6 TV's in basement - Hardware recommendations

Playground
#1

Hi all,

I am new to Channels and I have been very impressed (currently a plex/emby user).

In my basement, I have a wall of with 6 tv's we use for fantasy football/march maddness (and kids games). These TV's (TCL 4k with Roku) and have a naitive plex and emby app. This was great because I could limit the number of remotes and have a server/client setup in my house.

I'm not trying to rehash the Roku app conversations - I understand that this is not something that is on the roadmap. I like this software enough that I am considering buying 6 new dongles for the basement, and would be interested in suggestions for solid options (that won't break the bank).

I have several new Apple TV's, but these are pretty expensive and I don't want to drop $750-1000 to outfit the basement with Channels. I have hard wired ethernet connections plugged into each TV - so a dongle with an ethernet port would be preferred. What would folks suggest?

Side note - my absolute favorite feature is being able to use the Channels app on my iPhone, select something in the guide, and tell it which TV to play it on. This is AMAZING for my purposes. Great job devs!

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#2

I have tried many different client types for channels (as well as other apps like Plex which I use) and have to say that the best is AppleTV but android boxes do well also. What I found is that the channel server unit is much more important than the client type. I tried a Raspberry Pi 4, Shield Pro and older mac and once I moved to a stationary Mac I have had no issues at all with multiple TVs, IOS devices and even remote viewing.

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#3

Look at Android/Google TV:

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#4

Can we get a pic of this setup? :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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#5

I second that picture request! Always enjoy seeing a good TV wall.

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#6

IMG_2442
IMG_24421920Ă—1440 273 KB

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#7

Glorious!

#8

#9

I was really wondering how you were going to be controlling all of them, so that's such a great and simple way to pull it off.

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#10

If yoi want in the apple tv at discount. Keep eye on Facebook Marketplace. You might be able to pickup some previous models at a discount

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#11

Yeah right now I am managing 6 remotes and it’s a pain. Part of my plan was to get smart tvs so I wouldn’t need 6 additional smart remotes (12 total).

I use home assistant and I cool automation for this area. I have a power strip —> smart plug that turns. This remains off until my presence sensor sees that someone is in the tv “zone” (and stays on until there is no presence detected for 30 minutes). I’m hoping that I will be able to simply walk into the “zone” and then start sending channels to each tv from my phone guide - all without using a remote control.

#12

One particular thing that may be important to your setup is that Apple TV apps don’t run in the background, so Channels will have to be open on each Apple TV to control it remotely.

You can control the Android TV version of Channels with the Play To feature even while it’s not the active app.

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#13

I no longer see the Playon TV on my Android Phone or Samsung Tablet. I see it set to on in the settings but does not offer when you click on a video.

#14

Will you be splitting the signal so that all 6 TVs act as a single screen?

#15

I’ve thought about it, but I have bigger/nicer tvs around the house.

In order to keep the aspect ratio from looking crazy, you need to have a symmetrical array. Even though I have 6 TVs, it’s in a 3x2 array, so I could only do this as a 2x2 with 4 TVs. If I wanted to go bigger, I’d need to go 3x3. As cool as my wife is, that might be pushing it! :smile:

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