Adding Digital Cable Channels (For ATSC/QAM Tuner Cards -- USA/Canada) Rev 1

Introduction

The original guide discusses how to use the built-in channel scanner. In my area, a lot of digital channels show-up in the scan but contain no content. In addition, some channels do not show-up at all. I've created some ways to automate a manual scanning method.

Process

1. Log-in to schedulesdirect.org and set-up your line-ups as necessary.
2. Stop mythfrontend and mythbackend
3. Start mythtv-setup
4. Add tuner card(s) if necessary.
5. Add line-ups as necessary
6. Associate line-ups with tuner cards
7. Go to the channel scanner and scan digital line-ups
8. Exit mythtv-setup
9. Run dvbscan (or scan) from the command line to produce an output of all (encrypted and unencrypted channels)

   scan -a 0 us-Cable-Standard-center-frequencies-QAM256 > scan.log

1. Run the Fix_scan_chan.pl script to rename the channels to something that is easier to read

   perl fix_scan_chan.pl < scan.log > scan.conf

1. Run the Dvb_grabber.pl script to capture all unencrypted channels available from your provider

   perl dvb_scanner.pl -a 0 -f scan.conf

1. Grab a pad of paper and a pencil and watch all the video you just grabbed to determine what it is:

   for f in *.ts ; do mplayer $f; done

1. Now create a CSV file to describe the content you just saw:

channum,callsign,name,xmltvid,visible,freqid,serviceid
18,WGNAMER,WGN America,17098,1,110,5

Note the column header names are critical, but the order is not important. I use the information from schedules direct to get all the required information except the freqid and serviceid.

1. Start mythbackend
2. Now run the Rename_qam.pl script to modify the channels the mythtv scanner found.
3. Now run mythfilldatabase to populate your new channels with guide data.
4. Start mythfrontend to see your guide data