[mythtv-users] Multiple Data Direct lineups not working

Bob Shanteau rmshant at gmail.com
Wed Apr 27 17:02:00 UTC 2011


I have 3 capture cards:
HVR-1600 ATSC connected directly to Comcast cable
HVR-1600 MPEG connected to Comcast SDTV settop box (Pace DC50X)
Firewire connection to Comcast HDTV settop box (Motorola DCH3200)

I have had this system working with only the Comcast cable and HDTV box 
on my main computer for about a year, but when I added the MPEG card and 
SDTV box yesterday, I found that I could not access the HDTV settop box 
channels. Also, "Fetch channels from listing source" stopped working for 
all 3 cards. But on my spare computer (with only ATSC and analog cards), 
I can fetch channels just fine. So my first question is, how do I get 
"Fetch channels from listing source" working again?

My second question relates to how one should go about adding a second 
settop box to mythTV. Before I added the MPEG card, I had only one 
Schedules Direct lineup ("Comcast digital"), which I fetched from SD for 
the Firewire card. I had also scanned for channels on Comcast cable with 
the ATSC card and edited the channels it found. All was working OK. It 
was when I added a second SD lineup for the SDTV settop box and that the 
problems started.

I have read the MythTV instructions, and the way I understand it, I am 
supposed to set up a Data Direct lineup for each of the settop boxes. 
That means that on the mythtv-setup->Video Sources screen, I create two 
video sources, one called "Comcast cable" and the other "Comcast HDTV 
settop box". For each video source, I enter my User ID and password and 
click on Retrieve Lineups. Then I select the appropriate SD lineup and 
click Finish. On the on the mythv-setup->"Input Connections" screen, for 
the MPEG and Firewire capture devices, I select the appropriate video 
source and click on "Fetch channels from listings source".

But I just now found a section in the mythTV docs called, "Caching 
support for Schedules Direct" 
<http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-24.html#ss24.2>. This describes 
how to set up two cards, one connected directly to cable and one to a 
settop box, where the channels available to the card connected to cable 
is a subset of the channels available to the settop box. It says to (1) 
set up a SD lineup only for the subset of channels and fetch that lineup 
for the card connected directly to cable, (2) set up the SD lineup for 
full set of channels available on the settop box and fetch that lineup 
for the card connected to the settop box, and (3) add 
"--remove-new-channels" to the arguments for mythfilldatabase. For my 3 
cards, the channels available on the card connected directly to cable is 
a subset of the channels available on the SDTV settop box, which in turn 
is a subset of the channels on the HDTV settop box. So should I follow 
the instructions in the mythtv-HOWTO for "Caching support for Schedules 
Direct" for my 3 cards?

Also, I don't see anything related to scanning for channels in these 
instructions. I just tried following the instructions on my spare 
computer and although I can see watch TV using the analog card, I can't 
watch TV using the ATSC card, meaning that there must be a step missing 
(most likely scanning for channels). Also, it seems like a lot of work 
to edit my SD lineups each time Comcast changes its lineup. Is it really 
that disadvantageous to have multiple lineups on Schedules Direct?

Bob Shanteau


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