Analog setup and backup

[fuchstractor]

This may seem an ancient story for some of you, but a part of the world, even if there's already some form of DVB broadcast, still uses an analog system. (As for me, it's analog cable service with some 50 channels.)

A major portion of the channels are widescreen now, but lazily developed drivers and/or factory software are simply ingnorant, so I just get black bars watching widescreen (16:9) programs on a widescreen monitor.

I've been looking for some PVR application, and found NPVR. I was able to set up the analog reception with SoftPVR on my hardware, which is Leadtek Winfast PxDTV 2300 H, so far so good. (It has configurable aspect ratio and letterbox handling, yay)

It's very inconvenient that there isn't any possibility for scanning. In my case setting up 50 channels manually, well, it takes quite some work and determination. But it's okay, I would do that - if I have to do it only once in a lifetime.
But how could I make a backup of the tuned channels? If the OS (WinXP) is reinstalled or changed, I will just lose the settings... I can't find it in any files, so I'm clueless now.

Is there any way to backup the analog channels?

[Reddwarf]

There are two files you need to backup, Config.xml (which holds your settings) and NPVR.DB3 which holds setup for your capturecard(s), tuning etc. It also contains info about all your recordings etc.

[martint123]

Post #2 in the sticky survival guide has the locations of these files to back up (location is O/S dependant).

http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...arted-info.

[fuchstractor]

Thank you for the quick replies, npvr.db3 really includes the tuned channel information.

Weird thing is, I already tried to mess with the .db3's using basic sqlite browsers, but the channel data didn't show up (in a text editor it's there in some embedded xml format).

The most convenient way to add many channels manually would be to directly edit this database. In case that's possible, may I have some guidance?

[mvallevand]

I really dislike the NPVR database xml fields too, but you can still edit the xml. However can't just import an XMLTV file in lieu of scanning or manually adding channels?

Martin

[Reddwarf]

I usually import them from an xmltv file, but my xmltv file does not have channel numbers so I edit them by double-clicking the leftmost coloumn (I think it is called No or Nr) after importing, that's the actual channel number.

[fuchstractor]

I did some testing with XMLTV, so:

Yes, XMLTV works. All the channels I need are imported, but not tuned. Problem is that unless I set the programs with "Fixed CH", they are just names and numbers in the list.

When using XMLTV, I get this:



But I can watch the tv channels only when adding the Fixed CH manually (even though my tuner is internal):



Excuse me for the image flood, but somehow I get the feeling I either misunderstand something, or my tuner/driver/os/npvr does something different than yours. I hope we can figure this out ^_^

[Reddwarf]

On your first image, if you double-click on Number (leftmost) you can type the actual channel number there. I seem to remember that you have to restart npvr after changes of channel numbers.

[fuchstractor]

Holy cow, after restart it does what it's supposed to do!

Somehow I thought it was only for re-ordering the set channels. (Using the same expression for both a frequency band and 'a chain of programmes' can be confusing.)

Thank you!

[Reddwarf]

Yep, that confused me too at first. :o