[mythtv-users] Channel Scanner Problems (auto assign?)

[Jim Beckett]

Aron Schatz wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I have some nagging issues. I'm setting up a new master backend (with
> frontend) with Mythbuntu 9.10. I'm using Comcast (NJ, Verona line up).
>
> Using the channel scanner, the scanner finds a whole bunch of clear QAM
> channels (on QAM-64 and QAM-256), but since there is no channel data,
> MythTV asks me to fill out what channel numbers for every unknown
> channel. There are about 100 channels and this is pretty annoying to do
> manually. Is there a way to have MythTV just fill out a generic channel
> number itself (like 107.4 or something). It is tiring sitting there and
> assigning channel numbers in the scanner only to have to change them
> later (when the correct number is found from watching the channel).
> MythTV used to just assign a number automatically, but it seemed this
> got changed in this build.
>
>
> PS: I split my original post into smaller singular issues. Hopefully 
> someone will be able to help.
>
> Thank you.
> -Aron
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Hi Aron,

I am on Comcast on the other coast(Portland), and I have experienced the 
same frustrations while setting up the channels out here, too.

Out of the ~100 'found' channels, there are only 3 of them that I could 
both get to work, and I felt were worth keeping (besides the standard 
OTA HD channels) : WGN, Discovery, and the local PBS station's SD 
feed(for whatever reason, the programming is different for the SD 
channel, vs the HD channel). There were several other channels that I 
could get to work, but they were either duplicates, shopping channels, 
or public access.

I think the best solution is to simply ignore the built-in scanner, and 
follow the instructions here:

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Comcast_Users_And_scte65scan

(I find it to be much faster, and you produce files that eliminate the 
need to scan in any fashion should you need to rebuild your 
system/database. The only time that you need to rescan, is when Comcast 
shuffles channels on you.)

Follow the instructions in the INSTALL and README files (Make sure you 
use the -p option to get the HD channels), and you should end up with 
the channels, and multiplexes, in your database, almost ready to go...

Once you have generated, and imported the .sql file into your database, 
you should run through the channels once to determine which ones need to 
be deleted due to not being able to get a lock (encrypted channels-I 
think ***), or that you don't want, and delete them in mythweb, 
phpmyadmin, or in the channel editor.

Make sure that your remaining channels are NOT using the on-air guide. 
(If you see this checkmark next to any channel in mythweb, uncheck it.)

Once finished with that, go set your schedules direct account up for the 
channels that you have.

Then run 'mythfilldatabase --refresh-all' and 'mythfilldatabase 
--refresh-today' from the terminal, and you should be good to go. (I'm 
not sure that you need to run both commands, but the --refresh-all 
switch doesn't seem to grab the data for today, so that's why I run it 
again using the --refresh-today switch.)

I hope this is helpful.

-Jim


*** (If my assumption about not being able to get a lock on the channels 
due to encryption is incorrect, I'd like someone to point it out. I'd 
really love to be able to tune in the channels we're already paying for 
without messing around with a converter box for each tuner.)