Equal channel numbers HD/SD

Bas K

I got a question about channel numbering of a SD/HD channel.
My provider does have some channels like 'Discovery Channel' which is available in HD and SD quality.

Now is my question can i use one channel number for both HD and SD or does this give problems with clients like XBMC?

I normally use 2 different channel numbers.

ProfYaffle

You could merge the SD channel into the HD one - or just delete the SD channel entirely if you don't want it - or even the other way around, if you really don't like all that extra definition :-)

Or you could leave them as separate channels, which is what I tend to do. You can then use channel tags (either the default SDTV and HDTV or one of your own making) to select that "shortlist" within XBMC.

Bas K

Hi Prof Yaffle thanks for your reply.

It is a little hard to test right now because the family is using it on a daily basis.

I don't understand the merge button. Let's say i have:

* Discovery Channel
* Discovery Channel HD
Now i merge those 2 channels. How will the client (XBMC) know which one he need to choose?

ProfYaffle

Ugh - yes, fair point, sorry, wasn't thinking hard enough! If they're on the same tuner, I've no idea what would happen, it might be on numerical order or something similar; if they're on different tuners, it would depend on the default or stated priority (i.e. which tuner gets chosen first).

Do you ever intend to watch the SD version? Deletion may be the easiest option...

Bas K

Prof Yaffle wrote:
> Ugh - yes, fair point, sorry, wasn't thinking hard enough! If they're on the same tuner, I've no idea what would happen, it might be on numerical order or something similar; if they're on different tuners, it would depend on the default or stated priority (i.e. which tuner gets chosen first).
>

> Do you ever intend to watch the SD version? Deletion may be the easiest option...

I sometimes use SD channels when useing TVHGuide on my Android phone as HD channels are to heavy with wifi.

Anyone else who can clear this up?

ProfYaffle

I'll bow out gracefully at this point, since I don't think I can help and I may just be confusing the issue.

My final thought: if you're after a single channel that then forks into SD or HD either on demand or automatically in some way based on requesting client - perhaps through a popup that says "which definition do you want?" - then no, I don't think that XBMC can handle that. However, if you're okay with selecting which version you want, perhaps by tagging the channels in some way, maybe, oh, I don't know, perhaps by giving them different names (say, "Discovery Channel" and "Discovery Channel HD") then you already have that.