Two HDHomeRun tuners, two locations: why Jellyfin shows only one set of channels
A recent r/jellyfin thread describes a setup that will look familiar to anyone who has tried to combine over-the-air sources from more than one place. The user has a local HDHomeRun tuner and generates guide data with the HDHomeRunEPG-to-XmlTv container. A second tuner sits at a friend's location, reachable over a VPN, so the local broadcasts from that area can be watched too.
Each tuner got its own copy of the EPG container, and each copy reportedly produces the correct guide for its tuner. Both tuners were added to Jellyfin, and each XMLTV source was linked to the tuner it belongs to. After several guide refreshes, the logs show the right channel numbers and names being pulled in. So far, so good.
What goes wrong
When the user opens Live TV, only the channels from the first tuner appear. There is a second detail that probably matters: the two lineups use the same channel numbers for different stations. Channel 6.1 is a public broadcast in one location and a major network in the other. The user asks whether two fully separate OTA sources are simply not possible in Jellyfin, or whether something was missed.
Who this affects
Anyone combining tuners across locations, whether through a VPN or a second home, and especially people whose lineups overlap on channel numbers. It also matters for households that expect a single merged channel list and instead get what looks like a partial one.
Why it matters
The thread is a good reminder that guide data and channel identity are two different problems. Getting the EPG containers right is only half the job; the channel numbering has to be unambiguous once both tuners land in the same Jellyfin instance. The poster has not yet reported a fix, so treat the outcome as open. If you hit the same wall, start by checking how the two lineups are distinguished rather than assuming the guide import failed.
Commentary for self-hosters
When you run more than one tuner, plan the channel numbering before you add the second source. Identical numbers across lineups are the classic source of "missing channel" reports, because the list can look correct in the logs while the client shows something else. Keep each tuner's guide generation separate, as this user did, and verify in the Live TV view itself rather than only in the logs. If you need help running Jellyfin for a legal, self-hosted setup, our Jellyfin plugins are a good place to start.