[mythtv-users] Can't add digital channels to lineup

[Michael T. Dean]

On 05/08/2008 10:37 AM, mythmail at gmail.com wrote:
> I just got a digital to analog converter box for my MythTV, and have
> it hooked up to a PVR150 and control it with an IR Blaster.  I have
> all of the hardware working perfectly, but now I can't change my
> channel listings to the digital OTA ones.  I edited my channels in
> schedulesdirect to removed the analog ones and replaced them with
> their digital counterparts.  However, when I run mythfilldatabase it
> doesn't update my channels.

You must /explicitly/ tell mythfilldatabase to add channels to a digital 
source because it's almost always the wrong thing to do.  On cable 
systems, many of the "new" (unconfigured) channels are encrypted or 
require subscription to a different package.  Even on OTA, there's not 
enough information in the listings retrieved (whether from SD or XMLTV) 
to successfully tune the channel.

Therefore, the right thing to do is when connecting a digital source 
directly to your Myth box is to scan for channels.

However, since your "digital" channels are on an analog source, you'll 
just need to tell mythfilldatabase to include the channels:

mythfilldatabase --only-update-channels --do-not-filter-new-channels

>   It appears that MythTV is too smart for
> its own good and has decided that since the PVR150 tuner is an analog
> source, that it shouldn't bother including digital channels, as it
> gives the following output:
> 2008-05-08 07:20:56.026 Updating myth channels.
> 2008-05-08 07:20:56.039 DataDirect: Not adding channel 2-1 'KTVUDT
> (KTVU-DT)' (KTVUDT),
> 			looks like a digital channel on an analog source.
> etc for all of the other channels.
>   

You might also need to use the following to fix your configuration 
(depending on how far from correct your current database is): 
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/264034#264034 .  
Note, also, that using that approach is /never/ a bad idea (and, should 
only take 2 minutes on your analog-only system).

> Is there any way to get around this "feature"?

Just learn to use the scanner and mythfilldatabase correctly.  ;)  
Seriously, mythfilldatabase --help actually says:

--do-not-filter-new-channels
   Normally MythTV tries to avoid adding ATSC channels
   to NTSC channel lineups. This option restores the
   behaviour of adding every channel in the downloaded
   channel lineup to MythTV's lineup, in case MythTV's
   smarts fail you.

In the future, though, things will get better.  Daniel is actively 
working on a change to channel scanning that most users (anyone with 
real digital sources and people with analog sources but who don't have a 
listings provider with as much information as SD) will be extremely 
excited to see--even those who have already scanned their channels and 
have a working configuration.

Mike