How to stop constant HDhomerun scanning and channels being added

Playground Hardware
#1

I have a set of 9 OTA channels (local network affiliate stations) that I want to have in my Guide, no more. There must be a setting to prevent the HDhomerun from being periodically invoked for scanning for new stations to be added. i want to prevent new channels from being added to my Guide, since I just have to go and block them, which is kind of annoying.

Is there a way to do this? In the Apple TV client, there's a place to "manage" the HDhomerun in "Settings". There's an unexplained "Enable" setting in that screen that I'm hoping is the enable/disable for the constant scanning for new OTA stations that's going on. I've looked at various tutorials, and I don't see what that setting enables or disables, so I'm a little reluctant to just blindly disable it...I did try that in case some message would come up saying what was being disabled, but that didn't happen.

Any way to disable the constant automatic HDhomerun scans that are run to find new OTA TV stations? This is the only really annoying problem I've run into with the Channels DVR, otherwise I'm really enjoying using it.

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#2

Favorite the channels you care about and switch the guide to favorites view

#3

And, if you want to put those stations in a specific order and never have to worry about them changing without you doing it, you can create a Channel Collection:

#4

I do favorite the 9 channels that I want, but didn't run into "favorites" view for the Guide yet.

I'll look for it...but you'd think that you could turn off the unneeded scanning...that's my preferred solution for this "problem".

Thanks!

#5

There's no way to tell the HD HomeRun to stop those periodic scans. It's really annoying at first, but after awhile you'll get them all blocked and then you're done. Meanwhile be sure to specify the correct channel in each recording pass to prevent errors. This has been discussed many times over on the SiliconDust forums. See for example Automatic rescan? - Silicondust

#6

It's never done. There are new channels that appear, there are changes to channel numbers ... it never ends. Until Channels DVR gets a handle on the channel lineup separately from the HDHR, this mess will never end. The HDHR hardware is doing its job, capturing everything it can - after that it's up to the DVR software to sort it out, just like most DVR software figured out a decade or two ago.

The favorite channels and collections are a just a workaround to a much bigger problem.

#7

I would just export the channels you want to a m3u file and import that as a custom channel.

#8

The Clients will still pick up random channels.... Because the Clients automatically detect the HDHOMERUN tuners

#9

And SiliconDust thinks the automatic background scans (~ every 3 days) are necessary for everyone and provides no way to disable them. Users have been requesting a way to disable them for many years, but it falls on deaf ears.

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#10

They have been doing background scans for years but Channels DVR is the only one that has Problems with Ghost Channels. I have used every DVR out there and Channels DVR Clients are the only ones that picks up Channels disabled in the Tuner Web Page.

#11

Yah, I had an extended outage (partial day) of my Xfinity service and my HDHR Prime decided it was time to do a background scan. If I hadn't caught it, I would have had no channels for 3 days.

Screenshot 2023-08-31 at 10-37-47 Channels Settings
Screenshot 2023-08-31 at 10-37-47 Channels Settings760×195 435 KB

But I'm not sure that Channels DVR is the only software affected by that.

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#12

I can see losing Channels if reception or Cable problems but adding Channels that are not enabled in the Web Page is a different problem not the same.

#13

Same root cause.
You don't know when the HDHR is going to do a background scan and you cannot disable that.
At least with an OTA tuner, it doesn't delete existing channels, only adds new ones it found that you may not be able to receive. With a Cable (Prime) tuner, it will mark them as unsubscribed if unable to tune them during the background scan.

#14

Users shouldn't disable it. That piece of hardware is servicing many different pieces of software, not just Channels DVR. It's by design that it picks up EVERYTHING IT POSSIBLY CAN and then let whatever piece of software the user has implemented work out what to do with it.

#15

I understand that for a normal user it has it's advantages.

But for an advanced user that doesn't want it removing all channels because it did a background scan when my provider had an outage, I don't want it telling me I'm not subscribed to any channel since I know better. This is unique to a PRIME.

Their OTA tuners will no longer remove channels it can't see during a background scan.

A non advanced user would be posting here, on the SD Forums, or calling their provider to ask why they can no longer receive the channels they pay for.

(Not derailing the topic, since the root cause is the SD HDHR tuner background scans in both cases.)

#16

Except that it does override your local channels if the distant station it detected has the same virtual number and either has a higher resolution or SNR at the time of the autoscan.

Like here we get WDPN/2 Philly on VHF 2, which has MeTV in 720p. With moderate boost conditions that are common this time of the year, WCBS/2 (UHF 36) comes in at 1080i so the autoscan replaces WDPN, and during some heavy boost activty WMAR/2 (UHF 27) from Baltimore frequently appears. With the noise issues plaguing VHF, the distant UHF stations always have a higher SNR, so the same thing happens with WBRE/28 (VHF 11) when the boost conditions favor WCPB/28 Salisbury (UHF 16)

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#17

So how do we convince SiliconDust that there should be a disable background autoscan opt-out.
Are there reasons they can't let us have it?

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#18

It has been brought up multiple times with specific examples at their forums over the years. I think since they are based in Phoenix and between the desert climate and the next DMAs being hundreds of miles away they don't realize how often this becomes an issue like it is in the densely populated regions where the DMAs are more clustered together.

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#19

Sounds like a cop out to me.
Doesn't affect me, so can't be an issue with you.
I think there's got to be another reason.
Either they want to advertise the fact it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, or there's another issue at play, like DRM channels or some other requirements.
Just pisses me off they can't be honest and explain why we have to suffer with this.

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#20

If you were to import with an m3u wouldn’t you be able to then just disable the hdhr source in each client? I don’t see why something like this wouldn’t work or am I missing something? :thinking:

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