Short update:
After rebooting I found my channels.conf to be in place (I had copied it manually over to /var/lib/vdr/channels.conf)
Having a look at the log:
== ATTEMPT FRESH START ==
1 12/18/09 13:14:01 Spawn_Device.sh 35 (spawning-device) 15665 Dev: 35; Already Running list: 15,16,18,19,30,31,21,27,22,25,26,23,
== FRESH START ==
1 12/18/09 13:14:01 Spawn_Device.sh 35 (spawning-device) device: 35 ip: 127.0.0.1 cmd_line: VDR
0 12/18/09 13:14:01 35 (spawning-device) Entering 35
========== NEW LOG SECTION ==========
1 12/18/09 13:14:01 35 (spawning-device) Starting... 1
1 12/18/09 13:14:01 35 (spawning-device) Found ./VDR
01 12/18/09 13:15:34.170 VDR.poll:in startup <0xb77bdb90>
01 12/18/09 13:15:34.172 VDR:A:pollVDRStatus state is now 2 <0xb77bdb90>
05 12/18/09 13:15:36.145 ReceivedDataDelimited: Last time we've called ReceiveData, it timed out! <0xb77bdb90>
01 12/18/09 13:15:37.145 VDR.parser: given input was 1 VRT - EEN
<0xb77bdb90>
05 12/18/09 13:15:38.197 ReceivedDataDelimited: Last time we've called ReceiveData, it timed out! <0xb77bdb90>
05 12/18/09 13:16:08.217 ReceivedDataDelimited: Last time we've called ReceiveData, it timed out! <0xb67bbb90>
01 12/18/09 13:16:08.217 VDR not ok with command got 0 lines then got: <0xb67bbb90>
05 12/18/09 13:16:08.217 void ClientSocket::Disconnect() on this socket: 0xb67ba288 (m_Socket: 8) <0xb67bbb90>
01 12/18/09 13:16:09.217 VDR.parser: given input was <0xb67bbb90>
01 12/18/09 13:16:09.217 VDR.parser:Error parsing channel <0xb67bbb90>
linuxmce@dcerouter:/var/log/pluto$
So I really guess I should somewhere point VDR to /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend1/
Suppose you have more than one TV adapter in your system, how would you select adapter0 or adapter1 in VDR?