Channels DVR server

[Zogg]

Anyone with a subscription to Channels DVR running their server software? It supports a lot of platforms, including RPi. https://getchannels.com/dvr-server/

I'm curious what their recording files look like.

[KryptoNyte]

The recordings are video files on your hard drive. They do not support protected files, so everything on your hard drive is just ... video files.

There's a forum here where you can get questions answered:

https://community.getchannels.com/categories

Or I believe you can use their software for a month free of charge.

[KryptoNyte]

Some guy posted a fairly honest review here a couple months ago:

https://forums.sagetv.com/forums/sho...8&postcount=38

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Some guy posted a fairly honest review here a couple months ago:

https://forums.sagetv.com/forums/sho...8&postcount=38

I did search before I started this thread...

Thanks!

[NetworkGuy]

I had a subscription for a few months and was running it on my Synology server. I was using it to record LOCAST and it worked fine.

I canceled because LOCAST only broadcasts in stereo,

[nyplayer]

Channels DVR now has Pluto TV support it works great with EPG guide data.

[mistergq]

I am playing with it now with YouTube TV and OTA. My only complaint is it looks like I am going to have to use a pool hard drive system or set up a script to move shows from one drive to another.

Other than that, I think I am switching completely to YTTV come February when my 2 year contract is up with FIOS. Although, from talking to chat today, I think I can cancel TV at anytime because I am keeping the internet.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by mistergq

I am playing with it now with YouTube TV and OTA. My only complaint is it looks like I am going to have to use a pool hard drive system or set up a script to move shows from one drive to another.

Other than that, I think I am switching completely to YTTV come February when my 2 year contract is up with FIOS. Although, from talking to chat today, I think I can cancel TV at anytime because I am keeping the internet.

I would be great if SageTV accepted M3U ... channels does a great job of serving Pluto Stirr TVE and all HDHOMERUN tuners.

[mlcarson]

Would this software allow for the same Pluto support in SageTV since it emulates an HDHomerun to achieve it?

https://github.com/fHDHR/fHDHR_PlutoTV

Originally Posted by nyplayer

Channels DVR now has Pluto TV support it works great with EPG guide data.

[AlphaCrew]

That would be awesome.

[nyplayer]

They just added support for Playon Cloud ....

https://getchannels.com/docs/channel.../playon-cloud/

[mlcarson]

I'm currently playing with the Channels DVR. The Playon Cloud service is interesting but it's more of a way of getting a local 720p/stereo copy of DRM protected videos from Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc. The only other use case I see for it is from Xfinity/Charter subscribers where you might be able to get show recordings for channels that are not on TV Everywhere but are on their cloud apps.

The unique thing about Channels DVR is really the TV Everywhere integration. Everything else you can do with Emby/Jellyfin and both of these services handle media collections better than Channels. The good thing is that Emby/Jellyfin can easily use Channels DVR as strictly a tuner for TV Everywhere.

[AlphaCrew]

Wouldn't it be fantastic to have TVE integrated into SageTV. Man - O Man..

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by AlphaCrew

Wouldn't it be fantastic to have TVE integrated into SageTV. Man - O Man..

It absolutely would! On the other hand, the various login requirements that change on a yearly/monthly/daily basis would require a full-time developer here at Sage that's willing to fix it every time it breaks, even on the weekends. It's hard to demand that kind of continual maintenance for free.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

It absolutely would! On the other hand, the various login requirements that change on a yearly/monthly/daily basis would require a full-time developer here at Sage that's willing to fix it every time it breaks, even on the weekends. It's hard to demand that kind of continual maintenance for free.

If SageTV can accept an M3U as a tuner and XML input .then there is nothing to maintain as Channels would handle it on their end. I have TVE on Emby through CannelsDVR.

I am finding it harder to justifying running a SageTV server as I only use HdHomerun hardware and lack of M3U support in SageTV makes SageTV pass it's prime. SageTV is still the best TV DVR software but that is all it offers at the moment.

[KryptoNyte]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

If SageTV can accept an M3U as a tuner and XML input .then there is nothing to maintain as Channels would handle it on their end. I have TVE on Emby through CannelsDVR.

I am finding it harder to justifying running a SageTV server as I only use HdHomerun hardware and lack of M3U support in SageTV makes SageTV pass it's prime. SageTV is still the best TV DVR software but that is all it offers at the moment.

Do we still have to pay Channels DVR fees to run SageTV?

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

Do we still have to pay Channels DVR fees to run SageTV?

You get what you pay for ... you want one on one support and new features you pay for it bottom line... and Channels DVR support is great. I asked for a way to share tuners between 2 Channels DVR, Nextpvr and Emby and I got it. They can all watch or record the same Channels using 1 tuner stream ... I would like to add SagetV into the mix but it does not have m3u support.

[KryptoNyte]

At least SageTV has a clock in the guide.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

At least SageTV has a clock in the guide.

Get A small Digital Clock and tape it to the corner of your TV ...

[Zogg]

Originally Posted by nyplayer

If SageTV can accept an M3U as a tuner and XML input .then there is nothing to maintain as Channels would handle it on their end. I have TVE on Emby through CannelsDVR.

I am finding it harder to justifying running a SageTV server as I only use HdHomerun hardware and lack of M3U support in SageTV makes SageTV pass it's prime. SageTV is still the best TV DVR software but that is all it offers at the moment.

OpenDCT supports a generic HTTP tuner. VLC and ffmpeg can both open an M3U file, and I know VLC can restream as an HTTP output and I think ffmpeg can too.

You'd have to be able to 'control' ChannelsDVR to start the stream of your desired program, which I'm not sure how to do. Possibly a script that sends the command using wget or ncat and writes out the resulting M3U file, then the script fires up VLC and passes the M3U file as an argument.

I don't know if this would work or not. Would take some experimenting.