HDHR and XMLTV Channel Merge

[JavaWiz]

I've reconfig'd my machine and rebuilt the channel tables for each device. I have a HDHR with 3 tuners and an Analog with a Hauppauge card.

Here's my problem...

• For the HDHR, Silicon Dust import pulls in the channel name simply as the call-sign. (i.e. "MAXHDP" for channel 838)
  
• For the XMLTV (analog) the channel name comes in as # Name(call-sign) (i.e. "838 MAXHDP")
  

When merging channels, they don't match because the channel number is included in the XMLTV import mapping (i.e. "MAXHDP" <> "838 MAXHDP"). This causes me to have to manually edit every channel that is duplicate between HDHR and the Analog input (see attached image).

However, when I look @ the XMLTV file, I see the display name can be mapped via 6 entries (i.e. it's a list). The npvr import uses the 1st entry. Is there anyway to have it map to the 4th entry so that it matches the SiliconDust HDHR mapping? I think this may allow the merge function to work much better.

Code:

<channel id="I35975.labs.zap2it.com">
    <display-name>838 MAXHDP</display-name>
    <display-name>838 MAXHDP CA69683:X</display-name>
    <display-name>838</display-name>
    <display-name>MAXHDP</display-name>
    <display-name>CineMAX HD (Pacific)</display-name>
    <display-name>PAY</display-name>
  </channel>

If there is not a way to do this, can I manually edit the XMLTV file and move the target display-name entry to the first position? Will that cause any undesired side effects for future EPG updates when a new XMLTV file is pulled and has the original order?

[sub]

I've reconfig'd my machine and rebuilt the channel tables for each device. I have a HDHR with 3 tuners and an Analog with a Hauppauge card.

Here's my problem...

• For the HDHR, Silicon Dust import pulls in the channel name simply as the call-sign. (i.e. "MAXHDP" for channel 838)
  
• For the XMLTV (analog) the channel name comes in as # Name(call-sign) (i.e. "838 MAXHDP")
  

When merging channels, they don't match because the channel number is included in the XMLTV import mapping (i.e. "MAXHDP" <> "838 MAXHDP"). This causes me to have to manually edit every channel that is duplicate between HDHR and the Analog input (see attached image).

However, when I look @ the XMLTV file, I see the display name can be mapped via 6 entries (i.e. it's a list). The npvr import uses the 1st entry. Is there anyway to have it map to the 4th entry so that it matches the SiliconDust HDHR mapping?

Unfortunately no, it always goes for the first display-name.

Code:

<channel id="I35975.labs.zap2it.com">
    <display-name>838 MAXHDP</display-name>
    <display-name>838 MAXHDP CA69683:X</display-name>
    <display-name>838</display-name>
    <display-name>MAXHDP</display-name>
    <display-name>CineMAX HD (Pacific)</display-name>
    <display-name>PAY</display-name>
  </channel>

If there is not a way to do this, can I manually edit the XMLTV file and move the target display-name entry to the first position? Will that cause any undesired side effects for future EPG updates when a new XMLTV file is pulled and has the original order?

You should be ok to do that. It'll use the first display-name for the channel name when creating the channels. From then on, it's going to use (for example) I35975.labs.zap2it.com when looking up the listings.

[whurlston]

I had created a utility some time back for someone to deal with this exact issue. it ran in UpdateEPG.bat after the EPG download and would reorder the channel names. I will see if I can find it.

[JavaWiz]

For those of you using SchedulesDirect and XMLTV, this utility may be of some use, it allows you to pick what channel description to use when you load your channel list. For me, the problem was SiliconDust only used the channel "callSign", and XMLTV defaulted to "# callSign".

The program takes in your XMLTV file, and outputs a new one with the selected channel description. Use this new one when importing analog channels.
Not a lot of error checking and works on most of the channels.

Before and After XML updates: