Update 17/02/2012: WARNING
As attractive as it might seem to be able to choose between (for example) two local news regions, the collective wisdom now is that it can lead to problems and is best avoided. The problem is this: the EPG is broadcast on all multiplexes, and carries programme information for every multiplex available in that TV region. The EPG data controls the recording schedule, which might be different from region to region not only in terms of the regional timing variations, but also in the service and programme ID codes.
If the Humax happens to be monitoring the EPG for your secondary region, but the data in that region is invalid for the services scheduled for recording, the recording may fail (particularly if using AR).
With that warning in mind (and the information is useful for tuning TVs where recording is not involved), read on...
With thanks to the
instructions for manual tuning posted above, I've had a play and can report how things work when you are trying to tune multiple regions.
For reference, I receive West region from Mendip on 61, 54, 58, 48, 67, 52; and Wales region from Mynydd Machen on 23, 26, 29 (as per the
DigitalUK web site referred above
- note that these allocations were correct at time of writing, but should not be relied on later, look them up fresh). If I allowed an automatic tune it would also pick up Wales channels from Wenvoe in the 40's.
Contrary to what was suggested above, the stations are not just allocated to station numbers on a first-come-first-served basis. Each carries a preferred LCN (which I presume stands for 'Logical Channel Number'), and after the manual channel scan when you are offered the "save" button, if any of the newly scanned stations' LCNs conflict with existing tuned LCNs you get a message "Multiple regions detected", and an option which region you want - in my case "England" or "Wales". By choosing "England", those channels are given priority over the Mynydd Machen channels in the LCN table.
The bumped-out channels then populate 800 onwards on a first-come-first-served basis, thus BBC1 Wales is on 800, BBC2 Wales is on 801 etc. ITV1 Wales which you might have thought would be on 802 actually comes further down the list, after all the stations on the channel 23 mux (ITV1 being the first station on the channel 26 mux).
LCN allocation is in a table
HERE (click). Channel4 is an odd one: there is one on LCN 4 from channel 54 (England), and another one on LCN 8 from channel 26 (Wales) - LCN 8 would otherwise be allocated to BBC ALBA (whatever that is) that only seems to be available in Scotland.
It took me ages to figure out how I could tell what transmitter any particular station was coming from: with normal TV playing, press "List" to bring up the channel list, then cursor up/down to highlight the one of interest, and press "i" - that brings up a window with the channel information, and if it says "26" for example, I know that's Mynydd Machen.
So, in summary:
If you are tuning just one region and wish to select the strongest signal (or preferred transmitter), use the process as described a
few posts above (click) to tune your six or seven multiplexes. It
does not matter what order you scan them in, might as well work in numerical order of channel for efficiency.
Don't forget to set the Transmission type correctly each time: DVB-T for the SD multiplexes and DVB-T2 for HD.
If you wish to add channels for a second region, start with your preferred region as above. Once that is done, scan the channels for your secondary region and each time you click "Save" you will be asked which region you want - select your primary region so that the secondary region's conflicting channels will be bumped to the 800's.
Now I only have to go through and delete all those "waste of space" channels. I wouldn't mind but there's not a decent (ie free) porn channel amongst them! At least Channel One used to have Sexcetera....
Now, does anybody know what "Network Search" does?
Edit: enhanced for clarity
