, with the exception that the user will experience a 2-3 second delay and may see the channel change to "10" first before it tunes to the desired channel.

This has worked well so far in testing. I will update after a few weeks to see if the solution is solid or not. The benefit is that it doesn't require the technical involvement that a separate IR blaster solution would require. The downside is that it introduces a 2+ second delay for a user when changing channels.
Greg