[mythtv-users] how to set xmltvid to unknown and keep it there?

[Robert McNamara]

On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 2:35 PM, Eric Sharkey <eric at lisaneric.org> wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 4:42 PM, Robert McNamara
> <robert.mcnamara at gmail.com> wrote:
>> The scanner putting values in the freqid should have *no effect* if
>> you had followed the correct practice of setting up your channels.
>
> So you assume that the user will assign a correct xmltvid for each and
> every channel, and must do so before the next run of mythfilldatabase?
>  I just can't work that fast.
>

Yes.  The user can and must assign a correct XMLTVid for every channel
they wish to have listings for.  They should leave every other channel
alone, and not change a thing.  You need to block several hours out to
get this done if you have a lot of channels.  This is the unfortunate
part of digital cable with homebrew PVRs.  The Cable company withholds
the information necessary to make this seamless, so this is what we're
stuck with.


>>
>> 1.  Scan
>> 2.  Set xmltvids for each channel.
>> 3.  Run mythfilldatabase --do-channel-updates.
>
> How's that even supposed to work?  According to Schedules Direct's
> lineup report, most of the time when I get both a standard def and an
> HD version of a channel, they both get the same xmltvid.  How is this
> procedure supposed to tell mythtv which channel is Fox 5 (virtual
> channel #5) and which is Fox 5 HD (virtual channel #505) if all I'm
> doing is setting the same xmltvid for both?
>

This is *not* par for the course, and I daresay somewhere in some
lineup for your area (or an adjoining one), it is correctly in two
different XMLTVids.  HD and SD versions of channels are meant to be
different XMLTVids, and if Schedules Direct doesn't have them as such,
you should open a lineup ticket with them to get them to fix it.  Then
you put the correct XMLTVids into each channel and you're done.

> And what do I do for channels where I don't know the xmltvid?  That's
> what I've been asking since the beginning of this thread.  If I've
> done step 1, and I'm on step 2, and I just don't have a clue what the
> xmltvid for a channel is, what am I supposed to do?  I want to just
> put the channel on hold and figure it out later, but there's no clear
> way.
>

Put *nothing* in.  If you manipulate nothing else, then
mythfilldatabase will do nothing to them.

> Have you actually tried to do this procedure yourself?

Yes, many many times.  We've also coached hundreds of people over the
years through it, which is why it's the tried and tested approach we
require people to follow.

> It's not easy.

You're right.  I wish it was easier.  I wish cable companies broadcast
their virtual channel tables in-band.  There's some indication that
we'll be able to pull them from the HDHomeRun Prime and/or Ceton
tuners

>  I've got one channel which I can tune which is quite obviously NBC
> Nonstop out of New York in HD.  Both Verizon's web site and Schedules
> Direct say I don't get this channel, but it's right there.  What do I
> do with a channel like this?

You open a lineup ticket with schedules direct.  They're pretty
responsive about this kind of thing.

Where do I go to get the xmltvid for a
> channel that isn't officially in my lineup?  I have the list of
> channels from Verizon, the list of channels from Schedules Direct, the
> list of channels expected from the Silicon Dust web site, the list of
> channels coming up in the HDHR scan, and the list of channels I can
> write down by actually attempting to tune them with the Verizon STBs
> and there doesn't seem to be complete agreement on any two pairs of
> these lists.

This definitely sounds like something you want to get Schedules Direct
to help you out with.  The "Digital cable" listings for your area +
provider should match what's on the box.  This should be a superset of
what you can get with an HDHR/Digital tuner scan-- You *should* (I'm
saying should because this presumes a full lineup at SD) have a small
number of the overall lineup after a scan which you can tune, verify
the programming, change the XMLTVid, and then run mythfilldatabase.
Leave alone anything without listings or without an XMLTVid.

Robert