[mythtv-users] Automatic channel scans

[Darac Marjal]

On Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 12:19:49PM +0100, Mike Bibbings wrote:
>On 08/08/17 19:01, Jeff wrote:
>>It seems to me that there are changes to the channel line-up on Astra
>>something every couple of weeks. Mostly I don't notice until recordings
>>start failing, and then I don't have the necessary block of couple of
>>hours to do anything about it, and so I end up running mythtv-setup
>>perhaps every 18 months.
>>
>>Would it not be possible to achieve something like automatic channel
>>updates by having a job run, say once a week or once a month, which
>>performs a scan when the backend is not being used (e.g. in my case,
>>before it is shutdown), compares the results to the previous scan, and
>>then presents the differences to the user?
>>
>>e.g. 'New channel "XYZ" found on Input 1. Add/Ignore?'
>>      'Channel "XYZ" moved to frequency/sid/... Update?'
>>
>>Is this feasible?
>>
>>Does anyone else think this is a good idea?
>>
>>Regards
>>
>>Jeff
>>
>Yes, it is a good idea and is probably feasible with some changes to mythtv.
>
>mythtv-setup already has the capability to perform an automated scan 
>and either apply immediately  or save it for later use, see 
>https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Command_Line_Channel_Scanner
>However, as far as I can tell this automated scan does not work for 
>DVB-S/S2, hence changes to mythtv.

That wiki page says "The backend must not be using the card to be 
scanned when it is scanned. This generally means that the backend should 
not be running." If the intention is to run this periodically, then it 
would be best if mythtv-setup had the ability to ask the backend to 
vacate the card while still being available for serving up existing 
recordings. In other words, mythtv-setup should request control of the 
card and, if the backend is recording on it (or, say, will record in the 
next 30 minutes) then it rejects the request, otherwise it quietly 
releases the card and mytv-setup runs it's scan. What I want to avoid is 
people creating a cronjob like:

*/30 * * * * service mythtv-backend stop ; mythtv --scan-save-only ; 
service mythtv-backend start

and wondering why their recordings are interrupted, why the family can't 
watch a film without "The backend has stopped" popping up every 30 
minutes etc.

>
>I was thinking of something along the lines of comparing current 
>channel setup with automated last scan and just identify something has 
>changed, the user would then use mythtv-setup manually, to either 
>rescan existing transports (with search for new transports selected) 
>or import the automated scan results.

Can I point people to the rather spiffing mythupchuk[1]? I use that to 
maintain a relatively complex channel numbering scheme and it works 
quite well. In essence, you have a text file which lists what you'd like 
each channel to be numbered/named and by syncing back and forth between 
the database, it'll maintain that for you. It also keeps track of 
deleted channels (they get commented out, in case they return) and new 
channels (they get appended to the list).

[1] https://github.com/StarsoftAnalysis/mythupchuk

>
>Mike
>
>
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