DVR State of the Union - December 2016

Channels DVR Server
#29

Yes, the web UI works great and is fully mobile-optimized. There is a built-in transcoder for watching live TV via the web, and it can be used while you’re away-from-home as well. Our transcoder is also able to take advantage of Intel QuickSync for hardware-acceleration.

Everything is US/Canada only for now. During the beta we will start looking into DVB support.

Correct. I know TiVo and cable companies charge per TV, but Channels DVR will be a single monthly fee.

The single-drive WD models have a 600mhz processor. It’s very underpowered which is why they don’t even advertise its speeds.

Perhaps. The software will run on a RPI, but we haven’t done much testing with it. One limitation of the RPI is that the ethernet and USB share the same bus, which makes it tricky since the DVR needs to download data off the network and store it to the USB drive at the same time.

#30

I feel like $8 a month is right on. I subscribe to the commercial free hulu for $11 a month and this will presumably replace that. I just bought a qnap ts231+ so its sounds like this will work (assuming it works with arm)! Its a 1.2Ghz dual core processor with 1GB of memory. My guess is that this will churn pretty hard on the CPU since I doubt it has hardware enhanced transcoding abilities. Either way, I cant wait to see this!

#31

Glad to hear the DVR is coming out in a month. I can wait.

Not glad about the price. I truly appreciate your work and have been loving the Channels app but if there is no lifetime option, I really think the price should be lowered to $5/mo.

For commercial detection, excuse my lack of comprehension but, does annotate mean that recorded content will have commercials automatically removed or will something like chapter points be used to skip around them after you press a button?

Also curious to find out what format recorded shows are stored in. (h.264 MKV?)

#32

Exactly this.

The recordings are in the raw format coming from the tuner. Either mpeg2 or h264 (depending on the channel, or if transcoding is enabled on the EXTEND) in a ts container.

There is no export option, but the file and directory names are carefully chosen to be Plex compatible so you can easily add the DVR’s recordings folder to your library.

There is no transcoding required to play back recordings in Channels. We stream the raw data and decode it on the device, just like with live tv.

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#33

would QNAP TS-253A be supported? any recommendation regarding this QNAP versus the Synology DS216+ii

#34

Sounds good! As long as the files are reasonably standard and can be moved around manually (or I can just point Plex or whatever at the folder they’re in) that’s more than good enough for me! Looking forward to it. I’m also interested in and looking forward to seeing how your commercial detection works. I used a commercial detection script with EyeTV for a while but had mixed results and eventually removed it. If it works well though that’ll probably be enough to make the $8/month price worth it over other options.

One last question, I’m glad to see you’ll be marking commercials via chapter markers, will you support using the “skip forward” button on third party remotes? My wife and I use our Harmony Remote almost exclusively and on the 3rd Gen ATV we could use a long press on the FF button to skip forward to the next chapter. I haven’t run into any apps on the new AppleTV that listen for the skip forward signal but it evidently still exists as a signal that can be sent to ATV’s. It’d be really great to have a one button skip forward option for chapters.

Anyway, can’t wait for January and the opportunity to get my hands on the program and give it a good run through!

#35

Unfortunately, tvOS apps can’t respond to those buttons. I’m with you in the disappointment. Apple thinks having 4 buttons on a remote makes things “simple”, but I say it complicates things in that we’re limited in functionality :rage:

#36

How about AMD CPU based NAS? I have a quad-core AMD CPU NAS with 16 GB RAM - TS-563. The CPU cores are at 2.1 GHz. I don’t think there’s hardware transcoding in this QNAP model as this NAS has no GPU.

What is the hardware encoding requirement for since the content is not converted from MPEG2 to H.264, and Apple TV4 can stream both in MPEG2 and in H.264?

I could understand the requirement for hardware encoding if you were re-encoding from MPEG2 to H.264 on the NAS to save on storage space.

Thanks.

#37

The following doesn’t address the specific question… I have been playing with PSVue and the siri remote allows 10sec skip ahead/behind if you press on the far right or left side of the swipe pad. Pressing in the middle of the pad pauses the video.

#38

I’m with you on this. I love the Channels ATV app and bought the iOS version just to support the developers (haven’t really ever used it). I only get the normal networks OTA and typically only use them to watch sports and local news.

DVR is definitely not a necessity for me, but I would have paid a reasonable up front fee to have it on my Synology NAS. I didn’t realize it was going to be subscription based. Unfortunately, I’m unlikely to subscribe at this point.

EyeTV worked fine for me for years on an old Mac mini without a subscription (relied on OTA for the guide). I would, however, likely pay for a lifetime subscription assuming it is somewhat discounted.

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#39

Sure, that will work great. AMD cpus are Intel compatible so our software doesn’t know or care about the difference.

Hardware encoding is not a requirement, simply a nice to have. It unlocks some optional additional features like away from home streaming. We are also able to fallback to software encoding which is not as fast but still works.

That model has intel cpus and plenty of RAM so it should work well.

#40

I would have to agree. I think the cost is perfectly reasonable but for me ongoing monthly is still not worth it for me. I only get local channels OTA pretty much entirely for sports here and there and being able to buffer 90mins in the current app is awesome and allows some timeshifiting and commercial skipping already. I simply wouldn’t use DVR enough to justify it even though it would be an added convenience. I also still have a 2009 mini with EyeTV that I can in a pinch use to record and playback in other apps (I wonder if Channels will gain local file playback regardless of DVR?). For me a DVR would have to replace Hulu to make sense and I simply dont get enough content OTA to match Hulu. And frankly OTA is still stuck at crappy MPEG2 that is a macroblock fest with motion and stations put huge labels and banner ads all over their content that isnt really an issue with Hulu. So for me I think no on the DVR but Channels is a great app.

#41

I agree, with OTA a monthly fee is what I’m trying to avoid. I’d happily pay a reasonable lifetime subscription though.

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#42

I was thinking the same thing, $8 is a great price, if I was using it with cable TV. but I just have OTA TV stations(not even all of them, a hill is blocking Fox and PBS) and would only want to record occasionally or more likely if I’m in the middle of a show on channels app and get interrupted it’d be nice to be able to record the rest of it so I can come back to it later. Might there be a software only version that could be purchased that does not need guide data(IIRC this is the reason for needing a monthly fee?) and would allow me to manually set recordings?

Edit: seems I’m not the only one with an '09 mini and EyeTV thinking the same thing…

#43

2012 Mac Mini user here with EyeTV

I haven’t purchased the guide data since they sold out to a Chinese company, lol.

I hate monthly bills and should prefer a yearly/lifetime/5 year subscription model. I have a regular TiVO with lifetime that I use for OTA (had cable at the time). I couldn’t see myself paying $400 for OTA guide data only. Plus, if decide to get cable again all my channels will record (built in cable card bracket).

$8 per month for OTA is steep in my opinion, because I don’t have an option to record cable tv with the Channels DVR setup. My cable company scrambles ALL my channels except locals.

Reasons why I want to switch from my TiVO & TiVO mini setup

  1. No need to switch TV inputs (AppleTV only in each room)
  2. Quicker access to recordings in mp4 format (I have a HDHomerun Extend)
    (I currently use cTiVO to download and transfer shows)
  3. Ability to run DVR off my NAS (it’s on all the time anyway, why keep the Mac Mini on, too)
    (PLEX has the option, but no live TV negates #1)
#44

doesn’t OTA already provide the show info in the carrier signal (what is already displayed in Channels now)? I dont subscribe to cable at all and use streaming services instead–and they would be scrambled as well anyway so I dont care about guide data for that.

basically I would pay for a DVR “app” without licensed guide data but wont pay monthly in perpetuity for guide data I dont need. Does Channels currently use any paid sources for guide info?

#45

Extremely excited! Thanks for the update. QQ:
Will I be able to use a PowerPC cpu NAS (DS213+)?

I’ve been contemplating an upgrade for a while, so if it’s not supported this might be the perfect push for me. Sticking with Synology, is the DS216+II your top recommendation?

#46

I just want to say that I think $8/month is a bargain.

You have to look at what you’re getting with the entire Channels ecosystem.

My old setup:
*Cable boxes on 5 TVs and a FiOS DVR. Price: $55/month.
*Limited ability to watch live or recorded TV on iOS devices.
*Clunky FiOS interface.
*Separate box for CATV/DVR and ‘everything else’ (ATV).

My new setup:
*Apple TVs on all five TVs.
*Single (slick!) interface for everything - Live TV, DVR, apps, games, etc. etc.
*Live TV (and soon recorded TV) on all iOS devices.
*One time costs: $25 for Channels app, $260 for two HDHR Primes.
*Recurring costs: $10/month for CableCards, $8/month for Channels DVR

So $300 down and $18 per month, versus $0 down and $55 per month for an inferior experience. It’s a no-brainer!

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#47

PowerPC is not currently supported. If there is a lot of demand we might port to that platform.

There are so many models available, we haven’t really explored all of them. Our only advice is to look for something with an Intel Pentium/Celeron processor, like the J19xx or N31xx series.

Maybe some of the existing Alpha users with Synology units can comment on their model and experiences.

Yes, all the guide data you see in the Channels app is paid/licensed. The guide data that comes in over the OTA signal does not contain any metadata, like images, season/episode numbers, etc.

#48

Maybe time to jump on this deal :grinning:
Dell T20 Server for $249

Specs•Xeon E3-1225 v3 CPU (Intel® Quick Sync Video support)

  • 4GB DDR3
  • 1TB HDD
  • DVDRW
  • No OS