[mythtv-users] Issues with Set Top Box and Digital Channels

[Nick Couchman]

I'm trying to use MythTV to control a set-top converter box for digital TV.  The STB feeds via a composite input into the card, and I have an IR blaster that controls the STB.  I have a script, /usr/bin/ch_chan.pl, and I can successfully, from the command line, issue a command line "/usr/bin/ch_chan.pl 31.1" and have the IR blaster send the commands to the STB and see the channel change.

I'm having trouble on the MythTV side...a couple of issues that I believe are related.  First, if I try to use the "Fetch Channels from Lineup" option to pull the data from my SchedulesDirect.org account, it doesn't pull any channels *unless* I happen to have one of the remaining non-DTV channels present, then it pulls only that (those) channel(s).  For some reason, it appears to be choking on any channels that are in the digital TV format.  I'm not sure if this is because the numbers have a "." in them (e.g. 31.1), or because the call signs are longer than the traditional 4 letter call signs (e.g. KDVRDT instead of KDVR).  So, I get around this issue by manually entering the channels - name, channel number, and call sign.  This appears to work fine, until MythTV tries to go change the channel, and then nothing happens.  If I put some debugging lines in the script (ch_chan.pl), I can see that it does actually get called, but it appears to get called
 without any argument(s) - no channel number.  This further strengthens my suspicion that MythTV is, for some reason, choking on channels with a "." in them.

I've done some web searching and mailing list search for similar, related, or identical issues, to no avail, so I apologize in advance if this is something that's already been asked, covered, discussed, etc., but I'd appreciate some help debugging this problem.  I'm running MythTV 0.21 (tried 0.23, too) from the Packman repository on OpenSuSE 11.2

Thanks,
Nick

 ==
He has shown you, O man, what is good; 
And what does the LORD require of you 
But to do justly, To love mercy, 
And to walk humbly with your God?
--Micah 6:8--
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