Overview

This plugin allows MediaPortal to change channels and manage the power state of your DirecTV Receiver via IP control. Your DirecTV receiver needs to be connected to your network in order for this to work.

How the plugin works

At startup this plugin adds an event listener to the TVServer event list.  The plugin then listens for TV server events (e.g., change channel event, start time shifting, start recording).  When an appropriate event is received the plugin relays appropriate information to the configured DirecTV receiver via the DirecTV SHEF IP control interface.

Installation

To install the plugin:

1. Download the plugin from the MediaPortal plugins repository in the Television Extensions section.
2. Unzip the distribution package to your harddrive
3. Browse the unzipped distribution to "DirecTV_SHEF\src\bin\Release\"
4. Copy DirecTV_SHEF.dll to your "MediaPortal TV Server\Plugins" directory
5. Restart your TVService

Setup

Up to four DirecTV receivers may be used with this plugin. Each receiver setup takes three pieces of information:

• Description - (optional text string) a convenient description for the DirecTV receiver (e.g., model number, etc.)
• Card Id - the card id (an integer value) that MediaPortal has assigned for this receiver; view assigned card ids in the TV Server Configuration tool under the TV Servers tree entry
• IP Address - the IP address (x.x.x.x) assigned to the receiver; discover the IP address of your DirecTV in the DirecTV setup menus

The mapping between the card id and the receiver is determined by your hardware connections and is not important relative to the function of this plugin.

You may optionally allow the plugin to turn on and off your DirecTV receiver for timeshifting (watching live tv) and recording. For example; when you start timeshifting the receiver will turn on and tune to the desired channel. When you stop timeshifting the receiver will turn off. The option is a global setting and applies to all receivers.

Test your setup

For each receiver setup there is a Test button that allows for validation of communication with the receiver. The test does not validate card id mapping; only that the TV server can communicate with the DirecTV receiver.

Discussion / Support

Source code is included with the distribution.  If you encounter problems or would like to contribute please post in the forum thread.