You need to be wired in for good performance. Sending recordings over Wi-Fi to the hard drive is going to be too slow.
i donât have problems with the Hdhomerun Dvr. Donât know if itâs because of Dlna or the record engine is on the Nas. The Ota recording plays fine through the Windows Movies and tv app, not the channels browser. Plays fine in Kodi
its all good , was downloading something. Working fine now on Fire devices and laptop
Fantastic! So glad!
Channels is the best, just look at dev and user responseâŚand after a few days youâll be able to appreciate Channels useability and functions vs HDHR or Plex (DVR).
Once you decide on your preferences (like, importance of commskip (one of my favorite features on Channels) and Channels remote capability), then you can make a more informed decision to upgrade your NAS (or not), and which is best suited to your needs.
I currently use a Qnap 251(A) while other users are on Qnap251+, and others like @jseymour are using a Synology DS218+⌠All of these have proven to be excellent servers to handle all of the features offered by Channels. Sorry, donât know much about WD Ex Ultra 2âŚbut other users can/will chime in if you post a new thread soliciting feedback.
spoke too soon, lost hardware transcoding again
Hardware transcoding is back. Can someone explain what comskip is and how to use it?
Comskip is a program that will go through the file and identify where the commericals are if you have âDetect Commercialsâ checked in your server settings. Channels stores the information from comskip on where the commercials are so you can quickly skip over the commercials in the recordings.
Would you be so kind as to explain why you would not recommend using a Shield for the DVR server? Specific instances? Past experiences?
Ok, thanks. I saw some non full recordings thought commercials were removed. Thoughts on this as a cheap server
Certainly. Reading the forums: The impression Iâve gotten has been people who appeared to be enjoying the best results have been using one of the supported NASâ or a Linux box. The people with the most trouble usually seem to be using MS-Windows PCs or Nvidia Shields.
ICBW, but thatâs the impression Iâve received. YMMV.
From a strictly âphilosophicalâ perspective: Android is a mobile OS. Android TV is a mobile OS twisted and torqued to play STB/streamer. I donât regard mobile OSâ as suitable for a server platform, which is essentially what weâre talking about here. Furthermore: The Android TV platform doesnât appear to have been a particularly stable one, even as a streamer/STB, anyway.
So, as I wrote: Can you do it? Yes. I would not.
Even after latest Shield Experience upgrade, I found that I had to reboot the Shield 1-2/week to maintain DVR functionality. On a NAS or PC I hardly ever had to intervene.
Prior iterations caused the remote disk to dismount, but this appears fixed.
I would look for something newer with a CPU that supports Intel QuickSync.
1-2 weeks is a lot longer than I would get, but Iâd typically get 3 days and then Iâd have to reboot because SHIELD reasons. Itâs powerful enough to be a server, but itâs not optimized enough for it.
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Correction: Reboot 1-2X/week, i.e., every 3 days 
Lost hardware transcoding again. Downloaded ffdshow now web is playing perfectly
Iâm pretty surprised to hear people having trouble like this with Channels DVR. I have perfect reliability, and it is one of the only things in my home tech ecosystem that âjust worksâ without any intervention. FWIW, Iâm running the Channels DVR Docker image on a Synology DS918+ NAS, and using an nVidia Shield TV as my client.
The reliability of Channels DVR comes down to the hardware you provide for it.
A Synology or QNAP NAS will be extremely reliable, since itâs connected to the HDHR and clients via ethernet, has a powerful Intel CPU that can transcode, and direct access to the hard drives.
By contrast a Windows PC will not be as reliable, especially if it has other random software/services running on it, is connected to the HDHR and clients over Wi-Fi, and is also trying to write the video to a network mount instead of local USB storage.
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Can you recommend a NAS under $300 complete. My main issue was setting a recording path, which is resolved. Streaming at home with my setup hasnât been an issue
IMO, you would be best served with Synology DS218+ ($300 at Amazon) + a WD Red 2 or 4 TB disk.
Another option, since you already have a WD MyCloudâŚyou could crack open the case and utilize the diskâŚmany rumors/reports that these at one time contained WD Reds, but no promises.
IIRC, @jseymour has a DS218+. He can relate his experience, also see:
DS218play has an ARM chip = slower comskip, no transcoding
DS218+ has an Intel chip = great performance, fast comskip, hardware transcoding
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