[mythtv-users] Switching a MythTV laptop between independent and networked operation

[Simon Hobson]

John Pilkington wrote:

>I'd also like to be able to switch transmitter easily, for independent
>use of the laptop in other places.  That might follow naturally from
>such a script, but at present I find that importing an earlier scan in
>the mythtvsetup channel editor doesn't carry the dvb transport settings
>with it.

I think for that you'd need to work out which tables hold the 
required data - tuners, transports, channels, etc, etc. Then you'd 
need to make a "master" copy of each setup, dump it somewhere, repeat 
for each location/transmitter. Then to switch transmitters, have a 
script that will empty the relevant tables and load the previously 
saved data.

It will need a lot of care to get all the data you need, and not 
mangle anything that shouldn't change.

An alternative, and I think vastly inferior, option may be to :
At each location, delete all channels, then do a full scan to find 
the local transports and channels. Once you've been a location once, 
then you'd only need to "scan existing transports" which would save a 
little time tuning to channels it's never going to find anything on.
After than run a "channel cleanup" script to set the channel numbers, 
xmltv id's, visibility etc.

Why do I think it's inferior ?
Well to start with, you'll be scanning a lot of transports that won't 
exist - say you have 4 locations, that's 4x5 muxes, so 20 muxes of 
which 15 won't be transmitted in your area. If you have HD, then 4x6, 
so 18 of 24 that won't be there.
Also, in some locations you'll pick up local repeaters (possibly 
multiples) as well as a main transmitter. So you'll have to weed 
those out of the transports table. On the other hand, in some 
locations you may need these local repeaters - so you run the risk of 
leaving them in the transports table - only to appear elsewhere when 
you don't want them.
All this means you'll spend more time to get a potentially inferior 
lineup - vs spending a little time up front and having nearly instant 
setup swaps.

Of course, channel lineup changes by the broadcasters will be a pain 
- just as they are normally, but multiplied by the number of 
locations you use !

-- 
Simon Hobson

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