Question

DirecTV question about upgrading receiver

Asked by: dfu23

Experts,

I am putting together my thoughts on making my own HTPC (or PVR) as a fun home project but I have come to a stumbling block. My TV service is currently provided by DirecTV and my current receivers are the Philips DSX 5500 which are not compatible with being controlled from another source other than the IR remote. I need to have a receiver from DirecTV that allows the computer to control it in order for this HTPC project to work well or even at all.

Just as an FYI on the background of what I am doing. I am piecing together a machine that will run Linux (Fedora Core) which will in turn run MythTV. From my research I have found a resource (http://www.pdp8.net/directv/directv.shtml) that will allow me to control my DirecTV box from the serial port with an appropriate adapter. But last night I took a closer look at my receiver and found that it is not on the list of supported boxes.

So, I just called DirecTV and asked what it would cost to upgrade (to the D11) and the thought of leasing it for $49 or buying it outright for $150 is not at all appealing. I tried to ask the person that if I could get another receiver (say off of eBay) would the service transfer easily ... or would they help if I had issues. The only thing that he would offer was the advice of, "We can guarantee that it will work if you get it from us ..."

This is my main question:

Has anybody done their own DirecTV receiver upgrade out there? And did it work? Easily?

I'm thinking of getting the D10-300 ... but whatever I can find out there good and compatible will be just fine. If anybody has any thoughts that they would like to share on my home project too they are more than welcome!!!

Thanks in advance,

Wally Atkins

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2006-03-16 at 07:13:28ID21776415
Tags

mythtv

,

5500

,

directv

,

upgrading

Topic

Miscellaneous

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
7

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Upgrade to fedora core 2
    Just a silly question but i currently have fedora core 1 installed and have just downloaded the fedore core 2 dvd iso and have mounted it to /mnt/iso what do you do next??? What file do you run to start an upgrade
  2. ltmodem in Fedora Core 3
    How to install Lucent ltmodem in Fedora Core 3 ???
  3. fedora to enterprise upgrade
    Hi, Is it possible to upgrade fedora core 2 to redhat enterprise academic pc version. thanks gs
  4. fedora upgrade
    Hello there experts, I live 300 miles away from my dedicated server and I would like to upgrade from Fedora core 1 to fedora core 2 remotely. I just want to make sure everything comes Right because I find in goggle too many different ways how to do it. If anyone knows the be...
  5. Upgrading from Fedora core 2
    Hello Linux Guru's. I have a quick question for you all. First, I have a production server that is running FC2. Now we have to upgrade it to fedora core 4 to upgrade some of the other software running on the machine. Can we just insert the FC4 CD and upgrade from 2 to 4 w...
  6. Upgrade Fedora Core 4 to 5 ...
    I followed the steps from http://www.brandonhutchinson.com/Upgrading_Red_Hat_Linux_with_yum.html and I got stuck. 1. download... # rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/5/i386/os/Fedora/RPMS/fedora-release-5-5.noarch.rpm 2. Upgrade to Fedora Core...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: RushBPosted on 2006-03-16 at 22:21:53ID: 16213338

http://www.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/2005-October/107586.html

Looks like it works. I have been mulling over the same sort of things, I have no choice but to keep DirecTV where I am, but I want it on my network etc.

I'd be scared about buying it off eBay until I read some more. DirecTV has changed a lot recently with their cards and marrying them to receivers. You don't know what will work and what won't anymore.

Later,
RushB

 

by: dfu23Posted on 2006-03-17 at 06:35:34ID: 16216071

Agreed,

This guy definitely sounds like he was able to get his Myth box to control the D10-300 ... but he really didn't mention anything along the lines of whether or not the card is married to that receiver or not ... just like you said. Do you know how we could find out the deal on this? I have looked a bit on the Net and haven't really found anything that confirms or denies whether it can be done ...

I guess there would be 2 scenarios:

1. Can I get a different receiver from somewhere and just plug in the card that I had to that ... and have it work?

OR

2. Can I get a different receiver from somewhere that has its original card with it ... and have it work?

 

by: Adam314Posted on 2006-03-17 at 07:31:26ID: 16216649

You might be able to make it work with your current DirecTV box.  An IR signal is a series of on/off pulses (similiar to morse code).  What the IR adapter does is send the signal that would normally come from your remote to control the box.  The supported boxes means that the correct codes have already been found.  You might be able to figure out the correct codes with some trial and error.  


Or, if you have an oscilloscope, you could make a reader, and look at the signal for the necessary functions (eg: channel up/down, button 0-9,...)

 

by: RushBPosted on 2006-03-17 at 07:52:09ID: 16216892

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=291284&highlight=married+card+directv

There's the answer - apparently you need DirecTV to help in order to use the card in another box.

Later,
RushB

 

by: dfu23Posted on 2006-03-17 at 11:56:01ID: 16219311

Adam314 -

I had a friend here at work mention doing the same sort of thing ... I personally wasn't aware that there was such a thing as an IR adapter. Well, I can mark off my "learned something new today" checkbox.

Anyways, I agree that this would be a potential workaround but I am hoping that having access through the serial port to change channels as opposed to mimicing an IR remote would be faster. This thought is completely based without any supporting data but I want to hold on to this hope for the time being. By all means prove me wrong. Oh yeah, not to mention I have found the script to allow me to control the DirecTV box through MythTV using Linux ... I'm not sure if such a thing exists out there for an IR adapter.

RushB -

Going off the last comment in that thread it does sound like DirecTV can assist you with the transfer of the access cards to new receivers. I'm going to try to confirm this with DirecTV in a round-a-bout fashion to try to make sure this will be the case. Thanks for the good research!

I'll keep everyone updated as I find out more details. Feel free to add any further thoughts ...

 

by: dfu23Posted on 2006-03-17 at 12:57:49ID: 16219996

I called DirecTV and they said that they will work with me to get a new receiver up and running ... the criteria that the gentleman gave me was that 1. the box qualified as a good receiver and 2. my old card was still in working condition.

Qualifying as a good receiver supposedly means that the box was still in good standing with DirecTV. Like the account it was under was not in good standings ... didn't pay and maybe went into collections or soemthing along those lines ... I guess they mark those boxes somehow as bad apples.

 

by: dfu23Posted on 2006-03-21 at 19:18:44ID: 16253933

Just for the record:

I will be getting a D10-300 to play around with that I got off of eBay ... and I ordered the serial connector to allow for channel changing control by the computer. Hopefully, all will go as planned and this project will turn out to be a decent success.

Thanks for everyone's assistance!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...