Sony Channel Editor "Mystery"!

[retiredbri45]

I was very pleased (with help from this Forum) to load just the "Free Satellite” channels and for the Sony Channel Editor to be able to delete the unwanted ones.

You will see that I have called them "Free Satellite" and not “FreeSat”. From what I can see, “FreeSat” are a subset of the all of the "Free Satellite" channels.

(Sony Android TV, KD-49XH8196 that has a Satellite receiver in addition to the Terrestrial receiver)

However, I encountered a mystery. Channels that I had deleted using the Sony Channel Editor re-appeared when the sdb.xml file from the Editor was Imported back into the TV.

It appeared that my "chosen" channels were in the correct position in the EPG followed by the deleted ones.

I thought I'd made a mistake so I Exported the channels using my USB stick (the sdb.xml file overwrote the one that the Editor created).

I looked on the Sony Channel Editor, sure enough the deleted ones had had come back. My actions were:

• Export channels from the TV, filename sdb.xml
• Rename it to old sdb.xml
• Use the Sony Channel Editor to remove the unwanted channels.
• Save it as sdb.xml back to the USB memory stick.
• Import the file back into the TV.

Sure enough, the deleted ones showed on the Sony EPG.

I was about to write to the forum about this problem when I accidentally found the answer.

It appears that if there is more than one "sbl.xml" file on the USB memory stick in the root directory, then data from the 2nd "old sdb.xml" file was also being read by the Sony TV. Is this possible? I'm no XML expert, maybe someone can confirm it?

I deleted the old sdb.xml file on the USB memory stick so there was only one sdb.xml in the root directory. This time, when I Imported the file back into the TV, the EPG showed just the channels that I wanted. 

If you were having the same problem, try the solution above.

Regards Retiredbri

[Peter_S.]

Hi,

Yeah, it can be tricky with the channels list.

Before you start again please ensure that "service exchange" and "update services automatically" are disabled in the channel search settings. Else they probably ruin your changes.

Then please run a new channel search and safe the fresh and untouched channel list to a USB stick.

Edit this list with the Sony channel editor and safe it back to the USB stick. Import the list to your TV and everything should be OK now.

Cheers

Peter

[royabrown2]

@retiredbri45 

You are doing down Freesat a bit here 😢

Yes, it takes a subset of the available satellite channels; dropping all the paid, encoded, foreign language and so on channels, and yes some free ones in English as well.

But the ones it selects, it then curates, numbers, sorts, and combines with a full EPG instead of just Now and Next.

And makes the results available to ‘just plain folks’, not just to ‘xml mavens’.

[retiredbri45 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for your responses.

Hi Peter (Betreff),

You stressed the importance of “service exchange and update services automatically are disabled”

They were disabled before I started.

Also, to “run a new channel search and safe the fresh and untouched channel list to a USB stick”

I did this and my “reference” version was dated 10 Mon 2020.

The point I was trying to make was that with two “.xml" files in the root directory of the USB memory stick, I was getting errors but that with only one "sdb.xml" file in the root directory, there were not any errors.

If this was important when using the Sony Channel Editor and Importing from a USB stick, then a note would be appropriate.

BUT, having said that, the “Sony Channel Editor” is a fantastic application that makes life so much easier.

Hi “royabrown2”

“You are doing down Freesat a bit here 😢” was unintentional.

It came about because I “sensed” from other posts that because my Sony TVs did not have “Freesat” I shouldn’t refer to the “free to view satellite channels” as FreeSat.

I live in a hilly area served by a relay transmitter and can only receive 14 Terrestrial Freeview channels and where HD is “iffy”. But with the help of this Forum, I now have “FreeSat +”  

Regards,  retiredbri45