andy vt's tools & blog

What kind of STB are you testing this on?  I've put a zero value in for the SendKey and still can't get it to work.  If I use the new DLL I just don't get any channel changing.  Reset my STB and switch back to the original and it works fine.  Very odd.

I have a DCH-3200.

Does it work if you use channel.exe?

I hadn't tried that yet.  I have a wedding coming up next week so it was by the grace of my fiance that I had the time to test this weekend that I did.  I will try and squeeze in a litte bit more testings.  I suppose it's entirely possible that the custom software in my Cox Cable SA 3250HD doesn't support the full set of A/VC 1394 commands.  But I'll try and give it a quick shot on the command line this evening and see what I can get it to do.  I'll probably create a batch file to be able to send it a channel number and the select command in quick succession.  That way I can get it in under the timeout it waits for further key presses.

Ok, I've been messing around for a while with channel.exe and I don't seem to understand how it works.  Am I supposed to use the -qN command to send those commands? I try to do:

channel -q0 2

It invariably puts a "1" on the screen or nothing.  There doesn't seem to be any documentation anywhere explaining what the -uN, -qN and -sN command-line parameters do.  It looks like Tim never got around to documenting those.  At least not from what I can see.  I can't seem to find any explaination anywhere.

Look at the section titled "Can I send other buttons than change channel?" for details on what format to use to send commands.

I tried that with the example command that's listed in the readme.  All that does on my box is changes it to channel 32.  Also, using:

channel -d 2 0

 Just enters a 0 on my STB. 

If you'll notice though, go to the section entitled Firewire Channel Change Testing and scroll down where it shows entering "channel /?" the list of commands is old.  There are additional commands -uN, -qN and -sN that are not listed or documented anywhere in this readme or the readme that comes with the last version of the tools.  But if you go to the command-line and run "channel /?" it will give you the list of commands as follows, the last few commands aren't documented anywhere from what I can tell:

 channel: Change channel via firewire, timmmoore Copyright 2005
Firewire STB channel changer V1.0.15, by timmmoore

channel -v -tN -aM -d -n Device Channel
-v: verbose
-aN: alternate commands, N = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
     0: send channel as a single command (doesn't work while streaming)
     1: send channel as a 3 press key commands
     2: send channel as a 3 press/release key commands (default)
     3: send channel as a 3 release key commands
     4: send channel as a single command (works with SA3250, SA8X00)
     5: send channel as a single command (variation of 0)
     6: send channel as a single command (variation of 4))
-tN: timeout in milliseconds between digits for -a1, 2, 3 (default: 50)
-f: force commands to be sent on non-supported devices
-d: decimal, send channel as a decimal single key
-n: device number is firewire unique name
-uN: firewire subunit (default is 0)
-qN: firewire command
-sN: firewire subcommand

Note: Channel by default checks the firewire device and picks the correct comman
d. Parameters should only be needed during testing of a new device

 I'm trying to get this to work, but it doesn't seem to do anything for me. I have a moto box, channel.exe line is

 channelw.exe -f -a6 %DEVICE% %CHANNEL%

 Which still works fine, so I changed to try to use yours, using the updated version in this thread, and using the reg keys  SendA = 6, SendKey = 0(which works with channel.exe, so I know 0 works) and SendMin is 1000, since I need 4 digits. I changed the tuning_plugin line in sage.properties from exemultitunerplugin.dll to FWChannelProxy2.dll, my device is 2 as well. Confirmed again with channel.exe. Nothing seems to happen when I change channels in sage. The log file isn't too helpful, I just get1 line per try of

 DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH

 I tried a depends on the dll, and I get a warning of 'Warning: At least one module has an unresolved import due to a missing export function in a delay-load dependent module." for both IEFrame.dll and SHLWAPI.dll, but this could be a red herring, I was just desperate. I'm using Vista Sp1, 32bit. Anything else I might try?

I'll add some more logging to make sure the macrotune method is getting called.

 Great, I'm still pretty much set up to drop in and test whenever. Thanks!

Try this one.  There's a test exe in the zip that will change the channels.  It must be run from an elevated command prompt.

 syntax is  "TunerStubTest.exe 100" where 100 is the channel number you want to tune.

 When I use the test exe, I get

 </p><p>DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH
MacroTune 585
LoadLibrary 4587520
sendKey 0
sendMin -24
sendA 6
-f -a6 2 585
-f -a6 -d 2 0
HR = 0
DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH
MacroTune 574
LoadLibrary 2949120
sendKey 0
sendMin -24
sendA 6
-f -a6 2 574
-f -a6 -d 2 0
HR = 0

 But it takes over 10 seconds just to tune, not sure if that is all the debugging. Now when I change sage.properties to use the dll I get this

DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH
DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH
DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH
DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH

 But these are just when I start the service(yes 4 of them), nothing gets logged when I try to change the channel. Sounds like something is misconfigured in Sage, but the only line I change is from EXEMultiTunerPlugin.dll to FWChannelProxy2.dll (both are in the common folder) It seems like it should work.

try selecting FWChannelProxy2 in sage instead of editing the properties file directly.

those entries are normal, Sage enumerates the dlls in its common folder.

it shouldn't take 10 seconds to make the channel change btw, 0 may not be the right select button.

I am trying to use the FWChannelProxy, but it does not work in my Sage TV.

My channel.exe params are -f -a0

I downloaded the latest version from
http://babgvant.com/forums/t/2556.aspx

And set the registry key to
"SendMin"=dword:00000064
"SendA"=dword:00000000
"SendKey"=dword:ffffffff

It is working with TunerTestStub.exe i get this in the log file
DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH
MacroTune 602
LoadLibrary 4063232
sendKey -1
sendMin 100
sendA 0
-f -a0 2 602
HR = 0


But from sage it does NOT work and I get this in the log file
DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH

Can you help me?

thank you!