zhrodague

I propose a method for displaying channels across the world, collected from users everywhere. This scenario, would be similar to sites like WiFiMaps.com, Flickr, and others, where users upload their content, which is then aggregated with other users' content, to form a large set of data for display. Users can see what channels are actually there, whether VHF, UHF, HDTV, QAM, 8vsb, Cable, Satellite, FiOS -- whatever -- in a non-marketing-hype kinda way. This could be coupled with sites like Zap2It, or SchedulesDirect, to provide an additional layer of clarity in what is advertised, versus what is reality, and even different package-plans or antenna types. Coverage maps can be provided generated and overlayed with Google Maps. This should prove to be an interesting feature for the Internet.

I'd prefer that there is privacy for the user. However, a street address provided by the user would make the coverage more precide. It may be best to leave it up to the user to provide whatever geo-locational information that they feel comfortable giving.

Information to collect for display:
• automated scans
  • xawtv's scantv
  • hdhomerun
  • mythtv tables
• manual input
  input type
  • NTSC US-bcast
  • NTSC Cable
  • 8vsb OTA HDTV
  • 64/128/256 QAM Cable
    Satellite
    • Frequency Band
    • Satellite degrees
    • transponder freq
    • Encryption Status
    • other parms
  • Receiver make/model
    • Antenna Type
    • Direction

I am sure that there are more items to put in there, and I will have to think about the schema before implementation. As always, I'll probably use Drupal for this purpose, since it only needs to be shaped into the required form. Comments and suggestions welcome.

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