The_Channelizer v3.5.beta

The_Channelizer v3.5.0 — StarSat Mode 2A and real-receiver compatibility

This release adds full support for StarSat SDX files (Mode 2A). It also fixes several problems found by testing with real receiver exports from Viark, Qviart, MST, StarSat and CHMax.

⚠️ Before you load an edited file on your receiver, keep the original export. Every output is structurally verified, but receiver acceptance has not been tested on every model.

✨ New

• SDX Mode 2A (StarSat JSON / 16-FAV).
  • StarSat files are detected automatically and shown as SDX Mode 2A / SDX2A.
  • Every feature works as in Mode 2: favorites (16 groups), the Favorites Manager, channel reorder and delete, satellite deletion, Save As, Convert, Merge and ★ Merge Favorites.
  • StarSat files always keep their own layout: compact favorite lists, 16 groups and plain settings objects.
  • A new SDX output → Mode 2A option creates StarSat files from DB, CHL or other SDX files with Save As, Convert and Merge.
• Open from the command line. You can use "Open with…", or drop a receiver file onto the program icon.
• Merge Favorites skips groups without a free slot. It transfers the other groups and lists the skipped ones, instead of stopping.

🐛 Fixed

Viark SDX Mode 1 satellites. Extra receiver bits were read as part of the angle (Hotbird showed as 217.8°), and West satellites were read as East. As a result:

• conversions placed satellites at the wrong positions;
• Merge Favorites found no common channels.

Conversions now match the receiver's own CHL export.

Greek and other non-Latin names in SDX Mode 1 became ? after a rename or conversion. They are now written as UTF-8.

CHL West satellites. The receiver convention 3600 − position (3300 = 30.0°W) is now read, written and shown as °W.

Lost names and broken saves

• Favorite group names were lost when reading SDX files made by the Converter.
• StarSat files could not be saved after any edit.
• Converting SDX files that contain non-UTF-8 channel names to DB or CHL failed.

Viark CHL Save As changed the key order, so an unchanged file was not identical. Key order is now kept.

SDX Mode 2 → Mode 1 failed on negative status values written by the receiver.

DB output. Large favorite bit masks were written into the one-byte program_table.fav column. DB files with more than 32 favorite groups are now supported (Qviart: 33).

Converted SDX transponders no longer carry a sample network name. Satellite deletion keeps the satellite number in the SDX ServiceID.

DB → SDX Mode 1 failed for channels without an LCN.

Merge Favorites

• failed with an error when the primary file had a non-standard extension;
• left a stray *.validated.tmp.chl.channelizer.json file next to CHL output.

🛡️ Safety

• If a newly selected file cannot be loaded, the previous file is reopened, instead of leaving a half-loaded list.
• Convert and Merge never overwrite the file open in the main window. In SAFE mode, an existing output file is backed up before it is replaced.
• CHL output is checked with the full receiver verifier before it replaces the original.
• Damaged CHL or JSON SDX files are reported with the error position, and the file is left unchanged.
• SQLite backups use the backup API when a WAL journal is pending.
• Large SQLite deletions run in batches, avoiding "too many SQL variables" on older SQLite builds.

✅ Tested with real receiver exports

Export	Format	Unchanged Save As
Qviart database	SQLite DB	Same content
MST channel list	SDX Mode 1	Byte-identical
Viark 4K	SDX Mode 1	Byte-identical
MST channel lists (2)	SDX Mode 2	Byte-identical
StarSat	SDX Mode 2A	Byte-identical
Viark Satbox	CHL	Byte-identical
CHMax-profile list	CHL	Byte-identical

For every file, these operations passed the verifier and reloaded with the same channel and favorite counts:

• favorites and group renames (including Greek names);
• member copy, move and reorder;
• channel reorder and delete;
• satellite deletion.

Conversions between all formats, Merge Files and Merge Favorites were also tested. On MST 26-FAV files, editing produces exactly the same output as v3.4.8.

📦 Assets

File	Description
The_Channelizer_v3_5_0.pyw	Application. Requires Python 3.10+ and pip install PyQt6.
The_Channelizer_CHANGELOG_v3_5_0.md	Full change log
The_Channelizer_version_info_v3_5_0.txt	PyInstaller Windows version resource
The_Channelizer_v3_5_0.manifest	Windows application manifest

Build a Windows executable:

pyinstaller --onefile --windowed --name The_Channelizer ^
  --version-file The_Channelizer_version_info_v3_5_0.txt ^
  --manifest The_Channelizer_v3_5_0.manifest ^
  The_Channelizer_v3_5_0.pyw

⚠️ Known limitations

• SDX Mode 1 stores favorite group names in 16 bytes. Longer names are shortened, and the app warns you.
• Auxiliary (terrestrial or cable) transponders in SDX files are kept in native saves but left out of cross-format conversion.
• The StarSat compact favorite layout is based on the file structure. Test a file with a few favorites on the receiver first.

Full changelog: see The_Channelizer_CHANGELOG_v3_5_0.md