DirecTV Driver

DirecTV Driver is Allonis' application that provides a 2 way real time integration with a DirecTV DVR or Genie Mini Clients within your myServer user interface.

System Requirements

myServer 6
Device licenses available for all DirecTV receivers to be enabled.
DirecTV receiver on the same IP network subnet as myServer. Genie 1 and Genie 2 are verified to work.
For commercial projects (Sports bars / restaurants), DVR systems are not recommended. H24s, H25s, and H26 non DVR receivers are recommended. Best is H26 as they do not require an external DECA adapter as they have built in ethernet control ports.
DirecTV receivers that do not have an ethernet jack can be controlled by implementing the DECA Broadband adapter. Here is an article HERE that provides good detail on DirecTV networking. Typically one DECA is used for up to 8 DirecTV receivers. BBDeca-Gig-E or BBDeca-USB would be a part number.
The following DIRECTV boxes need a DECA for coax networking:
https://www.solidsignal.com/directv-gige-deca-att-approved-network-adapter-dcage11
Ultimate Guide to DIRECTV upgrades - https://blog.solidsignal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Multiswitch-White-Paper.pdf
DECA units are used to inject internet into the coaxial network. A DIRECTV commercial installation may have multiple coax networks. With SWM switches, each SWM output is its own network. So a DSWM30, with 2 outputs, has 2 coax networks, as communication is not share between those outputs. If using both outputs on a DSWM30, each output would need to have a dedicated DECA unit to inject internet into that coaxial network. If you take a look at the link above, on Page 21, there is a wiring diagram, showing how that would be setup. Each SWM port from a DSWM30, has a DECA tied to it. So, for instance, if they have a deca on SWM 1, that will bring internet to the units setup on SWM2. SWM2 in this scenario, would need to have its own DECA unit.

Installation

1) Isolate one DirecTV receiver to work on. Typically this would mean powering down all but one receiver. Then, using the DirecTV handheld remote, configure the receiver. Once done with the first receiver, do all the rest one at a time.

2) Configure the DirecTV receiver(s) by enabling "External Access" in the Menu / Setup / Network.

"If you’re using DIRECTV® Whole-Home DVR service, use this option to name this receiver location. Select “Whole-Home”, then “Name Location” and follow the onscreen instructions. To learn more, read the “DIRECTV® Whole-Home DVR service” section in Chapter 3. Use the “External Devices” option to allow mobile devices to access content on your DIRECTV receiver, including the ability to see the info for the currently tuned program, and tune to a channel. The “Status” option shows whether your account is authorized for Whole-Home DVR service, and how many receivers are found on your network."

Check to see if your DIRECTV Receivers are networked: Press the DASH button on the remote. The screen should say, SWiM CONNECTED and INTERNET: CONNECTED. If it is not “SWiM Connected” or “Internet: Connected,” ensure it is network connected.

Check to see if DIRECTV Receivers are enabled for the External App: Press and hold the INFO button on the remote until the System Info & Test screen appears. Select WHOLE-HOME. Select EXTERNAL DEVICE. Change all options to ALLOW. Options could include EXTERNAL ACCESS or CURRENT PROGRAM.

"External Access" / "Access Current Program" has to be allowed.

"Current program" has to be allowed.

"Recently watched" Shared.

DTV Grants

You may see a message: DirecTV whole home DVR service is not authorized...to order call 1800-531-5000....that message is not relevant for myServer to control DirecTV...so diregard it.

Testing/Troubleshooting:

Note: The IP address of the DTV receiver can not start with a 169.x.x.x address. If it does, then this means that the DTV receiver was unable to obtain an IP address which could be a result of bad cable, bad switch, or otherwise point to trouble with your DHCP server. All DHCP assigned addresses should be reserved within the DHCP Server scope so that they do not change in the future or statically assigned. Please consult your network admin for further assistance.

To confirm the DirecTV boxes are correctly setup, you can use these URLs via any web browser. For this example replace the text a.b.c.d with the ip address of your DTV receiver. If either returns 403 or a 50x status then permissions (see above) are not set properly or the ip address is not correct. There should be no need to reboot the DirecTV receivers after making these settings. But also no harm in doing so either. It just takes a while for them to fully reboot.

This validation step is required to confirm each DirecTV receiver is properly setup when Allonis is commissioned to program the system to save time.

http://a.b.c.d:8080/info/mode

http://a.b.c.d:8080/tv/getTuned

The latter should return current program content information.

Verify each DirecTV receiver is setup correction by going through the list of receivers per the config spreadsheet and entering

http://192.168.1.104:8080/info/mode

from a web browser. If you get content information back then that one is good, If not, then you need to investigate. Change the ip address for each DTV receiver accordingly.

Once you’re done with that, then go through each DTV receiver and attempt to change to channel 100, wait for the user interface to update the channel info, and then change the channel back to whatever you want. This tests each receiver.

Keep in mind that the DirecTV receivers may be displaying video, and just because they display video doesn’t guarantee that they are responding to network requests. If they do not respond to network requests then they are not accessible to take commands from the control system.

You can verify if the respective DTV receivers are functional via opening web browser and entering the following ip address. Just change the ip address of each DTV receiver. DTV 1 is 192.168.1.101 – DTV 8 192.168.1.108. When doing this from a web browser, you will get the “now playing” info from the DTV receiver. If offline, then you will get a “This site can not be reached” error.

On the user interface, you may see one of four different messages. Each means that something is wrong with the DTV box that needs to be addressed locally on the DirecTV receiver.
<<DTV NAME>> is Offline (check for network connectivity and that the DirecTV receiver has a pingable IP address)
<<DTV NAME>> Permissions Error (ensure External Control is enabled)
<<DTV NAME>> Internal Error (can be an issue with the DirecTV hardware)
<<DTV NAME>> Configuration Error (DirecTV documentation is unclear. It simply state that some setting in the DVR is incorrect.)

The DirecTV receivers are polled every 30 seconds. Unless the dtv is marked offline. When offline, there is a 300 second delay between polls. If you want to trigger a new status, check send the offline dtv a command,

If you are doing the complete system configuration, continue below:

1) Install the latest version of myServer 6 from myServer Software Updater. Ensure all settings / macros / User interface commands are compatible with the latest version before upgrading!

2) Install the latest version of the DirecTV driver from the Software Updater.

3) Purchase enough device licenses for the amount of DTV receivers you will be adding.

5) Restart myServer 6.

6) Go to the DirecTV driver. Click on the Discovery Tab. In a few minutes you should see your DirecTV receivers (the Genie(s)).

7) Select each DTV receiver and select "Add selected". This will copy that DVR's IP and Mac address to the AV family as a new AV device to control.

8) In the AV Family, select and edit the DTV receiver meta-data that was added by the "Add Selected".

The DVR ("Genie") must only it's IP address ("192.168.0.10"). No MAC address in the description field (delete if it's there from the Add Selected).

Mini Genie (clients):

Mini Genie (clients) need the IP address of it's corresponding DVR ("192.168.0.10"), AND the MiniClient MAC address ("AABBCCDDEEFF") in the description field. No hyphens or colons. UPPER case.

You can find all mini Genie MAC addresses by going to the DTV setup menu under System Menu: Server. Towards the bottom of the list, you will see your Client Locations. The MAC address for each client is displayed there.

You can have one or more DVRs, each can have none to several Mini Genie's associated to a DVR (associated by the DVR's IP address)

All commands are sent to the primary DVR. When the command includes the MAC address, that tells the primary DVR to send the command off to the Genie client at that MAC address.

Note that if the DirecTV Driver is configured that any DTV receiver is set for "169.x.y.z" IP address, that sets it into Demo mode. It will appear to work on the user interface, but no messages are being sent to an actual DTV receiver. If the DTV receiver is not available in the system but configured, it should be set to this demo IP address.

Usage

You navigate to the DirecTV control webpage by clicking on the Menu / Media / DirecTV link.

Click a control. Enjoy!

You can click the included drop down to select other DVRs or clients. If you don't want to access the secondary DVRs from that menu, delete the drop down using myDesigner. This might be used if a DVR (or miniclient) is always associated with only one Zone and is then selected with the Zone / Source selection buttons.

Log Messages:

"Error when attempting to access device..."

DirecTV driver was trying to get current mode from the receiver. DTV box might have been in an off state as the 500 error was being generated by the DTV box. This is normal.

If the DVR is On, then double check your Genie network and Whole Home settings are setup correctly.

How many DirecTV devices did the driver discover? Each one has a unique device ID.

In Family Manager / AV tree make sure the model for each of your DirecTV boxes is set to "DTV-DVR". If it is not in the dropdown just type in DVR into the model cell.

Then on the sample DirecTV scene there is a "Select A DirecTV Receiver" dropdown option. Clicking that should expose all the "DVR" devices in the system. Select one of them. The page will refresh and you'll have control over the selected DVR. If you do not send Allonis what the DirecTV driver event log looks like.

If you see "access denied" type messages in the DirecTV event log then that means that the DTV boxes have not been properly configured to allow remote control from third party devices.

Troubleshooting

DirecTV receiver disappearing off the network

"Ping" the DirecTV receivers from a PC on the same network.

If the DirecTV receivers are occasionally not pingable, then check all of the cable terminations. Possibly when you are rebooting, you are also wiggling the connectors allowing it to reconnect.

Is it always the same DirecTV receiver? If so, replace that ethernet cable. Or change ethernet ports in the network switch. Or replace the offending DirecTV receiver.

Do the DirecTV receivers have an RJ45 / ethernet connection? Or are you using DECA? If DECA, you might swap that hardware.

Generally, DirecTV receivers are fairly reliable once the system has been proven working. Occasionally replacement DirecTV receivers work. If you do replace one, ensure it is setup with same IP address as the bad one, and enable External Control and Playing Now in the DirecTV setup menu so myServer 6 can control the new one as it was the old one.

Not seeing DirecTV receiver picture

If this is the case, possibly an EDID handshake issue with the matrix / TVs. What type of matrix and what TV? Try to set the display resolution to what DirecTV and the TV will support ie: don't allow it to Auto negotiate. If less than high quality HDMI cables are used, that can also cause an EDID issue where no display will be seen.

If you are experiencing an issue or “Out of Range” when connecting your DIRECTV Model H24-700 cable box into our XMP-6400, the solution is to change the output resolution using DIRECTV box’s front panel button instead of using the remote control.

Follow the following instructions to configure the DIRECTV H24-700 box:

Connect DirectTV box to the video matrix transmitter’s input.
Press 2 times on the RES button, then wait for 5 seconds.
If it still shows “Out of Range”, then repeat “step b” until you see an image show up on the screen.

The DIRECTV box outputs a 480i resolution by default (which may not be supported by the video distribution matrix). You will need to connect it to a screen, then switch the resolution to 720p by pressing the “RES” button on the front panel. You will see the screen shows 720p, then you can connect it to our media player:

Here are some strange behaviors to look out for when using the DIRECTV box:

The DIRECTV box will lose its setting once you unplug the power, so if you move the box to another location, you will need to reconfigure the resolution again.
The front panel “RES” button is very difficult to use. There is no LED light indicator (circled in below) to signify which resolution is selected. If you connect the DIRECTV box directly to the video matrix transmitter and then select the resolution, remember to press “RES” button 2 times (like mouse double click) to switch resolution. The first press will show current resolution, and the second press will change to next resolution. Switching the resolution will take about 5 seconds to take effect.

Although configuring the resolution through the cable box settings using the remote does not work, we suggest to configure the setting to only activate 720p.

Another way to confirm is to check your TV or monitor for the input resolution. Here, the box is configured to activate 720p resolution using the box's internal settings. However, we can see that the monitor is receiving a resolution of 480i from the DIRECTV box.

If you are experiencing an issue or “Out of Range” when connecting your DIRECTV Model H25 cable box into our XMP-6400, the solution is to change the output resolution using DIRECTV box’s front panel RES button or using the format button of the remote control.

Follow the following instructions to configure the DIRECTV H25 box:

Problem: The selected resolution is not the actual output resolution!

If you select resolution using remote control or the device buttons to browse through “info & test” -> “Display” -> “TV Resolution” then make a check on the 720p box, this will NOT set the H-25 to 720p!

For example, if you look at the image below, the yellow circle shows the actual resolution from HDMI1 (e.g. 480pH) while the menu is already selected to 720p (e.g red circle).

If you use arrow and select buttons, you will not configure the actual resolution of the H-25:

The right way to configure H-25 to 720p is to use the “Format” button on remote control or the “RES” button on the H-25:

Once you click those buttons, it will loop you through the resolution and you will see a resolution info pop-up on screen (e.g. in photo below, both screen resolution and H-25 resolution are matching)

Then you can connect the H-25 to video matrix transmitter: