Guide to make your VDR Channels.conf
Log in as your local user (su) as root and get the DVBScan Apps.
Type: cd /usr/local/src
I recommend using the version listed below being as the current CVS seems to fail for me. So download and extract the following:
Type: wget
tar -zxf dvb-apps-na-20040715.tar.gz
Type: cd dvb-apps-na-20040715/util/scan
We will need to patch the scan.c file to support NA.
Type: nano scan.c
Find the line that says:
t->param.u.qpsk.symbol_rate = sr * 1000;
Change to:
t->param.u.qpsk.symbol_rate = sr;
Now take out an option in the util/makefile
Type: cd /usr/local/src/dvb-apps-na-20040715/util
Type: nano Makefile
Put an # in front of the line below.
- ttusb_dec_reset depends on libusb
Now compile DVBSCAN.
Type: cd /usr/local/src/dvb-apps-na-20040715
Type: make
Once complete you will be ready to scan.
In this example listed below I am scanning for DN119 hooked up to my DISEQC Switch port 1 which in the first command line you will see a -s 0 referring to Port 1 of my switch. And DN110 is hooked to port 2 hence the -s 1, and the Bev91W is hooked to 3 hence the -s 2. You will need to make adjustments as you deem necessary. Also another note is the -5 listed in the command for scanning is something that forces it to scan each transponder 5 times. This is what causes this to take so long to scan channels. You can remove the -5 but the advantage of having it there, is that sometimes it might not pick up a channel due to weak signal or whatnot, so scanning it 5 times strengthens your chances of having a complete channels.conf for your area. So change as you please, but I would just make the script as listed at the bottom of the page and start it running before you goto bed one evening! Just my recommendation! I believe in order to access the DVB Card you will need to be root.
Type: su root (if you haven’t already)
Type: cd /usr/local/src/ dvb-apps-na-20040715/util/scan
# Scan echostar 119W on diseqc port 0
./dvbscan -v -lDBS -o vdr -e 3 -5 -s 0 -x 1800 -p echostar-119w > channels.conf.119w
# Scan echostar 110W on diseqc port 1
./dvbscan -v -lDBS -o vdr -e 3 -5 -s 1 -x 1800 -p echostar-110w > channels.conf.110w
# Scan nimiq 91W on diseqc port 2
./dvbscan -v -lDBS -o vdr -e 3 -5 -s 2 -x 1234 -R 2 -p nimiq1-91w > channels.conf.91w
Once you have scanned the channels and it saves the corresponding files you will want to merge them together and then convert them to VDR 1.3.x channels.conf format by performing the following commands. I believe this can all be done in one step with just the convert command below, but just showing how it is working.
# Merge into a single channels.conf
cat channels.conf.119w channels.conf.110w channels.conf.91w > channels.conf.merged
# Convert to vdr 1.3.x channels.conf format
./convert_to_vdr_1.3 channels.conf.merged > channels.conf
From here you can copy your newly made channels.conf over to your /video directory and run VDR.
cp channels.conf /video/channels.conf
I have made a script from someone else’s post on DVBN to run all commands for me and copy the newly made file over to my /video directory. I also currently only scan for DN 119 and 110 so I have commented out the Bev commands. Here is its format.
nano scanchannels.sh
#!/bin/sh
# This script should be run as root from within the scan directory
# Scan echostar 119W on diseqc port 0
./dvbscan -v -lDBS -o vdr -e 3 -5 -s 0 -x 1800 -p echostar-119w > channels.conf.119w
# Scan echostar 110W on diseqc port 1
./dvbscan -v -lDBS -o vdr -e 3 -5 -s 1 -x 1800 -p echostar-110w > channels.conf.110w
# Scan nimiq 91W on diseqc port 2
#./dvbscan -v -lDBS -o vdr -e 3 -5 -s 2 -x 1234 -R 2 -p nimiq1-91w > channels.conf.91w
# Merge channels scans in to one file
#cat channels.conf.119w channels.conf.110w channels.conf.91w > channels.conf.merged
cat channels.conf.119w channels.conf.110w > channels.conf.merged
# Convert to vdr 1.3.x channels.conf format
./convert_to_vdr_1.3 channels.conf.merged > channels.conf
# Copy the channels.conf to vdr configuration directory - change to suit your setup.
cp ./channels.conf /video/
You will want to make the scanchannels.sh script executable, so type:
Type: chmod 755 scanchannels.sh
Now you can run it and go get a cup of coffee and relax.
Enjoy!
Update:
I have tried this with the 1.1.1 release of the DVB-APPS on the same site and it seems that is already patched. Both seem to work as good as the other. So you ideally should be able to grab either version, and patch the one if you grabbed it. Once I know for fact all is the same I will update the howto to reflect that one instead.