[mythtv-users] Two OTA antennas that pickup different channels

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Sep 30, 2008, at 8:31 AM, Chris Harland wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Here's my setup: Latest Myth 0.21 (Mythbuntu flavor) and HDHomerun  
> (love
> it) with two indoor, directional antennas.  I have five local  
> stations,
> antenna/tuner 1 can pickup four of them (ABC, CBS, PBS, and FOX) and
> antenna/tuner 2 is pointed at three of them (CBS, NBC, PBS).  The  
> setup
> works well if I manually tell recorded programs on ABC and FOX to use
> tuner 1 and NBC to use tuner 2.
>
> My issue is with livetv, I'd like to be able to surf channels and have
> mythtv automatically change tuners (antennas) based on the channel.   
> For
> example, when I'm watching ABC on tuner 1, I want to select NBC from  
> the
> program guide and have myth swap tuners and tune the channels.  I used
> to be able to do this (pre 0.21) in mythtv-setup by associating  
> certain
> channels with certain inputs and removing channel from tuners that  
> don't
> pick them up.

This feature is already in trunk. You either need to upgrade to an  
unstable version of mythtv or wait until it is considered stable and  
released to get this feature.

> Now I use Schedules Direct (also love it) but since I have a single  
> line
> up both tuners want to try to pull in all the channels.  So if I try  
> to
> surf on tuner 1 and change from ABC to NBC the mythbox tries its  
> hardest
> to tune NBC but it just can't.  I can't for the life of me figure out
> how to deny tuner 1 access to NBC and deny tuner 2 access to ABC and
> FOX.  Is my only solution to make two separate schedules direct line
> ups, one for antenna/tuner 1 and one for antenna/tuner 2 or am I  
> missing
> something simple here?

You need to set up a "virtual lineup". I did it by following the  
instructions here:
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/285225

The gist of it is:

stop any myth processses
run mythtv-setup
Set up another video source. Choose the same grabber as your original  
source. Give it a different name.
Change your Input Connections to point one HDHR input to your new  
video source.
Change your Input Connections to point the other HDHR input to your  
old video source.
Go to the channel editor. Find the channels you cannot get one one of  
your tuners.
Press 'D'elete when that channel selected.
Do the same thing for the other video source which will be associated  
with the other tuner.
Exit mythtv-setup
Start mythbackend
Do not run mythfilldatabase!
Run mythfrontend
Go to Settings/General Settings
Find the page that talks about mythfilldatabase command and arguments.
In the arguments section, add --remove-new-channels to whatever  
arguments you might already have there (probably none).

Now you can run mythfilldatabase with the --remove-new-channels flag  
so your video sources don't get populated with all available channels.  
Just the ones you've told each one to use.

> As a follow up question, say I make two lineups and both include CBS  
> and
> PBS, will myth know it can use either tuner for those two channels  
> or is
> it best to just set CBS to one antenna and PBS to the other?

It's best to keep both channels in both lineups and let MythTV decide  
which tuner to use. It will potentially resolve conflicts better that  
way.

-Brad