Does anyone know the command string to power on/off a genie client? I can get it to work with the HR54, but not the clients themselves.

This is a whole new world that I'd never heard of!

What documentation are you using? What models are the clients?

By the way, just using the IR remote, we had a ridiculously squirrely thing happen with a wireless client and a Sony TV: two different clients worked fine on other TVs, but on this one TV the client power light came on 15 seconds after we hit power and the picture didn't come on totally until 45 seconds after hitting power.

So, just a weird suggestion: try the commands you've got, but with the clients conencted to TVs other than the ones you've had them connected to.

With a control system? There is no sequence, you send power off for of, power on for on. With a URC driver anyway. Couldnt be simpler.

Whats the problem? Are you trying to use a Harmony or something?

IR, IP, RS232? Not enough info.

I'm using a Crestron system and using IP to communicate with the HR54. The string I'm using for power on is: /remote/processKey?key=poweron&clientAddr=[#Mac Address]

Should I be using something else?

I get a response from the server that the command executed successfully, but nothing happens.

DirecTV Shef. I've never heard of it before and never seen it referred to either. There are pdf documents about it online. I don't get it.

I googled and found this doc

[Link: kathyicingonthecake.com]

Looks like the clients use a different ID method than IP address.

Yeah. I'm able to send every other command to the clients...just not the power on, power off, or power toggle commands.

It's basically just a way of controlling the boxes over IP. It makes life pretty convenient because you don't run any dedicated control wiring. Just connect your DTV server up to a network line, and you've got control over all the boxes attached to that server.

I've had the feeling for a couple of years that DirecTV really doesn't want to clearly and obviously publish all the information for deeply understanding how their stuff works. The fact that this information is clearer on a site called "Kathy icing on the cake" than in the official DirecTV pfds lends some credence to that thought!

Dig this: we wonder why it takes so long for client commands to take effect? Look at the next paragraph!


I get that. To change A, we send a command to A, which relays it to B, which does some things and then sends results to A. No wonder it's not instantaneous. Going on:

(Note: I had to "break" the command to make it appear in Remote Central's text window. In front of the first character, the a, the actual command has a "capital comma." After the last a there's a "capital period.")
(In the following, the 10.0.0.5 is the LAN IP address for the Genie in this particular setup. It's not a generic address, so would vary from system to system.)

Two things here: a)when a description says "simply," get ready for something crucial to be left out. b)here's a MAC address written without the colons. Sure. Why not.

Controlling dtv client IP has never properly worked. You can lock up control. No idea why. Nor recall the steps to lock it up, something like going into menu and settings? Someone will chime in on what NOT to do with ip on a dtv client. I just use IR on those.

Yup, DTV clients suck. You can use IP control for the majority of commands except power on/off.

Also, as Ranger referred, if you're using IP control on clients and access the menu settings on them, you'll lose control with no way to back out except for rebooting.

So, either IR all the way, or IP and use IR for Power control.

DTV sucks!!

I use RS-232 on pretty much every DTV box and have never had a problem with either Creston or Savant.

Yep, can't control power on clients via IP and if you go into the setup menu the client will lock up and need to be rebooted.

The original SHEF document that was easy to find was from 2010 or 2011. The facts shared in this thread are the reason why we have not heard of this before.

not on clients