[mythtv] A perl QAM scanner - call for volunteers

[Robert Kulagowski]

On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 7:22 PM, Robert Kulagowski <rkulagow at gmail.com> wrote:
> [Putting on my Schedules Direct hat]
>
> I've created a perl scanner which leverages the information we can get
> from a HDHR-cable card system to create an accurate call sign to QAM
> mapping.  It will help end the issue of not knowing which QAM
> frequencies have which content on them (without watching each channel
> to figure it out).
>
> Tribune's systems (the source of the data for Schedules Direct) are
> not programmed to support QAM because the cable companies don't want
> to distribute QAM data, so Tribune isn't going to do the R&D to
> support QAM if there's no "market" for it. Since the cable companies
> are the ones that would need to request the requirement, (and they're
> not), Tribune isn’t going to implement something which won’t be used,
> and which the cable companies won’t supply data for in the first
> place.  We've asked Tribune, and for whatever reason, the cable
> companies seem to consider QAM tuning information as proprietary.
>
> When the scan is complete the result will be a {headend}.qam.conf file
> containing that information and .mpg files which you can watch with
> mplayer or vlc if you'd like to confirm what the scanner found.
>
> When the scan is done, please send it to qam-info at schedulesdirect.org
>
> Schedules Direct will manage the collection of QAM files and make them
> available to other users in the same headend, allowing users that
> don't have a cable card HDHR to still have accurate maps.
>
> So, if you're reasonably proficient, and have a HDHR-cc and a
> HDHR-atsc on your system, please go to
>
> https://github.com/rkulagowski/qamscanner
>
> and download the qamscanner.pl
>
> The source code should be pretty self-documenting.  Please let me know
> if you have any questions.

I've updated the program, and an ATSC HDHR connected to your cable
system is no longer required; running the script with just a Prime
will still create valid .conf files.

Please let me know if you run into any difficulty with the script.