Channel scan finds channels, but doesn't import them

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danielwlewis
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Channel scan finds channels, but doesn't import them

Post by danielwlewis »

Background: Using version 31 of MythTV with an HDHomeRun Prime (Cable Card model) and Comcast in the San Francisco Bay Area.

When I do a channel scan, it finds more than 400 channels. But at the end of the scan, it simply says "Scan Complete" and does NOT offer the option of importing the channels. I suspect I must be using the wrong set of scanning options. Here's what I tried:

Desired Services: TV
Unencrypted Only: unchecked (Comcast is encrypted, although DRM channels are not available with HDHomeRun Prime)
Logical Channel Numbers Required: checked
Complete scan data required: unchecked
Full search for old channels: checked
Remove duplicates: checked
Add full Transport Stream channels: unchecked
Test Decryptability: unchecked
Video Source: (Using the one I created for Comcast)
Scan type: Full Scan

BTW: I also have a HDHomeRun Quatro OTA tuner and have no problems scanning or importing channels with it.

Is there anyone with a HDHomeRun Prime that can tell me what scanning options I should be using?

Thanks!
Dan
amblinn
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Re: Channel scan finds channels, but doesn't import them

Post by amblinn »

I too am in the SF Bay Area with Comcast, and have an HDHomeRun Prime. I don't think you need to do a channel scan -- In my case, I got XMLTV set up with Schedules Direct (which had its own set of challenges), and was good-to-go from there. I assume you've already checked reception using the HDHomeRun Prime utilities?
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kmdewaal
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Re: Channel scan finds channels, but doesn't import them

Post by kmdewaal »

In case you do need a channel scan, do uncheck the "Logical Channel Numbers required" option.
danielwlewis
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Re: Channel scan finds channels, but doesn't import them

Post by danielwlewis »

amblinn wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 4:58 am
I too am in the SF Bay Area with Comcast, and have an HDHomeRun Prime. I don't think you need to do a channel scan -- In my case, I got XMLTV set up with Schedules Direct (which had its own set of challenges), and was good-to-go from there. I assume you've already checked reception using the HDHomeRun Prime utilities?
Reception is fine with the HDHomeRun Prime utilities.

I should have mentioned that I also use XMLTV with Schedules Direct. If you don't do a channel scan, does that mean mythfilldatabase is grabbing the entire comcast lineup and populating your MythTV program guide without the scan? I thought the guide would be limited to the channels displayed in the channel editor of mythtv-setup, which would be empty without a scan.

Dan
amblinn
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Re: Channel scan finds channels, but doesn't import them

Post by amblinn »

danielwlewis wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 2:18 pm

Reception is fine with the HDHomeRun Prime utilities.

I should have mentioned that I also use XMLTV with Schedules Direct. If you don't do a channel scan, does that mean mythfilldatabase is grabbing the entire comcast lineup and populating your MythTV program guide without the scan? I thought the guide would be limited to the channels displayed in the channel editor of mythtv-setup, which would be empty without a scan.

Dan
My mythfilldatabase is grabbing all of the channels that I specified during XMLTV configuration, and then populating the program guide with those channels. I elected to go channel-by-channel during the setup, since I don't subscribe to and/or use most of the channels in the full Comcast lineup and didn't want them cluttering up the guide.
danielwlewis
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Re: Channel scan finds channels, but doesn't import them

Post by danielwlewis »

Updates:

(1) I have tried increasing the HDHomeRun signal and tuning timeouts to 10000 and 20000 msec (respectively), but it made no difference.
(2) If I uncheck "Complete scan data required", then I get the option to insert the found channels at the end of the scan. However, instead of entering their callsigns, it enters cryptic numbers like 7-10234.
(3) I ran a scan using hdhomerun_config on the command line and it finds all the channels, their US cable channel numbers, and callsigns. (I have a log of that scan but the board hasn't given me file posting permission yet.)
(4) I've tried both checking and unchecking "Logical Channel Numbers required", "Full search for old channels", and "Remove duplicates"; neither setting of any of these options makes a difference.

At this point, it sure seems to me that there must be a bug in the HDHomeRun Prime (cable card) channel scanning code of MythTV. I'm using version 31 of MythTV, and I've read that the scanning code had been revised, so it just makes me wonder. ;-) If anyone has any suggestions, or if there's some way I can capture some debugging information, please let me know.

Thanks!
Dan
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heyted
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Re: Channel scan finds channels, but doesn't import them

Post by heyted »

Hi. Here is what I do:

In Chrome or Firefox, I go to my.hdhomerun.com. This site redirects to the Prime's LAN IP address after clicking on the HDHomeRun Prime device detected. I verify that "success" is indicated for the authentication, OOB lock, and card validation.

Image

Next, I click on Channel Lineup, and then click on Detect Channels. It takes more than a few minutes for all channels to be found. I verify that "DRM" is not indicated for the channels that I want to use in the list that is displayed. Currently, none of my channels indicate "DRM" with Comcast's Digital Starter package in my area. Each channel listed is a link. Optionally, tuning the channel can be tested using VLC by opening one of the channel links using VLC's Open Network Stream.

Image

I have used four methods for creating channels in MythTV after doing the above. I have never used the channel scanning option in Backend Setup (mythtv-setup) with the Prime. I have used Schedules Direct before the XMLTV migration. I have used Schedules Direct after the XMLTV migration. I have used hdhrchan2myth (not compatible with Schedules Direct). Many moons ago, I used mythfilldatabase with a manually created xml file as described here.
Last edited by heyted on Fri Jul 09, 2021 6:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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danielwlewis
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Re: Channel scan finds channels, but doesn't import them

Post by danielwlewis »

Thanks! Actually I just found this page about using HDHomeRun Prime with MythTV, which also says to simply import the channels from the video source (Schedules Direct) rather than scanning:

https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Silicondust_HDHomeRun_Prime

Dan
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