SageTV ignores physical channel #

[gizmo3141]

Been using sage for a while and keep running into the same issue. On a clear day channel 40-9-1 gets replaced with channel 17-9-1. Channel 40 is the local channel CFTO in Toronto where I live, and channel 17 is an ABC affiliate more than 150 miles away in Rochester N.Y.

The issue is that they are on two different widely spaced (17 as opposed to 40) physical channels, but SageTV only seems to care about the virtual number. Both channels are available, but there is no way to make sage tune both 40-9-1 and 17-9-1.

My TV tuner in my plasma tunes both channels in as 17-9-1 and 40-9-1 no problem....with SageTV, I get one or the other, not both.

Any solution? Why doesn't sage respect the physical channel #? Or is this just useless data as far as the program is concerned?

Thanks

[gizmo3141]

No one interested?

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by gizmo3141

No one interested?

I have the same problem with the Golf Channel and Speed, since I have both a canadian sat and us cable box. Zap2it is too lazy to create seperate numbers for the Canadian version of the channel - I imagine the same goes for HGTV, BRAVO etc, but I don't record those channels. The only way to get around it is to rename the standard def version and trick Sage into recording from the HD version with a different name. Did that make sense?

[drmargarit]

Run HDHR setup, click on the Digital Antenna tab and look and see if the two channels in question have the same guide number. On my setup, 9-3 and 16-3 both had guide number 9.1

Consequently, it would always tune 9-3 instead of 16-3.

You can edit and assign a new guide number. Then delete your sagetv sources and rebuild them

JLM

[wayner]

Originally Posted by gizmo3141

Been using sage for a while and keep running into the same issue. On a clear day channel 40-9-1 gets replaced with channel 17-9-1. Channel 40 is the local channel CFTO in Toronto where I live, and channel 17 is an ABC affiliate more than 150 miles away in Rochester N.Y.

I have seen this occasionally but I don't think 17 is a Rochester channel as the Rochester ABC affiliate is 13. I think you are actually picking up WSYR from Syracuse which is an ABC affiliate and is virtual channel 9.1 and physical channel 17.1. Occasionally I can pick this up as well.

You might want to re-aim your antenna farther west or wait until September since I think the Canadian channels will move to their permanent spots, and/or significantly increase their power. I live in Scarborough and I have a heck of a time picking up CFTO but I don't really care since it doesn't have anything I want to watch until next summer's Olympics. I will try again in the fall after the Canadian digital transition.

[gizmo3141]

Well the problem is that Sage is really only paying attention to the virtual channel here and not the physical channel which should map to the actual frequency to be passed to the tuner.

Tuning CFTODT

9.1=40.9.1=627250000Hz

NOT

9.1=17.9.1=489250000Hz

The really confusing thing is that Sagetv setup shows that it's tuning 40-9-1, but I find myself looking at WSYR 17-9-1.....grrrrr.....

The .frq file shows them both correctly, the only problem is that the same virtual channel of 9-1 is listed for both.

What if I edit the .frq to show 9-17-1 as 69-17-1 or something like that?

[gizmo3141]

Went into the .frq file and changed the channel for CFTODT to 40-40-1.

Left WSYRHD at 17-9-1.

Went into SageTV setup and re-mapped CFTODT to 40-40-1, so now it appears much further up in the guide...

Left WSYRHD at 17-9-1.

It works!

I'm watching The View now which is the same programme on both channels, but when I change from 9-1 to 40-1 the logo changes from ABC to CTV...

Thanks for your help...now, see if I can sort out CKVRDT from WSTMHD in a couple of weeks when they both appear on 3-1....hmmmm...

PS - CFTODT is notoriously hard to get because it's only putting out 2.5kw. CFTO isn't exactly embracing the digital transition in Canada...in a couple of weeks, the signal will drop to 1.8kw, and move to VHF 9, making it even more difficult to get, as most people have UHF antennas to receive HD.

Compare this to several hundred thousand watts for most of the US stations, and CKVR at one million watts, and Global at 100,000 watts post transition.

So, in short, you can forget about receiving CFTODT after the transition if you don't have a VHF antenna and direct line of sight to the CN tower after the transition.

[Savage1701]

Originally Posted by gizmo3141

No one interested?

Actually, I am very interested because I have had a variation on that theme that no one at Sage could ever explain or fix.

I say this with no sarcasm - I will follow your thread with interest because I have a very similar issue. I just solved it with a brute force approach of creating a custom lineup for the offending tuner, although my issue was a little different.

Hope you got your issue fixed, and it seems you have. I actually got an email from Sage support on how to rip out every bit of channel tuner info everywhere in Sage for every tuner and start from ground zero. Sort of like using a sledgehammer to pound in a finishing nail, but it might work if I need to.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by gizmo3141

So, in short, you can forget about receiving CFTODT after the transition if you don't have a VHF antenna and direct line of sight to the CN tower after the transition.

That is a drag but not too surprising given CTV's ownership. The good thing is that they don't have anything worth watching that you can't pick up from the Buffalo stations, at least not until the 2012 Olympics a year from now.

[gizmo3141]

Originally Posted by wayner

That is a drag but not too surprising given CTV's ownership. The good thing is that they don't have anything worth watching that you can't pick up from the Buffalo stations, at least not until the 2012 Olympics a year from now.

True, but it's so incredibly frustrating to see a company basically give Industry Canada and the Canadian public the virtual finger like this...if the CRTC had any teeth it would mandate standards like signal strength...maybe track reception results?

Yes, the olympics are a good example, and some really good hd movies at 1am, which I can never get a clean copy of because CTV is futzing with the transmitter.

Tried to record Bad Boys II last night and it was basically beautiful until the station disappeared EXACTLY 30 minutes before the end of the movie. Signal strength went to zero. I might blame this on SageTV, but there was absolutely nothing else recording, and the interruption was right to the millisecond.

Suppose the message from CTV is that over the air is unreliable, so go get yourself a cable/satellite box dum dum!

[wayner]

Originally Posted by gizmo3141

Suppose the message from CTV is that over the air is unreliable, so go get yourself a cable/satellite box dum dum!

Not quite their message is to go get yourself BellTV satellite service or sign up for Bell Fibe IPTV. The cable company, Rogers, is their arch-enemy.