will we be keeping channels everywhere if i upgrade to a mini windows pc ?
I appreciate that the lack of hardware transcoding is a significant issue for some users. I think I mentioned in a previous post that is not a priority for me. I live in Australia where the free to air channels have "Internet Catch Up". If I am away from home I can use these to watch live TV and many recordings. If I want an advert free series or movie, I can first download them to my iPad at home.
This is not ideal, but if someone was to use a set-and-forget appliance, a list of required ports might be useful to help keep bad things out?
The only thing going away is new versions of the preformatted image.
We have published a Linux ARM64 compatible DVR since day one. It runs on any modern SBC including the Pi 5.
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> As far as it running Windows: the first thing I did is wipe the drive and install my preferred Linux distro - Excellent.
I finally switched my last instance of Windows off about a year ago. I live in a retirement village, and known for (free) residents' tech support. Windows 11 was the "final straw". We live in Australia, so among the first for Patch Tuesday problems.
When I was working, I preferred vanilla Debian for headless servers; or OpenBSD (not realistic for Channels). Experience led me to avoiding Ubuntu (Canonical).
I'm sure that Beeline will be OK. We still have supply chain issues. The Pi is cheap, and easy to get. - Hence my preference.
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Years ago I actually requested an OBSD build of Channels. (Personally I thought it was trivial since they were already building FreeBSD builds.)
So I'm affected by this and trying to look at options. Getting new equipment really isn't in the cards right now. I'm currently running Channels server on a Mac Mini Late 2012 model.
One option I haven't researched much but it's possible to hack an upgrade apparently to a newer OS. I have only just begin reading about it. A little anxious about that as I figure every OS update is a chance of things breaking.
A second option is to instead install Linux on that Mac Mini. I have basically no experience with Linux so I'm actually feeling about as much anxiety with that as trying to hack into an unsupported version of Apple's OS. If I'm not using it for anything but channels maybe Linux would be the least headache of the options?
A third option which really is my last option is that I have a mini PC running WIndows 10. It's in a similar position of being at the end of the road as it can't be upgraded to Windows 11. I've been using it for local backups of my network attached HDD. I really liked having Channels on it's own device and am not anxious to move it to another device that's not only doing other duty but I'm probably going to have to start looking at options for it in the year ahead.
Does anybody have any feedback on the first two options primarily?
Thanks in advance.
Old computers can un-officially run Win 11 fine. I have an older build of Win 11 running fine on an old X99 Intel 5th gen desktop.
U can use Rufus to make a bootable USB installer of Win 11 as it has options to disable the annoyances MS imposes like MS account, TPM and install requirements. (google it)
The only downside of running Win 11 on older hardware is that it will not get the new Feature/build updates. U will be stuck on the specific build of Win 11, but it will still get normal security updates etc. So, u would be fine for a few years.
But, if you actively use Channels DVR (or anything for that matter) it is worth investing into good and modern hardware to run it.
Apple hardware, 5 to 7yrs old, is Vintage.
7+ years is Obsolete and no longer supported/updated.
Anyone that has current software that will run and be supported on that old of Apple hardware and OS, is very edge and your very lucky at that point.
U have gotten more than its service life out of such old hardware and CDVR has supported things way longer than most have. 6 more years it seems
Also, Intel based Macs, are pretty much in the grave as it is.
Somebody could try this. If it works for dvr use, could be a good setup on a new mini pc: Make a Windows 11 Image That Runs on 2GB of RAM With Tiny11 Builder | Tom's Hardware
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These tiny builds tend to break over time and could be missing components you might need in the future ... try at your own risk.
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That might be so, but if somebody has a machine laying around that they want to try it on, but that machine can't handle Windows 11 full build, it's worth trying. My first Channels server was run a little over two years ago, on a 2005 Sony laptop, with a 1.2 Ghz mobile processor, and 1gb ram.
It was a good start as the machine otherwise was chucked in a closet, but only a 32-bit machine.
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I was using a Pi4 but bit the bullet and switched to a N150. I was able to get a N150 with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD for $129.99 here Amazon.com: GMKtec G3 Plus Mini PC, Intel Twin Lake N150(Upgraded N100) 8GB RAM 256GB M.2 2280 SSD, Mini Desktop Computer Support Windows 11 Pro/Dual HDMI/WiFi6/BT5.2 : Electronics. Maybe overkill but never hurts to have more power and was on sale for cheaper than many of the N95 units. Also came with a copy of Windows 11 Pro preinstalled which made converting over quick and easy.
Simply installed Channels DVR and plugged in the 4TB SSD I had been using with the Pi4 (Amazon.com: Crucial X9 4TB Portable SSD – Up to 1050MB/s Read, PC and Mac, Lightweight and Small with 3-Month Mylio Photos+ Offer – USB 3.2 External Solid State Drive – CT4000X9SSD902 : Electronics).
I did need to re-scan the TV Everywhere channels from Hulu LiveTV again and ended up with more channels than I got with the Pi (need to install Chrome on the N150 for this to work properly).
I would have preferred not to spend another $130 on this but the DVR does run smother with the N150 and the video quality is noticeably better that the Pi.
BTW - If you want to control potential patch Tuesday concerns, simply turn off 'Get the latest updates as soon as they're available', and never install any of the preview builds. Never a bad idea to take the security updates soon after they are available.
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Congratulations. 'Get the latest updates as soon as they're available' does not affect when patch Tuesday reboots are done. This setting loads updates as soon as testing is complete and made available as an optional download.
You want to go into Advanced under Windows Updates and set your active hours. This is the time when a reboot will not happen.
I actually had the same setup as you, and just did the migration to a Beelink Mini S13. Long story short, I have a 6TB WD external HD hooked up to the Pi, that's my data drive. However I ran out of space on the Pi itself (forgot the SD card capacity) and everything stopped. I think the space issue was due to Docker files or something, but it turned out to be FAR easier to migrate to new hardware than to figure all that out. I'm a lot more proficient with Windows. Anyway, use the migration guide and you shouldn't have any issues. I booted up the Beelink, made sure Windows was fully updated (that's what took the most time!), plugged the external HD into the Beelink, installed Channels on the Beelink, then did a "restore" install. If you have any questions the folks here are very helpful.
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I just migrated tonight. I was only using my pi4 for a few months, what a shame. But I just received my GMKtek G3 Plus with the n150, and it was seamless to just transfer the external drive from the pi4 to the new NUC and ChannelsDVR is running just like it was. Not a bad little box for $130, now I can run a few more things on it too.
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You can install regular Linux images on the rpi4 and set up channels server on Linux.
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My understanding is that the Channels DVR developers decided to discontinue rpi support as there were things that were a challenge to continue to support it. They told someone else that they could try yet there would be no support.
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Would be very much interested to the details on transcoding for Intel 9th gen and above.
Just bought a PC with a 10th gen Intel processor to replace my 8th gen system.
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I understand folks love their Pis. But, IMHO, the days of "the Pi is so much cheaper" are gone. I'm running Channels on an 8th gen Dell OptiPlex 5060. Business system and until very recently, supported by Dell. Was $100. Just eBay'd a 10 gen OptiPlex 5090. $150.
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I already had a couple of Pi 5s 
Upgraded Channels App to 6.2.1 on iPad (and iMac) and Apple TV, with DVR version 2025.02.25.0015 on Pi5 - All is good, memory use 162MB out of 1.96GB. System running for 133 days without attention, courtesy of a couple of crontab jobs for backup etc. I installed a new modem-router, so the uptime is only 27 days.
As an exercise, after changing the modem-router, I found that replacing the Pi with another, installing it in its case, copying the OS, attaching the HDD, and getting it all running took less than 6 minutes. Changing it back took less than that. Obviously, if you need transcoding, the Pi 5 is not for you (I don't).
I found no significant advantage in >2GB RAM. A new Pi 5 like mine is still US$50. Ebay may not be best place for used Pi 4 and 5s as they are often more than that.
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