The best way to scan and sort channels in WMC8

[seneca]

Hi all,

I have just setup my new Windows 8 Pro based HTPC/Server, and all is working great, except the fact that I have over a thousand channels from my DVB-S2 and DVB-T tuners in the channel guide, and I will probably only watch 20 of these channels.

I am based in Europe, and I receive television channels from Freesat UK and Canal Digital Denmark via satellite and also a few terrestrial channels.

I would like to have a sorted channel guide with only those channels lined up which I do watch.

1. What is the best way for me to go forward, should I reinstall WMC 8 to clear all the channels from my previous scan and then make a new scan of channels, but now one transponder at a time in order to only get the channels tuned that I watch and then just delete the other channels from the channel list ?

2. Will a new channel scan delete the previous channel scan that I have made ?

All suggestions are appreciated, and please post a link to some guide on the internet on how to best setup channels in WMC.

Best regards,
seneca

[mr_rodge]

Hi there,

I'm new here, but I'm becoming a regular over on AVForums. I suggest you look at buying DVBLogic's TVSource software. It isn't free, but it has a plethora of features and has a free trial so it's worth giving it a go. Support is through a wiki/forum though.

It's basically a bridge that sits between your tuners and Media Center. You set up all the channels and EPG data you want in TVSource with your web browser, then TVSource automatically keeps Media Center in sync with it. When you pick a channel in Media Center it selects a 'virtual tuner' which is provided by TVSource. It allows great flexibility such as custom transponder lists, EPG data from other sources including directly through the dish and more.

My suggestion is to write a custom transponder file for TVSource (Much easier than it sounds) containing only the transponders with channels that you want on (The frequencies can easily be obtained online, search for KingofSat). Then tune the list in TVSource, pick out the channels you want and assign numbers and EPG data through whatever means you want (You can still use Media Center's built in guide).

You can also do things like use the tuners on another machine over a network, but I only have a single seat setup so can't advise. (May be of interest to you, I note you said server).

As for clearing your channel scan, I recommend deleting the Media Center database as opposed to scanning again over the top. Again, Google it and you'll find plenty of info, it's dead easy.

Good luck.

[holidayboy]

An easy way is to just go into the Edit Channels menu, click 'unselect all' (or similar wording!) to empty the guide completely.

Then just select the channels that you want in the guide and save when done.

You can also re-number channels and adjust guide data from the same menu.

Tasks>settings>TV>Guide>Edit Channels.

[milli260876]

Guidetool works still...

[bobbob]

guide tool as the free option, but dvblink has so many additional benefits i would suggest you take a look at that too.

[mr_rodge]

guide tool as the free option, but dvblink has so many additional benefits i would suggest you take a look at that too.

Agreed. I used to use GuideTool, but I found that MC would sometimes mysteriously delete channels. DVBLink prevents this.

Also, you still have to tune and store all the 1000 channels you find in MC, regardless of whether you show them in the guide or not. If you go by individual transponder it can take a while from MC as well. TVSource sorts all this as you write a transponder file in notepad, do the scanning, select your channels and assign the epg with the user friendly interface (A bit like GuideTool, but for tuning as well). Then when you run a scan in MC it only finds the channels you want. They're already ordered and complete with guide data. Very clean!

I also found that MC simply wouldn't find certain channels, even when I scanned individual, custom transponders. Apparently certain frequencies need hacks/tweaks/registry fixes to MC or it won't find the channels. TVSource finds the lot.

Just so I don't sound like I'm advertising here as well, I don't think the support on the forum is particularly good. If you ask a question that can't be answered your thread sometimes goes ignored.

[cisero]

Thanks for the info.

Will there be any problems with stability using TVSource from DVBLink ?

My tuners are all Digitaldevices tuners which have signed drivers for Windows 8 WMC, so no need for DVB Link products, and I would like to keep my setup as simple as possible with fast channel shifting times.

[mr_rodge]

Thanks for the info.

Will there be any problems with stability using TVSource from DVBLink ?

My tuners are all Digitaldevices tuners which have signed drivers for Windows 8 WMC, so no need for DVB Link products, and I would like to keep my setup as simple as possible with fast channel shifting times.

My HTPC lives in my holiday caravan for 8 months of the year. During those 8 months it doesn't get touched, I only work on it during the winter. For the last two seasons with TVSource it's been absolutely rock solid, the keyboard never left the cupboard except to add the odd channel that moved frequency.

Channel change times aren't noticeably different, or at least they won't be with Digital Devices. I have an old TBS 6981 and that suffered extremely slow channel changes (It was a TBS specific problem), but it's been fixed now and is as quick as it ever was.

Your best bet is to Google them and have a browse around their forums, or better still, have a crack at it with the trial.

[bobbob]

TBS6984 on the latest version of dvblink, plus the connect server and the digiguide epg add in. channel changes are about 3s and stability is pretty good but i've never used the native set up to compare. some of the additional benefits i referred to:

integration of my sky hd sub
better epg, also with a digiguide sub
connect server streams to ipad / iphone. also webstreaming
also now close to streaming and full pvr on raspberry pi. i have high hopes for this as a very thin client, cheap extender

[seneca]

Thanks alot for your comments.

I cleared the channels in my guide by deleting the media center database as mr_rodge suggested, it worked great and I used the method that holidayboy described for editing the channels which also worked fine.

I will probably for now try to keep things simple by not using TVSource.

Now I only have the channels that I need in my channel guide thanks to your great help, thanks again.