Channels Windows client

Channels DVR Server
#1

Hi there, I’m completely new to Channels. I first heard about it from Lon’s review while looking into replacements for WMC, and it seems like it’s the best DVR package out there that most closely matches the WMC and traditional DVR experience.

I want to get started with it, but I had a few questions before starting:

  1. On Android TV, does the player natively play streams from the HDHomeRun Prime (mpeg2-ts), or does it transcode or remux?

  2. I’m honestly shocked that there is a client for each of the major TV platforms but there is no client for Windows. You suggest using the live view in the browser, but from what I have seen in other reviews, it is nothing more than a bare minimal html5 player. It lacks all program information, it’s not a full screen player, it doesn’t show start/end times, etc…

It just feels like a horrible desktop experience, and that’s what I am primarily using it on. Are there any plans to create a native Windows desktop application just like the other apps for the other platforms? Or plans to improve the web player UI so it doesn’t suck?

  1. Can the web UI play streams natively on clients, or is transcoding always mandatory for html5? As far as I know, html5 would require transcoding to mp4 or webm, since I don’t think it can decode mpeg2-ts. This obviously results in an increased load on the media server’s CPU, making live TV slower, whereas a native application for Windows would be able to play the stream natively with its own codec support.

Thanks

2 Likes
#2

Hi,

All our native apps play mpeg2 directly.

We don’t have any desktop apps. The web player requires transcoding because browsers only support h264.

See Considering switching from Plex - need to know (1) How well time shifting works, and (2) Best playback software for Windows for more details

#3

Ok so that answers that yes, for the web UI transcoding is mandatory. But no feedback on anything else about Windows support?

Is there no Windows application at all planned? Because you have acknowledged the web player requires transcoding because of lack of support for native streaming, and that’s a pretty significant drawback, aside from the other issues like the web player severely lacking accurate time of the program and ACCURATE progress (start/end time). As a developer, if you were really insisting on no Windows client, I would strongly recommend at least improving the web player to be on-par with Emby’s Live TV player, because it is the closest to a native desktop application, and the kind of experience I’d expect.

Everything else about the web UI is good, and the app support is great, but the web player being nothing more than a lightbox with no mention of any other Windows support is a complete dealbreaker for me.

#4

If windows client support is important to you, then Channels may not be the right solution.

We are a small team and our focus is currently on best-in-class clients for the various streaming devices/platforms. Desktop clients are not on our roadmap at the moment, but that may change in the future.

I haven’t tried Emby’s web player. Will check it out sometime. Our web player offers full screen mode, chromecast/airplay, forward/back seek, pause/resume, and commercial markers/skip with basic keyboard support. On Mac it also supports popping out to a PiP player. Still, it’s not designed to be a primary client- we expect most users will be consuming content in one of our native apps.

I’m a little unclear on what you mean regarding “accurate time/progress”.

1 Like
#5

Thanks. I can explain a little bit better what I meant by “accurate time/progress”. On the Android TV app, when you are watching Live TV, the progress bar shows the exact time of the program in hh:mm:ss that you are currently at, with the start and end time as well at the bookends of the timeline. But the web client does not provide this from what I’ve seen, instead being only an infinite stream that is relative to the time that you started, and does not tell you when a program starts or ends, or where you are in that program. For example, if I started streaming a channel at 1:20:00 pm, the player would start at 00:00:00. After 5 minutes, at 1:25:00, it would show 00:05:00. And since seeking inside the progress bar is only relative to when you started watching and is constantly changing as more live TV is buffered ahead, rather than the actual time, it makes time shifting around very difficult and confusing.

You are right that the web player provides some fairly good functionality, as you have listed. I could live with Channels as a web client, but for me it would require a few improvements, with the ability to make the player take up the full window to start. Going full screen is not an acceptable alternative because when I’m watching on my computer, I’m never watching full screen, since I’m always working on something else. But I’d much rather have it fill up the window which I can resize, rather than taking up only a quarter of the window.

Edit: to better explain these two paragraphs, here is a comparable Emby TV web client: https://i.imgur.com/VLqPRhy.jpg

Edit 2: Here is the web client for Plex as well: https://i.imgur.com/8JLAkeX.png

From both of these examples, I think you can see where the Channels web client falls short. You can see that (1) the player takes up the full window, only showing the osd on mouse hover; (2) the progress bar is relative to the current program duration; and (3) the progress bar is bookended with the start and end time of the current program. If this kind of experience could be provided by the web UI, it would make the need for a Windows-specific application irrelevant because it would be perfect in the browser. Unfortunately, the reason I’m looking at Channels DVR as an alternative to Emby is because the platform support and app development for Channels is way better, especially with the DRM roadmap.

#6

“DRM roadmap?” I fear you may be confused: An update on DRM support

#7

Ah, well, that’s too bad. Luckily I’m fortunate enough that the only channel that gets DRM’d for me is Fox News, so it’s not like I lose anything haha (I’d suffer more with fox news lol)

But is there any feedback from any developers regarding the web client player (only the player) to make it comparable to the offering of Plex or Emby? I think it is the only way in which Channels falls short, given that it is such a standard implementation that is expected of a dvr player.

#8

From what I know, neither Plex nor Emby will play/record DRM channels. Currently the only solutions for DRM play/record are WMC (however, not on Win10) or Tivo. SD’s HDHR will only play DRM channels (various client platforms) with a promise (over 3 years ago) of DRM recording.

#9

Oh, I wasn’t referring to DRM in comparing them. I know that’s a dead issue, with the only possible solution being the official HDHR view, whenever that gets it.

I was referring only to the web client player ( Channels Windows client)

#10

Sorry for mispost

#11

That sucks...web player is fine for antenna channels but sucks for the silicondust premium channels (plays okay from beginning but trying to advance or commercial skip causes it to hang on "remuxing". Windows App would be nice...

#12

I'm running channels DVR on an older Asus laptop with the specs shown below. When I watch recordings in anything but windows client, playback is fine. iOS, fire TV, Chromebook apps do not hiccup.

But in Windows client, which requires transcoding, playback occasionally pauses. It normally resumes, but sometimes it doesn't. I have to exit recording and restart playback to resume. Sometimes when I start recordings, playback takes quite a while to start up. The pauses occur every few minutes.

I'm running on a 4 core Intel CPU with at least 12gb ram, so I didn't think I would have transcoding problems. Or is this Intel CPU too slow to transcode for Windows client.

If it's not a transcoding problem, what else could it be?

OS

ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.UX32VD
Windows Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
6.1.7601 Build 7601

CPU

4 cores / Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3517U CPU @ 1.90GHz

RAM

9.89 GB
22.0% free

#13

For the record I would like to have a native Windows Application as well.

1 Like
#14

+1
The reason a Windows client is important is when you have CDVR server running on a NAS or anywhere other than a Windows computer, it would be nice to have a guide in Windows to setup recordings.

#15

You can still do this if it’s running on a nas. Channels DVR Server is accessible via a browser.

#16

You mentioned "basic keyboard support." Is forward/back seek available? That seems pretty basic.

Is a player app for Windows still not on the roadmap? If not please add ff/rew seek as a keyboard shortcut. Thanks.