[mythtv] [mythtv-dev] HDHomerun Premium TV Service

[David Engel]

[Note the move to mythtv-dev since this is now getting into
development issues.]

On Sat, Aug 18, 2018 at 02:29:47PM -0500, David Engel wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 18, 2018 at 04:41:51PM +0000, Silicondust/HDHomeRun wrote:
> > > > Silicondust is introducing a premium fee service that will deliver
> > > > some
> > > > channels over the internet but accessed through the HDHomerun
> > > > hardware.
> > > > Demo channels are now available for the Duo and Quattro after the
> > > > latest
> > > > firmware update.
> > > > 
> > > > The video below mentions that Plex and Kodi will be able to access
> > > > it. Just
> > > > curious if anyone knows if mythtv can as well. I know some of the
> > > > Silicondust dust techs monitor this list so hopefully one of them will
> > > > swoop in and give us the lowdown.
> > > > 
> > > > https://youtu.be/YetNR_fFm3k
> > > 
> > > I suspect MythTV can't currently access those channels.  The reason is
> > > the new channels are probably tuned by virtual channel numbers.
> > > MythTV only does that on HDHR Primes.  In addition, MythTV isn't set
> > > up to use different tuning techniques on a channel by channel basis on
> > > a single device.
> > The tuning and streaming method for these channels is the same as a
> > CableCARD based HDHomeRun, so at that level it should be close.
> > 
> > Other work will be involved as David points out.
> > 
> > We will try to get the lineups added to Gracenote to solve the guide side of
> > things.
> 
> Yes, adding the lineups in Gracenote would be a tremendous help.
> Those would be combined locat OTA and SD Premium Channels lineups,
> right?  If so, we could treat those HDHRs much like we do Primes with
> cablecards and do all tuning via virtual channel numbers.

I've been doing some testing and there is some good news.  MythTV can
tune HDHRs differently on a channel by channel basis.  That means all
we have to do is get the new channels into the channel table correctly
and MythTV can use them.

Nick, is the plan still to add the channels to Schedules Direct's
lineups?  If that can be done such that the premium TV channels look
like cable channels and not like ATSC channels, we should be good.
The MythTV changes need to support loading the channels that way look
to be pretty small.  I've had to fake it in my testing so far without
a real lineup to use.

On a very related note, is there any interest in optionally allowing
(or even requiring) OTA, ATSC channels to be loaded from Schedules
Direct so that they too use virtual channel tuning?  The advantage is
that no channel scanning would be needed.  Once the channel number was
known, it would just work.  The disadvantage is that multirec would
not work for different channels on the same multiplex.  Multirec would
only work for overlapping recordings on the same channel
(pre/post-roll and schedule slippage).

David

> Will Premium Channels work on Primes without cablecards installed?  If
> so, I could possibly work on the changes.  I have an extra Prime and
> use it without a cablecard to record clear QAM channels.
> 
> David
> -- 
> David Engel
> david at istwok.net

-- 
David Engel
david at istwok.net