ChannelWatch: Real-Time Alerts for Your Channels DVR

CoderLuii · March 19, 2025, 10:13am

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ChannelWatch: Real-Time Alerts for Your Channels DVR

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to share my project called ChannelWatch that has now reached version 0.7 with exciting new features! ChannelWatch is a comprehensive monitoring solution with a modern web interface that tracks Channels DVR activity and sends real-time notifications whenever viewing activity occurs, recordings change status, or system conditions change.

What It Does

ChannelWatch provides real-time monitoring with detailed notifications for:

Live TV viewing with channel and program details
VOD/recorded content playback tracking with metadata and progress
Complete recording lifecycle tracking (scheduled, started, completed, cancelled, stopped)
Disk space monitoring with customizable thresholds and visual dashboard
Multi-device awareness and session tracking across all clients
Modern web dashboard for configuration and system status monitoring
Real-time status overview with active streams and upcoming recordings
Built-in diagnostic tools accessible directly from the web UI

What's New in v0.7

Notification Enhancements:
- Improved email configuration with support for custom SMTP servers
- Better Discord integration with enhanced formatting and reliability
- Clearer documentation and examples for notification configuration
- Streamlined options with removal of deprecated MQTT support
Live TV Improvements:
- Fixed case-sensitive bug in channel/program image selection
- Better UI documentation with detailed formatting guides
Security Improvements:
- Enhanced handling of authentication credentials
- Better protection for sensitive configuration data
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed email formatting issues with various SMTP providers
- Improved error handling for notification delivery
- Enhanced reliability across different notification providers

	Desktop View	Mobile View
Dashboard	Desktop Dashboard1266×1196 227 KB	Mobile Dashboard607×1242 121 KB
Settings	Desktop Settings1320×1265 128 KB	Mobile Settings641×1269 97.5 KB
Diagnostics	Desktop Diagnostics1487×1259 87 KB	Mobile Diagnostics634×1265 61.9 KB

Key Features

Multiple Alert Types:
- Channel-Watching for live TV
- VOD-Watching for recorded content
- Recording-Events for DVR activity
- Disk-Space for storage monitoring
Rich Notifications:
- Program information with titles and descriptions
- Channel information with logos
- Device and stream details
- Playback progress for recorded content
- Recording status with timing information
System Features:
- Real-time event monitoring with minimal resource usage
- Multiple notification options: Pushover, Discord, Slack, Telegram, Email and more!
- Runs as a Docker container with multi-platform support (amd64, arm64, arm/v7)
- Comprehensive configuration options
- Open source and free to use

Example Notifications

Channel Watching Alert

📺 ABC
Channel: 7
Program: Good Morning America
Device: Living Room
IP: 192.168.1.101
Source: HDHR

VOD Watching Alert

🎬 Crank: High Voltage (2009)
Duration: 58m 46s / 1h 42m 11s
Device Name: Living Room
Device IP: 192.168.1.100

Rating: R · Genres: Action, Thriller
Cast: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Dwight Yoakam

Disk Space Alert

⚠️ Low Disk Space Warning
Free Space: 200.59 GB / 1.82 TB (10.8%)
Used Space: 1.62 TB
DVR Path: /shares/DVR

Recording Events Alerts

Scheduled Recording Alert

📺 ACTION NETWORK
Channel: 137
Status: 📅 Scheduled
Program: Batman (1989)
-----------------------
Scheduled: Today at 8:54 AM EDT
Duration:  2 hours 16 minutes

Caped Crusader (Michael Keaton) saves Gotham City from the Joker (Jack Nicholson).

Recording Started Alert

📺 MOVIE CHANNEL
Channel: 129
Status: 🔴 Recording (Manual)
Program: Crank: High Voltage (2009)
-----------------------
Recording: 8:49 AM EDT
Program:   8:48 AM EDT
Duration:  1 hour 42 minutes
Total Streams: 1

Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) seeks revenge after someone steals his nearly indestructible heart.

Recording Completed Alert

📺 MOVIE CHANNEL 
Channel: 129
Status: ✅ Completed
Program: Pet Sematary (1989)
-----------------------
Duration: 1 hour 54 minutes
Total Streams: 1

A doctor (Dale Midkiff) and his family move to a town near an ancient Indian burial ground.

How to Install

Installation is now simpler than ever with Docker. Here's a complete setup:

name: channelwatch
version: '3.0'
services:
  channelwatch:
    image: coderluii/channelwatch:latest
    container_name: channelwatch
    network_mode: host
    volumes:
      # Path to store configuration, logs, and settings
      - /your/local/path:/config
    restart: unless-stopped

That's it! All configuration is now done through the web UI at http://your-server-ip:8501

Note:

For bridge networking, replace network_mode: host with:

network_mode: bridge
ports:
  - "8501:8501"  # Or replace 8501 on the left with your desired port

Requirements

Docker and Docker Compose
Channels DVR server
At least one notification service configured (Pushover, Discord, Telegram, etc.)

Get It Now

GitHub: https://github.com/CoderLuii/ChannelWatch
Docker Hub: https://hub.docker.com/r/coderluii/channelwatch

I'd love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future features!

zerodayz · March 20, 2025, 12:15pm

Excellent work!

One thing that would be nice, if possible, is to swap the notification engine to Apprise rather than Pushover, as Apprise supports dozens of notification endpoints (including Pushover) but could be Discord, email etc.

Matthew_Crommert · March 20, 2025, 12:52pm

Works great and looking forward to more notification choices

It would be nice to get the device in the notification also

Matthew_Crommert · March 20, 2025, 7:53pm

The other thing i've noticed is if the channel is in the TVE range (the 6000's) it doesn't say the name of the channel but only the number

CoderLuii · March 21, 2025, 4:16am

Thanks to everyone who's trying out ChannelWatch! I appreciate all the feedback so far.

Apprise Integration

@zerodayz - Thanks for suggesting Apprise! While my initial focus is on expanding alert types, I'll explore adding Apprise support to provide more notification options beyond Pushover. I can't promise it for the immediate next release since I'm currently focused on core improvements for version 0.3.

TVE Channel Issues

@Matthew_Crommert - Regarding the TVE channels in the 6000 range:

I can see regular channels display their names in my development logs:

[TNR] Opened connection to Source1 for ch6 UNIVISION NEW YORK

Since I don't have a TVE setup myself, I'd need to see how those 6000-range channels appear in your logs. Would you be able to share a small snippet showing a TVE channel example? This would help me understand the exact pattern to update the regex correctly.

Device Information Feature

For adding device information to notifications - I'm exploring the Channels DVR API as a potential solution. The current log monitoring doesn't capture device details in real-time, so I'm researching whether the API offers a practical way to retrieve this data alongside other improvements.

I'll keep everyone updated as version 0.3 development progresses. Thanks again for your valuable feedback!

Accustiver · March 21, 2025, 6:57pm

Couple questions. For the path to config directory, would this be a config file specific to ChannelWatch? Am I just essentially setting whatever location I’d like for the config file to go?

Next question…I have docker on an Ubuntu Linux Server but my Channels DVR server is running on a separate PC on Windows 10. Can I still point to the path of my Channels DVR server log and if so, what would that path format be? (like C:\path\to\……\channels-dvr.log)

bnhf · March 22, 2025, 5:02am

First, many thanks to @CoderLuii for creating this tool!

I know a lot of you remember back to when there were dozens of user-created CDVR-related scripts, all with different installation methods, often different by operating system.

OliveTin-for-Channels was created to consolidate these tools in one place, with a common menu system. This allows for leveraging a relatively complete set of the values needed for scripts and tricks like this to work. Continuing that tradition, I've added ChannelWatch to OliveTin, complete with support for multiple DVRs.

Also, for anybody that hasn't seen it: I've also launched a new OliveTin EZ-Start process, that allows you to spin-up OliveTin with just 2 env vars. Then OliveTin itself will step you through the other values you need to take advantage of all of the Actions and Project One-Click spin-ups.

For those with more than one DVR, you can start ChannelWatch for each, and to kill ChannelWatch for any DVR simply select it and enter 0 for a log_check_interval. If there are any active instances of ChannelWatch running the icon will be green rather purple.

Like all of the background Actions in OliveTin, be sure to refresh your browser after making changes to the Action. If you have everything in Organizr like I do (all CDVR-related WebUi's are accessible from the icons on the left side in the screenshot), there's a little local refresh button that's quite handy.

Again, all credit to @CoderLuii for this great script, and hopefully having it in OliveTin will do nothing but make it more useful to more people.

bnhf · March 22, 2025, 5:24am

Yes.

No matter how you attack this, you'll need to configure C:\ProgramData\ChannelsDVR on your Windows system as a Samba share. Then if you use the ChannelWatch container, you'll need to mount that Samba share to your Linux filesystem, so that is has a path you can use for ChannelWatch.

If you go the OliveTin-for-Channels route, you can easily mount the Samba share as a Docker Volume, and use that in OliveTin. There's some very recent detail on how to do that in the new OliveTin EZ-Start thread, as I stepped someone through that process in the last couple of days.

babsonnexus · March 22, 2025, 2:00pm

If you cross-reference with the client logs, you can get what device it is coming from. There are several drawbacks as you'd have to poll all of them, and you can only see local ones. However, if you are interested in going down that path, this is how I handled getting clients dynamically in Streaming Library Manager:

https://github.com/babsonnexus/stream-link-manager-for-channels/blob/main/slm.py#L4967

EDIT:
Here's a description of the front-end and functionality:

bnhf · March 22, 2025, 2:44pm

For those looking to use ChannelWatch as a standalone container, I've given the Docker Compose the Portainer treatment, and added it to A docker-compose for every Channels-related extension -- suitable for Portainer-Stacks!:

Jean0987654321 · March 22, 2025, 7:30pm

Looks pretty dope. Hopefully apprise support comes pretty soon as I don't have a pushover account and I would rather use this with discord but looks pretty good so far

CoderLuii · March 22, 2025, 8:53pm

Quick Update - v0.3 Coming Soon!

Just wanted to drop a quick update on ChannelWatch! I've been in a brutal 18-hour coding marathon completely rewriting the core architecture for v0.3. My eyes are barely staying open, but the results will be worth it - a completely restructured codebase that's more maintainable and ready for all the features you've been asking for.

What's coming in v0.3:

Rich Visual Notifications - Channel logos now appear directly in your alerts for instant visual recognition of what's being watched

Completely Revamped Alert System - Rebuilt from the ground up with a new formatting engine that allows for more detailed and customizable notifications

Full Device Tracking - See exactly which device is watching what, giving you complete visibility into your Channels ecosystem

Advanced Session Management - Behind-the-scenes improvements that make the system more reliable and responsive than ever

This is just the beginning - the architectural overhaul I've been hammering away at lays the groundwork for some seriously exciting features down the road. The technical debt payment wasn't fun, but it's going to make future development much smoother!

I'll respond to all your comments and suggestions very soon! The foundation work may not be visible on the surface, but it'll make everything you've requested possible.

I'm putting the finishing touches on v0.3 now and expect to release it within the next 1-2 hours. Stay tuned!

More details soon!
CoderLuii
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CoderLuii · March 23, 2025, 2:04am

ChannelWatch v0.3.0 Released!

I'm excited to announce a major update to ChannelWatch with v0.3.0!

This release completely reimagines how ChannelWatch works with a new architecture focused on reliability and expandability.

What's New:

Real-time event monitoring: Connects directly to Channels DVR's event stream (no log file needed!)
Multi-service notifications: Added support for Discord, Slack, Telegram, Email and more through Apprise integration
Channel logos in notifications: Visual identification of channels
Session tracking: Better handling of viewing sessions with automatic cleanup
Enhanced error handling: Automatic reconnection and improved stability
Diagnostic tools: Built-in troubleshooting capabilities

Migration Guide for Existing Users

Due to the architectural changes, existing users will need to update their docker-compose configuration:

1. Remove Log File Mapping

The old configuration required mapping the Channels DVR log file:

volumes:
  - /path/to/channels-dvr.log:/channels-dvr.log:ro

This is no longer needed and should be removed.

2. Add Required Host Information

Add the CHANNELS_DVR_HOST environment variable:

environment:
  CHANNELS_DVR_HOST: 192.168.1.xxx  # Replace with your Channels DVR IP

3. Update Network Configuration

Change network mode to "host" for simplest setup:

network_mode: host

4. Consider Additional Notification Options

You can now use multiple notification services via Apprise:

# Discord example
APPRISE_DISCORD: "webhook_id/webhook_token"

# Telegram example
APPRISE_TELEGRAM: "bottoken/ChatID"

5. Example Migration

Old Configuration:

version: '3.0'
services:
  ChannelWatch:
    image: coderluii/channelwatch:latest
    container_name: channelwatch
    network_mode: bridge
    volumes:
      - /path/to/config:/config
      - /path/to/channels-dvr.log:/channels-dvr.log:ro
    environment:
      LOG_CHECK_INTERVAL: 10
      Alerts_Channel-Watching: TRUE 
      PUSHOVER_USER_KEY: your_key
      PUSHOVER_API_TOKEN: your_token
      
    restart: unless-stopped

New Configuration:

version: '3.0'
services:
  ChannelWatch:
    image: coderluii/channelwatch:latest
    container_name: channelwatch
    network_mode: host
    volumes:
      - /path/to/config:/config
    environment:
      CHANNELS_DVR_HOST: x.x.x.x
      CHANNELS_DVR_PORT: 8089
      TZ: Your/Timezone
      LOG_LEVEL: 1
      LOG_RETENTION_DAYS: 7
      Alerts_Channel-Watching: TRUE
      CHANNEL_IMAGES: TRUE
      PUSHOVER_USER_KEY: your_key
      PUSHOVER_API_TOKEN: your_token
      
    restart: unless-stopped

For the full configuration guide, detailed examples, and troubleshooting tips, check out the complete documentation on GitHub.

The README includes many more configuration options to customize ChannelWatch to your needs.

Let me know if you have any questions or feedback!

Cheers,
CoderLuii
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CoderLuii · March 23, 2025, 2:31am

Config Directory & Windows/Linux Setup

@Accustiver Two quick answers:

The config directory is where ChannelWatch stores its container logs - pick any location you prefer within your Linux docker machine!
With the new v0.3.0 release, you don't need to access Channels DVR log file anymore. Just set CHANNELS_DVR_HOST to your Windows PC's IP and you're set! Much simpler now!

Device Information

@babsonnexus Thanks for sharing your approach to client detection!

Great news - v0.3.0 now features full device information in notifications! I built a streamlined custom implementation using the Channels DVR event stream API that delivers real-time data with minimal overhead. Your method gave me some additional perspectives to consider for future enhancements! Always enjoy seeing different approaches to these challenges!

New Features Are Live!

Hey everyone! All the features you've been asking for are now available!

@zerodayz / @Jean0987654321 Apprise integration is here! Now supporting Discord, Slack, Telegram, Email and dozens more notification services!

@Matthew_Crommert Both your requests are in - device information now appears in notifications, and the channel name detection works for all ranges including those TVE channels in the 6000s!

The biggest change? ChannelWatch now connects directly to the Channels DVR event stream instead of reading log files - making setup way easier and much more reliable!

Thanks to everyone for the amazing feedback and suggestions that helped shape this release! If you run into any issues or have ideas for improvement, please check out the GitHub Repository or Docker Hub

I'm already thinking about what's next - any other alert types or features you'd like to see in future updates?

Let me know what would make ChannelWatch even more useful for your setup!

Cheers,
CoderLuii
203967356

Jean0987654321 · March 23, 2025, 2:47am

Neat....hopefully @bnhf will update olivetin with the new version of this so I could start using it

mjitkop · March 23, 2025, 2:58am

Great work, @CoderLuii !!

I'm thinking one alert that could be useful if when the available disk space for recordings gets lower than a specified threshold.

Speaking from experience here because I don't check as often as I should.

chDVRuser · March 23, 2025, 3:28am

Instead of (or in addition to) this, since you're now using apprise, use the apprise approach
pover://{user_key}@{token}
pover://{user_key}@{token}/{device_id}
pover://{user_key}@{token}/{device_id1}/{device_id2}/{device_idN}
pover://{user_key}@{token}?priority={priority}
pover://{user_key}@{token}?priority=emergency&expire={expire}&retry={retry}
...
https://github.com/caronc/apprise/wiki/Notify_pushover

CoderLuii · March 23, 2025, 5:14am

Disk Space Alert Feature

@mjitkop - Thank you for this excellent suggestion! I am thrilled to confirm that I will be implementing this feature for release version 0.4!

The feature will monitor available disk space for your recordings and send proactive alerts when storage drops below your specified threshold. You'll be able to configure thresholds by either percentage or absolute GBs, ensuring you never run out of space unexpectedly.

Custom Apprise Configuration for Pushover

@chDVRuser - Thank you for highlighting this alternative configuration approach! The Apprise method is indeed fully supported in the current release, providing users with flexibility in how they set up their notifications.

While the direct Pushover API implementation remains the recommended approach for most users due to its reliability and optimized handling, the Apprise method offers a valid alternative for those who prefer a unified configuration style.

Here's an example of how users can leverage Apprise for Pushover notifications:

name: channelwatch
version: '3.0'
services:
  channelwatch:
    image: coderluii/channelwatch:latest
    container_name: channelwatch
    network_mode: host
    volumes:
      - /your/local/path:/config
    environment:
      # Core settings
      CHANNELS_DVR_HOST: X.X.X.X
      CHANNELS_DVR_PORT: 8089
      TZ: Your/Timezone
      
      # Logging and alerts
      LOG_LEVEL: 1
      LOG_RETENTION_DAYS: 7
      Alerts_Channel-Watching: TRUE
      CHANNEL_IMAGES: TRUE
      
      # Apprise configuration alternative for Pushover
      APPRISE_CUSTOM: pover://your_user_key@your_token
    restart: unless-stopped

I appreciate you sharing this approach as it provides users with additional configuration options while maintaining full Pushover functionality!

Cheers,
CoderLuii
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bnhf · March 23, 2025, 9:36pm

@CoderLuii Are you still meaning for this project to be open source? Both the main.py on your GitHub home for the project, and in the attached source code zip files, are binaries.

Matthew_Crommert · March 23, 2025, 11:38pm

This is absolutely great! It definitely fulfills all my needs at this point

I saw one issue that i had missed before - it wont parse hdhomerun/broadcast channels - pretty sure its because its chopping off the .x number at the end of each one - i had one person streaming 13.1 and it said they were streaming 13 and i actually have a virtual channel there

So when i stream 13.1 it looks like this in channels logs

And in channels admin

And in your notifications

Thanks for all the great work

ChannelWatch: Real-Time Alerts for Your Channels DVR

favicon1280×1280 197 KB ChannelWatch: Real-Time Alerts for Your Channels DVR

What It Does

What's New in v0.7

Key Features

Example Notifications

Channel Watching Alert

VOD Watching Alert

Disk Space Alert

Recording Events Alerts

Scheduled Recording Alert

Recording Started Alert

Recording Completed Alert

How to Install

Requirements

Get It Now

Apprise Integration

TVE Channel Issues

Device Information Feature

Quick Update - v0.3 Coming Soon!

What's coming in v0.3:

ChannelWatch v0.3.0 Released!

What's New:

Migration Guide for Existing Users

1. Remove Log File Mapping

2. Add Required Host Information

3. Update Network Configuration

4. Consider Additional Notification Options

5. Example Migration

Config Directory & Windows/Linux Setup

Device Information

New Features Are Live!

Disk Space Alert Feature

Custom Apprise Configuration for Pushover

favicon1280×1280 197 KB
ChannelWatch: Real-Time Alerts for Your Channels DVR