Early DirecTV receivers had serial ports which allowed TiVo, ReplayTV, and other DVRs to control them without using IR blasters. Serial provides a more reliable control connection as there is no chance of interference or having the IR emitters moved while cleaning, etc. And it offers a bidirectional communication channel so the DVR can confirm the change. But later model DirecTV receivers dropped the serial port, forcing users of third party DVRs to use IR blasters.

I just became aware of another solution. Paterson Technologies offers a serial to USB adapter which allows users of TiVo, ReplayTV, ShowStopper, BeyondTV, SageTV, MythTV, and Windows Media Center to control the DirecTV model D11, D12, H20, H21, H32, HR20, and HR21 receivers. It is more than just a simple serial to USB cable, there is some intelligence built in such as the ability to map channels so you can have your DVR, say, tuning channel ‘4′ and the satellite receiver actually being tuned to channel 4-1 for OTA ATSC. You can configure it by connecting the adapter to a PC.

It isn’t a cheap option at $42, but for those using 3rd party DVRs with newer DirecTV receivers it may be worth it for the reliability of serial over IR, and the channel mapping abilities. You can check it out for yourself.

Since I’ve been pretty busy I haven’t had a chance to keep up with all the tech news recently, and one of the items that’s slipped through the cracks is the Hauppauge HD PVR USB device. I last reported on it a few weeks ago when it had been delayed, but in the meantime it has gone up for pre-order and some software support has been announced. Zatz Not Funny, BrentEvans Geek Tonic, and PVR Wire @ TV Squad have all been covering this:
- BEGT: Hauppage HD PVR available for pre-order @ $249
- ZNF: Hauppauge HD PVR specs
- ZNF: SageTV Says HD PVR support is coming
- ZNF: SnapStream & Elgato evaluating possible HD PVR support
- PVR Wire: Free GB-PVR already supports HD PVR

And I think that catches it all up.

SageTV, a media center software suite for Windows, Mac, and Linux, has officially released their version 6.3 update. Well, the release is for Windows and Linux, the Mac version is still in beta.

Updates over V6.2 include:

-animated user interface
-support for the SageTV STX-HD100 High Definition Media Extender
-added 125 new online content sources
-expanded hardware support on Macintosh (HDHomeRun, HVR-950, ElGato EyeTV Hybrid)
-DXVA capable MPEG2 decoder on Windows
-various bug fixes & performance enhancements
-MKV & DVR-MS file format support

For the full release notes for 6.3, see the SageTV Community Forums. Picked up from PVR Wire @ TV Squad.