[mythtv-users] Script for updating HDHomerun channels automatically

[Eric Sharkey]

On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 9:28 PM, Ronald Frazier <ron at ronfrazier.net> wrote:
> So, at the moment, it uses the virtual channel number as the key for
> figuring out what to update. If you use hdhomerun_config to do a
> channel scan, you will generally see channels in the output in one of
> a few formats:
>
> PROGRAM X: Y SIGN
> or
> PROGRAM X: 0
> or maybe even
> PROGRAM X: 0 SIGN
>
> (I don't recall if I've ever seen that one). In all these cases, X is
> the mpeg program number, and Y (or 0) is the virtual channel number.
> If Y is nonzero, I use that as my key. If Y=0, then I assume the
> program number (X) should be used as the channel number and the key
> (unless you specify the flag telling the it to ignore channel 0). I
> then find the myth channel with the matching channum on the specified
> source, and update the other settings as appropriate

Interesting.

When I was on Comcast, the program numbers were always unique within a
frequency, but didn't really provide any information about the
channel.  It was just a numbering within the frequency.  I still have
some output of the hdhomerun scans (this is from 2009):

SCANNING: 693000000 (us-irc:107, us-cable:107)
LOCK: qam256 (ss=91 snq=100 seq=100)
TSID: 0x23F3
PROGRAM 1: 0
PROGRAM 2: 0
PROGRAM 3: 0
PROGRAM 4: 0
PROGRAM 5: 0 (encrypted)
PROGRAM 6: 0
PROGRAM 7: 0
PROGRAM 8: 0
PROGRAM 9: 0
PROGRAM 10: 0
PROGRAM 11: 0
PROGRAM 12: 0
PROGRAM 15: 0 (no data)
SCANNING: 687000000 (us-irc:106, us-cable:106)
LOCK: qam256 (ss=91 snq=100 seq=100)
TSID: 0x23F2
PROGRAM 1: 0
PROGRAM 2: 0
PROGRAM 3: 0
PROGRAM 4: 0
PROGRAM 5: 0
PROGRAM 6: 0
PROGRAM 7: 0
PROGRAM 8: 0
PROGRAM 9: 0
PROGRAM 10: 0
PROGRAM 11: 0
PROGRAM 12: 0

but most broadcast channels did have the broadcast channel number and callsign:

SCANNING: 561000000 (us-irc:80, us-cable:80)
LOCK: qam256 (ss=96 snq=100 seq=100)
TSID: 0x0000
PROGRAM 1: 10.5 WCAU
PROGRAM 2: 29.5 WTXF
PROGRAM 3: 17.5 WPHL
PROGRAM 4: 6.5 WPVI
PROGRAM 5: 12.5 WHYY
PROGRAM 6: 57.5 WPSG
PROGRAM 7: 69.5 WFMZ
PROGRAM 8: 3.5 KYW
PROGRAM 9: 65.5 WUVP
PROGRAM 10: 26.26 Mercer
PROGRAM 11: 0

Here, the "Y" value isn't the virtual channel number that one would
enter into a set top box, but it's the channel number you would use to
get the same content with an over-the-air antenna.

On Fios, I see the same pattern for the Y values.  They're either 0 or
the OTA broadcast channel number. The program numbers do seem to be
nearly unique, but they're not entirely unique.  Some program numbers
repeat 2 or 3 times, even though they are different channels.  I'm not
sure I could trust this script to do automatic updates given this
data.

I'm still hoping to get more reliable info when I get a Prime.

Eric