How to add a channel manually

[FrogFan]

Hello,

Is there a way to add a channel manually in v5?  I did a search and read a thread from 2018, but that apparently doesn't apply to v5.  I've gone to Settings>Devices but apparently my only option once I get there is to pick a device and re-scan.  The channel I'm interested in adding is KTXA, virtual channel 21-1, physical channel 18.

I just did a re-scan on one of my tuners (I have 6), and the channel did not show up in the results.  The tuner I scanned is a Hauppauge WinTV-7164 BDA ATSC/QAM Tuner (ATSC).  I have two of these and 4 Hauppauge WinTV 885 ATSC Tuner/Demod (ATSC) tuners

When I scan three TVs in my house, the subject channel shows up, so it's there and the signal quality is OK.

Thanks for any help.

[mvallevand]

No. It is better to fix the scan anyway. Upload you logs after a scan and we can have a look at what is wrong.

Maritn

[FrogFan]

No.  It is better to fix the scan anyway.  Upload you logs after a scan and we can have a look at what is wrong.

Maritn

Thanks for the quick response!

Logs attached.

[mvallevand]

Nothing shows up for that frequency. With so many tuner, maybe you have some antenna splitters reducing the signal. Remove them and try the scan again.

Edit: you only need to scan 2-36

Martin

[FrogFan]

Nothing shows up for that frequency.  With so many tuner, maybe you have some antenna splitters reducing the signal.  Remove them and try the scan again.

Edit: you only need to scan 2-36

Martin

Thanks for the suggestion.  I have one splitter at my computer.  One split signal goes to the Hauppauge WinTV 885 ATSC Tuner/Demod (ATSC) card (4 tuners) and the other goes to the Hauppauge WinTV-7164 BDA ATSC/QAM Tuner (ATSC) card (2 tuners).  The cards handle any further splitting.

Rather than crawl around behind my computer and remove the splitter, I decided to scan one of the Hauppauge WinTV 885 ATSC Tuner/Demod (ATSC) tuners.  That scan picked up the missing channels (21-1 through 21-5).  I added only those channels to that device.  I then deleted all channels from the other 5 devices and copied the channels from the scanned device to them.

After configuring the system as described, I tried to watch 21-1.  I couldn't watch it; evidently signal strength is poor.  I'm not aware of any way to request that NextPVR choose a specific device.  If I could do that, I'd check to see if I could watch on one or more devices and not others.  That would help me decide if I've got a failing card.

In summary, I don't think my problem is with NextPVR.  My next steps will be to try to control which device I'm using to watch TV, re-orient my antenna or look for antenna obstructions.

In case it might be useful, I've attached the latest logs.

Thanks again for your help.

[mvallevand]

It seemed like a signal issue. You can change priority of tuners on settings screen with the arrows on the right of the devices screen. The default is to give live tv reverse priority but you can change that in config.xml. You have to decide how import recordings on this frequency are.

Mari

[sub]

After configuring the system as described, I tried to watch 21-1.  I couldn't watch it; evidently signal strength is poor.  I'm not aware of any way to request that NextPVR choose a specific device.  If I could do that, I'd check to see if I could watch on one or more devices and not others.  That would help me decide if I've got a failing card.

Not all tuners are equal. It sounds like your Hauppauge WinTV 885 has a better tuner than the Hauppauge WinTV-7164. If you can't improve the signal (like trying different cables etc incase youve got got a bad one, possibly tweaking antenna direction), then about all you can do is delete the channels off the device that can't receive them cleanly.

[mvallevand]

You might benefit from better antenna optimization, I seems the second scan lost physical channel 28

Martin

[FrogFan]

After configuring the system as described, I tried to watch 21-1.  I couldn't watch it; evidently signal strength is poor.  I'm not aware of any way to request that NextPVR choose a specific device.  If I could do that, I'd check to see if I could watch on one or more devices and not others.  That would help me decide if I've got a failing card.

Not all tuners are equal. It sounds like your Hauppauge WinTV 885 has a better tuner than the Hauppauge WinTV-7164. If you can't improve the signal (like trying different cables etc incase youve got got a bad one, possibly tweaking antenna direction), then about all you can do is delete the channels off the device that can't receive them cleanly.

You might benefit from better antenna optimization, I seems the second scan lost physical channel 28

Martin

Thanks for the suggestions, sub and Martin.  I'll fiddle around with the antenna and maybe trim a few branches off one of my trees, although I'm loathe to do much trimming on it just now.  It's coming off a stressful winter.  I'll also have a closer look at my tuners.

Physical channel 28 has a weak signal, and is positioned at 104 degrees from my house, about 25 miles away.  I'm not surprised, although I did not notice, that it dropped out on the second scan.  Almost all of the rest of the channels available to me are positioned between 145 and 148 degrees, also about 25 miles away.  My antenna is aimed at just about 145 degrees now.  Channel 21-1 is positioned at 148.5 degrees.

What I've not been able to understand is why the rest of the major channels available here, all positioned at close to the same headings, come in very strong and 21-1 doesn't. Maybe moving the antenna just a bit further toward the south would be beneficial, but then I think my tree will present more of a problem

Sorry if I've gone off topic.  Thanks again for your assistance.