Cannels configured thru OpenDCt and HDhomerun but don't show in Sage PG

[brandypuff]

I have several channels that aren't showing in the Sage program guide but are enabled and working in HDHomerun. See attachments. I've restarted sage, disabled/re-enabled the channels but they still don't show up so i can't watch or record them in Sage

[jpwegas]

One possibility:

These look like local OTA channels. Do you also receive these channels with your HDHomerunXTEND?

I receive some channels on both an HDHomerun Quatro (OTA) and HDHomerun Prime. For example WDCA OTA 20-1 is also FiOS channel 506.

Originally I only had the Prime set up and WDCA was on 506 as expected. When I added the Quatro, I didn't see a channel 20-1 in the Sage guide even though it showed in the Quatro web UI and the Sage tuner channel config. After some digging I realized that Sage knows these are the same station, even with the different channel numbers and across different tuners. So it basically mapped the "new" 20-1 OTA channel to the Prime channel FiOS 506 and there was no 20-1 in my guide. When recording WDCA it just picks one of the 7 tuners (3 Prime and 4 Quatro) that can tune that station.

So, I'm wondering if possibly a similar thing happened to you, but the other way. I believe WGBH is OTA virtual 2-1. Is there a 2-1 in your Sage guide? If so, I bet that when Sage records a show on WGBH you'll see that some times it is actually recording using the Prime recording Charter channel 782.

I'm not sure how Sage decides which channel becomes the "main" one and which is the "shadow" channel. I'm guessing it's based on what was added first.

--John

[brandypuff]

No, these are actually cable channels, not OTA. It's very frustrating.

[brandypuff]

also, i would expect that when i want to record a show on my Prime, it doesn't chose the Extend which is OTA.

[jpwegas]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

also, i would expect that when i want to record a show on my Prime, it doesn't chose the Extend which is OTA.

My point above is that it might do exactly that.

In my earlier message I tried to be careful how I used the words "channel" vs. "station". They are not the same thing in this case. "Channel" is the number you see in the guide, like 506 or 20-1. The "station" is WDCA. WDCA exists on lineup "FiOS" as channel 506 and on lineup "Local OTA" as channel 20-1. But they are still the same station.

When you add a new tuner which has a lineup which contains stations which are already in your guide, it does not create a new channel number for that station in the guide, but uses the existing channel number even if it is from a different lineup.

So I believe it works like this:

You don't tell Sage to record a specific tuner. You tell it to record a show. Sage looks at the lineups you have that contain the show and tries to find a station that is airing that show. Then it selects a tuner that can tune that station.

In my case (and I suspect similarly for you) the station exists on multiple lineups associated with different tuners and you can't assume which tuner it will use.

Test it out: Record some shows on WGBH. After they record, look at the recording details to see exactly what tuner was used. I bet some times it uses the Prime and some times it uses the Extend.

--John