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[channeldel] Automatically delete unwanted channels (Note: now superseded by tunefix)

AFAIK the tuned population is continuously monitored and if any show up that are on the delete list they are removed. The problem with automatically restoring the schedule (if it were possible to detect a retune) is that if it were a partial manual retune the existing schedule is not deleted (only the affected part), and restoring the backup doubles up the entries (the restore assumes an empty schedule). You could, of course, have emptied the schedule deliberately!

There is usually no need to take a manual backup, as the current schedule is automatically backed up daily.
 
Risking being accused of being blind, I cannot find:

"This settings screen is accessed via the standard Settings page, under Automatic Channel Deletion."

EDIT: Not blind, just didn't realise I needed to install the package. :oops:
 
:)

I wanted to watch Ice Age 2 on Film4 so was forced into a retune, this is HDR3 and I have multi-region tuning on that one. I decided it was an opportunity to give channeldel a workout.

My tuning for HDR3 is a full manual of the West muxes, and then a couple of the Wales muxes to pick up BBC1, BBC2, ITV, and BBC Radio Wales (a slip of the button made me pick Wales as the primary region on one of them and I had to start all over again - that placed the Wales channels at 1+ and kick the West to 800+).

Then I populated the channeldel list. The only hang-overs were ITV1+1 on the Wales mux (in the 800s), a duplicate Channel 4 on LCN 8 (Wales puts S4C at LCN 4, Scotland does the same with Alba), and Film4 on 791, neither of which I can add to the delete list because that will also wipe out the proper services of that name, so a manual deletion was required in those cases.

So far, very positive. channeldel will prove its worth when there is another retune - but surely that applies to retuning my other HD-FOXes and HDR-FOXes? Could we have an easy way to export/import the delete list? In the mean time, which file needs copying?
 
It would be nice to be able to specify individual LCNs and LCN ranges as well as names in channeldel.
 
That could work for 8 and 791, and if you are absolutely sure there is nothing you want 800+, but individual 800+ LCN allocations are pot luck (assigned in order of request, unrelated to the service's preferred LCN).
af123 said:
You can run the retune/kill_800 diagnostic if you want to remove all channels over 799 quickly. I think selective manual tuning is the way to go though if you routinely end up with channels in the 800 range.
Click to expand...
I'm inclined to go along with prpr on this, channeldel seems the natural home for this kind of thing, and only takes effect on reboot so one has a chance to check beforehand. Give us the tools, and let the user beware!

Update: I've not had a total change of mind, but a modification. I don't think automatic block removal of 800+ is a good idea, because it could mask an underlying problem. I have no difficulty with a diagnostic to do it, or channeldel removal of individual services by LCN.
 
I have now integrated channeldel into HDR1, HDR4, and HD1. For these I used copy & paste to populate the deletions list from HDR3, but I would still like an export/import mechanism because the off-site HDR2 will be updated at some time, and a file import system seems more elegant than clipboard.

HD1 also has dual-region tuning (as does HDR3), but this time I stuck rigidly to the tuning procedure I documented HERE (click) and used "edit channels" to remove all Welsh services except BBC1, BBC2, ITV, and Radio Wales before tuning the Mendip muxes - that eliminated all the delinquents I mentioned in post 84 (except 791, which seems to have gone on its own).
 
Can't believe I missed this fantastic addition to the custom software. I tried on my HD-T2 first and now on my HDR T2. Brilliant.
 
At least you're not whinging that nobody told you. Somebody else expects to be spoon fed everything, like we insist he uses the CF.
 
A handy addition would be to include the ability to delete a range of channels so for example I would configure it as follows:

201-299 would remove all the IPTV and MHEG based data services which do not work/interest me and I would not have to keep adding new entries to the channel list to be deleted.

Similarly, 790-799 would remove all the temporary holding channels when services are changing MUX etc.

Just an idea to make this package even better.

Edit: Just seen that prpr suggested this addition a few months ago. Obviously missed it when I was skimming through the posts!
 
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G4DDS said:
Just seen that prpr suggested this addition a few months ago. Obviously missed it when I was skimming through the posts!
Click to expand...
Sadly, no-one else agreed with me at the time, so it never got implemented.
 
prpr said:
Sadly, no-one else agreed with me at the time, so it never got implemented.
Click to expand...
Looks like BlackHole did but I must have missed/forgotten it. It should be an easy change.

Do you think that it should treat anything that looks like a single number or numeric range as an LCN, or require some prefix such as #?
 
Can't find the relevant post.

I think you need a separate input box for LCNs, just in case there is a service identified as just a number or a #-prefixed number (you never know).

While you are about it, channeldel ought to grab a backup of the pre-modified tuning database (whenever it can identify that a retune has occurred), then offer a user option to restore from the database (requiring a reboot). This will make it reasonably easy to restore services that were accidentally removed or are subsequently required after all (remove them from the deletion list, trigger a database restore, reboot - new set).
 
af123 said:
Do you think that it should treat anything that looks like a single number or numeric range as an LCN, or require some prefix such as #?
Click to expand...
Black Hole said:
I think you need a separate input box for LCNs, just in case there is a service identified as just a number or a #-prefixed number (you never know).
Click to expand...
Probably what BH said. I don't like the thought of mixing names with LCNs and auto-magically trying to sort them out again afterwards. Much better to keep it un-ambiguous in the first place.
 
Any chance of revisiting this "filter by LCN range" thing please?
It's a bit dull having to maintain the list manually to remove all those useless channels by name in the 170-199 and 201-299 ranges, and delete the duplicates in the 790-799 range.
 
prpr said:
Any chance of revisiting this "filter by LCN range" thing please?
It's a bit dull having to maintain the list manually to remove all those useless channels by name in the 170-199 and 201-299 ranges, and delete the duplicates in the 790-799 range.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't it be simpler still to just highlight the range of channels, on the RHS column and then move them to the LHS as a block?
 
No, it's still a manual operation every time and I have four boxes to do it on in total.
That doesn't get rid of 79x either which is even more work.
The easiest solution is to write something to do it, which I have now done. Testing it will have to wait for tomorrow night.
Then I can forget about it for ever... until the b*ggers change the rules (but it'll be an easy mod. even then).
 
I've now written/tested/debugged tunefix which will (with the aid of a small config. file) put everything back as I want it after a retune.
This includes:
  • Deleting LCNs by number and/or range
  • Deleting LCNs by name (duplication of functionality of channeldel)
  • Selecting your preferred region when the auto-tune gets it wrong
  • Forcing named services to the correct LCN
  • Deleting all services from the 'wrong' region
I can probably generate the config. file initially as well, assuming the existing channel data is correct (not an unreasonable assumption).
 
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My solution of exporting the tuning database and importing it everywhere else failed to take on my lent-out HDR, and I have no opportunity to find out why.
 
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