[mythtv-users] STB Tuner & Channels

Nick Morrott knowledgejunkie at gmail.com
Fri Sep 19 01:57:11 UTC 2008


On 17/09/2008, Tom Corcoran <tomc at osits.com> wrote:
> Hi
>
>  I have just reinstalled Mythdora 5 and I wish to configure it to use my
>  Satellite STB box as the tuner. I have cabled my STB to composite in on
>  my Hauppauge PVR 150, how do I configure the the inputs and channel to
>  see the signal from my STB.

The process is still fairly manual (I hope to be able to report some
progress on the xmltv lienups feature sometime soon though, higher
priority things have gotten in the way recently).

The key point to note when using an external receiver/tuner
(satellite/cable/digibox etc) is that the real tuning occurs on the
external device, and a simple channel changing script is used in
conjunction with an IR transmitter (or serial/firewire connection) to
change the channel on the external device from within MythTV.

If planning on using a LIRC-supported IR transmitter to change
channels, I recommend making sure it works from the command line
(using irsend and a valid LIRC remote config for your receiver's
remote control) _before_ using it in MythTV.

In mythtv-setup:

i) Create a new video source. If you want to use an XMLTV listings
source, you can configure it and the channels you want listings for
here*, and update the channels later, or, you can create just the
video source itself, and create the channels en masse in the channel
editor.

ii) In the channel editor, you need to update (see above) or create
the channels you want to be able to record from. When using an
external tuner such as a satellite receiver, the most important value
to set for each channel is the frequency - this should be set to the
channel number on the external box that you enter on the remote, and
the string of numbers defined in the frequency field is passed to the
external channel change script during 'tuning'.

For each channel you create or update, it must be attached to the
newly created video source. You can provide your own name, callsign
and channel number. If you have another video source and want
scheduling to work for common channels, you need to ensure the
callsigns and (if using XMLTV listings) xmltvids match so that the
scheduler treats these channels as the same. You can run the icon
finder to try and locate channel icons for the channels you create.
You may also want to set the channel's priority and visibility.

iii) Determine which input on your capture card is 'live'. Some
versions of the ivtv (or other) driver may define multiple
composite/S-Video inputs, of which only one may provide a usable
picture. This is the input to which you need to connect the video
source on the Input Connections page.

Configure a valid starting channel (this will change after each
successful channel change going forwards) but _do not_ set a channel
to pretune to.

You will also need to specify the path to the channel changing script
(you can use /bin/true as David suggested during testing), making sure
the backend user can execute it, and has access to the relevant LIRC
device if being used.

iv) Restart mythbackend, grab some listings, and test Live TV and
scheduled recordings on the newly create channels.

Cheers,
Nick

-- 
Nick Morrott

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