Inactivity Timeout on ATV App? (or Sleep Timer)?

Channels Apple TV
#1

Hi Folks:
Channels newbie here. Just converted from using Tivo Bolt + mini's for the past few years. Currently running Channels DVR Server on my NAS with 3 Apple TV's to watch around the house. Using it with HDHR Prime w Cable Card and TVE.

Anyway, one thing I've noticed (versus Tivo, Tivo Mini's, and other apps on Apple TV) is that Channels on ATV will run continuously, even after several hours of inactivity.

So, for example, if my wife shuts off the TV and doesn't exit out of Channels on the ATV it will continue to stream whatever channel she was last watching for hours, taking up one of the precious tuners on my HDHR. With Tivo Mini's, after 3-4 hours of inactivity, the unit would prompt you to see "are you still there". If you didn't click "Yes" it would shut down and release the tuner. Same for other Apple TV apps like Netflix. After a few hours, you get a "are you still there" prompt.

But it seems Channels just keeps streaming, and the ATV keeps using the tuner, long after the TV is shut off.

Is there any way to put on a inactivity timer, or sleep timer, to prompt viewers to confirm you are still watching so it doesn't continuously run in the background?

This mainly happens on our bedroom TV when the sleep timer is put on. TV shuts off but ATV and Channels keeps running all night long.

Thanks!

1 Like
#2

Channels on Apple clients has a sleep timer since 4.2.

#3

Thanks! Did not know that. Not the most elegant solution, but think I can make it work.

#4

I'm having difficulty with the Sleep Timer as well, in that it seems that I have to set it each and every time I use Channels on my ATV! What a pain! The setting does not seem to be "sticky", and resets to "OFF" after each use. Is there any way to make this setting stick?

#5

Agreed, I had to set up a shortcut via Homebridge to stop the ATV when the TV is turned off. I'd love to see native management of this on the server side though, like being able to manually kill streams, maybe see a timer next to each live one listed?

An optional setting though that clients could choose to enable, for an "inactivity timeout" with a dismissble pop-up is a good idea though. Make it a feature request and I'd vote for it! :slight_smile: