[mythtv-users] Getting a correct lineup for DishNetwork

Fri May 14 04:52:40 UTC 2010

Hi -

I am running version 0.22-1 of MythTV under SuSE11.2 and am a subscriber 
to Dishnetwork and one of their HighDef TV packages. I have got most of 
MythTV up and running now, and just figured out how to get MythTV to 
control their satellite settop box using an USB-UIRT. I capture the NTSC 
signal from their settop box and route it to an Hauppauge 350 PVR card. 
So now I am all excited about trying to do my first recording only to 
hit yet another hiccup (been a lot so far! lol)

I am not getting a complete lineup of all the channels that I should be. 
I have a subscription to SchedulesDirect and it appears that I have to 
subscribe to two separate lineups, one for DishNetwork Satellite and the 
other for Local Broadcast Listings. (Correct me if I am wrong on this) 
The lineup report for DishNetwork shows channel numbers starting at 
channel 72 and the lineup report for my Local Broadcast Listings start 
with channel 2 and end with channel 58. I am only getting the lineup for 
DishNetwork Satellite (starting at channel 72) and just channel 2 though 
it is mislabeled and does NOT represent my local channel 2 station.

Mythtvsetup is awfully poorly documented so I probably am not doing 
something right to set it up, so as to retrieve both of these lineups 
correctly. In fact I am only retrieving the lineup for the DishNetwork 
Satellite and none of the channels from the Local Broadcast Listings is 
showing up. I think I setup the Video Source configuration dialog 
properly, choosing North America (SchedulesDirect.org)(Internal) for my 
Listings grabber and entered my user ID and Password for 
SchedulesDirect. And I clicked on Retrieve Lineups which immediate pops 
up a dialog box saying it is Fetching lineups from Schedules Direct... 
and instantly shows I am 50% complete! After a few minutes the dialog 
box simply disappears giving no hint as to whether it was successful or not.

The info in the Data Direct Lineup: changes to show "Local Broadcast 
Listings-LocalBroadcast-98671-PC:98671"  and if I navigate to it, and 
click on the right arrow it also shows "DISH 
Network-Satellite-98671-ECHOST. So to my untrained eyes it appears as if 
both of my lineups were retrieved ok... I got no idea whether leaving 
this set, to one or the other lineups, affects anything. But I have 
noted that this setting is not persistent (even if I do not exit 
Mythtvsetup!) and the next time I open the Video Source Setup dialog it 
will have reverted back to simply ECHOST, whatever that means....

I have no clue as to what the checkbox for "Perform EIT Scan" does so I 
leave it unchecked as I found it. Nor do I have any idea what the 
Channel frequency table: setting does, so leave it set to default.

(BTW navigation in the Video source setup dialog is funky. When I reach 
the Channel frequency table it seems to end the ability to advance the 
cursor from there and not allow the cursor to advance to any other 
buttons or fields unless you reverse the direction you came from. 
Normally one would expect the cursor to simply advance through all the 
buttons and fields then wrap around and start over...)

In the Connect source to input dialog I set up my Video source to 
DishNetwork which I had define. I do have a script I am using for the 
External channel change command which is working. I also have to preset 
my Hauppauge 350 tuner to channel 62 (which is the channel the 
DishNetwork settop box outputs the NTSC signal on, and I have no 
freaking understanding why they did not choose channel 3 or 4 like every 
VCR and DVD and settop boxes have done for years now!!!) In my context I 
do not know or comprehend what the buttons "Scan for channels" or "Fetch 
channels from listings source" would do or whether I should use them. 
"Scan for channels" seems outright weird and IMHO I should think it 
should be inactivated, since I am presetting my tuner to a fixed 
channel. I did click on the "Fetch channels from listings source" and it 
seems happy to do so, though it again gives no feedback on whether it 
was successful or not.

There is one other setting in this dialog that puzzles me, Starting 
channel: In my mind I am guessing that this should be channel 2 but 
every time I set it, then come back to the dialog later I find it set to 
some weird random number. There is a comment stating this is the 
"Starting LiveTV channel. This is updated on every successful channel 
change." So 'OK....' I am lost and confused! What is the purpose of this 
field? Why should I set it if it is going to be automatically set to 
some other value?

So my first hiccup to solve is how do I get a complete channel lineup 
configured in MythTV?  My second hiccup concerns the fact that when I 
looked at the lineup I got for DISH Network-Satellite, I noted upon 
close examination that it does not correspond 100% with the actual 
channels I receive through my settop box. There are a few extra channels 
and a few missing ones, but it appears to be about 90% correct. I asked 
support at DishNetwork about the difference, they pointed me to a 
website at http://tvlistings.zap2it.com where their internet listings 
are derived from. I noticed also that SchedulesDirect has references to 
Zap2It as well and indeed the listing on the Zap2it site is only about 
90% correct also. So it appears that the problem resides between 
DishNetwork and Zap2It. Has anyone else noticed this discrepancy and 
figured out a way to solve it?

Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions offered... I know I am 
getting close to having this working, hopefully only a few more hiccups 
and I will be there.. ;-)

     Marc...

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