Forcing channel lineups through Zap2It?

[pjpjpjpj]

I have a curious dilemma and I wondered if it is possibly to manually fix it.

My local Zap2It listings (on the web) show all the local OTA stations, both analog and digital. I only get digital (ATSC through HDHRs), so just those digital stations show up in my lineup in Sage, with data from Zap2It, no problem.

Here's the issue: There are two local "LP" (low power) analog stations, owned by the same company, which just recently (as a surprise) added a digital station. The digital station carries these two LP channels as two subchannels. However, Zap2It has not added these to their lineup yet, so I don't get program listings on my EPG - just a blank "no data".

But - these digital stations are the same programming from the still-existing LP analog stations (and the LPs will remain since they are allowed, after Feb 2009). So what I am wondering is whether there is a way to manually force Sage to read the Zap2It listings for those two analog stations and insert that data into the two digital channels I have in my lineup. Obviously the name that the HDHR channel scan assigns these digital channels is completely different from the name that the LP analogs have on the Zap2It web page - can I change it?

I guess I really need to know what data file Sage looks at when grabbing data from Zap2It for the EPG update, and whether that is able to be manually manipulated.

Anyone?

[Brent]

You could manually add that channel and set up manual recordings when needed for the next few days until the zap2it guide catches up.

In the meantime, you should let SageTV know the zap2it EPG is incorrect (from the faq):

Originally Posted by FAQ

Email them at info@sagetv.com. Along with the details of what is wrong, include:

Your Service Provider (i.e. Comcast, DirecTV, etc)
Your Specific Lineup (Chicago-Digital, Chicago-Digital Rebuild, etc)
Your Zip Code

I usually let Zap2it know directly as well just in case that is faster.

[pjpjpjpj]

Thanks, Brent... I contacted both (Sage and Zap2It) on the day those stations appeared. Unfortunately, nothing has been done yet (I don't expect Zap2It to bother until the Feb switch).

Update: I looked at the epg stuff in sage.properties, at least for OTA on an HD Homerun, I can determine the following:

--"epg/channel_lineups/..." contains the 5-digit Zap2It code for the channel lineup, a comma, and then the "main" physical channel number (each channel separated by a semi-colon). Where the channel is not used, it is given a "dummy" number (1/2/3 digits, not 5) by Sage.

--"epg/lineup_overrides/..." assigns Zap2It codes to specific subchannels. Again, channels not used are given separate "dummy" numbers.

--"epg/lineup_physical_overrides/..." assigns those channel codes to the full "xx-yy-z" channel assignments.

--"epg/service_levels/..." assigns a "1" to every channel I use.

--"epg_data_sources/xxxxx/server_update_id=" has the date and time that the EPG for each channel was updated.

--"epg_data_sources/xxxxx/unavailable_stations=" lists all the "dummy" numbers that Sage assigned to channels that are unused.

So, my question is, if I take the Zap2It code for the two analog channel listings that I want to use, and plug them in my sage.properties in place of the Sage-created "dummy numbers" for those two channels that currently have "no data"... and then remove those "dummy numbers" from the "unavailable stations" list... will that screw anything up, or would it work? My real fear is corrupting something in wiz.bin that might be reading these lines in the properties file and expecting to see something else.

[Opus4]

If you want to try manually editing the properties file, then be sure to make backup copies of the existing properties files and, since you are concerned about it, wiz.bin.

I don't know if you could just change the station ID that way. You could also manually add a channel (perhaps giving it different call letters if it already exists) and use the station ID you want it to use.

However, it sounds to me like you just want to use the remap option to map a different station to the existing physical channel.

- Andy

[CollinR]

Originally Posted by Opus4

However, it sounds to me like you just want to use the remap option to map a different station to the existing physical channel.

- Andy

x2

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by Opus4

However, it sounds to me like you just want to use the remap option to map a different station to the existing physical channel.

My understanding was that re-mapping was just to give a channel (that you receive) a different number in your EPG lineup, or to make a certain channel in your lineup show a different physical channel's signal. Is that not correct?

I don't want to remap a channel to another location, I just want to make my existing channel pull in another channel's EPG data... but it jumps the analog/digital boundary. I only use HDHRs (ATSC), and the Sage channel scan only pulls in the channels that the HDHR scan picks up.

To clarify by example:
My digital lineup shows (new) channels 25.1 and 25.2. They are so new that Zap2It has not picked them up yet.
25.1 is a digital broadcast of (long-time local low-power analog) channel 25.
25.2 is a digital broadcast of (long-time local low-power analog) channel 38.
Lineups for 25 and 38 (analog) are in Zap2It. I want to force them into the EPG for 25.1 and 25.2.

I can’t (or I don’t believe I can) re-map 25.1 to channel 25 because I don’t ever see any analog channels in my listings, since Sage pulls in the HDHR scanned lineup. Likewise with 25.2 / 38.