Two sources, different EPGs, same station name, different channel numbers

[dennit]

I think the import mechanism for xmltv will behave differently depending on the contents of the xmltv file. For example, my xmltv source doesn't include channel numbers - in this instance, a first time import simply allocates the numbers sequentially in the order they are in the file. Any subsequent import then works purely on channel names.

Here is a typical xmltv format that I pull down identifying a channel:

<channel id="28457775.WXYZ.7">
<display-name>WXYZ</display-name>
<display-name>7</display-name>
<display-name>CBS Affiliate</display-name>
</channel>

I've always suspected that it uses the first <display-name> line, but perhaps it varies.

The list should be ordered using the allocation_order field in the DB. If you look to the right of the list, there are two small buttons - the left will move a source up and the right will move it down. They should have arrows on them but mine are blank for some reason. The lower the allocation_order number, the more it is preferred for recordings and the higher the number means it's preferred for live tv.

I've never noticed the arrows, I was modifying the db directly!

You'll need to experiment but, assuming further imports don't match on channel number, you should just be able to renumber the WXYZ on the digital source to be 7.

Actually, the digital WXYZ doesn't appear in my EPG at all. It's just a digital channel 7. If I record 7, I'd get analog (haven't tried it) If I watch 7 I get digital unless digital is busy, then I get analog. I don't like this much, since I expect 7 to be analog and nonexistent 107 to be digital. I like to know when I set a recording that it will be digital, and having some channels in the range of 2-99 as both digital and analog, with others just analog is confusing.

After that add the 107 WXYZDT dummy channel manually and set its tuning to match WXYZ on the digital source.

That's option 1. But if I do this, I'll have no EPG guide data for 107, since there is no WXYZDT in the db - correct?

Option2: I could renumber WXYZ in the channels as 107 and set digital as the recording priority. This gives digital recording with analog failover, but then live TV is only analog. I don't watch a lot of live TV, but....

Option 3: I could remove the analog 7 entirely, losing the failover and all analog 7 access.

Option 4: I wonder if there's a way to just separate the two, losing the automatic failover, but keeping the ability to view or record? That's the way my QAM is set up for locals. They send data identified as WXXXDT for digital and WXXX for analogue. To do this I suppose I could preprocess the xml file to change WXYZ to WXYZDT. Not too hard, but kludgy. It would also double the data in the db for this channel. Any other way to do this?