[mythtv-users] rescanning channels after digital switchover in Canada

[Michael T. Dean]

On 08/01/2011 02:45 AM, Ian Evans wrote:
> At the end of August, Canada will have completed its switchover to
> Digital OTA and a few additional channels will be available in the
> Toronto market where I live.
>
> I'm currently using a 0.24-fixes setup with an HD Homerun 3. Just
> curious what I need to do at the end of this month. Is it just a
> simple matter of rescanning for channels? Will it effect anything like
> schedules, etc? (A few channels are moving their PSIP channel
> numbers.)

Regarding the effects portion, if any channels receive new callsigns 
(where, in the US, nearly all were given a -DT suffix to indicate 
"digital") or if your channels receive new channel IDs (which is almost 
certain to occur due to different numbering of channels--different to 
allow specifying subchannel), any "this channel" recording rules you've 
created will likely be broken.  (Note that callsign is editable--so 
after re-scanning, you'll need to ensure all the callsigns are properly 
specified such that any channels you want to treat as the same channel 
have the same callsign.)

"This channel" rules match any channel whose callsign is identical to 
the callsign of the channel whose channel ID is stored in the rule.  So, 
if your "this channel" rules get broken, you have a couple options.

The first option is to just edit each rule and change it to an "any 
channel" rule.

The second option is to "update" the channel on the rule.  To do this, 
you'd either a) create the rule, again, from scratch and delete the old 
rule, or b) change the "this channel" rule to an "any channel" rule (so 
it once again matches showings), then find a showing on the proper 
channel that matches the "any channel" rule, then change the rule to a 
"this channel" rule.

I use only "any channel" rules specifically because of the difficulty 
that "this channel" rules cause when rescanning.  And, in those cases 
where I had already seen the repeat episodes that were airing on other 
channels, I simply told MythTV that I had seen them before MythTV by 
marking them as "Never Record" when they appeared on the schedule.

Mike