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# ExternalTunerConfig

1. External Tuner
   1. Motorola DCT2XXX Series Set Top Box
      1. Prerequisites
      2. Installation
      3. Configuration
      4. Troubleshooting

## External Tuner

For situations where an external tuner i.e. a cable box or satellite receiver is being used. Channel changes are made by either executing an external application or by sending IR events.

### Motorola DCT2XXX Series Set Top Box

If you have a Motorola DCT2XXXX (eg, DCT2224) and a serial cable, you can use the dct2xxx external tuner plugin to change channels on the set top box. It can be downloaded from the Add-Ons section of the main freevo website: DCT2XXXSerialTuner.

#### Prerequisites

1. Install pySerial into your python runtime. If you use Debian and used apt-get to install python, you can use apt-get to install pySerial as well:

-     apt-get install pyserial

2. Make sure you are running Freevo version 1.5.2 or above.

#### Installation

1. Extract the serialtuner.tar.gz archive (included in the gzipped tar file you can download using the link above) into your python runtime's site-packages directory.

2. Copy the dct2224serial.py file into your Freevo installation's freevo/tv/plugins directory. This directory could be in many places, depending on how you installed freevo. For Debian and apt-get, the above directory can be found in /usr/lib/python2.3/site-packages.

#### Configuration

1. Add the following line to your local_conf.py file:

-     plugin_external_tuner = plugin.activate("tv.dct2224serial")

2. Make sure you have configured Freevo to use an external tuner. You will need a `VIDEO_GROUPS` setting something like the following:

-     VIDEO_GROUPS = [
           VideoGroup(vdev=TV_DEVICE,
              adev=AUDIO_DEVICE,
              input_type='tuner',
              tuner_type='external',
              input_num=4,
              tuner_norm=CONF.tv,
              tuner_chan=3,
              tuner_chanlist=CONF.chanlist,
              desc='IVTV Video Group',
              group_type='ivtv',
              recordable=True),
       ]

  The above settings work for an WinPVR-250 card using the ivtv drivers. The important parts are the tuner_type='external' setting and the input_num setting. The tuner_type must be set to 'external' in order to ensure the external tuner plugin gets invoked. The input_num setting controls which input of the WinPVR card is receiving the signal from your cable set top box. For my particular card and using the coaxial cable input of the WinPVR card, input_num happens to be 4.

That's it. As long as the serial port on your set top box is active, Freevo will change the channel when recording a show or selecting a channel from the program guide. However, trying to change channels while watching a current show does not work. In this situation, you have to exit back to the tv guide and select the new channel for viewing.

#### Troubleshooting

The main problem with using the serial port of your Motorola set top box is that it may not be on. Check out this web page: DCT2XXXSerialTunerHome for some tips and links to get help.

PleaseUpdate: Howto set up other external tuners (eg, IR Remotes) properly.

last edited 2005-01-05 11:04:36 by JohnMolohan
current version: http://freevo.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/doc/ExternalTunerConfig