another Comcast head-end goes digital

[tmetro-blu-5a1Jt6qxUNc at public.gmane.org (Tom Metro)]

Bill Bogstad wrote:
> Tom Metro wrote:
>> This page:
>> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Comcast_Users_And_scte65scan
>> written in response to the Comcast transition, describes a procedure for
>> setting up channel mapping for clear-QAM tuners...
> 
> I basically followed that procedure to set up my system in Cambridge.
> I currently get something like 80+ clear QAM channels.

I've finally gotten around to looking into implementing this... (a rest 
from fighting domain thieves).

Reading through that page above and the README for scte65scan shows that 
this process is still overly complex. Something likely to take hours of 
trial and error. It seems there are these major steps:

1. get the HDHR working with its tools and the firmware updated (done).

2. use scte65scan to find your channel mappings. (Did you build from tar 
(from last May) or from svn? I saw at least one note that the SVN 
version has some Comcast relevant fixes.)

3. determine the right scte65scan command line options to get it to 
produce just the right SQL (referencing the correct tuner IDs, etc.) to 
load into MythTV's database. Sounds like there's a potential for 
conflicting channel IDs too, if you have multiple digital tuners.

4. refine the channel lineup in MythTV. This step still is vague to me, 
but I haven't looked at it closely yet. Do you still need to enter 
XmltvIDs, or is that taken care of? Which is the best place to 
add/remove channels from a lineup? At Schedules Direct, or from within 
MythTV or both? I know if you don't do it just right, your edits can end 
up getting overwritten.


At the moment I'm stuck on step #2. I know my system uses HRC 
frequencies, but I can't seem to find the 
us-Cable-HRC-center-frequencies-QAM256 file for use with scte65scan. 
(Scanning with us-Cable-Standard-center-frequencies-QAM256 produces "no 
lock" on all frequencies.)

The scte65scan README vaguely indicates the files are part of some other 
package, and a MythTV users list posting points to:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/dvbtools/

but neither of the packages published there contain the files.
I also checked the dvbtuner and dvbstream packages in Ubuntu.


> Things have been in steady state for me since then. 

Did I see a post from you more recently on MythTV users indicating that 
you had received notice from Comcast that the clear QAM was going away?


> I would suggest you see if you can borrow a digital-capable tuner/TV
> from somebody and see what you can currently tune as clear-QAM.  

At the moment, using the HDHR supplied tools, I can definitely find a 
bunch of extended basic channels in the clear.


>> 2. Anyone currently using a Comcast "Digital adapter" (bare-bones cable
>> box) with MythTV?
> 
> I've had no need to do so since I already can record the digital
> signal directly with my HD HomeRuns. 

For now...

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/