OTA lineups have changed: EPG lineup reconfigure for OTA tuners

[Chriscic]

Opus,
I went to the Zapit site (I'd never been there before), and lo' and behold when I type in my zip it does indeed lack listings for the missing gude info. channels. I wonder why it's missing CBS, PBS etc?

I assume the fix is just to enter a Chicago downtown zip instead; looks like my old downtown zip of 60614 has everything listed.

Any idea why so much is missing for my area code (~35 miles west of Chicago)? Do you think that is normal or is it a glitch? Just wondering if I should try to reach out to the Zapit folks and have it corrected (not that it matters to me really now, but just out of a sense of correctness).

Thanks for the help,
-Chris C.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Chriscic

I went to the Zapit site (I'd never been there before), and lo' and behold when I type in my zip it does indeed lack listings for the missing gude info. channels. I wonder why it's missing CBS, PBS etc?

Any idea why so much is missing for my area code (~35 miles west of Chicago)? Do you think that is normal or is it a glitch? Just wondering if I should try to reach out to the Zapit folks and have it corrected (not that it matters to me really now, but just out of a sense of correctness).

This FAQ (last entry) talks about how to report EPG errors to SageTV so they can brig it to Zap2it's attention.

My Program Guide is listing incorrect info for some channels and/or shows. I am using the built-in data which comes from Zap2It. Is there some way to see about getting this fixed?

- Andy

[Chriscic]

Changed the area code from 60502 to 60614 and now works fine. Thanks again for the help.

[williamc9341]

I stumbled on the new changes to guide data when I switched over my Home Run tuner to OTA. I have read and understand the shift to using cable channel mapping and all of my channels duplicated on cable are picking up guide data correctly. No problem there.

However, I have four OTA channels (of those I chose to keep in the lineup) that are not carried by Comcast, so they continue to report no data. I read the post about OTA-only channels not being supported, but wonder why, and if they ever will be.

The four channels in question are listed by Zap2it for antenna digital broadcast (Portland, Oregon).

17-2 KWVT DT (Zap2it = KWVTLD2)
22-2 qubo (Zap2it = KPXGDT2)
22-3 IONLife (Zap2it = KPXGDT3)
27-2 RetroTV (Zap2it = KSLMLD2)

It's no disaster if these channels never get guide data, not like they're superstations we can't live without, but it's just a matter of being neat and tidy, and keeping the wife and family from continually reporting "something's wrong with the guide. How are supposed to know what's on these stations?"

Any chance there's a way to get guide data for OTA-only channels listed on Zap2it? If it's a matter of not enough user demand, I understand. Just had to ask.

[Opus4]

Part of this change has to do with now receiving EPG data for all the OTA channels Zap2it lists.

For OTA lineups using v7.0 & earlier, you only go through the cable/sat lineup process until you get a list of providers, then you choose the Digital Broadcast item. If you've done that, then check those channels in Channel Setup to make sure they have Zap2IT station IDs (higher than 10000). If they don't, then they didn't get mapped correctly & you should remap them to the correct station.

- Andy

[wayner]

If you can't get it to load guide data for Qubo you might want to try the ID found that is mentioned in this thread - that assumes that there is only one Qubo feed for the entire country - ie. no east coast and west coast feeds as this is for a cable lineup in the eastern time zone. This would require you to add a new channel to your lineup that you could call Qubo2 and use the spcified ID.

[williamc9341]

Sweet. So there is a solution. Thanks, Andy.

Indeed, the four stations had IDs in SageTV that were below 10000. I went to Zap2it and hovered over the links for the stations in question, recorded the 'StnNum=' in the link for each, and determined the current over-10000 ID.

17.2 KWVTLD2 = 62411
22.2 KPXGDT2 = 46113 (Qubo)
22.3 KPXGDT3 = 46114 (IONLife)
27.2 KSLMLD2 = 65590 (RetroTV)

Confirm that I'm understanding correctly, and have taken the right steps...

I manually added the new channels to the lineup, ensuring the station names (call letters) matched precisely as they are listed on the Zap2it site, then entered the station IDs above, set the logical channels to match Zap2it, and set the physical channels to the values produced by the original scan.

The channels tune in correctly, but after waiting some time, I'm still seeing "no data."

Anywhere else I've gone wrong? Is there perhaps a conflict because I have entered "new" channels that use the same logical/physical values as existing channels the scan produced? If so, is there an edit I need to make to wipe out the earlier information produced by the channel scan? Not sure what else I could do different.

And thanks, wayner, for the qubo tip. I found a local ID since it shows up on the Portland OTA listing. A cool station by the way, probably two of the three I'm most interested in. My grandkids like it. They just want to know what's on next.

Thanks, everyone...

[GKusnick]

You shouldn't need to manually add any channels if you choose the correct broadcast lineup in your tuner setup. Switching from cable to OTA reception is not just a matter of adding a few channels to your existing cable lineup. You need to stop using that lineup and select the appropriate OTA lineup that includes those extra channels.

[williamc9341]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

You need to stop using that lineup and select the appropriate OTA lineup that includes those extra channels.

Things have changed (what this thread is about, I believe). Selecting an OTA lineup is no longer an option. When selecting the type of program guide data to use, choosing "Digital Broadcast (Over-the-air)" rather than cable or satellite leads to a list of five lines, which are instructions to go back and use cable, beginning with line #1 reading "Local Broadcast Data has been improved..." etc.

This is a recent change, and effectively removes the option to use OTA EPG data like before. Like I mentioned, the topic of this thread.

I followed the instructions -- copied the cable lineup and matched most channels to their cable equivalent. Makes perfect sense and it works (I had done this for some time anyway to merge cable box and pure QAM stations from my HomeRun tuner to a single channel number and guide listing). The problem is four stations from the antenna are not in the cable lineup because Comcast does not offer them. But they are listed on Zap2it's OTA listing, which yes, I had used before and would again... if only that was still an option. Not quite sure how this method is "improved" over how it worked before. I only trust that it is, once I get it working right.

The added channels are working (tuning in correctly) just not guide data. It seems that the steps I took should work; the channels have the right call sign, station ID, and logical/physical channel, and they tune fine. But still "no data" in the guide, the only flaw.

Not critical, but better to have a clean guide, that's all.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by williamc9341

Things have changed (what this thread is about, I believe). Selecting an OTA lineup is no longer an option. When selecting the type of program guide data to use, choosing "Digital Broadcast (Over-the-air)" rather than cable or satellite leads to a list of five lines, which are instructions to go back and use cable, beginning with line #1 reading "Local Broadcast Data has been improved..." etc.

This is a recent change, and effectively removes the option to use OTA EPG data like before. Like I mentioned, the topic of this thread.

I followed the instructions -- copied the cable lineup and matched most channels to their cable equivalent. Makes perfect sense and it works (I had done this for some time anyway to merge cable box and pure QAM stations from my HomeRun tuner to a single channel number and guide listing). The problem is four stations from the antenna are not in the cable lineup because Comcast does not offer them. But they are listed on Zap2it's OTA listing, which yes, I had used before and would again... if only that was still an option. Not quite sure how this method is "improved" over how it worked before. I only trust that it is, once I get it working right.

Greg knows how things have changed; but you aren't following the directions I wrote nor my original reply to you above. I did not say to copy the cable lineup & remap as needed.

I'll try again:

Yes, in versions prior to v7.1, you follow the cable/sat series of options, but once you see the list of lineups, for digital OTA tuning, choose the one that says "Digital Broadcast - <your zip code>"; do not choose a cable lineup. That sounds like the part you are missing.

- Andy

[williamc9341]

Originally Posted by Opus4

...choose the one that says "Digital Broadcast - <your zip code>"; do not choose a cable lineup. That sounds like the part you are missing.

Bingo. I totally missed that. I'll work on it and report back with my results. Thanks, Andy.

[williamc9341]

Yes, that works perfectly now.

This is definitely a case of operator error, the "old dog/new tricks" confusion. The part that threw me in the original instructions was "choose Cable or Satellite ... then choose Digital Broadcast (there is also Analog Broadcast..."

I saw "cable" and "digital" and "not analog," and since I'd been through the menus many times earlier, thought that meant to choose the digital lineup of the two cable choices. Not everywhere has that, but Portland Comcast does. A digital and a regular lineup (who knows why). I was on auto-pilot and thought it still meant to choose a cable lineup, only to be sure it's the digital variation.

But in your later message, Andy, in which you wrote it this way...

"Digital Broadcast - <your zip code>"

... made my light bulb go off. Oh, I missed something. Ah, shucks, it's been right there under my nose the whole time. I was so focused on doing something from habit, I didn't even look for a new choice in the menu.

You might want to edit the instruction message to term it the same way ("Digital Broadcast - <your zip code>") because that added reference to zip code in brackets made it perfectly clear, this is something new to look for.

Anyway, it's working, and again I have to thank you, Andy, for your patience with those of us having brain-farts (long day at the office, my only excuse). I don't dip into the forums often, since I figure out most on my own, but when I do come here, your gracious assistance guiding us is greatly appreciated.

[davenlr]

OK, followed your instructions and everything worked, except now all my OTA channels from my HDHomerun are listed in the GUIDE as the channel number on the cable box using the HDPVR. I want the local channels listed back in the 2-42 range, not up in the 400's. How do I remap the channel? All it gives me is a big list of channels with () on the end.

I guess from playing, I need to find all the OTA channels in the cable lineup, and remap those. Hopefully it will still record from the OTA tuner first, and not tie up the HDPVR. In a case where Zap2it has the wrong ID number for a station, how do you edit the ID number Sage uses, and put in an alternate number?

[jrolmstd]

Hi guys, first post here for me after just installing the latest StageTv product as a server. Everything went well except for getting the OTA channels working.

I have a HDHR installed on my local network that is up and running. I have already successfully configured WMC for ti and verified signal strength of the channels.

I have followed the well laid out instructions at the start of this thread multiple times but each channel scan results in no channels being found.

I did notice under the source summary that use this device for live TV is false but have not found any place to change it.

Both turners have been configured but neither one can find any channels.

HTPC is Win7 64 bit fully patched.

StageTv is current and virginal (no add ons).

Much of what has been posted here deals with an existing system and the impact the change had on exiting OTA setups. My case is a little different in that this is the first time configuration.

Looking forward to using what looks like a great product. Just need to get past the speed bumps...

Update: Issue resolved. Needed to switch the Main Application used in HDHomeRun Setup to be SageTv instead of WMC. After that, Sage had no problem picking up the channels.