But it is also nested virtualization. Run ubuntu server (i have a tutorial on the forum) with docker. It is very simple and performance will run circles around Windows.
Proxmox is truly fantastic, and with some decent hardware running it, can do so many things. It's based on Debain, as is Ubuntu, and is packaged with all the tools needed to manage both VMs and LXCs. It allows you to virtualize everything, and is very easy to use:
I've written about it here:
Channels itself can be installed as an LXC container, using the tteck (now community) scripts, or you can install it via Docker in an LXC.
Once you have the basics of Proxmox, and CDVR running, every other Channels-related extension can be installed via Project One-Click -- which is part of OliveTin-for-Channels. There's a new EZ-Start process to get OliveTin and Portainer installed here:
If you decide against Proxmox for any reason, you can also go with Debian server (it's a single installer for both Desktop and Server -- but don't install a Desktop, as it adds complexity ). No Snap Store nonsense. There's a reason why many, many Linux distros are based on Debian!
Unless you are wanting to learn something new, I recommend using an OS that you are comfortable with. They all work and all have advantages and issues.
Watch out for some old hardware that is very power hunger. It's very easy to make up the cost of power by using a modern mini PC based on the N100 or newer N150. Check that the graphics drivers of the N150 will be supported for the OS you chose as it's still rather new. As for storage, internal, USB attached and NAS all work. NAS has the advantage of redundancy protecting you from a single drive failure though one must remember that RAID is not backup. Some OS support RAID as well though you must consider what the RAID recovery process is.
I totally agree with you regarding keeping things simple and how important the Channels DVR server can be to the entertainment in our home. Who wants the family breathing down your back as you troubleshoot.
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Boy I sure hear ya there. For those of us that selected Windows for our server, things like ADBTuner turns into a very daunting process, just to get our lost TVE channels running.
Would you kindly provide a link to that tutorial?
Sure
I need to do another one on how to install docker, channels container, and portianer etc. Until then you can just skip the channels install and do a docker install.
While I agree a native Linux environment will perform better, WSL will work just fine for most user cases unless you really need to run stuff the drains resources or need kernel level control. If you are just running docker images, it will perform well.
I find if I leave wsl running for more than a day or 2 my system gets buggy. It has been a while since I have tested wsl so maybe that changed. I run channels on a dell i5 i3030 running xubuntu. I installed an rtx 2000 ada and an intel pcie nic. A removable nic is essential to me as the cheap realtech ones fail often on me. I also run a supermicro sys-551A-T for mcebuddy and storage but probably could do that in a vm if I wanted to. I know it is overkill but it works great especially for remote viewing.
There are a lot of channels docker projects going on. You mention cable card use as well. As everyone knows your provider tomorrow could announce the are no longer going to support them. Who knows how long TVE is going to work for. Personally I think in the future a low performance dvr server will be reserved for OTA based recording and anything more than that will require a lot more horsepower.
I think a future channels dvr is going to require a machine with a strong modern cpu with 12 plus cores/threads and lots of ram. This will allow a nice running Proxmox server with flexible virtual OS options to run the various projects that currently exist and projects coming in the future. So imo go with something like this or go cheap enough to be replaced without too much heartache like a n100 Beelink.
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The future is streaming with OTA channels for a while. SLM brings recording with Channels DVR and Streaming together into a wonderful user experience.
It can be fun to put together systems that can capture cable equivalent yet it appears that many who are doing this here are constantly dealing with issues. I for one do not want my family naging me every time they can't watch TV. Not only that these high power systems will cost you in electricity and your starting to look at not saving any funds from cable after you pay for the components as well.
I feel you I recently canceled MY Cable even though I had fully working Cable Cards. I find myself recording less and less ...I have too much recorded including Stuff I no longer want to watch. The only thing I am recording right now is OTA and Max.... No longer want to invest in homemade DVRs when my equipment fails then my DVRs can RIP.
So I just watch and delete unless it is a new Movie or Series on Max.
I see this as well. Most everything available on MAX can be streamed on demand with there app. No need to record
Will the WI Badger Football games be on MAX this fall?
I agree cablecard will go away sooner or later. I will hold on as long as I can. I tried OTA but I'm too far from the towers. When ATSC3 went live, I was able to get most networks clearly. That lasted about 3 weeks until encryption started. Hopefully that gets reversed but I won't hold my breath. I also used TVE. That worked well for a few months until channels started disapearing. The cable companies will win in the end.
I record everything. It's probably mostly out of habit. It's nice for sports also. I record every local team and save just the most recent events in case I feel like watching it.
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I gave Proxmox a try but I ended up just going with Unraid. It might be a little less performant, but it can do everything I need so it eliminated some of the complexity. I tried for a long time to get OliveTin running but I kept getting errors when running the scripts. I'm sure it was all my ignorance but it's moot now. I finally have Samsung and Pluto Channels back using Docker (thank you @maddox).
Sorry to hear that. It sounds like you didn't have all of your env vars setup properly. Reach out in the OliveTIn thread if you want to get it sorted out. If you had OliveTin running, tweaking a few variables is likely to be no big deal. Run the Post-Install Healthcheck and post it, and we'll figure out what's missing or incorrect.
I appreciate it. I definitely wasn't complaining about the tool at all. I'm grateful people put so much work in and share it with the community. I just still have a lot to learn. I figured I'd share what worked for me in case there are others like me still trying to figure out docker, portainer, ect.
I am currently in the process of RE-building my server from scratch. I started messing with ubuntu desktop but after advice from @bnhf I am slowly using gemini and chatGPT to get my system fully up and running on Server 22.04.5 and so far I'm doing quite well. Gonna start a new thread as not to hi-jack this one and wee what people think of my hardware 
You could run Channels DVR on a thimble it requires very little resources ... Get a good Internet provider with great up stream and you never have to transcode.... and have an up to date NETWORK.