147 Revelstoke Road Southfields London SW18 5NN United Kingdom UK Tel: +44 (0)20 8144 9354 US tel:

+1 (801) 285 9354 www.extravegetables.com

Control4 DIRECTV Driver

Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 2 How it Works......................................................................................................... 2 DIRECTV Requirements ........................................................................................... 2 Test before you install............................................................................................. 3 The Experience....................................................................................................... 3
Channel and Program Title on C4 Touch Screens ............................................................................ 3 Mini Touch Screens .................................................................................................................... 4

Limitations ............................................................................................................. 4 Installing the Driver................................................................................................. 4

Copy the driver files.................................................................................................................... 4 Add the driver to your project ...................................................................................................... 4 AV Connections ......................................................................................................................... 5 IP Connection ............................................................................................................................ 5

Test the Driver ....................................................................................................... 6 Favorite Stations .................................................................................................... 6 Touch Panel Displays .............................................................................................. 7
Channel Information.................................................................................................................... 7 Program Information ................................................................................................................... 9

Troubleshooting.................................................................................................... 10 Activating the Driver ............................................................................................. 11

Activating a demo license .......................................................................................................... 11 Purchasing a permanent license .................................................................................................. 11

Version 5.0.0 October 2011 Extra Vegetables Ltd 2010 All rights reserved
Control4 is a registered trademark of Control4 Corporation DIRECTV is a registered trademark of DIRECTV Inc Extra Vegetables and the Extra Vegetables logo are registered trademarks of Extra Vegetables Ltd

Extra Vegetables Ltd Registered in England 7104729 VAT Reg. No. GB 984 4268 77 Registered Office: 147 Revelstoke Road London SW18 5NN

Introduction
Our driver for the DIRECTV allows IP control of an HD DIRECTV DVR. It allows you to control the satellite receiver without an IR bug. The driver also provides feedback from the DIRECTV receiver which can be displayed on the Control4 interfaces. This driver marks the start of a number of exciting developments with the DIRECTV service.

How it Works
The driver uses DIRECTVs published IP interface for control (SHEF). It connects the Control4 system to the DIRECTV receiver via the data network in the home. This allows reliable control of the receiver. This driver has been tested with SHEF 1.0 and 1.1.

DIRECTV Requirements
- H21 and newer receivers - HR20 and newer DVRs You must be running the latest release of the STB software in order for the driver to function. The version number of SHEF on the box will be displayed in the Driver Information tab. You may also need to Opt In to this service on your DIRECTV receiver. You do this by navigating to the External Device settings screen (Menu->System Setup->Whole-Home->External Device) screen. Once on this screen select Allow for External Access, Current Program and Recordings as shown below:

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Read and acknowledge the caution as shown in above. If this Opt In is not available on your receiver then it is enabled by default and the driver should work.

Test before you install

Please test deploy using this driver with Control4 and the DIRECTV receiver in your office or shop before you attempt to install on site. We strongly recommend that you follow the examples presented here in a demo environment to gain confidence with the system. We will have little or no sympathy for anyone attempting to install this on a clients site without having tested it offsite first. We will provide support during US East Coast and UK office hours: 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday on the numbers listed at the head of this document. However we cannot guarantee that there will be someone for you to talk to the moment you call. We will attempt to answer any queries via email within 24 working hours. Please create a support ticket via our website.

The Experience
For your customer the experience will be very similar to using any other cable or satellite receiver. The driver uses the standard Control4 graphical layouts but with a couple of cool additions.

Channel and Program Title on C4 Touch Screens

When you change channels the new channel number and program title can appear on the touch screens in the room. This requires some simple programming which is explained later in this document.

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Mini Touch Screens

This driver is designed and optimised for the 7 touchpanels. It will work with Mini Touch Screens but since these are smaller the information may not look as good. We have had to make this decision in order to provide the best experience on the more popular panels.

Limitations
The information will not appear on the iPad or iPhone interfaces as these cannot have pop-up messages sent to them in Control4 Programming. DIRECTV are still changing the functionality of the SHEF interface, so new versions may require a new version of this driver (which will be a free upgrade from us). Going forward we hope Control4 will enable the display of the program information in the mini bar at the bottom of the touch panel interfaces.

Installing the Driver

Before you install the driver you should ensure that your DIRECTV receiver is set up on the same network as your Control4 system. You must ensure that you have set it with a static IP address. DIRECTV also advise that you should only make a network connection to the box over either the Ethernet connection on the box or through a DECA coax system such as SWIM, never both.

Copy the driver files

The zip file package contains the Control4 driver and this installation manual. Copy the .c4i file from the zip file into your My Documents Control4 Drivers folder.

Add the driver to your project

First you need to add the Satellite driver to your project. Open Composer In System Design view find the Arcam driver you require. You can then find it under Satellite, manufacturer DIRECTV. Add this to your project

The HD PVR and DIRECTV cloud will appear as shown above.

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AV Connections

The connections for the device are exactly as you would expect for the device. Just make these connections to the rest of the system in the normal way.

IP Connection
You also need to define the IP address of the DIRECTV receiver. This is done under System Design Properties tab; not on the Connections Network tab.

Simply type in the IP address of the receiver and press Set. The driver Activation Status box should then show DIRECTV box confirmed. This confirms that the driver has made contact with the receiver. If it does not then check the IP address and network connections.

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FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS YOU WILL NEED TO HAVE PURCHASED AND ACTIVATED THE DRIVER IN ORDER TO SEE THE TUNER WORKING. YOU CAN HOWEVER CONTINUE THE PROGRAMMING AS AN EXERCISE BEFORE YOU PURCHASE.

Test the Driver

Now you should test the driver thoroughly. Double click on the DIRECTV device under System Design in composer and the window on the right will pop up. From here you can easily check all the functions are working correctly. If you have problems please check your network connections and that the DIRECTV receiver can be controlled from its original remote.

Favorite Stations
You can use Control4s media section to program your customers favorite channels just like you would with a regular satellite driver. You can specify sub-channels (often used to specify the HD feed) with a or a . between the major channel number and the sub channel. For example, MLS Direct Kick SD is channel 470; MLS Direct Kick HD is channel 470-1 or 470.1 (either will work).

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Touch Panel Displays

Channel Information

To display this information whenever the program changes on the DIRECTV receiver we work with the event that is triggered in Control4 on the SHORT_INFO variable.

Select this event on the left hand side of the programming pane as shown on the previous page. We now only want to display this information on the touch panels if the DIRECTV is selected in the room.

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On the right hand side for each room where theres a touch panel where potentially you might want to display the information we need to check if DIRECTV is currently selected in the room. Highlight the room name and then on the Conditionals tab select the Video Device Selected radio button. From the dropdown list of devices select the DIRECTV receiver. Double click on the blue question mark (?) to add this programming to the central pane. If the device is selected in this room then we want to display the new information at the bottom of the touch panel. To do this select the Touch Panel in the room and add in the programming to display the SHORT_INFO on the touch panel.

You do this by selecting to display a Status Message and then selecting the SHORT_INFO text for the DIRECTV from the dropdown manual. Make sure you indent this message underneath the conditional you added earlier. Note that we have also set to clear the message after 5 seconds.
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Whenever the DIRECTV program changes the new information will now be displayed on the touch panel in the room. Repeat this procedure for any other rooms and touch panels where you would like the information displayed.

Program Information

The programming to display this information on the touch panel is similar to that for the channel information above. Only this time the event we are triggering on is the pressing of the Info button in the room. Whenever you press the info button the driver automatically retrieves the long description of current program into the EXTENDED_INFO variable. Please note in the current version of DIRECTV SHEF (1.1) the episode title and program description is no longer available. If this changes in later versions of DIRECTV SHEF then we this feature should begin working again.

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First highlight the Den on the left hand side. Then from the Commands listing select Info. Now for the programming on this first check if the DIRECTV is selected in the room. If it is then show a popup message on the touch panel with the EXTENDED_INFO. We have programmed this message to clear automatically after 15 seconds with the option for the customer to clear the message themselves by pressing the OK button.

Troubleshooting
If you experience problems with the driver it will almost certainly fall into one of two categories: Network Problems Check that the DIRECTV is still on your home network and that its IP address has not changed. Ensure that it has not reverted to DHCP. Faulty Receiver Check that the receiver can still be controlled by its original remote. If not then the receiver is most likely faulty.

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Activating the Driver

Drivers will not work until they are activated. In order to activate a driver you must have a dealer account with us. You can register at www.extravegetables.com/user/register The controller on which you want to activate the driver must be connected to the Internet. Activation is not possible unless the controller has an Internet connection.

Activating a demo license

All drivers can be activated for a FREE 14 day trial. You can demo the driver on as many systems as you like, but you can only demo it once on each system. Demo activations are not extendable or repeatable.

To activate the driver in demo mode type the word Demo followed by a and then your extravegetables.com username. So as per the example above you would replace the XXXXX with your username. You will then see the Activation Status change to ACTIVATED.

On your dealer login under licenses you will now see that the demo has been initiated for this driver and the date at which the demo will expire.

Purchasing a permanent license

To purchase a permanent license login to your dealer account and make your purchase through our website. Remember you no longer need to specify the MAC address of the controller in advance. You will automatically receive your license key within a few minutes of purchase 24/7. Your license key will also appear in your dealer account as Available for activation.

Carefully copy and paste the License key into the Activation Key field and press Set. The driver will then verify the code via the Internet and show Activated. On your dealer login you will also see the license is active and in use, together with the system details.

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