[mythtv-users] report QAM changes? (Comcast Digital Switchover)

[Tom Bongiorno]

On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 11:00 AM, Peter Watkins <peterw at tux.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 08:53:02PM -0500, Tom Bongiorno wrote:
>
>> The HDHomeRun is an unencrypted clear-QAM tuner and will always get
>> you the major networks in HD.  The only problem is that Comcast could
>> change the channel frequencies from time to time and force you to
>> rescan.
>
> Does anyone have a tool to check for that?
>
> I'd want code like:
>
> - ensure nothing is scheduled for the HDHomeRun for the next N minutes
> - have the HDHomeRun scan (using hdhomerun_config?)
> - examine the database to see what QAM MythTV expects from that tuner
> - if any of the tuning info has changed
>  - update the database
>  - if a channel that's "visible" has changed
>    - send an email alert
>
> Set this to run daily at some time when nobody is likely to
> be awake and wanting to watch Live TV.
>
> If what's in the database doesn't quite match what the scan
> finds, then this script would need to keep its own map of
> database<->scan info. The first time it runs, it would only
> build that table. Subsequent runs would reference it.
>
> -Peter
>
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I would love such a tool, but I doubt it would work.  It might only be
able to tell you that there is no longer a channel at the expected
frequency, but not a different channel.  Comcast use to be very good
at keeping the channel info in the channel table on each frequency,
but lately that is not the case.  A channel that should be identified
as 3.1 is now 82.1 for some unknown reason.  This could change again
since there is no logic behind it.  MythTV and each of my TVs have
trouble determining the channel info, and they all do it differently.

Determining the channel info is the key.  Until that can be reliable,
we may not be able to automate anything usable.