[solved] TVServer 3.5 - Option to assign 'alternate' channel number to TV channels (1 Viewer)

CanadianEh

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  • July 21, 2011
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    Good morning,

    I've been using MediaPortal for about two years now. Both the application and development team are stellar. You guys have built an amazing product!

    One feature I'd like to request in the new TV server build would be to add an optional setting to assign a "channel number" to TV stations. I understand that this may not be useful in some circumstances, however in the USA, we tend to get used to pressing the TV remote buttons and expect when I push "5" on the remote, that it would tune to the station I call "5" (NBC), rather than what the back-end station ID is in the database itself.

    So, if this was implemented as an optional field / feature, I could enable that feature and manually define the channel numbers in this extra field. Then, the remote would let me type in a 3 (or 4) digit channel number, reference this optional "manual channel number" value, and tune to that station, rather than the position it falls to in the channel group list.

    This always confuses people when they come over and try to watch television. I'm not sure how difficult this would be to implement, but I know several people would use this feature.

    My work-around in-place is to name channels with the channel number in front of them (ie: 3 - CBS, 4 - ABC, etc) and then sort the guide so that way it appears normal. But this leaves me with always needing to go back to the guide to choose another channel, since I have no idea what MediaPortal has assigned to the channel itself.

    Is this something that could be evaluated for a future release?


    Thank you all!
    -Jason
     

    breese

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  • July 11, 2011
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    Jason, I am in the Chicagoland area and feel your pain.
    Are you using OTA (Antenna) or Cable with or without a Cable Card?
     

    Lehmden

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  • December 17, 2010
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    Hi.
    This option is already available in TVE 3.0 and also in TVE 3.5. You can edit the channel numbers in SetupTV -> TV Channels -> Edit Channel. Here on DVB-S2 this number always is 10000 but I've adjusted them the way I've sorted it in Channel Group.
    Zwischenablage-1.jpg

    Then you only need to check "Show Channel Number" in MediaPortal Settings -> TV/Radio -> Tv -> General to get it shown in EPG. Now if you press "5" on Remote MP will switch to Channel "5", in my case this is the station "arte HD"
    Zwischenablage-2.jpg
     

    CanadianEh

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    Jason, I am in the Chicagoland area and feel your pain.
    Are you using OTA (Antenna) or Cable with or without a Cable Card?

    Hi Breese,

    I'm using both OTA (through a Hauppauge HDR-2250) and DirecTV (through two HD-PVR's).[DOUBLEPOST=1390055281][/DOUBLEPOST]
    Hi.
    This option is already available in TVE 3.0 and also in TVE 3.5. You can edit the channel numbers in SetupTV -> TV Channels -> Edit Channel. Here on DVB-S2 this number always is 10000 but I've adjusted them the way I've sorted it in Channel Group.

    Then you only need to check "Show Channel Number" in MediaPortal Settings -> TV/Radio -> Tv -> General to get it shown in EPG. Now if you press "5" on Remote MP will switch to Channel "5", in my case this is the station "arte HD"

    Thank you Lehmden!

    If I change this value though, will it change how my channels are tuned? I use the DirecTV SHEF plugin which essentially "blasts" the channel change to the DirecTV STB's. I was under the impression that changing this may also break my guide data from SchedulesDirect. If that is not the case, I can certainly give this a try. It would make my girlfriend ecstatic LOL.
     

    Lehmden

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    Hi.
    will it change how my channels are tuned?
    I don't think so. But I don't know anything about US TV. Here in Germany with Satelite TV this number did not change anything about tuning itself. As I told. all channels are having the same number (10000) here after a scan for channels.
    Make a backup and then give it a try....
     

    CanadianEh

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    Okay, I just tried this out, and unfortunately, it does not seem to work the way you suggested. I pressed "3" on the remote control, which changed the channel to what was 3rd on the channel group list, which in this case is Channel 5. I've attached screenshots of my guide, Ch 3, and Ch5's details.

    I do have to say I can understand how this feature might be useful with stations that don't identify themselves by channel number, but it makes things awkward for a NA user at least, since we refer to the vast majority of channels by their number. That's why I proposed this to be an optional feature, so it wouldn't break the functionality that many already use.

    Thanks!
     

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    Lehmden

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  • December 17, 2010
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    Hi.
    Have you tried to mark "Select channels by index" in Mediaportal Configuration? The Index ID did not change while you're adjusting the channel numbers. In my screenshot above, the index for station "Das Erste HD" is (and stays) 290 but channel number is 1. Your "WPTZ-HD" Channel has index ID 237, no matter which channel number it has.
     

    CanadianEh

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    Lehmden, Is this setting on the MP Client instead of the TV Server config? Even if I'm reading this correctly, you're suggesting to use the index value of the station, which is a completely arbitrary number based on how MediaPortal discovered the channel. What I'm asking here is to have a user definable number, so that way I can make WPTZ-HD aka "Channel 5" viewable by pressing '5' on my remote control when already watching something else on TV. That way, MediaPortal works just like any other DVR device from a cable or satellite company in North America by using the number that is commonly associated with the TV channel.

    I know early on that @mm1352000 helped me set up my HD-PVR channels, and he clearly indicated that this functionality was not built into TVE 3. People are "WOWed" by MediaPortal when they check it out in my home, but when they feel comfortable trying to change the channel, every one of them falls into the same trap of trying to type in a channel number, in which it tunes to whatever channel is in that position in the channel guide, and gets the comment of "wow... that's dumb". LOL

    Again, I can see how tuning by the channel position, or even the channel's index ID could be fine in areas where channel numbers are really not that important, but it would be nice to allow this kind of flexibility for anyone to use this requested "channel number" field to whatever their liking may be. :)
     

    mm1352000

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    This option is already available in TVE 3.0 and also in TVE 3.5.
    Agree. :)

    You can edit the channel numbers in SetupTV -> TV Channels -> Edit Channel.
    Agree. :)

    Then you only need to check "Show Channel Number" in MediaPortal Settings -> TV/Radio -> Tv -> General to get it shown in EPG.
    Agree. :)

    Now if you press "5" on Remote MP will switch to Channel "5", in my case this is the station "arte HD"
    Not quite. As Lehmden said, you have to untick "select channel by index (non-US)" in MP configuration:
    http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...ion/MediaPortal_Configuration/22_TV/TV_Client

    If I change this value though, will it change how my channels are tuned?
    Absolutely not. :)
    The channel number that is blasted to the STB is the channel number in the actual tuning detail:
    http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/@api/deki/files/2582/=Tuning_detail_1_Analog-TV.png

    The "channel" field ^^. To get in there, you edit the channel, select the row in the lower area, the click edit again.
     

    CanadianEh

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    Okay, as usual, I was wrong, and you guys were right :)

    So, yes on the Mediaportal Config on Client workstations, unchecking the box labeled "select channel by index (non-US)" does, indeed, allow me to change channels based on the value of the channel number in the "Edit Details" of each channel. This is exactly what I was looking for.

    So.... as a request, can we get the wording of this checkbox modified, so that this is more obvious? Something along the lines of "If unchecked, channel selection by channel number"?
     

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