DVR State of the Union - December 2016

Channels DVR Server
#1

Hey everyone! It’s almost the end of Fall and we’ve owed you new State of the Union for a while, so here it goes!

Catch Up

In our last DVR SOTU, we talked about the progress we’d made and the feature set. So, let’s do that again, and MORE!

Public Beta

In our July SOTU we said we’d release our Public Beta in the fall, and we have a week to meet that deadline. The bad news is, we’re not going to meet it. The good news is, the Public Beta will absolutely be fully available to everyone in the second week of January!

The Public Beta is 99% ready to go. We could totally ship it and make it available in a week. But, that would be RIGHT before the holidays. The problem wish shipping right before the holidays, is that we’re either going to have to ignore any and all feedback with the Public Beta, or ignore our families during the holidays. That doesn’t seem fair to either of you. So instead, we’re just going to wrap up development on the Public Beta before the holidays, enjoy them, and then ship the Public Beta after the new year when we’re fresh and ready to go.

Pricing

Pricing for Channels DVR will be $8 per month. There will be no contracts or minimum months required. It is simply month by month. You can unsubscribe at any time you want.

Alpha Update

The Alpha has been progressing well and our Alpha users have had a HUGE impact on development and bug fixes.

We are now up to 25 users in the Alpha. All of them are actively using the software and helping us fix bugs. The DVR server itself is becoming very stable, and a bunch of new backend features have been added in the last few months.

DVR Features

  • Auto-Update - Install the DVR software once, and it will always stay up to date with the latest features.
  • Team Passes - Search for your favorite team and automatically record all upcoming games.
  • Auto-Prune Settings - Keep only the recordings you want by automatically deleting old or watched recordings.
  • Tuner and Pass Priority - Pick which tuners get used first, and which shows record when there’s a conflict.
  • Commercial Detection - Recordings are automatically post-processed to find and annotate commercial blocks.
  • Linux/FreeBSD and NAS Support - Channels DVR now runs on major NAS devices or any linux/freebsd server.

Client Features

As of right now, only the tvOS client will have DVR features. But it’s a full featured DVR client and it’s awesome.

  • Browse and watch your recordings
  • Recordings are grouped as Shows, Sports, Movies, or Kids
  • Up Next tells you which episode you should watch next based on your watching habits.
  • Search for things to record and record just a single airing or create a Series or Team pass to record all airings in the future.
  • Record a currently playing show or create a Series Pass from it.
  • Record a future airing show from the grid guide.
  • Real time updates from the server to Channels. Mark a show as watched on one Apple TV and it will instantly be updated on all other Apple TVs.

NAS Support

Enormous strides have been made in NAS support and Channels DVR is running on all of the big ones. It’s really exciting.

Most major devices are now supported by Channels DVR. We provide official app packages for the following NAS systems:

  • Synology
  • WD MyCloud
  • QNAP
  • Netgear (ReadyNAS)
  • Seagate
  • Lacie
  • unRAID
  • FreeNAS
  • Asustor

The minimum requirements for the Channels DVR software is a 1GHz CPU and 512MB of RAM. Older NAS models and inexpensive units like the single-drive WDMyCloud 1/2/3TB are generally too under-powered to run Channels DVR.

If you’re in the market for a new NAS, we recommend something with a modern Intel CPU. These CPUs have hardware-accelerated video encoders and it is easy to optimize software for them. NAS models like the WD PR4100, QNAP TS-x51+ and Synology DS216+II all use Intel CPUs and offer hardware transcoding.

Wrap Up

So, that’s where we’re at right now. The base of Channels DVR is really strong. We’re really happy with it. General availability for Channels DVR will be available soon! It will launch as a Public Beta. It’s core is strong, but it still needs lots of polish and some other client features (including full iOS support!), but it’s not enough to not let everyrone in on the party!

We’re really excited that it’s come this far and it couldn’t have happened without you all here and especially our Alpha testers.

We’ll post more official information about the Public Beta when it’s ready for everyone to sign up, download, and install it.

Thanks!

8 Likes
Pricing model
Announcing Channels DVR
Can't get here soon enough!
DVR State of the Union - September 2016
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#2
#3

A…um… friend who uses the Alpha tells me it’s really good :slight_smile:

Excited for this to go to a wider audience.
$8 a month is reasonable. Will it be through Apple or independently?

2 Likes
#4

Since the DVR software does not go through any of Apple’s App Stores, they will not be involved in the subscription.

#5

At less than 1/2 the cost of a single cable co DVR, very nice.

And available to all ATVs in the household. WooHoo!

2 Likes
#6

Thanks.
Didn’t know if it would be IAP or something.

#7

Is the web front-end still working? Does the server do any transcoding on the fly?

Looking forward to the beta.

#8

This sounds really good! So based on previous threads about International Guide data, will the beta be available to everyone or just everyone in the US?

#9

I was looking forward to this until you said the price. $8 may sound reasonable, but Plex will save me $24 a year, or more if I buy a lifetime pass. It already works with iOS, doesn’t require me to buy two separate apps for tvOS and iOS (like channels), and allows offline sync. I realize single app integration is nice and your time is not free, but not an extra $24 a year nice, assuming the rates stays the same.

#10

the 4TB WD My Cloud Model WDBCTL0040HWT-00 a go or no go?

#11

@Metatron

Hope you have a very powerful server to run Plex. With an I-7, only 1 stream and I still have to set to 720p to the ATV.

Plex transcodes only at the server and imo doesn’t handle transcoding efficiently (even the 1 stream). Of course, you can wait for backend transcodes and then handle a lot of file management, also.

In Channels, the raw stream is sent to each individual ATV, which does the transcoding - full and glorious 1080.

Why not try Channels for a month or two before deciding?

1 Like
#12

I only tried the Plex DVR beta the first couple of weeks it was out, and I didn’t like it, so things may have changed. Plex didn’t have Live TV, a grid guide, or the ability to watch a recording while it was still being recorded. Channels has these things, so it’s worth the extra $24 imo.

#13

Would you consider a Yearly Subscription fee? (Hopefully at a slight discount?), If not then a Yearly Subscription (same as monthly x 12). I prefer a “once per year” model to the monthly.

3 Likes
#14

Complete agree with Debbie. The Plex product was only capable of running in my house when I was running it on my MacMini (i7, 16GB), and then to get it working wirelessly with my ATVs (I have 9) I had to seriously drop the quality. As Debbie has said, with Channels I am running them all wirelessly (all 9) and the quality is wonderful.

#15

If it is the My Cloud Mirror Gen2 (Not the original), it has the same processor as the EX2 Ultra, and I “Heard” it was able to run the Alpha well, just took a little long when running the commercial detection vs some of the more powerful NAS, and that can be turned off, otherwise it did the job. Note: It “may” have been paired with a HDHR Extend and the extends were doing the transcoding at time of recording…

If it is the single drive version, it may be too little in the CPU department. I think the WDBCTL0040HWT-00 is a single drive unit, and wouldn’t expect it to perform.

#16

Wait, so you’re telling me it’s almost Christmas? Man, I need to start shopping.

Awesome update, can’t wait for all the Beta people to help make this an even better product! <3 Channels.

#17

I have a Mac Mini that is a few years old. What specs do you think we will need to run the DVR software with a couple HDHomeruns? Thanks for the update! I’m sick of having to use Tablo for recordings.

#18

We’ll get more into specs when we announce the Public Beta, but a couple year old Mac Mini should be fine.

#19

2011 2.5ghz i5 and 8gb ram? I also run a Plex server, and the kids are using that on an iPad pretty often. I’m guessing an upgrade is in order to run both simultaneously.

#20

is it only a single $8 monthly fee regardless of the number of apps/apple tv devices in a home?