[mythtv] Possible bug from "setup" using tv_grab_uk

[Mr. Adam ALLEN]

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On Sun, 2002-12-29 at 15:34, Matthew Burnham wrote:
> > > --config-file /home/allena28/.mythtv/test.xmltv --configure=20
> > > --retry-limit 2 --retry-delay 30 --postalcode 02111 --list-providers
> > Yes, that is what is needed.  I'd also like to add manual=20
> > channel configuration to the GUI, using --list-channels, once=20
> > there is some way to feed that information into tv_grab_na=20
> > non-interactively.
>=20
> Hmmm, had another look at this today.
>=20
> As far as I can see, currently in tv_grab_na, there's no way to choose
> which channels are actually used, just the provider (as you've noted
> above). A bigger problem I see, is that you can only choose one
> provider, both manually in tv_grab_na (AFAIK) and in the setup GUI at
> present.
>=20

Here's what I've thought so far.

I've got tv_grab_uk to have a --list-providers (the postcode isn't used
but handled to maintain compatibility with grab_na). For providers my
initial idea was:
 Analogue Terrestrial (one for each region, Central, Yorkshire, etc)
 Digital Terrestrial (FREEVIEW)
 Analogue Cable (NTL)
 Digital Cable (NTL)
 (etc)


So far in GUI terms with the user would enter their postcode, and select
tv_grab_uk, and then choose a provider.

At this point there needs to be some intelligence in XMLTV to gather the
correct channels for NTL Digital Cable- as I see it this would be all
NTL channels  available.=20
There then needs to be a facility in MythTV to be able to drop channels
which are not required (QVC/TV Shopping/News..), and channels which
might not be in their package.

I see it to be a time consuming to integrate a providers individual
packages as different providers e.g "Telewest Base Package", "NTL Base
Package", "NTL Family Pack".

There doesn't seem to be a facility to do this in the CVS version I
dragged out this morning. Maybe a GUI based channel editor to just
display the channels available, and allow channels not required to be
deleted. ???


> For UK TV, I'd expect to be able to choose from a variety of providers
> that can be used in combination (ie. Analogue, Freeview, Sky Digital,
> various Cable providers). The following screen would allow selection of
> channel listings to download (starting with sensible defaults, few will
> want listings for shopping channels, etc.) for any/all providers.
>=20
> (This is sure to get fun in terms of conflict resolution once people
> have tuner 1 connected to a Freeview box, and tuner 2 connected to Sky
> Digital - especially as some channels are available on both services :)
>=20

Not sure if that is an issue or not for conflict resolution.... If there
doesn't exist a method already someway of  binding a paritcular
videosource to capturecard. And then some intelligence in the conflict
resolution to shift programs around. Since my TV card has disappeared in
another box for now, I'm not quite sure how this all fits together.
=20

> tv_grab_uk currently treats UK TV as two systems: regional analogue, and
> any kind of digital (groups of channels are selected based on type) so
> perhaps we should try and allow selection of (multiple) providers, then
> channel types, and individual channels (showing only the 'pool' of
> channels available from the selected providers).
>=20
> I can't see any easy way to pick up the correct region from the postcode
> as per tv_grab_na - and I get both Central and Yorkshire here, so would
> prefer to choose manually, or even have the option for both. Perhaps the
> 'analogue' provider should simply add all the regional channels to the
> 'available' pool, allowing the user to select the region(s) he wants.
> This would remove any UK-specificness that's currently present that
> would need to be handled differently by the GUI (other than not asking
> for a postcode when selecting provider).

I'm Sure that short of getting data about TV transmitters this will be
very difficult.

> Anyway, main point to this long-winded message: the GUI needs to allow
> selection of one or more providers, and selection of the channels
> provided by these providers. Does this seem reasonable? Though it would
> need a bit of hacking on tv_grab_uk, there's only one perl function used
> to configure, so it shouldn't be that daunting to add --list-providers
> (easy to hard-code) and --list-channels (though I don't think this
> should need the --provider option, unless its deemed the calling
> program's responsibility to stitch the lists together). I guess some of
> this would be better discussed with the XMLTV guys.

The way I envisage it would have one provider for each capture card, be
it terrestrial or analogue.=20

I've already added the --list-providers, and approaching the
--list-channels, although a bit more understanding of the file
structures and how XMLTV works is needed on my part.

will see how it pans out in the next few days, might come across a
showstopper.=20

Hopefully this make sense.

> I did read a note in XMLTV CVS that they're intending to allow better
> support for configuration from external applications, and try and
> achieve a common interface to each tv_grab variant, which sounds good.
>=20
> Oh, and it would be nice to be able to edit channels after initial setup
> without having to start from scratch each time...

--=20
Regards,
Adam Allen.

adam@dynamicinteraction.co.uk
pgp http://search.keyserver.net:11371/pks/lookup?op=3Dvindex&search=3Dadam%=
40dynamicinteraction.co.uk


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