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Two OTA antennas that pickup different channels

 

 

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charland at uoregon

Sep 30, 2008, 8:31 AM

Post #1 of 3 (656 views)
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Two OTA antennas that pickup different channels

Hello all,

Here's my setup: Latest Myth 0.21 (Mythbuntu flavor) and HDHomerun (love
it) with two indoor, directional antennas. I have five local stations,
antenna/tuner 1 can pickup four of them (ABC, CBS, PBS, and FOX) and
antenna/tuner 2 is pointed at three of them (CBS, NBC, PBS). The setup
works well if I manually tell recorded programs on ABC and FOX to use
tuner 1 and NBC to use tuner 2.

My issue is with livetv, I'd like to be able to surf channels and have
mythtv automatically change tuners (antennas) based on the channel. For
example, when I'm watching ABC on tuner 1, I want to select NBC from the
program guide and have myth swap tuners and tune the channels. I used
to be able to do this (pre 0.21) in mythtv-setup by associating certain
channels with certain inputs and removing channel from tuners that don't
pick them up.

Now I use Schedules Direct (also love it) but since I have a single line
up both tuners want to try to pull in all the channels. So if I try to
surf on tuner 1 and change from ABC to NBC the mythbox tries its hardest
to tune NBC but it just can't. I can't for the life of me figure out
how to deny tuner 1 access to NBC and deny tuner 2 access to ABC and
FOX. Is my only solution to make two separate schedules direct line
ups, one for antenna/tuner 1 and one for antenna/tuner 2 or am I missing
something simple here?

As a follow up question, say I make two lineups and both include CBS and
PBS, will myth know it can use either tuner for those two channels or is
it best to just set CBS to one antenna and PBS to the other?

Thanks in advance,
Chris
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travis at tabbal

Sep 30, 2008, 8:54 AM

Post #2 of 3 (627 views)
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Re: Two OTA antennas that pickup different channels [In reply to]

On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 9:31 AM, Chris Harland <charland [at] uoregon> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Here's my setup: Latest Myth 0.21 (Mythbuntu flavor) and HDHomerun (love
> it) with two indoor, directional antennas. I have five local stations,
> antenna/tuner 1 can pickup four of them (ABC, CBS, PBS, and FOX) and
> antenna/tuner 2 is pointed at three of them (CBS, NBC, PBS). The setup
> works well if I manually tell recorded programs on ABC and FOX to use
> tuner 1 and NBC to use tuner 2.
>


Wouldn't it be easier to use a filter and combiner to get all signals on
both inputs? OTA guys have been doing this stuff for decades, the tools are
there, and aren't too expensive. Use a notch filter for NBC on antenna 2 and
combine the signal from there with antenna 1's signal. Add a splitter next
to the HDHR and you're good to go. Now both tuners can see all channels you
receive without weird software tricks.

If you go this route, make sure NBC isn't going to switch frequencies after
the 2009 digital switch. Some stations plan to switch back to their analog
frequencies with the digital transmission after the cutoff, so that will
change things for you if any of your stations plan to do this.


myth at dermanouelian

Sep 30, 2008, 9:35 AM

Post #3 of 3 (625 views)
Permalink
Re: Two OTA antennas that pickup different channels [In reply to]

On Sep 30, 2008, at 8:31 AM, Chris Harland wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Here's my setup: Latest Myth 0.21 (Mythbuntu flavor) and HDHomerun
> (love
> it) with two indoor, directional antennas. I have five local
> stations,
> antenna/tuner 1 can pickup four of them (ABC, CBS, PBS, and FOX) and
> antenna/tuner 2 is pointed at three of them (CBS, NBC, PBS). The
> setup
> works well if I manually tell recorded programs on ABC and FOX to use
> tuner 1 and NBC to use tuner 2.
>
> My issue is with livetv, I'd like to be able to surf channels and have
> mythtv automatically change tuners (antennas) based on the channel.
> For
> example, when I'm watching ABC on tuner 1, I want to select NBC from
> the
> program guide and have myth swap tuners and tune the channels. I used
> to be able to do this (pre 0.21) in mythtv-setup by associating
> certain
> channels with certain inputs and removing channel from tuners that
> don't
> pick them up.

This feature is already in trunk. You either need to upgrade to an
unstable version of mythtv or wait until it is considered stable and
released to get this feature.

> Now I use Schedules Direct (also love it) but since I have a single
> line
> up both tuners want to try to pull in all the channels. So if I try
> to
> surf on tuner 1 and change from ABC to NBC the mythbox tries its
> hardest
> to tune NBC but it just can't. I can't for the life of me figure out
> how to deny tuner 1 access to NBC and deny tuner 2 access to ABC and
> FOX. Is my only solution to make two separate schedules direct line
> ups, one for antenna/tuner 1 and one for antenna/tuner 2 or am I
> missing
> something simple here?

You need to set up a "virtual lineup". I did it by following the
instructions here:
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/285225

The gist of it is:

stop any myth processses
run mythtv-setup
Set up another video source. Choose the same grabber as your original
source. Give it a different name.
Change your Input Connections to point one HDHR input to your new
video source.
Change your Input Connections to point the other HDHR input to your
old video source.
Go to the channel editor. Find the channels you cannot get one one of
your tuners.
Press 'D'elete when that channel selected.
Do the same thing for the other video source which will be associated
with the other tuner.
Exit mythtv-setup
Start mythbackend
Do not run mythfilldatabase!
Run mythfrontend
Go to Settings/General Settings
Find the page that talks about mythfilldatabase command and arguments.
In the arguments section, add --remove-new-channels to whatever
arguments you might already have there (probably none).

Now you can run mythfilldatabase with the --remove-new-channels flag
so your video sources don't get populated with all available channels.
Just the ones you've told each one to use.

> As a follow up question, say I make two lineups and both include CBS
> and
> PBS, will myth know it can use either tuner for those two channels
> or is
> it best to just set CBS to one antenna and PBS to the other?

It's best to keep both channels in both lineups and let MythTV decide
which tuner to use. It will potentially resolve conflicts better that
way.

-Brad

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