[mythtv-users] Culling my MythTV channels

[R. G. Newbury]

On 2021-03-20 4:33 p.m., Fred Hamilton wrote:
> 
> 
> On Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 3:57 PM Mike Perkins 
> <mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk <mailto:mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk>> wrote:
> 
>     On 19/03/2021 22:27, Fred Hamilton wrote:
>      > ...running mythfilldatabase
>      > --only-update-channels still leaves me with the entire lineup.
>      > What's the smart way to fix this without manually deleting 800
>     channels in
>      > mythtv-setup's channel editor or MythWeb's channel editor (where
>     they would
>      > probably come back anyway)?
> 
>     Quick answer, don't delete them, just mark them non-visible. I do
>     this in mythweb.
> 
>     Since they still exist, they won't get re-added but you won't see
>     them again in the schedules. I
>     don't even think their schedule info gets updated if they are marked
>     invisible.
> 
> 
> Thanks, I'll do that if it comes to that.  But I really was hoping I 
> could get it to only download the data for the channels I care about, in 
> large part because myfilldatabase is taking up to 20 minutes to run, and 
> I'd like to get that back down to the ~1 minute it used to take to 
> download an update.


Firstly mythfilldatabase ----only-update-channels does not update the 
program listings, according to 'mythfilldatabase --help'. It updates the 
channels list.

You do not make it clear how you are getting your EPG data.
If you are using mythfilldatabase directly to download the DataDirect 
feed from SchedulesDirect (which is what the program mfdb does), then 
you have to set the channel listings to be downloaded *at 
schedulesdirect.org*, using your browser. You will have to click to 
deselect the channel boxes you do not want: all 800 of them.

If you are using the SD JSON service (which is set in mythtv-setup),
then the channels for which data is to be downloaded are controlled by 
the 'visible' entry in the mythconverg channel table.

You will have to mark the unwanted channels "invisible". If you know 
enough mysql to live dangerously, you can amend the channel table in 
mythconverg to set 'visible=0' for the channels you do NOT want. You can 
probably achieve the desired result, or near to it fairly quickly, by 
adding a 'where' clause: 'where channum > 200'.

(If you do not understand these hints, then you are unlikely to damage 
your database by trying something).

The other route is to use the channel editor. Enter the channel editor 
in mythtv-setup (#6) and either;
enter each channel, scroll down, and toggle the 'visible' check-box,
or use the quicker route of just selecting the channel in the listing, 
and deleting it (using 'D' iirc).
In the first case, you retain all of the channels found by your scan, so 
you can re-select a channel if you find you want it. In the second case, 
your list contains only the channels you presently want.

After doing this, mythtv will only download data for the limited list of 
channels.


Geoff