📢 Improved discovery for iOS and tvOS

Beta Community DVR Beta
#1

We've just released a new iOS and tvOS beta Version 2019 (11.19.326) that greatly improves how discovery works for the DVR and HDHomeRun. It's been a two month project to get it to completion and I've been very happy with how it's turned out.

The Highlights

  • The app handles moving from WiFi to Cellular or from one WiFi network to another better
  • The app spends less time validating the connection when it is coming back from the background

The end result is that you should see less confusing error messages and flipping between Channels and other apps should be much faster.

The Details

There have been a number of frustrating issues that have been reported that have been addressed including:

  • Bogus "Tuner Not Found" errors after opening the app
  • Not all HDHomeRun tuners are listed when they should be
  • Guide was sometimes blank and not showing the current shows
  • "Welcome to Channels DVR" screen being displayed when it shouldn't when trying to connect remotely
  • "Search Again" button on the "Welcome to Channels DVR" would not try to connect to a remote DVR again
  • Sometimes the client would not notice if you had moved from your home network to another WiFi network

Additionally, some nice improvements have been made:

  • If no devices were found, a search is done in the background to keep trying to find them
  • When opening the app after it has been in the background, a much shorter health check is done

What Could Go Wrong?

This is a revamp of the entire system that looks for DVR and HDHomeRun devices on the network, so there's always a chance strange bugs and inconsistencies could crop up.

If you see error messages that you don't expect, or can't connect to devices that you think you should, please let us know here. When you see an issue if you can "Submit Diagnostic Logs" I would appreciate it. It will help me identify what's gone wrong and how to fix it.

Thanks!

Known Issues

  • None

Updates

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.25.654) has been posted:

  • FIXED: Ensure the correct tab is selected when reconnecting after DVR Not Found screen is shown

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.24.2245) has been posted:

  • IMPROVED: Check for added and removed channels on every app launch

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.24.356) has been posted:

  • FIXED: Fix situation where some data was not refreshed on app relaunch

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.24.224) has been posted:

  • FIXED: Ensure Top Shelf updates properly on tvOS

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.22.19) has been posted:

  • FIXED: Properly detect legacy HDHomeRun devices when connected to a DVR

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.21.1802) has been posted:

  • FIXED: Up Next is updated after marking an episode as watched

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.21.31) has been posted:

  • IMPROVED: Prioritizes IPs over hostnames for discovered DVRs
  • FIXED: Crash while starting to watch Live TV via DVR if the DVR hostname cannot be resolved

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.20.815) has been posted:

  • FIXED: Hang during app startup after clean app install

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.19.2025) has been posted:

  • FIXED: Crash that can happen on tvOS during startup

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.19.2025) has been posted:

  • IMPROVED: Manually entered DVRs are now prioritized over discovered ones

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.19.1836) has been posted:

  • FIXED: Intermittent crash when app is reopened
4 Likes
iOS app over VPN
No guide data?
Tuner not available error
Keeps losing connection
Guide info disappearing when dropping from wifi to cell
Small but persistent bugs
#2
#3

I am having issues with the latest tvOS Beta. It may be related to me having 2 DVR's. At first I thought it had to do with restarting on the Recordings Page where I have imported Movies but that does not appear to be the case.

Normally when I start for the first time after removing the app from memory it will act like it is end. I then try again and it will just end. About the third time it starts working again. Once it pick the wrong DVR which happens from time to time. When I say wrong I am talking about not going back to the one I was using before which is my default DVR. We have 8 TV's and most of the TV's point to the other one.

I have ask this multiple times in the past. It would be very helpful to be able to easily switch between the 2 DVR's even in Settings. Right now I have to enter the DVR IPADDRESS (and/or maybe the DNS Name) to switch back and it is cumbersome. Like show both and let me select which one. Like maybe a drop down. This would also be very helpful if I have 1 local and 1 remote (or something like that). The idea is once I access a DVR through manual or auto detect that I be able to easily switch to it. Thanks for your consideration.

#4

What does this mean?

#5

While in the Channels Beta tvOS App. Using the Apple TV Remote you can hit the TV Button (to the right of the Menu Button) twice and then SWIPE up to remove the App from memory or maybe better way of saying to close the App. I was trying to say I did NOT uninstall the App.

Then when I try to start the App again it appears to try and Start but it immediately (or very quickly) closes. Then I try again and it fully loads. I did this multiple times and easily reproduced. I did not spend a lot of time testing the App but enough to know it appears to work fine.

#6

We have the crash report from you. I’m looking into what’s going on.

#7

I've posted a new release that fixes the crash that @d21mike was seeing. I'm working on improvements around reconnecting to the DVR IP you entered to make it more consistent.

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.19.1836) has been posted:

  • FIXED: Intermittent crash when app is reopened

Update: It doesn't appear this fix was successful

#8

It does not appear to fix the problem. I noticed and installed the new version. Please see if you are getting new dumps as of this new version.

#9

Yep. I see the crash and it looks like my fix did not have an impact. I'll have to investigate further. I was unable to replicate it locally so I'm having to make some educated guesses as to the source of the issue. I'll let you know when I have made more progress.

#10

I tried the tvOS beta last night, and only difference I came across was when deleting a recording. Typically after watching a show and deleting it, it disappears from the recordings immediately. Last night after deleting it stayed in the recordings list for a good 30 seconds or so before disappearing (making me wonder if I had actually clicked the delete button).

#11

Since you can not duplicate I decided to shutdown one of my servers (the one with imports) and the problem is still present. So latest dump should be trying to connect to only one DVR unless maybe it has a history of DVR's.

#12

I got the crash. I’m grasping at straws but I see you’re running the tvOS 13.3 beta so I’m going to load that on my AppleTV later today and see if that exhibits the behavior you’re seeing.

#13

I am not running the 13.3 beta. I did run the 13.2 beta.
My version tvOS 13.2 (17K82) which might be final 13.2 beta which was the same as final 13.2.

To make sure I tested on another 13.2 tvOS and got the same issue. Then I decided to try on my 1 13.3 beta and got the same problem

I have 8 tvOS devices.

#14

Very interesting. The crash was reporting 13.3 (17K5440a) as the version. I’ll have to see if there’s something funny with how our crash reporter is working.

#15

Can you give me the exact steps of what you’re doing to reproduce this? I’m seeing things in the crash logs that confuse me a bit.

#16

I posted details in my post above. Where I explain "closing" the Channels Beta App to start with fresh copy.

I. Double Click TV Button. Swipe up to close the App.
2. Start the Channels Beta App and it will crash the first time.
3. Start the Channels Beta App again and then it works fine going forward.

Happens every time. I have also see it crash twice before working but this is not usual.

#17

I had noticed my AppleTV was on tvOS 13.0 and so I upgraded to 13.2 and I'm now seeing the same behavior you are. I'll dig into this further. Thank you for your patience.

#18

I've released an update that improves the discovery process but still has the crashing issue that has been reported.

iOS and tvOS beta build Version 2019 (11.19.2025) has been posted:

  • IMPROVED: Manually entered DVRs are now prioritized over discovered ones
#19

I was able to identify the issue (it was related to how the code was being built) and have fixed it. I'll be able to push a new build later today.

#20

I saw a new update that has the problem still. Please post when you feel it is good.