[mythtv-users] Enabling multirec borks usability a bit.

[Douglas Peale]

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Steve Hodge wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 12:06 PM, Douglas Peale
> <Douglas_Peale at comcast.net <mailto:Douglas_Peale at comcast.net>> wrote:
> 
>     Michael T. Dean wrote:
>     > The sole purpose of channel numbers is to allow users to jump directly
>     > to a given channel when in Live TV.
> 
> 
>     I can think of a few more purposes for the channel numbers:
> 
> 
> When Mike said that he meant "the sole use of channel numbers by MythTV...".
>  
> 
>     1) All TV listings from all sources use channel numbers. Use your
>     own random numbers and you will need a map to find that show you
>     want to watch.
> 
> 
> I find shows by name. Can't say I've used channel numbers to find shows
> since I started using MythTV.
>  
> 
>     2) TV advertisements use those channel numbers to tell you what
>     channel the show is on.
> 
> 
> Still easier to find it by name. Besides skipping ads is one of the
> major features of MythTV so TV ads rarely get the chance to tell me
> anything.
>  
> 
>     3) the channel list that the cable company sends out lists stations
>     by channel number.
> 
> 
> I haven't used any other listing info in years. It's all in the EPG and
> then I don't have to worry about channel numbers.
>  
> 
>     3) it is much easier to enter a channel number than a call sign to
>     tune a channel.
> 
> 
> That's what they're there for.
> 
> Channel numbers are useful in Myth for jumping to channels LiveTV. If
> you don't use LiveTV they are completely superfluous.
>  
> 
>     >  So, in your case, every channel should
>     > have a unique channel number.  Channel numbers are user-editable, so
>     > just go into mythtv-setup, mythfrontend, or MythWeb channel editor and
>     > change them as desired.
> 
>     That would make a mess of the listings, and require a book of a
>     translation table to find the right channel.
>     Worse, this data all gets wiped out every time one must rescan the
>     channels (something I'm doing right now since Comcast encrypted all
>     extended basic), and
>     even just setting everything back to the Comcast channel numbers
>     usually takes a full day.
> 
> 
> How many channels do you have!
> 
> Cheers,
> Steve
> 
> 
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> 
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About 250 channels I need to edit. Before today it was a lot more (Comcast started encrypting extended basic channels today).
I have two different types of tuners attached to cable, so I need two video sources duplicating the 101 channels I get on cable.
The channel scan usually borks any data I had previously entered, and also screws up the channel list. The channel scan takes about a half hour
on cable, and I must run through it twice, once with QAM256, and once with QAM64. After my first re-scan today, I ended up with 3 copies of each
channel in one video source, and 2 copies of each channel in the other. At that point, I deleted all of my cable channels and started over.

After a channel scan, most of the channels have no XMLID or name, just the random number assigned by MythTV. The two video sources did not even choose
the same numbers for the channels. (I really wish it would use the frequency ID and sub channel number to name the channels, instead of a random number)

To sort this out, I must run scte65scan to get a mapping between the comcast channel numbers and the frequency ID and sub channel.
Then since none of the gui channel editors in MythTV (or mythweb) will show the sub channel numbers, I must dump the channel listings from the database.

I use a spread sheet to sort the channel dumps and the output of scte65scan by frequencyID and subchannel, and line up the two lists so that I can build a map between
Comcast channel numbers & channel names to the random numbers that MythTV assigned. Then I re-sort to Comcast channel number order, go to mythweb and get a listing
of the comcast channel number to xmlid mapping, and add this to the spread sheet.

Now that I have the mapping between MythTV random channel numbers, I open up the mythweb channel editor, and enter Comcast channel number, xmlid, channel call sign,
and channel name for each of the channels.

This still leaves me with about 20 unidentified channels that I must watch until they identify themselves so I can update them.

And I did not even touch the two OTA video sources I have.
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