Hey everyone!
We wanted to catch you all up on the state of DVR, where we are now, and what you should expect the roll out to look like. We appreciate all of your help and how much you love Channels. We plan on staying as open and transparent as we have always been.
Now that Channels for iOS has been released, we are back to working on DVR. Why did we pause DVR work to create Channels for iOS? We wanted Channels to be on iOS before DVR shipped. It was always our plan that Channels would be multi-platform so that you had freedom in how or where you watched your TV and recordings. We wanted Channels for iOS to already be in everyone’s hands by the time DVR shipped. Mostly, once DVR starts rolling, we were afraid there wouldn’t be much time to go back and get Channels on iOS made.
So, on to DVR!
Catch Up
In our last DVR SOTU, we talked about everything that had been completed, what features DVR had, and what was supported in the client. Since then we’ve developed and shipped Channels for iOS, recorded thousands of hours of TV, oh and I had a 
.
State of the Union
So, how far along is DVR now? Well, basically, everything we mentioned then is the same now. lol. It’s become a bit more refined, but everything that was covered in the last SOTU pretty much covers it.
The difference is, @tmm1 and I have been using it all this time. And it works pretty well. There’s a ton of rough edges of course, but we’re ready to finally make it available on an extremely limited basis. So that’s really what we want to talk about, what our plans for shipping Channels DVR is going to look like.
Roll Out Master Plan
- Alpha - In the next few weeks
- Beta - This Fall
- Release - Jan 2017
We plan to do a very limited Alpha that will last until Fall. In the Fall, we’re going to launch DVR as a generally available paid service, but in Beta. In the Winter, we’ll take the Beta tag off of it and shout it from the roof tops!
The Alpha will be US only and the Beta will be US & Canada only. If you are waiting on Channels DVR and you are not in the US or Canada, you should probably look for other solutions right now. Besides technical and licensing hurdles, it’s important for us to keep scopes narrowed while we develop Channels DVR.
Alpha
- Extremely limited - 5-15 users
- Available in next couple of weeks
- Free
- macOS & Linux only
- US only
Our Alpha is going to be extremely limited. Extremely. We’re talking about 5-15 users. It’s going to be invite only based on our previous Beta users.
Goals
The Alpha experience will be rough around the edges. We want the Alpha to help clean up those edges. We want to get all the functionality like signing up, authorizing accounts, and setting up your devices to be really solid so that the Beta can go well.
In addition, we hope to find and resolve as many of the important recording and guide data bugs that we can. If we can catch these in the Alpha, then Beta users can feel good about the core of DVR as something they can rely on.
The Alpha will not be fun, it will be boring, lol. But it’s probably the most important part of this whole process. It hopes to find and resolve all the most important bugs so that by the time we hit Beta, everything is smooooooth for everyone.
Expectations
Plain and simple, if you’re using the Alpha, you shouldn’t be relying on this for your recorded programs. That’s not to say it’s not reliable, but things may change with the system and you may be asked to wipe your entire library of recordings.
You may have to set the entire thing up from scratch multiple times. Or, you might not have to ¯\(°_o)/¯, lol. The thing is, you should be prepared for that kind of thing to happen. This is the stage in development that we have to work things like that out.
So just keep that in mind if you’re in the Alpha. Just know that we might destroy your recordings and we’re not going to feel that terrible about it. Well, maybe a little, but we’re still going to do it if we have to 
Beta
- Generally available to anyone
- Available in Fall
- Paid
- macOS & Linux only at first*
- US & Canada
Our Beta will be generally available to anyone that wants to start using Channels DVR. It will cost the same as what it will cost when we’re ready to release it to the masses.
The Beta will be stable, it just won’t have the polish that our products are used to having by the time they are released. We’re doing this for a couple of reasons:
- We want to make Channels DVR available to you as soon as possible.
- We want to be able to do a slow roll out, we’re only 2 developers.
- We want to mature everything with the help of your feedback.
Keeping things private until we’re ready to ship means we’ll all end up with a DVR product that works great for 2 people. We want to make the DVR system everyone has wanted for years.
Goals
The Beta will have mostly all the functionality that Channels DVR will have when it’s officially released. It’s the UI, experience, and general buggy-ness that will be undergoing iterations.
As we scale up with more users with different lineups and viewing habits, we hope everyone runs into the bugs we can resolve during the Beta so everything is worked out by the time we release Channels DVR in the Winter.
* We plan on shipping for macOS and Linux at first. As the Beta rolls on, we’ll be releasing it for more and more platforms. That includes NAS systems as well. Once your platform is available, feel free to jump onto the Beta and provide feedback.
Expectations
If you’re using the Beta of Channels DVR, you should expect it to perform well and be a stable DVR system. But you should keep in mind that the experience of it, the UI, and how it works will not be final. It may be rough or ugly. With iterations, it will all get better and better and better.
There will be bugs. That’s why it will still be a Beta. But we invite you, and all of your different viewing habits and DVR expectations, to help us get Channels DVR working as well as possible.
The Beta will not be the final product that we’re used to delivering. Experiments will be made. Things will be added. Things will be removed. But overall, you should feel safe that your recordings will all happen and be able to be watched.
Release
- Generally available
- January 2017
- Paid
- macOS, Linux, select NAS devices
- Most likely US & Canada only
Sometime in January 2017 we’ll ship Channels DVR as a released product. It will have all the refinements that we expect of one of our shipped products.
By the time we release, we’re probably still going to be US & Canada only. We hope that changes, but we just want to set good expectations right now. If this changes, you can be sure you’ll hear about it as soon as we have something to announce.
Wrap Up
Ok, so that’s our plan to roll out DVR. We hope this sets expectations clearly (if you read all of that!) and you are as excited as we are for the next few months.
Please don’t request to be added to the Alpha or the Beta. Alpha invites will go out when they are ready. And when the Beta is ready, we’ll announce everything you need to know.
@tmm1 and I have been using it for months and it works great. Now let’s go the extra mile and make this thing awesome so we can all use it!
Thanks!!
