Does Cox have any receivers that can be controlled/managed by external interfaces - to change channels, turn them on, etc. This would be very useful for home automation solutions.
Some directv receivers can be controlled with http, Dish with upnp, etc.
I would like to move back to using Cox for my services, but need a similar capability. Does Cox even support firewire channel changing on any receivers any more?
Any suggestions?
Not that I have heard of. There are methods to remote program your DVR to record something at a certian time, but it doesn't let you control what channel the box is outputting to a TV. The Contour 1 app let you "push" a program you were watching online to a TV, but only to 1 box and the interface was clunky. I don't know if the feature carried over to the Contour 2 app. There are methods using the IR input on the boxes, but I don't think that is what your talking about.
If money was no issue, you could get a Cox Business account and see how much they charge for Ucrypt or simular type video disputation system. What they offer depends on where you live, but here is one site I found.
PS. Firewire died with when Cox gave up on Passport Echo UI.
Thanks for the response.
My goal is to enable home automation. I want to walk into the room, tell Alexa that I want to watch HBO. My HA unit dims the lights, turns on the TV, receiver, cable box and tunes it to the appropriate channel.
This is pretty easy to implement with Dish and Directv but I haven't found a way to do it easily with Cox's cable boxes.
I could do it with a harmony hub and IR blasters, but IR blasters are just never as reliable as making a network call.
Dish pushes everything over IP, that's probably why it's easier for automation. Cox uses a mixture of OOB, DOCSIS, and HTTPS which makes things more complicated. You could get alot of that done with a NAS, it just wouldn't be live.
