First Impressions and New Feature Suggestions

Channels Android TV
#1

Hi All,
New subscriber here and so far very happy with the app! All the complicated networking stuff seems to be dumbed down well enough for me to get it up and running. I got the Shield 2019+HDHR Connect setup coming over from the Channel Master DVR+ after it died. The devs here seem to be actively listening to user input to make this product better so I wanted to share my first experiences using the app:

First Impressions:

  1. The TVE incorporated into my OTA guide is the main reason I chose this app over the other $130/lifetime apps. Getting it fully loaded was a bit of a task because it kept freezing during the “Verifying channel xx/180” (seemed like after every channel that failed auth) but after a bunch of retries it ended up getting loaded and now works great.

  2. Channel switching is very fast and responsive

  3. Commercial skipping is a very cool feature. The auto-skip feature seems to work intermittent but being able to double click fast forward is a nice backup

  4. Very easy to hide/favorite channels to create a more personal experience in the guide and on now screens

New Feature Requests:
A. Looping Guide: when reaching the end of the guide (6000 TVE channels) it would be nice if it looped up to the beginning (channel 4.1 OTA channel) instead of having to scroll back up.

B. Skip ahead/back 1 day in Guide: this was very handy in the CM DVR+ when looking at the primetime lineup instead of having to scroll through the entire day. Not sure the logistics of it since many remotes have minimal buttons to work with so maybe a button mapping feature to double click the next button or double click scroll right.

C. Google Assistant/Alexa: While not very critical for me but would be useful for the rest of the fam to be able to use voice commands to direct tune to a channel or just open the app. I saw there are APIs out there but I am not savvy enough to know how to incorporate them into a routine/skill (if that is possible). The Siri one looks to be similar to what I am talking about i.e. “Hey Google, turn on NBC”, “Hey Google, turn on PBS”

Overall I am happy with the product, kudos to the devs!

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