[mythtv-users] Jason Beck's QAM guide Now on the Wiki

[Daniel Walton]

> > I started using this last night to setup my Air2PC card.  From my home directory
> > I was trying to do
> >
> > dvb-apps/util/scan/atscscan atsc/us-Cable-HRC-center-frequencies-QAM256
> >
> > but atscscan didn't like that because the atsc directory wansn't in my home
> > directory.  I changed the wiki to say:
> >
> >   cd dvb-apps/util/scan
> >   ./atscscan atsc/us-Cable-HRC-center-frequencies-QAM256
>
> thanks for making the change. Did your scan work? were you able to
> verify the channels via what I wrote? just trying to verify it works
> for cards other than the one I have.

I got atscscan to work but only tried to verify a handfull of channels with
mplayer.  I think I must have picked all encrypted channels though because none
of the ones I tried would work.  I'll try all of them tonight when I get home.

The wiki is really helpfull but one thing it isn't very clear on is how you get
the channel guide for your scanned channels.  After reading through it and
trying to get this working last night I think on my next attempt I will:

- try to tune every single channel atscscan found and delete the ones that
mplayer can't play.  For the ones that it can play figure out what channel it is
by looking at the program guide.  At the end of this step I want to have an
accurate channels.conf.

- run mythbackup (just in case I hose the database later), empty the old
contents of my dtv_multiplex table, import my edited channels.conf file.  This
should give me an accurate dtv_multiplex table.

- delete the channels that were created by importing channels.conf.  If I
understand correctly this will leave the dtv_multiplex table intact but will
remove the channels from the channels table.  I want to do this because the
channels created by importing channels.conf don't have an xmltv ID.

- add channels from my zap2it lineup

- edit the channels table so that each channel is associated with the correct
dtv_multiplex entry

> > - atscscan found 337 entries and so far I can lock onto everyone I've tried with
> > azap but I can't get mplayer to play any of them.  I've only tried about a half
> > dozen so I may just be unlucky but is it normal to be able to lock onto a
> > channel but not play it (it says it can't find a video stream)?  I downloaded
> > and compiled the latest version of mplayer but still no luck.
>
> They could be encrypted streams, at which point atscscan will see the
> stream, but mplayer won't be able to play them. This is the reason for
> the verification process, atscscan doesn't check for playability of
> the streams, just their existance.

That is probably it, I should have ~140 digital channels that aren't
pay-per-view, ESPNHD, HBO, etc.  I guess I have to tune all 337 of them to find
the unencrypted ones.

thx
Daniel