ChannelWatch: Real-Time Alerts for Your Channels DVR

[CoderLuii]

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.

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
Settings
Diagnostics

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!

[CoderLuii]

v0.8 Development Starting Soon

First, I owe you all an explanation. I went quiet for a while. Life hit me from a few directions at once. Health stuff knocked me down, the day job got intense, and I just needed to step back and take care of things. I never abandoned the project, but I had to put myself first for a bit. I'm back now, feeling good, and ready to get back to work.

I've been building ChannelWatch solo since day one. And if I'm being honest? The features people use the most weren't my ideas. They came from you guys.

→ Apprise integration? Community request.
→ Device tracking? Community request.
→ Disk space alerts? Someone here asked for it.

So let's do it again. v0.8 is a blank canvas.

Tell me what you need:

Bugs: something broken? Share logs or screenshots and I'll dig in.

Features: what's missing? What would make ChannelWatch a must-have for your setup?

Enhancements: something works but could work better? I want to know.

Integrations: other tools or services you want ChannelWatch to play nice with?

Already on my list:

→ Multi-DVR support: multiple Channels DVR servers • Planned
→ Channel art fixes: missing images for cc4c/TVE sources • Investigating
→ Bridge mode improvements: easier setup without host networking • Planned
→ Notification upgrades: more Apprise providers, richer formatting • Ongoing

I'll keep this list updated as things come in. Can't promise timelines since it's still just me, but every single reply gets read.

Reply here or open an issue on GitHub. Whatever works for you.

Let's make v0.8 the best one yet!

Cheers,
CoderLuii

[bnhf]

Were you ever able to identify the issue where ChannelWatch sent thousands of notifications through my Pushover account?

[CoderLuii]

Hey @bnhf, thanks for bringing this up again. I honestly don't have enough details yet to pinpoint what caused the notification flood on your end.

If you still have any logs from when it happened, that would be really helpful. Otherwise, rate limiting is already on my priority list for v0.8 so this kind of thing can't happen again regardless of the root cause.

If you're open to it, could you create a GitHub issue with whatever info you have? Even timestamps or a rough description of what was running at the time would help me narrow it down.

CoderLuii/ChannelWatch

I take this seriously and I want to make sure it's properly addressed before the next release.

Cheers,
CoderLuii

[bnhf]

@CoderLuii

If you still have any logs from when it happened, that would be really helpful. Otherwise, rate limiting is already on my priority list for v0.8 so this kind of thing can't happen again regardless of the root cause.

Since this happened 9 or 10 months ago, I don't have anything more for you than I posted at the time. After that notification storm, I don't recall firing up the project again.

Given my monthly allowance with Pushover could be used up in a short period of time at the rate they were sent, I wasn't really feeling comfortable running it again. Especially if I happened to be away from my phone when the notifications started rolling in.

Also, I only received a fraction of the notifications that Pushover reported were sent. If you're planning to address this in v0.8, great. Once you roll that out, I'll take a fresh look at it.

[Jackamus]

Looking forward to seeing the next release.

[JefferMC]

This looks interesting, will give you a chance to bring out your new version.

[AeroR1]

@CoderLuii nice app, but this doesnt work if you don't connect a notification service? why is that mandatory?

after connecting the notification service everything works but when I disable alerts for VOD watching for example, any VOD played won't be recorded in the activity. alerts have to be turned on in order for it to be shown.

is that by design?

it would be great if this can be used without a notification service or at least disable them and still have them be shown in the GUI.

thanks.

[CoderLuii]

@bnhf Totally understand. Nine months is a long time and I wouldn't expect you to have logs from that far back. Rate limiting is happening in v0.8. Not as a "nice to have," it's a hard requirement before release. Configurable thresholds, cooldown periods, the works. I get the Pushover concern. Burning through a monthly allowance because of a bug is not acceptable. When v0.8 drops I'll call it out in the release notes so you know it's safe to give it another shot.

@Jackamus @JefferMC Appreciate you both! Good timing, v0.8 is in active development right now. If either of you spin it up and hit anything weird, let me know here or on GitHub.

@AeroR1 Good question. Right now the notification service is required because that's how ChannelWatch was originally built. It was a notification tool first, and the web dashboard came later. So the activity tracking and the notification pipeline are tied together under the hood.

You're right that it shouldn't have to work that way. I'm adding this to the v0.8 list:

• Decouple activity tracking from notification delivery
• Allow ChannelWatch to run in "monitor only" mode without a notification service
• Disabling an alert type should still log the activity in the UI

That last point is the real one. Turning off VOD alerts shouldn't mean VOD activity disappears from the dashboard. That's a bug, not a design choice. Thanks for flagging it.

Cheers,
CoderLuii