DirecTV

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Serial Control

Many DirecTV receivers have a serial port available on the back for channel changing control.

Most receivers do not have a typical PC 9-pin serial connector. Instead many have a small phone jack style port called "home control" or "low speed data port" while others have a 15-pin connector called a "wide band data port". All are RS-232 serial compatible, so all that is needed is an adapter cable from 9-pin serial.

For more information about DirecTV receivers, and even pinouts of the different cable types so you can make your own see the DirecTV Serial Control Utilityhome (http://www.dtvcontrol.com) page.

Most PVR applications have support for DirecTV serial control, and those that don't generally have the ability to interface with an external application for channel changing. An application for changing is available at the DirecTV Serial Control Utility page. Windows XP Media Center Editon 2005 doesn't support serial changing normally but does have a hack available for DirecTV serial control. You can get more information and download the hack from the DirectTV controller for MCE (http://www.noggle.com/blog/_archives/2005/4/29/633280.html) page.

See Also DirecTV Serial Tuning HowTo for SageTV & BeyondTV

IR control

There are some models of DirecTV receivers that do not have a serial port. The only option is to use an IR Blaster. There are no known compatibility issues with the common IR Blasters available.