Scte65scan

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Overview

Comcast is transitioning away from analog to digital. For those customers not upgrading to digital TV's, they are providing free digital to analog converters (DTA's). Traditionally, their full featured set top boxes (STB's) received all sorts of information such as encryption keys, guide data, etc via an out of band (OOB) POD interface. This is a special receiver that tunes frequencies outside of the normal TV frequencies. One of the pieces of information that's transmitted is a table that maps station callsigns and virtual channels (the integer channels that the STB's present to the user and are used by TV Guide, Schedules Direct, zap2it, etc) to RFchannel.program number that clearQAM TV's use. For example, Schedules Direct and Comcast may say FOODTV is channel 35 but a clearQAM capable TV plugged directly into the line will report it as 78.4. This would also traditionally require one to use the MythTV channel editor and manually input the frequency and program number for each channel and associate the xmltvid. Since Comcast is handing out DTA's for free, they are severely cost reduced and don't have a POD interface. In it's stead, they are transmitting the virtual channel table in-band (i.e. tuneable with a conventional clearQAM tuner) to allow the DTA's to do the virtual channel mapping.

The scte65scan tool

scte65scan is a utility that will read the in-band virtual channel tables and automate the mapping of frequencies and program numbers to virtual channels and xmltvids.

A quick overview of the process is as follows:

  • Find the VCT_ID for your lineup. This can be done by obtaining a DTA or STB and reading it from the diagnostic page. Alternatively, it can also sometimes be found by inspection through an examination of the text-mode output of scte65scan
  • Generate SQL for importing into MythTV (e.g. 'scte65scan -f3 -V your_VCT_ID itfile > vct.sql')
  • Import the SQL into MythTV (e.g. 'mysql mythconverg < vct.sql')

The next time it is run, mythfilldatabase will detect the virtual channel number in the 'freqid' and/or 'channum' field of the imported SQL and fill in the xmltvid for you if you are using Schedules Direct. Be sure to enable the channels at Schedules Direct prior to running mythfilldatabase.

For more information, visit the scte65scan project page

How to determine VCT_ID using a Full Set Top Box

For those without DTAs, it is still possible to determine the VCT_ID using most set top boxes. This method is tested on Motorola DCH-3200s and DCH-6200s, but should work for other Motorola models as well.

  1. Power on your box.
  2. Press "Power" on the remote to turn off the box. IMMEDIATELY press "OK" on the remote. You should see a long list of menus numbered d01-d18.
  3. Select option d6, "Current Channel Status."
  4. You should see VCT ID listed on this page. It may only be one or two digits, which should correspond to the last one or two digits in the VCT_ID. You can run the scte65scan tool with no options to see the available tables. If the VCT_ID on your set top box is "10" and the scte65scan program shows that one of the VCTs is 3010, then this is your VCT_ID. Take note of both the decimal and hex VCT_ID and enter them in the table below.

How to determine VCT_ID using the Pace DC50X

  1. Make sure the unit is on.
  2. Hold down the INFO button until you see the diagnostics screen.
  3. Press +/- until you see the VCT_ID. This should be the 2nd screen

Here are screenshots and unboxing:

http://picasaweb.google.com/virgegx/ComcastDTAUnboxing#5276142959144255586

Here is the mythtv-user post about scte65scan:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/382657?search_string=scte65scan;#382657

VCT_ID by Location

Please post your Zip code, city, and VCT_ID in the table below to allow others without DTAs to determine a probable/possible VCT_ID choice.

Important! All locales will see multiple VCT_IDs, only one of them applies to your locale. That is the point of this table. See the instructions above and only post one VCT_ID: the one for your exact location. Please do not post all the VCT_IDs you see! Rarely, the same ZIP code can overlap locales and have different VCT_IDs. This is why it is essential that you provide all information to distinguish one from the next.

Note: Please put each ZIP code in a new entry. Adding extra ZIP codes to an existing entry breaks sorting of the table. Please do not leave any fields blank. Figuring out the decimal and hex values are explained above.

State City Zip Code VCT_ID (decimal) VCT_ID (hex)
California Fremont 94536 3078 0x0c06
California Livermore 94551 3038 0x0bde
California Martinez 94553 3055 0x0bef
California Fairfield 94534 3087 0x0c0f
California Fairfield 94533 3087 0x0c0f
California Suisun 94585 3087 0x0c0f
California Los Gatos 95032 3010 0x0bc2
California Milpitas 95035 3020 0x0bcc
California Woodside 94062 3062 0x0bf6
California Mountain View 94040 3059 0x0bf3
California Mountain View 94041 3059 0x0bf3
California Mountain View 94043 3059 0x0bf3
California Pleasanton 94566 3038 0x0bde
California San Francisco 94110 3013 0x0bc5
California San Jose 95124 3001 0x0bb9
California San Jose 95132 3065 0x0bf9
California San Jose 95136 3001 0x0bb9
California Santa Clara 95054 3058 0x0bf2
California Santa Rosa 95405 3003 0x0bbb
California Sunnyvale 94087 3018 0x0bca
Maryland Hanover 21076 3003 0x0bbb
Maryland Waldorf 20602 3028 0x0bd4
Massachusetts Ashland 01721 3022 0x0bce
Massachusetts Cambridge 02140 3029 0x0bd5
Michigan Plymouth 48170 3001 0x0bb9
Oregon Portland 97212 3011 0x0bc3
Oregon Tualatin Valley 97006 3003 0x0bbb
Oregon Gresham 97080 3034 0x0bda
Oregon Lebanon 97355 3009 0x0bc1
Oregon Corvallis 97333 3029 0x0bd5
Tennessee Chattanooga 37416 3028 0x0bd4
Washington Kirkland 98033 3116 0x0c2c
Washington Seattle 98118 3092 0x0c14