[mythtv-users] Comcast digital transition: Pointer to useful Wiki articles

[stefan_jones at comcast.net]

Patrick asked me what techniques I used to find the newly added digital channels on my local Comcast network. 

Reprise of problem: 

Comcast is replacing the Standard Cable analog channels (32-72) with standard-definition digital channels. 

My HDTV and the Silicon Dust scan result found these channels, and gave them consistent channel addresses. For example, Sci-Fi Channel can be found on 73_6. 

However, the standard channel scan available through mythtvsetup either can't find these channels or finds them in wildly different channel addresses. 

How I fixed it: 

I used an alternative method of scanning for digital channels. Start on this Wiki page: 

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Adding_Digital_Cable_Channels_(For_ATSC/QAM_Tuner_Cards_--_USA/Canada) 

I had to install the DVB apps package: 

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Dvb_Apps 

NOTE! The "scan" utility was installed on my system as scandvb. That's not reflected in the article. 

The output of the scan is a raw channels.conf listing. I only had a few listings with channel names. To identify the channels I had to use the steps described on "DVB search" : 

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/DVB_search 

The script on this page worked just fine. It creates a directory full of short MPG movies of each channel found. I ran it during the morning, however, resulting in a lot of channels with infomercials. A scan during prime time would have been more productive. Have your TV guide ready. 

You can also use 
mplayer -nosound dvb://'channel name or number here' 

To view live output. 

Edit the channels.conf so it has usable names. Edit out the channels you don't care about. 

Use the mythtvsetup to do a scan of your digital setup, but select the "import channels.conf" scan type. 

Then use the channel editor to add XMLids to the channels. 

NOTE: My setup has a problem with digital and analog channels of the same type coexisting. The analog channel seems to mask the digital one. So, while my newly added MSNBC digital channel shows up on the guide, the digital version of Sci-Fi is masked by the analog version. Bug? Expected behavior given that the XMLids are identical? In any case the analog channels will go away eventually. 

Stefan 
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