Is App causing New TCL Google TV to Freeze?

Channels Android TV
#1

I have an intermittent problem where a new TCL TV with Google (model 55Q550G) Freezes on the home screen right after watching Channels DVR, then going to the home screen. I have spent a couple hours with TCL support and they say that it is very unusal for this model of TV to freeze.

Among troubleshooting steps we did a Factory Reset, which deleted all the apps and I had to reinstall. Everything was then fine for several days, until the problem reappeared. Once it reappeared, it is fairly easy to reproduce go going into channels dvr and channel surf for a minutes, pop back out to the TV home screen, then a click or two of the navigation (very slow and laggy) and the TV freezes again. Once frozen it must be unplugged and replugged - even the physical power button on the TV doesn't work.

Here's why I now think Channels may be the culprit: Without doing a factory reset I went into the Channels DVR App cleared Cache and Data. Wow - TV is reponsive again and no issue. If like the previous 2 times, it will crash again after a few days of using the Channels DVR app. The version of the Channels DVR app on the TV is 4.6.5

#2

What is the source of your TV channels? Are you using OTA tuners? If not, do you have many channels created through Custom Channels?

If either of those things are true, I believe your issue is probably related to the local storage on the TV, as OTA channels can use nearly 3-5 times to bandwidth/storage as buffering for internet streams. Similarly, if you have lots of channels defined in your server, there is a large overhead in handling/parsing all of those channels and their guide data.

TVs with "smart" platforms embedded (like TCLs with Google TV) nearly always are underpowered and underspecced for any real use; this is ever more the case for something as demanding as streaming OTA streams.

#3

If possible can you add extra internal storage using a flash drive to TCL and move Channels DVR to it ?

#4

I am not using the OTA tuner in the TV, but am using OTA via HDHomerun in Channels DVR. In the Channels DVR server, I have 6 different sources for live TV. HDHomerun - 121 channels, PlutoTV - 388 channels, YouTube TV - 144 channels, local cable provider - 150 channels, Stirr - 31 channels, and 11 custom channels for security cameras. I really don't need the majority of the channels, so I will clean them up, probably reducing by half to a quarter of what is there now.

I use Channels DVR on 2023 Firestick 4K Max's on my other TV's and have not had any issues. The TCL TV actually has more internal memory than the Firesticks. 11 GB vs 8 GB with 8.3 GB currently available on the TV.

#5

I may be able to do that, but as of right now 8.3 GB of internal memory is available. Do you still think I should try to move the app?

#6

I know they was a change to the APP to address cached not clearing properly but if you do not use the Beta than that fix is not in.

#7

I just realized that PlutoTV and Stirr are considered Custom Channels. Both gone now, so we'll see. Thanks

#8

Channels DVR taking up GIGS of Storage - Channels Android TV / Troubleshooting - Channels Community (getchannels.com)

Android TV/Fire TV Beta Notes - Beta Community / Android - Channels Community (getchannels.com)

#9

I joined the Beta program and now have the Beta client, so should have the cache clearing fix. Since I also deleted Pluto and Stirr which were custom channels, I may be fine now. I'll report back in a few days.
I do like some of the Pluto TV channels, but don't need 388 channels. I was using https://nocords.xyz/pluto/playlist.m3u as my source. Is there a good efficient way to pick just the channels I care about?

#10

Pluto changes channels so often I just use them all. You can disable the ones you do not like in the Pluto Source.