[mythtv-users] Script for updating HDHomerun channels automatically

[Ronald Frazier]

On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 12:24 AM, Julius Roberts
<hooliowobbits at gmail.com> wrote:
> Please forgive my ignorance, I take it that this script intended to
> automate the effort of rescanning in myth when there is some
> addition/change to the FTA channel lineup?

Right now the script is basically designed to handle when you cable
provider shuffles around their digital feeds and puts them on
different frequencies or program. One of the features of digital
broadcast is that the channel number you that enter on your remote
doesn't have to correspond in any way to what frequency it is actually
broadcast on. So in theory, the cable company can just shift around
how the channels are broadcast behind the scenes, but you'll never
know the difference. In practice, this only works if you have a cable
box or a cablecard. Otherwise you need to rescan to find the new
locations. This is what my script handles. When channel 57 used to be
broadcast on 94.5, but now it's broadcast on 113.8, my script will
detect that channel 57 changed locations and update it automatically.
It's also useful for letting you know when it sees something different
(a new channel shows up or an existing channel disappears).

What it is NOT currently useful for is automatically configuring those
new and removed channels. It's also not currently useful for
automatically updating when your cable provider arbitrarily decides to
change your channel numbering on you. However, in both of these cases,
it should at least notice that something changed and point out the
change to you, which is useful if you didn't know the lineup was going
to be reorganized. You can then go and manually update these channel
settings as necessary.

-- 
Ron Frazier