When setting up a recording pass, it would be nice to be notified that all tuners are in use at the time of the recording setup. This way priority adjustments can be made. Tivo has something similar indicating there is a conflict when all tuners are in use.
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This is a long-standing request, and unlikely to be addressed due to the nature of how tuners are handled. Channels does not have exclusive control over the tuners, so it does not know how many or which tuners are going to be available until it actually attempts to start recording, making conflict management far more difficult than a regular user can imagine.
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There can be some conflict resolution .... Channels does know how many tuners it has allocated to it so If I have a Connect with 4 tuners and I setup a pass the requires a 5th tuner in that time frame I should get an alert that has nothing to do with sharing.
The way it is now that pass needing a 5th tuner will look like it is going to record.
Yes and no. It's a matter of semantics. Channels places upcoming recordings on its "Schedule", and items on the schedule are "Queued". Schedules can change, and a queue is merely a line; nothing specifically indicates a particular airing will indeed record. (Additional future airings of a particular episode will also be marked as queued, as are simulcast airings; while they are expected to record, there is no guarantee.)
Would conflict management be nice: yes. Is it going to happen in Channels: not likely. Why: the nature of non-exclusive access to tuners. Am I wrong: I could be and have been in the past, but I don't think so.
I guess my background coming from SageTV it Schedules 14 days in advance ... and for every Pass /Favorite manual record I add it does instant conflict handling and gives you options on how to resolve them. TV recording Scheduling (conflict resolution) and Livetv buffer is the two weaknesses I find in ChannelsDVR.
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As do Windows Media Center, MythTV (IIRC), and most all cable company DVRs. The difference is that they all assume they have exclusive access to the tuners, and nothing else will try to grab or utilize them. That is not the situation with Channels. By its nature and the way it accesses HDHomeRun tuners, it cannot guarantee any tuner will be available; a tuner it sees now may not be available to it 30 seconds later.
For the former, the reason is above. The latter is a result of the buffer being tied to the client, not the server. That is a much more involved change that is not likely to happen, either. Again, the aforementioned DVRs handle their buffers server-side; Channels has a more client-focused approach.
The question you have to ask yourself is are the missing features important enough to drive you to other software.
No I love Channels has too many great features but it does not hurt to ask to implement some kind of Conflict resolution assuming that all tuners will be available this prevents over Scheduling. I understand the LiveTV buffer but I have lost many a buffer accidentally so there is room for improvement in that area.
No there is no big enough reason for me to leave Channels DVR. Thanks for your input.
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The current thinking is to just throw hardware at the problem. Just spend $200 and add another HDHomeRun device with 4 tuners. Works for me 
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My Solution is to let Channels DVR handle all distribution of tuners To Plex Emby SageTV and of course ChannelsDVR. 2 Quatro Connects/TVE is enough to handle all these different DVR software.
I don’t see what would be so hard. You have two tuners, If they are both destined to be in use at the same time shouldn’t Channels be aware of it?
I understand why Channels cannot manage recording conflicts in the unknowable environment. Channels need not resolve conflicts, only communicate them better and let the user resolve them.
Can Channels show me a "simultaneous recording alert" in some way? Scrolling through the Guide looking for conflicts is near impossible with more than 20 or 30 channels. Scrolling through the scheduled-recording list is better, but not quite satisfactory.
I propose Channels generate a tabular graphic whenever the schedule changes. It should be a guide showing only scheduled recordings and conflicts. All scheduled shows are in row 1 (priority 1 recordings) with the timeline in the columns just like the guide. Row 2 is used only for shows that conflict and are priority 2, etc. No show data in the table.
Attached is a sample graphic.
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i recall Window Media Center had a notice of when it started to record something and you were also watching something. I think it had some sort of tuner conflict system. I recall it would pop up when i tried to set a recording in the guide and it said it conflicted with another scheduled recording.
Indeed would be nice if Channels managed multiple and simultaneous recordings better.
Interesting how only the cable DVR knows it has exclusive access to it's tuners where all these other software don't know but still include conflict resolution. And I bet it is around 98% of people are only using 1 server app that access the tuners so the claim that the Channels team can't add conflict resolution seems flat on it's face. They could always add an indicator in settings to use it or not.
You have it backwards. The software that offer conflict resolution have exclusive access. Software using the HTTP API to access HDHomeRun tuners (SiliconDust's DVR, Channels, Plex, etc.) do not have exclusive access, and they are those that do not offer conflict resolution.
True, most users are only using the single DVR app, but not all. And I never said they couldn't add conflict resolution; what I said was that the situation is much more complicated than it appears on its surface.
Also, I did indicate that I have been wrong about the direction the developers may take in the past. Some level of conflict resolution could still be forthcoming; but it is not as simple as most believe, and that is why I said it is not likely.
What are you talking about? SiliconDust doesn't provide any other means to access their tuners other than the HTTP API so the others that are providing conflict resolution are also using the HTTP API! No software has exclusive access to the tuners.
No, they still offer and support their previous UDP-based library for accessing their tuners. They may have stopped using it for their own DVR/viewing software, but the library for UDP-based access is still around and supported. (Tvheadend uses the UDP library exclusively; I believe MythTV offers both.)
We are having a heated discussion on a problem that can be solved by buying a $200 worth of hardware. Is it the best usage of our time?
sdust, I thought you were joking with your previous comment. Buying hardware doesn't solve the problem. Four tuners can be tied up easily. And six, and eight if there are kids in the house. A tuner can be tied up by any TV or tablet on the network with no warnings given. If you can see it coming, you can at least yell and use a squirt bottle.
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So did I, but then I saw that the first post in this thread was marked with that reply as the “solution.” 
If you are consistently needing more than 8 tuners then you could get another device to add 4 more tuners. At some point your problem will be solved. I don't think my grandchildren ever watch OTA live TV. They will watch OTA recordings or Youtube videos. They think only old people would watch live TV. For me 8 tuners available solved my conflict problem.