Which receiver do you have? I'm not sure the get_channel function works in the script. You might just try turning it on/off or change the channel:

sudo directv.pl 5
sudo directv.pl on
sudo directv.pl off

Which version of the directv.pl script are you using? There are several.

I have an H20-600. I have also tried the channel change commands and on and off with no luck. Also, I am on script version 1.4. I got it off of http://www.pdp8.net/directv/directv.shtml.

I just tried version 1.7. Same errors.

It could be a problem with the usb port on that receiver. I have't googled to see if there is any info on it out there. I'm using the D11 receiver with a script that is geared towards that specific box.
You could always ask directv is the usb port is functional on that model.

I'm on my second H20. I don't think it is a hardware problem. Everything I've read indicates that the USB port is active on the H20. Check out the The DirecTV D11/H20 Satellite STB section on http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Co ... _or_Serial. DirecTV will not give me a straight answer about the USB port. One "manager" tells me that it should be active. Whoever answers e-mail from their website says that it can't be used for networking.

I have a technician coming out tonight because of other issues I'm having with the receiver. I'm trying to get them to upgrade me to an HR20 which I know the USB port works on.

I must have the worst luck with DTV receivers. The technician left me with an H20-100. It works so much better than the H20-600. Unfortunately, I still can't get the USB to serial connection working to change channels. I have to try a few more reset combinations with the receiver and the Myth box. If that doesn't work, I guess I'm SOL until I get an HR20. Any more thoughts? Thanks.

sorry I can't help more. I know its frustrating trying to get it to work but tis worth the hassle once you do.

This is from one of the TechKnow Guides on forums.directv.com:

"On the H20 the serial control is not yet activated. It will be activated at the same time the "Active" feature is enabled, but I don't have an estimate on when that will be. DirecTV does understand the importance of having this capability for home theater installations."

I'm not sure how others are changing channels on the H20 unless they are running the latest CE firmware.

they could be using irblaster instead of usb.

Ok. My USB port is now working after downloading the latest CE firmware from DirecTV. The perl script works from the CLI, but it is not working in MythTV. I think it is a permissions issue, but I am not sure what to check. Thanks.

Great! You could just chmod the script to 777 although I'm sure that is not good advice.
Did you ucheck the path to the script in myth-setup?

You are getting close!

I did chmod 777 on the script. I think I got it working, but will have to verify when I get home. I think the problem was the External Channel Change Command in MythTV-Setup. I have "/usr/local/bin/directv.pl". I changed it to "perl /usr/local/bin/directv.pl".

It really isn't good advice. You should set the _appropriate_ permissions and ownership and try to understand at least enough of why to get it right.

1) Scripts generally need to be set readable and executable. I strongly urge using the symbolic format rather than the number since it makes this easier to remember and get right. In this case you should do:

Setting the users permissions to read, write and execute and the group and other permissions to just read and execute.

2) Generally anything under /usr/local should be owned by root. Lets fix that next:


3) Lets make sure that the file starts with the proper "pound bang (#!) magic", for a perl script the very first line should look like this:

Note that the "'#!" need to be the first two characters of the file with no whitespace or blank lines in front of them or this doesn't work.

4) Next make sure that the script works when run from the command line as root.


5) Now try doing it with a stripped environment to make sure it doesn't make any silly assumptions about what environment variables are set. To do this use the "env" command as a wrapper


6) If that works try running it as the mythtv user to makesure that it doesn't assume root privileges. We'll do that using the "su" command as a wrapper.


7) If that works try running as mythtv with a stripped environment using.... (can you guess?)


My guess is that you're going to run into trouble either at step 5 or step 6.

Thanks tjc. Your post above was very helpful and something that I needed to understand a bit better as well (permissions that is).