# Programmatic VCR Control **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [February 15, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/programmatic-vcr-control/129255 "2008-02-15T20:20:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![starmaerker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@starmaerker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/starmaerker)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/programmatic-vcr-control/129255/1 "2008-02-15T20:20:01Z")
Hello, I was flicking through the Ruby Q.zes when I saw the VCR Program Manager (#101) – and thought how nice it would be to control my (real) video recorder via Ruby rather than its native GUI. [http://www.rubyquiz.com/quiz101.html](http://www.rubyquiz.com/quiz101.html) Inevitably when I return from a holiday somewhere I find that I’m missing the final fifteen minutes of a favourite programme because the TV network changed the schedules after I left. Of course you only find out you missed the last part once you’ve watched up to that point. Grr! With a Ruby interface I could set a daily cron job to check the TV schedules over the web and update the VCR if necessary. So does anybody know of a neat way of interfacing to a VCR? Ideally a cheap piece of electronics I could buy online…and no, a TiVo thingy doesn’t count as cheap 🙂 Thanks! Andy S. ---
**Author:** ![starmaerker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@starmaerker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/starmaerker)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/programmatic-vcr-control/129255/2 "2008-02-15T21:55:34Z")
On Feb 15, 1:17 pm, Andrew S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > the TV network changed the schedules after I left. Of course you > Thanks! > > Andy S. > > -------[http://airbladesoftware.com](http://airbladesoftware.com) If the VCR can be programmed solely via remote, you could use a software driven IR emitter to send the right signals to the VCR. Something like this: [http://www.usbuirt.com/](http://www.usbuirt.com/) If you really want to do this on the cheap and your time isn’t worth anything (if it is, you should probably just get a TiVo), you could buy a much more bare bones IR emitter (and probably a receiver so your software can learn the right codes) and do all the code yourself. ---
**Author:** ![starmaerker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@starmaerker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/starmaerker)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/programmatic-vcr-control/129255/3 "2008-02-16T13:13:10Z")
On 15 Feb 2008, at 20:54, yermej wrote: > If the VCR can be programmed solely via remote, you could use a > software driven IR emitter to send the right signals to the VCR. > Something like this: [http://www.usbuirt.com/](http://www.usbuirt.com/) If you really want to do > this on the cheap and your time isn’t worth anything (if it is, you > should probably just get a TiVo), you could buy a much more bare bones > IR emitter (and probably a receiver so your software can learn the > right codes) and do all the code yourself. Thanks for the suggestions and the link to that site. It’s not that my time isn’t worth anything; instead that it would be more satisfying to do it myself than simply buy somebody else’s solution. On the other hand it would be more satisfying still to go windsurfing and learn to duck gybe so maybe I’ll just get the TiVo after all 🙂 Regards, Andy S. ---
**Author:** ![starmaerker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@starmaerker](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/starmaerker)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 11:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/programmatic-vcr-control/129255/4 "2008-02-17T11:25:14Z")
Andrew S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) blabbered:: > ## Thanks for the suggestions and the link to that site. > > [http://airbladesoftware.com](http://airbladesoftware.com) This is quite a bit OT, but maybe building a DVR or using something like Dreambox ([Dreambox - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreambox)) would allow you to program your own stuff into the "TiVo"ish unit…