https://askubuntu.com/questions/2936/what-software-is-available-to-use-tv-tuner-card
I had to use w_scan (sudo apt-get install w-scan) to build a conf file to have the channels for vlc:
w_scan -c US -X > channels.conf
US for united states
updating, switching off of MeTV will update when complete
update: switching from MeTV to VLC for DTV with WinTV and maybe another acronym later for good measure. It functions for DVR purposes, however no video plays through VLC although it does recored. This was verified in kdenlive. More when complete.
Update: Works great with VLC, tools -> video -> output -> had to be changed to X11 now all good.
DTV on VLC is great!