Getting a custom "DVB by Location" from an HDHomeRun Prime.

After a bit of pain and head scratching, I was able to query my hdhomerun prime for a list of frequencies and programs. The resulting list is a file that you can stick in /usr/local/share/tvheadend/data/dvb-scan/atsc to make it available in your "Add DVB by Location" button within the TV Adapters tab of tvheadend configuration. I have attached a list for my local Comcast. This is for the Waukegan/Lake Forest Illinois area.

Assuming you have already installed the necessary drivers for your device:

To get your devices ID

$>hdhomerun_config discover

To scan for programs/channels/frequency

$>hdhomerun_config <device id> scan 0 scan0.txt

This scan will take a few minutes, but when you are done you will have a file list every frequency and the programs/channels within the frequency. It will be of the format:

...
SCANNING: 823750000 (us-hrc:129)
LOCK: qam256 (ss=75 snq=89 seq=100)
TSID: 0x81C1
PROGRAM 1: 201 Destina (encrypted)
PROGRAM 2: 222 Discove (encrypted)
PROGRAM 6: 506 FXM (encrypted)
PROGRAM 7: 274 Militar (encrypted)
PROGRAM 9: 471 CMT Pur (encrypted)
PROGRAM 11: 26 Jewelry (encrypted)
PROGRAM 12: 406 Outdoor (encrypted)
PROGRAM 14: 473 VH1 Cla (encrypted)
PROGRAM 15: 271 Investi (encrypted)
PROGRAM 18: 418 CBS Spo (encrypted)
PROGRAM 22: 53 CLTV (encrypted)
PROGRAM 27: 75 Total L
PROGRAM 28: 119 EWTN (encrypted)
...

Where 823750000 is the frequency, under which each program available in that frequency is listed, as well as its common channel name and number.

To build the list that tvheadend needs just copy down each frequency that contains programs that you are interested in and toss that in a file that matches the format of the attached file. When your file is built, move it to /usr/local/share/tvheadend/data/dvb-scan/atsc.

You can now choose your file in the "Add DVB Network by Location" list and you should get a good mux for each frequency once the scan begins.

Once the scan is finished, pop over to the "services" tab and add a channel name for each channel that the scan found. You can use the scan0.txt file to figure these out. I found it best to first sort by the "play" column, then sort descending by the "Multiplex" column so that the list is in the same order as the scan0.txt file. This part is tedious, but you can knock it out in a half hour or so.

Once you are done you can go back to the "general" tab and hit the "Map DVB to services" button.

us_IL_Waukegan_Lake_Forest (1.44 KB) us_IL_Waukegan_Lake_Forest

Replies (5)

RE: Getting a custom "DVB by Location" from an HDHomeRun Prime. - Added by Jim Ancona about 12 years ago

Hi,

Thanks for posting this! I'm wondering if it makes sense to try to compile the info on the HDHomeRun Prime on a page in the HOWTOS section of the wiki. There's already an HDHomerun page there that covers the basics of ATSC/ClearQAM setup using the Dual, but doesn't cover the peculiarities of the Prime and CableCARD. We could either expand that page or start a new one for the Prime. As I've worked through the process of getting mine running, I've found lots of info scattered over multiple sites. It would probably help the next folks to come along if "best practices" were consolidated in to one place. I'm willing to help with the collection and editing process. I'm also working on scripts to automate some of the steps, which could of course be linked to from the page once they're ready.

What do you think?

RE: Getting a custom "DVB by Location" from an HDHomeRun Prime. - Added by Jim Ancona about 12 years ago

Here's a simple way to produce the "DVB By Location" file that John describes above. First use hdhomerun_config to produce the scan0.txt as John describes above. Then use the following command to produce the mux list for TVHeadend:

awk '{if ($1 ~ /SCANNING/) print "\n" $2; else print $0}' scan0.txt | awk 'BEGIN { RS = "" ; FS = "\n" } { if (length($4) > 0) print "A " $1 " qam256" }' >my-output-file

You can replace 'my-output-file' with a file name in the format TVHeadend expects, e.g. us_MA_Westborough. Then copy the output file to /usr/local/share/tvheadend/data/dvb-scan/atsc and continue with John's directions above.

(edited 10 Nov--the old script left out some muxes that might have channels.)

RE: Getting a custom "DVB by Location" from an HDHomeRun Prime. - Added by Nik Ivanov almost 12 years ago

Could you adapt this guide for OpenElec? I could do the channel scan and then convert it to the mux list over ssh (thanks to Jim Ancona), but I'm not sure where it should go when TVHeadEnd is installed via OpenElec - I couldn't find the dvb-scan folder. Also, what are the minimum versions of tvheadend and dvbhdhomerun needed for this to work?

Thanks!

RE: Getting a custom "DVB by Location" from an HDHomeRun Prime. - Added by K C almost 12 years ago

Ditto for Nik Ivanov's request. Not sure where to put this file once it's created for the TVH that's pre-installed with OpenElec XBMC.

RE: Getting a custom "DVB by Location" from an HDHomeRun Prime. - Added by Akos Sz over 11 years ago

Hi,

I support this request also.
The built in mux list is outdated and deficient. For example Astra at 19,2E has a single mux entry.
I cannot find the file which could be replaced with updated content.

There should be a way to make mux list up-to-date.

Thanks,

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