Another Case of Disappearing Channels! (1 Viewer)

[neurosis]

Hello,

Here's a strange problem I'm having. I have a schedules direct account. The channel list for my STB is there, channels downloaded successfully, EPG working fine, etc. BUT, I noticed that the list on Schedules Direct isn't up to date, and a couple of HD channels exist on my STB that are not in the SD list. No problem, I thought, I'll simply add them manually. Well, I added them, mapped them to my Colossus card, ran MP, and all was working fine. I could tune them, they showed up in the channel list etc. There was no EPG data for these two channels, but I expected that since I had just added them.

Well, strangely enough, the next day the channels were gone! They don't show up anywhere in the MP channel list, and when I went back to the TV-Server Config app they aren't present in the channel list or channel mapping list, either. Just gone! Any idea why? Or more importantly, how can I add them and make them stick?

Thanks.

Mike

 

[mm1352000]

Hello again Mike

I have a schedules direct account. The channel list for my STB is there, channels downloaded successfully, EPG working fine, etc.

Yep, fine.

BUT, I noticed that the list on Schedules Direct isn't up to date, and a couple of HD channels exist on my STB that are not in the SD list.

I recommend you notify SD so they can check/update your lineup.

No problem, I thought, I'll simply add them manually. Well, I added them, mapped them to my Colossus card, ran MP, and all was working fine. I could tune them, they showed up in the channel list etc. There was no EPG data for these two channels, but I expected that since I had just added them.

Indeed, that's all reasonable and as expected.

Well, strangely enough, the next day the channels were gone! They don't show up anywhere in the MP channel list, and when I went back to the TV-Server Config app they aren't present in the channel list or channel mapping list, either. Just gone! Any idea why?

MediaPortal/TV Server never create, update or delete channels automatically. So when stuff like this happens, you'll always know where to look: the SD plugin.
The "why?" part is not something I can explain, especially without log files. I'm not an SD plugin expert. Nevertheless I might guess that one or both of the SD plugin "automatically add new digital cable/satellite channels" and "delete channels when removed from lineup" options might be responsible.

Or more importantly, how can I add them and make them stick?

One way would be to get SD to update your lineup so you don't have to add them manually.

Another way would be to provide your TV Server log files so I could see if I could figure out why the channels were removed, and from that, tell you how you could add them and not have them be deleted.

A final way would be to simply stop using the SD plugin and instead pull your SD guide data via mc2xml + XMLTV. This has several advantages:

1. Channels will never be automatically created, updated or deleted.
2. You control which guide channel is linked to each TV Server channel. This would enable you to link the guide data for the SD versions of your missing HD channels to both the SD and HD versions.
3. You can use SD's new JSON service which provides season and episode numbers with the guide info.

The main disadvantage is that you no longer get your channels automatically updates when your lineup changes.

 

[neurosis]

Ah ha! Thanks, MM. I see the SD plugin has an option to "Delete channels if removed from the line-up". I unchecked that. We will see if that works. Then I'll let SD know they need to update.

Mike