Controlling TV Channel Through Computer

I'm passing my TV input through my computer so that I can use the video stream in an application I'm creating which then outputs to my TV.

E.g. Sky Digibox/FreeView box -> Laptop -> TV

Where on my laptop I'll be using the stream in a WPF application so I can overlay XAML objects onto it.

My question is, what would be the best way for me to send the signal back to the box to say change the channel for example? I don't want to have to use the remote, I want the computer to handle everything. Is there a standard cable these boxes have that could take what would normally be a remote control signal and use that as input instead? Or would I have to go down the route of looking at some sort of Infared LED to send the signal recreating the remote?

Apologies if this is not clear enough, let me know and I'll try and be more precise.

windowsgm

Posted 2012-11-12T16:44:05.813

Reputation: 178

Answers

You are most likely stuck with IR. However, Comcast has a feature which you can control your DVR via the web, so an HTTP based solution is not impossible if you have one of those boxes.

Chris Nava

Posted 2012-11-12T16:44:05.813

Reputation: 7 009

Thanks for the help. I really need to make this work for any/a number of different boxes. I'm worried that by going down the IR route I'm going to have to account for the many different binary codes for each command that (probably) vary from remote to remote. – windowsgm – 2012-11-12T17:22:14.357

You may be able to find the codes on line. There are probably databases of codes for use with opensource IR projects. – Chris Nava – 2012-11-12T20:43:39.410

Ya id'd assume so and they're used by those universal remotes. But in any case thanks for your help. – windowsgm – 2012-11-13T15:50:27.247