OK - I'm just trying to learn about what Channels DVR can/cannot do so would appreciate answers/insights/experience.
Situation: I have a main home in US and a second home in Italy. In US, I have a TIVO with cablecard as well as Roku. Also, available a QNAP TS-253A and a Lenovo Tiny. I use the QNAP for Roon/Tidal Server today but, I believe, it could also run Channels DVR.
My cable in US is essentially free (I live in a gated community with bulk cable built into my fees so no savings to drop it).
In Italy: I have Fiber-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) with bandwidth of ~200MB up/down. Currently, I use a dedicated VPN to connect to US and watch TV/DVR via YouTube TV via a Roku. I also have a Lenovo Tiny (i5) there hooked up for multimedia purposes (Roon/Tidal + playing ripped movies, etc)
Questions about Channels DVR:
My understanding is that it cannot access saved recordings or Live TV from my TIVO - correct?
to get live cable or record cable, I'd need a HDHomeRun with cablecard which are mainly available used as they are not making them anymore.
Channels DVR can record directly from via web from stream sources - correct? All sources or only some?
Channels DVR can serve live and or recorded content remotely - yes? Can that content by played via Roku? FireStick?
Are there any restrictions on remote playing content? Can it remote play everything or only some content?
What I'd like to be able to do
ditch YouTube TV ($65/month)
Use Channels DVR to capture content at my US home
a) on my QNAP TS-253A
b) on Lenovo PC (second choice)
Stream content from US home to Italy home
Play content on large screen TV in Italy
a) ideally, via Roku
b) if not Roku, what options work?
Correct. TiVo may allow you to copy off some recordings to a computer on the same local network, but not remotely. And live TV is a no-go. (I believe this is the current situation. It has been some time since I actually used TiVo with cable … think back to the initial release of the Series 3 time.)
Again, (mostly) correct. The only CableCARD devices that will work with Channels is the Prime from SiliconDust. However, they recently started remanufacturing more units with “newly rediscovered” chips that were mislabeled in the move of their offices. The Prime is currently available for purchase from their online store. (You can probably find them also used/refurbished from various online sources, too.)
Yes and no. Channels has support for viewing and recording from Locast, TV Everywhere, and arbitrary streams. Since this is a confusing topic, I'll address each one of these separately:
Locast – Locast is a digital rebroadcaster. They take OTA streams from certain market areas, and “rebroadcast” those streams on the internet. However, there are a few caveats:
The rebroadcasts are geo-restricted. The receiving device—in your case, your DVR server—would need to be within the same broadcast area as the source. So, if your US home is in Los Angeles, you would only be able to get the Los Angeles feed of Locast.
Locast is only available in certain market areas. It will not work if your US home is not in an area they serve.
While Locast is a free service, they do request a “donation” of $5/month. Channels will only work with Locast if you donate at this minimum level. (The reason being is that Locast accounts that do not donate have their streams regularly and frequently interrupted with adverts, which does not work with Channels.)
TV Everywhere – A good foundation of this support found on Channels’ TV Everywhere page. In short, certain cable and OTT providers have additional agreements with networks to provide access their content on the internet. This allows you to visit a network’s website to access a live stream of their channel, as well a catalog of on-demand content. To work with Channels, only networks that offer a live linear stream of their channel on their website will work with Channels. This covers most networks, but not all. Also, because you receive a channel as part of your cable/OTT package, that does not necessary mean that your provider also has a TVE/streaming agreement with that network—this is especially true for OTT providers, which have far fewer streaming agreements than traditional cable providers.
Internet streams – Channels has recently added support for arbitrary internet streams via M3U playlists as custom channels. This allows a multitude of additional internet or local streams to be integrated into Channels for both live viewing, as well as recording.
So, Channels can record directly from the internet from the above types of streams. But, not all streams will integrate with Channels. And Channels does not support Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc.
Anything you can view locally on a Channels client can also be viewed remotely. This does require some additional setup with your home router, but it is not overly difficult. Channels does not have a Roku client, but there is one for Amazon Fire devices.
Thanks much for the info. I'm pretty technically savvy (2 degrees from MIT) but too often with new technology, the websites are more about marketing spin than the details necessary to evaluate understand what does/does not work. It's users like you who know what works and doesn't so I really appreciate your input. Makes it a lot easier to evaluate if I should start down the path of setting up a Channels DVR setup.
In my case, the biggest plus is getting around the fact that, technically, I am not supposed to access YouTube TV from Italy. It takes a dedicated VPN to get around that and that could be stopped at any time (for example, Netflix identifies the VPN and won't stream from US to Italy - I can use Netflix Italy).
No but I have a couple of Mini's so that's a possibility. I have two ASUS RT-AC68u routers running Merlin that can do dedicated VPN so that's a possibility. I'll have to think about it.
Do you have any experience with that setup? Does it struggle with latency/bandwidth?
I'd love to use Wireguard but I don't think ASUS/Merlin supports and I think I'd need to upgrade both routers to the 88u's to do so (which I would if Wireguard was supported). I think I can use OpenVPN though and get decent bandwidth that way.
The Tivo Mini is attractive as my wife if experienced with TIVO so there's not any learning curve.
