Setting up Foxtel Channels in MythTV

Bill Giannikos (bill2 at giannikos.com.au)
http://www.billgiannikos.com

This guide will help you get Foxtel Digital TV working on your MythTV box, it should also work with Optus Digital and Austar. This guide assumes you already have a MythTV box up and running.

Here we are assuming you have already done the basic MythTV installation. You can use something like MythDora to get you to this stage quickly.

Before continuing make sure the backend is stopped.

/etc/init.d/mythbackend stop

For Mythbuntu 9.04 and earlier versions:

/etc/init.d/mythtv-backend stop

Under Mythbuntu 9.10 & Mythtv 0.22 the command is:

sudo service mythtv-backend stop

To make it easier for everybody, I have attached two sql files to this page which will automatically add all the Foxtel channels to MythTV. This will save you from manually adding them. Download the channel.sql and videosource.sql files. Copy the files included to your MythTV system and type the following:

mysql -u root mythconverg < channel.sql
mysql -u root mythconverg < videosource.sql

If you have password protected mysql, you can use the following and enter your password when requested.

mysql -u root mythconverg -p < channel.sql
mysql -u root mythconverg -p < videosource.sql

This will add every Foxtel channel to MythTV (including the free to air channels only available on Foxtel Digital Cable) so you should remove the ones you are not subscribed to (explained at the end of this guide).
Next as root, load up the 'mythtvsetup' program. Select option '2. Capture Cards' and then select 'New capture card'.

Now change the card type to the settings appropriate for the capture card you are using. In the example below I am using the Hauppauge PVR-150 so I have selected the 'MPEG-2 encoder card' option. Next change the 'video device' option to match the device your card is running on, in this example I am using /dev/video1 but it is commonly /dev/video0. Finally change the 'Default input' option to S-Video. You should have something like this:

If you have more than one capture card you can now configure these cards now.

Head back to the main MythTV setup screen and select '4. Input Connections'. In the example below we have two Foxtel capture cards and a single digital capture card. The system here has already been configured for Foxtel but in your case you will be configuring it now. In the example below the option are for two Hauppauge PVR-150 so your option may be slightly different depending on your capture card.

Select the first S-Video option on the list and you should see a screen similar to the one below. Change the options to reflex what is below. You can change the 'Input priority' option to whatever you like.

Follow the above again for any additional capture cards you have for Foxtel. The setup is the same except you will set the 'External change channel option' to '/usr/local/bin/changefoxtel2' (and '/usr/local/bin/changefoxtel3' etc. for further cards).

You can remove channels which you will not be using (such as channels you are not subscribed to). To do this head back to the main MythTV setup screen and select '5. Channel Editor', select the channel you want to remove and delete the channel number. This causes MythTV to ignore the channel completely.

MythTV should now have all the Foxtel channels listed and ready to function. You can now follow the Australian TV Guide Data for MythTV guide to get your TV guide listing.