Channel Surfing
With An Arduino
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By William Baird
For several years, I have used my desktop PC as a DVR (digital video
recorder). My current setup uses a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-950Q about the
size of a Flash drive that connects to the PC via USB. The other end of the
950Q is a standard cable F connector. The 950Q has its own internal tuner
and the software associated with it allows the scheduling of multiple
recordings on different channels (useful if you’ll be away from home for a
few days).
This served me well until my local cable company switched to all digital distribution. This means that a cable box is now required for many TVs — even flat-panel HD models that are
just a few years old. The problem is that — as far as my
950Q device is concerned — everything is now on
channel 4. All tuning is done on the external cable box.
This is similar to the way a TV viewing cable through a
VCR would remain fixed on channel 3 or 4, and
different programs would be selected through the VCR’s
remote control.
There are some TV capture
cards that include a small IR
transmitter that will fix this
problem. The capture card will
then act like a universal remote,
allowing you to change the
“real” channel when scheduling
a recording, even though the
card itself remains tuned to
channel 4. Unfortunately, the
tiny 950Q does not have this
capability.
Recently, when preparing
for an overnight trip, I realized
that I’d like to record two
programs on two different
channels. It occurred to me that
FIGURE 1. Arduino, electronic switch IC,
and universal remote control.
32
February 2012
