Adding & Deleting Channels

[gideon_friedmann]

I read the information on adding new channels and changing the channel numbers.
However, I am unclear on how I can get a station ID so that I can use the add-whole-channel script.
As mentioned before, I am in Israel and I do not need the Australian stations, in fact they cause some trouble, so I would like to delete them (I don't want program information from an australian channel to appear in my channel). I am not setting up a local guided data at this point.
By the way, how is the connection made between the guided data and the channel? Via the station ID ?
Also I saw that several sources refere to the same station information (but not the same channel number). For myself I would need different station information for the different channels. Can I creat new station information objects (all of this seems complex, it would make more sense for me to get rid of current stations, and create new stations).

Thanks

Gideon.

[thomson]

You can either use the delallsources.tcl script to delete all the existing channels, or better yet just do a full reset of the TiVo (this will delete recorded shows...). Essentially you need to create what is called a headend slice. I have a slice and some instructions for loading it in this post, but you will likely want to alter the slice for your channels.

This can be done with the readguide and writeguide utility. I compiled these for the Tivo and uploaded them to Minnie a while back. It is the package called SliceUtils.zip.

To decode the slice you would just use "readguide headend.slice > Israel.txt", and then you can use your favourite editor to alter the slice (this is a simple slice with only a few channels defined in it). It should not take too long to get your head around how the slices are defined - you just need to make sure all references are correct. Once you have altered the text then you can recreate the slice using "writeguide < headend.txt > Israel.slice", and then it is just a matter of clearing out what is already in the database and loading the slice with "dbload30.tcl Israel.slice" and then set the headend to the number that you have chosen (eg "setheadend 6001").

If this does not work then there is likely a problem with the slice (no errors will be reported ). If you get really stuck just zip your slice up and post it and somebody (I) can have a look at it.

[gideon_friedmann]

Thanks so much for the useful information !!
It's been a while - but I only recently tried to implement your suggestions.

I was partially successful. I did not reset the TiVo completely, but I followed your instructions and created a HeadEnd slice which I loaded onto the Tivo (the text version is attached yes_slice_orig.txt). Everything worked smoothly and I saw all of these channels on my Tivo (and only these - all the old channels were gone).
Following this success, I created a much larger file containing most of the stations available through my satellite service (it is called yes_slice.txt in the zip attachment). However, after I load it onto the Tivo, I am still left with the same 7 channels as in the small file. The slice I loaded is called YES.slice in the zip file. I applied readguide to this slice and it seems to recover all of the original txt version - so I assume there is no syntax error.
The setheadend command is printing out the channels it created - only 7. This is also attached in the zip file as setheadend_printout.txt .
I am baffled - what is so special about those channels? Why is the Tivo not accepting all the channels I created.
I then tried to change the order of the Subrecord Channel objects, but this had no effect on the output. It seems that the setheadend is taking the data from somewhere else. Do I need to change the zip code??
I am also unsure what the meaning of the field labeled Number in the subrecord Channel area is. I assume it is the same as the Fccchannelnumber.

Any help would be appreciated!!

Gideon.

[thomson]

Following this success, I created a much larger file containing most of the stations available through my satellite service (it is called yes_slice.txt in the zip attachment). However, after I load it onto the Tivo, I am still left with the same 7 channels as in the small file.

When you look at slice entries you will see something similar to the following:

Station/1/7999701/304 {
   ...
}

The trailing "304" is the version number of the record. If you increased this for all entries in the newer file then you should have success. The existing record will only be replaced if the newer record has a higher version number.

[gideon_friedmann]

Excellent Suggestion !!
I increased the version number, and setheadend created the new stations, however the program gives an error after 58 channels (in the cable lineup). I tried fiddling around with the channels in that area (changed and deleted the last channel mentioned, changed the first channel after the error etc.), but to no avail. Finally, I just deleted all the channels following the error, and everything worked nicely.
I could probably survive without the last 10 channels, but I wonder what the problem is.
Attached is the error message I get from setheadend (the file contains the message twice, the second one with channel 105 which is the last good channel deleted, such that all of a sudden the next one after it becomes the last good channel). I also attach the text version of the file.

Gideon

[thomson]

Attached is the error message I get from setheadend (the file contains the message twice, the second one with channel 105 which is the last good channel deleted, such that all of a sudden the next one after it becomes the last good channel).

Not sure... You might want to cleanup/delete all the existing Station entries from the MFS database (easiest way is probably via delallsources) and reload the slice... alternatively you might like to try using a different prefix (eg 7991 rather than 7999).