August 2004
Kevin Moye
moyekj@yahoo.com

Enabling CA/IVS on RTV5504

These are compact instructions on how to enable CA and IVS for an RTV55xx.
See further down for instructions on setting up a daily automated script to run Wirns and force a net connect on your 55xx machine without needing to run Wirns 24/7.

Enabling CA/IVS on RTV5504 using Wirns

1. Note that you must have version 530510190 of the software for this to work. Later versions of software will not work. You can check which version of software your RTV55xx is running using 411-Zones. If you don't have that software version you will have to image the drive with that version before anything else.
You can obtain the 530510190 image from here: 5040_530510190.zip
Instructions on how to re-image the hard drive can be found at same site: directions.doc

2. Obtain wirns-1.1.2b.zip attachment from this AVS thread: thread

3. Unzip wirns-1.1.2b.zip to a fresh folder.

4. Obtain GetShellCommands.dll plugin from: GetShellCommands_v1.1.zip

5. Obtain NoSoftwareUpdate.dll plugin from: NoSoftwareUpdate_v1.1.zip

6. Install NoSoftwareUpdate.dll and GetShellCommands.dll in Plugins directory.

7. Start WiRNS by double-clicking the "StartWirns.bat" file

8. Configure WiRNS by browsing to "http://127.0.0.1:8923" in your web browser
Click Configuration->WiRNS
Set "WiRNS IP" to the IP address of your PC (192.168.1.101)
Set "DNS Server" to the IP address of a working DNS server (192.168.1.1)
(e.g. the IP of your ISP's DNS server *or* the IP of your router)

9. Close the WiRNS server by closing its console window

10. Restart WiRNS by double-clicking the "StartWirns.bat" file again

11. Reconfigure your ReplayTV to connect via WiRNS
Go to Menu->Setup->Network and Input Settings->Change network
Configure the ReplayTV to use a static (manual) IP (192.168.1.5)
Set DNS1 and DNS2 to the "WiRNS IP" you specified above (192.168.1.101)

12. Create a "shellcmds" file (no .txt extension!!) in the folder containing "WiRNS.exe" with the following lines:
regedit setval SysConfig/DefaultPlayback CommercialSkipEnabled 1
regedit setval Software/Apps/Internet InternetEnabled 1

NOTE: From this point onwards you must always net connect your RTV 55xx machine through this Wirns proxy for it to work. This means you must either leave your computer running 24/7 or consult the section below on how to accomplish this without leaving computer turned on all the time.

Automating forced net connects through Wirns once daily

I don't like to leave my computer turned on 24/7 so was looking for a solution to automatically once a day force a net connect of my RTV 55xx machines through Wirns. The solution outlined below works very well using a Perl script and Windows XP. Note that the only requirement is you should put your PC/laptop in "hibernate" or "sleep" mode instead of fully turning it off - this will allow Windows XP "Scheduled Tasks" manager to wake up the computer to run the task and then automatically resume "sleep" or "hibernate" mode once the job completes. If you happen to have the computer turned on at the time the scheduled task initiates it also works fine (assuming you are not using port 80 for something else at the time - like running DVArchive).

1. If you don't already have Perl installed, you can download it from here:
ActivePerl-5.6.1.638-MSWin32-x86.zip

2. My Perl script you can download from here: netconnect.pl
Put the script in a fresh folder, C:\home in this example.
NOTE: This example specifies your Wirns installation is in C:\home\wirns folder
Then you will have to adjust these lines accordingly in the script:
# Adjust these for your environment
local $RTVIP = "192.168.1.5";
local $WIRNSDIR = "C:\\home\\wirns";
local $NETCONNECT_SLEEP = 300; # time to wait for netconnect to finish

3. To run the script manually (to test it out):
- Open up a "cmd" window
- cd C:\home
- perl netconnect.pl

4. Once you have script working manually, you can setup scheduled task in WinXP:
start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Scheduled Tasks
- Under Task tab:
Run = C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe netconnect.pl
Start in = C:\home
Set password... and supply your winxp login password - if you don't have one you have to set one up first.
- Under Schedule tab setup the once daily run time to whatever you want
- Under Settings tab make sure to enable "Wake the computer to run this task"

NOTE: If you have several 55xx machines you need to do this for the Perl script could easily be adjusted to build a list of RTVIPs and run in a foreach loop.