[mythtv-users] Mapping unknown scanned channels to Schedule Direct channels for Verizon FiOS

OCG Technical Support support at ocg.ca
Thu Dec 11 02:15:56 UTC 2008


Something to make life easier...hide the dupe channels (SD and HD) using
modchannel.sh script from www.generationd.com

Great if you rescan often..

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Michael T. Dean
Sent: December 10, 2008 12:39 PM
To: Myth TV Users List
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Mapping unknown scanned channels to Schedule
Direct channels for Verizon FiOS

On 12/10/2008 09:14 AM, Greg Woods wrote:
> On Tue, 2008-12-09 at 22:26 -0800, Darren Hart wrote:
>
>> 1) Shouldn't my Schedules Direct listings for Verizon FiOS TV Local be
>> able to make this mapping for me?
>>
> Unfortunately, it seems to depend on whether or not your provider
> includes information about what channel it is in the transmission. I'm
> not saying this right I know, but the bottom line is, if the channel
> scan does not pick up the XMLID,

The xmltvid is /never/ broadcast in the stream (after all, it's
something that's "made up" by TMS as an internal identifier of a
channel) and, therefore, can never be picked up by the scan.  Instead,
digital streams typically contain information such as channel number,
callsign and/or name.  In the event that a channel has no xmltvid and
has a callsign (or, if no callsign, then name) and channel number that
matches exactly the callsign and channel number used by TMS/Schedules
Direct, then mythfilldatabase will "automatically" fill in the xmltvid.

>  then the mapping doesn't happen and
> there is no alternative to tediously doing it manually. I have heard
> reports from people who had everything magically "just happen" when they
> did a scan, but here in Louisville CO, Comcast doesn't provide any
> information at all and I have to enter all my digital channels by hand.
> It sucks. On the flip side, when I scan my analog channels via a PVR-500
> card, the mappings are all set up properly for me.
>

Actually, you should /never/ scan analog channels with the MythTV
channel scanner if you live in the US.  Instead, mythfilldatabase is
responsible for retrieving and configuring them (using the "Fetch
channels from listings source" button) since we have excellent data
provided by SD.  If you scan for channels before doing the "Fetch
channels...", you will end up with a broken channel configuration (and
should really do
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/264034#264034 to
clean it up).

I'm guessing that you didn't really scan for your analog channels, but
just used the "Fetch channels..." button to populate them, but just
wanted to make sure no one was confused by the statement.

>> 2) What is supposed to go in Channel Name, Channel Number, and Channel
Callsign?
>>
> What is really important is the XMLID. All this information is in your
> Schedules Direct lineup.
>

Yep.  With the xmltvid, mythfilldatabase will know that the channel is
the same.  The rest of the information--channel name, channel number,
and channel callsign--is for the user to edit as desired.

The channel name is simply a long description (64 characters max) used
to identify the channel to the user.

The channel number is simply used to tell LiveTV which channel you want
to watch (and really serves no other purpose) and, therefore, should be
unique for each channel.

The channel callsign is used to tell the scheduler to treat 2 channels
as identical for the purposes of "this channel" recording rules.  For
example, if you create a "Record at any time on this channel" rule for a
channel with callsign WFTV, it will be allowed to record on any channel
with the callsign WFTV.  Note that no 2 channels should have the same
callsign unless they are "substantially identical."  (So, what does
"substantially identical" mean?  Well, that's a whole other discussion.
In my interpretation, it means that the 2 channels have exactly
identical content, but if a /very/ small percentage of shows differ on
the 2 channels, it should be OK to give them the same callsign.  If
their content differs too much, however, you will have issues.)

This means that if you have analog sources /and/ digital sources and you
want to treat the high-definition digital versions of the channel as
equivalent to the standard-definition analog versions (i.e. you don't
care to set "this channel" rules to say "on high-def only"), you can
give the high-definition and the standard-definition channel the same
callsign.  If, instead, you want your "this channel" rules to
distinguish between the analog and digital versions of the channel, you
should give them different callsigns (i.e. "WKCF" and "WKCF-DT" or
"WKCF-HD").

Note, also, that 2 channels with the exact same callsign /and/ channel
number are displayed only once in the EPG.  So, if you do have several
channels with the same callsign, you may tell the EPG to hide the
duplicates by giving them all the same channel numbers.  (This is really
the only other use for channel number, besides specifying what channel
to watch in LiveTV.)

Mike
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