Many people have trouble setting up serial/usb channel changing using DVBLink, DirecTV and Windows 7.  I am going to show you the software, hardware and steps I used to get channel changing that is 99% accurate (sometimes it misses the NFL Sunday Ticket HD sub channels).

Software used

• HDPVR IrBlaster Bridge - This is a drop in replacement for the Hauppauage IR Blaster DLL. It currently supports talking directly to the DirecTV STB via the serial port.
• (Optional) DirecTV Channel Control v1.0- This is a utility that will allow you to change channels and control your external direcTV set top box using the low speed data connection (home control) port in the back of the receiver.  This is only needed for the NFL Sunday Ticket HD

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Here are the steps I used to obtain DirecTV HD using Windows 7 MCE, but you should be able to use any Set Top Box.  The Hauppauge HDPVR will record from your set top box to an h.264 wtv file.  At the moment the Xbox 360 is the only MCE extender that can play video produced by the HDPVR.  Most of the instructions taken from the 1geek1tool wiki.

Install Windows 7

I did a clean install of Windows 7 Business.  I ran Windows Update and installed all the Important updates.

Install the latest drivers for your graphics card

Windows Update didn’t give me the latest drivers for my ATI HD 2600 XT.  Having a card that has a hardware h.264 decoder is recommended if you plan on using your HTPC to connect to your TV to cut down on CPU usage.  If you plan on using the Xbox 360 as your extender then the h.264 decoder is not needed.

 I use my HTPC in my theater and 2 Xbox 360s in the rest of the house.

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This is where I will be posting articles, pictures, reviews, and news about Home Theater & Technology that I use in our family theater.