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

I don’t think you’ll find a good answer to your solution. The days of HTPCs are on the decline IMHO. In the past I’ve used WMC, SageTV and even MythTV with PCs.

It’s much more cost effective to run Fire TV, Mi Box, or an Nvidia Shield especially for many rooms. Both of these platforms have a native client for Channels which works very well.

I watch shows from my office PC on occasion and will watch via the the web player as this is the only option if you are using Windows.

The DVR runs great on windows 10, but this is not a good solution for Windows or Roku clients. AndroidTV/FireTV/AppleTV is where this solution excels.

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Currently, I totally agree with this assessment. :sunglasses:

Edit: Also iOS is an excellent client in the mobile category.

Thanks for all the replies, very informative.

With all that in mind, what would be the best device (AppleTV, Shield, Firestick, etc.) to give me a good device to easyily skip forward/back over commercials while time shifting live tv? I don’t need 4K. Most of the usage is me sitting in my office and wanting to watch football on my extra monitor - really just want dedicated remote buttons to easily skip forward 30 seconds and back 10 seconds. Thanks again for reading/responding. I’ve been building/using HTPCs for a decade, so this is all new to me.

Hi!

As the others said, there’s really no HTPC solution with Channels DVR. And also as they said, HTPC’s are becoming servers now that thin clients are so good and so cheap. Especially when you have multiple other streaming apps right next to it.

We’ve been in the HTPC game for a long time, that’s what led us to build Channels. Having cheap thin clients on TVs and being able to render the video from HDHomeRun devices on them has been a real dream come true. We’re not just the people that make it, we’re huge fans too, lol. We’ve been wanting a single input solution like this forever!!

If you’re looking for a streaming device to use with Channels and Channels DVR, definitely go with an Apple TV. Even if you think you’re not embedded in the Apple ecosystem, it’s still the best device you can get to run Channels.

If having the closest thing to a cable box is your goal, get an Apple TV. It’s smooth, fast, and practically flawless for sports.

A week ago I would have emphatically echoed @maddox sentiments

However, now that I am trying to utilize a Low Powered Win 10 Acepc (GK-1) as a test Server, I cannot agree completely.
For background see thread Newest Test for a Windows 10 mini PC

This may possibly be an anomaly due to the specs of GK-1 as it is probably close to minimum requirements, whereas you indicate a much more capable Win10 device. Additionally, my MoCA 1 (100mb/s limited) may also be a bottleneck in my network…IMO, neither should be causing the problem, but ???.

As can be seen, the ffd/commercial skip from GK-1 to a local ATV4K (which is not on the same switch as the Win 10 GK-1 (but both are on the same hardwired network ) has been erratic (unacceptable to me).

Still haven’t been able to resolve my situation, even with many helpful posts/suggestions on the thread. Though I really think if there was a problem Win 10 to ATV4K (not on same switch) other users would be complaining.

Would suggest buying an ATV4K to test drive your total config. Even though per your posting 4K is not required, the price difference is not much, considering that you gain 1 Gig Ethernet and a better processor, etc. vs ATV4.

Maddox,

Thanks for the feedback. I ended up signing up for Channels DVR last night and easily had it installed and watching live TV in less than 10 minutes. Very impressed so far. Just could not have been easier to set up. Even just using the web viewer is perfect for what I need…watching tv shows/sports on my office PC. Will probably swap out the Roku for an AppleTV down the road.

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Great!

My Fire TV’s 2 and 3 work great,what benefits would an Apple TV give me. I’ve only used one remotely so couldn’t judge pq.

I have Channels running on a Synology NAS. I migrated from WMC. So far I’m pretty happy.

I Agree the experience is much snappier on Apple TV vs Original Fire TV 4k. One nice thing about Apple TV is that you can have the Apple TV (at least the one I have) learn any infrared remote buttons. I re-purposed my old DVD player remote to replace the Apple TV remote (gag). Using finger motions for buttons is insanity; it misreads my gestures 25% of the time.

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Just to add to the original use case - I time shift college and NFL games. I did so on WMC for years, recently siwtched to Channels DVR 3 weeks ago. DVR on windows 10 (acting as a server) and apple tv 4k for front end.

Starting recording programs 30-40 minutes into the game works great. I love how you can set how far ahead you want the skip forward interval to be. WMC was 30 seconds - too big for no huddle, quick pace offenses if you want to skip the monotony between plays. In channels, I set tit to 15 seconds - just right for college, often takes 2 clicks ahead for pros.

But I refuse to sit and watch a game for 4 hours. I can get through a full game in around 45 minutes with skipping between plays, skipping booth reviews, injury pauses, commercial breaks and halftime.

The apple tv remote is a bit sensitive - the skip ahead is clicking on the right portion of the remote - often registers as a center click with my sausage fingers, thus pausing things. I have not yet set my logitech harmony remote up with the ATV, might need to just to accurate skips.

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I also notice that right-clicking oftentimes pauses. I don’t like to put the remote down once I get a good feel for what works. Wish it was a little less sensitive.

Thanks again for all the responses. Now that I’ve been using an ATV (4K) for a week, I’m reminded of why I both love and hate Apple, and why my last iPhone was a 3GS.

For Channels (and Netflix and Amazon Prime), the ATV just works so damn well. But, of course, because Apple knows what’s best for me, I can’t get Plex on the ATV to bitstream or passthrough audio to my receiver, so I’m wasting time jumping through hoops to figure out a way to get Atmos and DTS to just pass directly to my receiver. It’s this kind of shit about Apple that drives me crazy, and why I’m going to try out a Nvidia Shield this weekend.

I love the Shield TV as both a client and server. I was using it as my server before they even released the Android TV client app just to try out the service. I planned to eventually upgrade to a NAS if I liked it. It worked so well for me that I just bought a 4TB external hard drive for the Shield TV and kept using it as my server. It is a great low power server solution. The External Hard Drive even spins down when not in use.

Isn’t Dolby Atmos now available on tvOS 12.0? ICBW…as I don’t pass audio onto a receiver.

@DebbieFL, not for Plex (or similar), only for certain streaming services.

Bummer!

I picked up the Shield this morning and have it up and running. So far, so good. I can tell you from playing the same recording (Jags-Pats game from last weekend) back on both the ATV (4K) and the Shield (Non-Pro), the ATV’s interface and responsiveness is a bit better overall, but otherwise the Shield seemed to work just fine as a Channels DVR client.

More importantly, THE AUDIO PASSTHROUGH WORKS! All sources I tried (Plex, Netflix, Channels, Prime) came through as whatever they should be - DD 5.1, or DTS, or Atmos, or whatever. Very impressed with the Shield so far.

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thats not an apple tv limitation, thats a plex limitation. their plex app wont do it on the apple tv and they wont change it. Infuse on the apple tv will dot passthrough connected to your plex server.

Actually it is. The Apple TV stopped supporting passthrough for the non-lossless codecs in the 11.3 update.