Merging channels

[pbb]

When scanning for channels during TV-Server setup, by default all channels with the same name are merged.

Exactly what are the implications of this? Does TVS just use the first channel out of a merge and forget about the others, or does it automatically use the one with the highest signal strength, or is there an interface where the user can choose one of the channels out of a merge?

While I can imagine the benefit with digital channels, channel merging is more of a nuisance with the analog cable here.

• Firstly, only a minority of the channels send out a channel name, so the value of this function is limited.
• Secondly, some channels manage to send out a channel name on channels with a horribly bad reception. I definitely don't want those channels to be merged in with the good ones.
• Thirdly, some channels send out a channel name that apparently is too long and gets truncated, causing different channels to be merged together. (For example, "Sveriges Television 1" and "Sveriges Television 2" are both truncated to "Sveriges Television" and would therefor be merged.)

Now I don't know if my problems are common with analog signals. But if they are, would it be possible to change the default for analog cards to DON'T merge?

Also, the merge option in the TV-Server Setup is the wrong way around; it is considered bad UI design to have a negative options. The options should not be "Don't merge channels" and be unselected, but the option should be "Merge channels" and be selected. (Or actually not selected for analog tuners.)

Finally, I discovered that either the export or the import function always performs a merge, no matter what the user selected. Exporting an unmerged channel setup and then importing it, causes the channels to be merged.

[bolders]

If you are using the TV server you can set the priority of the TV cards. The card with the highest priority will be used to tune the channel. (Not sure if this is the same for the in built TV engine)

For example in my system I have a Nova T 500 for digital and a PVR150 for analogue (using STB as source). I have the 2 tuners of the Nova T set with a higher priority than the analogue card as they give a better picture although they have less available channels.

If I select a channel that is supported by all cards the digital card is chosen first and so i always get the best quality source available.

However I have got a few channels that are available on both analogue and digital sources but the digital channels only transmit for a part of the time that the analogue channels transmit for. To overcome this problem I setup the analogue channels first and I slightly change the name of the channels that I dont want merged.
When the digital channels are scanned it only seems to merge the channels that have identical names so the channels with the slightly altered names are kept seperate.

Alternatively there is a check box in the channel scanning section of the TV server that prevents channels with the same name from being merged (although this option is only available for my analogue card). You can then manually configure which channels that you want merged.

bolders

[pbb]

Sorry if it was a bit unclear; my situation is with only one TV-card, an analog one. So there is no priority setting.

You say the option for not merging channels is only available for your analog card? If merging is only for analog cards, then I don't understand the reason for having merging as the default at all. Or are there analog setups that don't have the problems I am having?

I understand the possibility to change the merging option. My problem is with the default; it should be to NOT merge analog channels. And of course exported/imported channel setups should not be merged...

[pbb]

Anybody else who can tell why analog channels by default get merged?

[ASiDiE]

Pbb,

I know some recent changes have been made so please make sure you are on the latest SVN files. I do have analog but when we scan here in the US, none of the channels have names... Just like 2-125. In my case, I would never get a channel with the same name so I would never get a merge. I know that RTV changes some stuff about importing a saved XML file. I had the same issue, where I had channels named the same but their SID and tuning details were different. However, the tv server saw the first channel and then just merged them together is they had the same original name. This has been fixed somewhat. If you import a full list without any existing channels it will not do a merge. However, if you do have existing channels (No matter what they are) it will default into merge mode. I don't really understand why it was set up like this but I would like to see an option to merge or not to merge.

I will try to test this out more and get with a couple of the Dev's to see if we can get these fixes into the svn.

[wauswaus]

Originally Posted by ASiDiE

Pbb,

I know some recent changes have been made so please make sure you are on the latest SVN files. I do have analog but when we scan here in the US, none of the channels have names... Just like 2-125. In my case, I would never get a channel with the same name so I would never get a merge. I know that RTV changes some stuff about importing a saved XML file. I had the same issue, where I had channels named the same but their SID and tuning details were different. However, the tv server saw the first channel and then just merged them together is they had the same original name. This has been fixed somewhat. If you import a full list without any existing channels it will not do a merge. However, if you do have existing channels (No matter what they are) it will default into merge mode. I don't really understand why it was set up like this but I would like to see an option to merge or not to merge.

I will try to test this out more and get with a couple of the Dev's to see if we can get these fixes into the svn.

Any news about the merging when importing a saved XML file?