How to deal with a renamed cable channel

[pgoelz]

Recently, I discovered that the EPG had no information for the SciFi channel. I remembered that it had recently changed name from SciFi to SyFy so I looked in the EPG section of the capture device configuration and sure enough.... SciFi was listed on channel 56 (the correct channel) and SyFy was listed as channel 100.

What I ended up doing was deleting SciFi (channel 56) from the capture device EPG configuration and changing the channel for the SyFy listing from 100 to 56. This seemed to propagate to the onscreen EPG and I once again had program information. But I noticed that if I updated the EPG manually, it replaced SciFi on 56 and reverted SyFy to channel 100.

Is this a SchedulesDirect issue? How should I deal with it correctly? I've never been clear on how to manually change EPG channels. Did GBPVR assign channel 100 to SyFy because 56 was already in use by the discontinued SciFi?

TIA
Paul

[philly_phenom]

I went to the channels tab in the config app & manually assigned SciFi to like 300 or something I don't use & then unchecked it so it wouldn't show up in the guide.

I then reassigned SyFy to the correct channel.

I've found that the only way to completely remove old nonexistant stations is to re-install - which I do if there comcast decides to move the stations around (like they do on occasion). Just be sure to export your recordings first so you don't have to set up all your recurring shows again.

[dennit]

Did GBPVR assign channel 100 to SyFy because 56 was already in use by the discontinued SciFi?

Yes.
All of this starts at the XML file for your EPG. That XML file uses a standard format developed for XMLTV, and simplified, at the start of the file is a listing of channel names, followed by the start/stop time and related program info for all the programs on those channels.

When you set up GBPVR with an XML EPG file, it just looks at the top of the file and assigns one channel number for each listed channel. From then on, it looks for all those channels. If one is missing, you get the dreaded "no guide data" for that channel. (As you will get for SciFi after the old data runs out.) If a "new" channel shows up (like SyFy) GBPVR adds it and gives it a new number.

You might think you can simply delete the old SciFi and renumber teh new one, but that may be a a problem for GBPVR. If there are any old recordings floating around, GBPVR needs to keep track of the channel they came from. You can't delete the channel. Or you may have a recurring recording - again GBPVR won't delete the channel.

One solution is as philly_phenom did. Renumber SciFi, uncheck it, then renumber SyFy to the old SciFi number.

I prefer to use SQLiteSpy to open up gbpvr.db3 and simply rename SciFi to SyFy in the CHANNELS table. Change the "name" field in that table from SciFi to SyFy and you are done.

Make a backup of gbpvr.db3 first (if you break it, you own both halves).

[dennit]

I've found that the only way to completely remove old nonexistant stations is to re-install - which I do if there comcast decides to move the stations around (like they do on occasion). Just be sure to export your recordings first so you don't have to set up all your recurring shows again.

See my comments above. There's a reason that old channels can't be removed. Eliminate those reasons and just delete the channels using config. Old scheduled recordings should be easy to remove. If you don't want to delete your old recordings (linked to the old channels) look at the PROGRAMME table and the RECORDING_SCHEDULE table using SQLiteSPy.

The RECORDING_SCHEDULE table lists all your scheduled recordings and old recordings. Unfortunately, they are listed by programme_oid which matches an oid number in PROGRAMME. Fortunately, old recorded programs (older than about 2 weeks) will be on the first page of PROGRAMME because they have the oldest (smallest) oid. Just change the channel_oid there to a channel you are keeping I use the channel IMPORT installed by vidimport.

It may sound hard, but basically, you can just change all the old recordings on the first page of PROGRAMME to the channel_oid for IMPORT. Or, you can sort the PROGRAMME table by channel_oid and find all the trouble entries for the channel you want to eliminate.

As above, make a backup.