NEXTPVR or SageTV are free.
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I believe you still have to pay for guide data or go through the hassle of finding a free one
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Honestly, you’re better off using NextPVR at that point. It’s free, relatively easy to use, and you get a day or two of free guide data
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I’m a cheap bastard and particularly resistant to subscription anything. My goal was to test it out with the trial to see if I could wean my wife off of Tivo. That failed but so did my plans to cancel since Channels offers so much that I couldn’t give it up. Now I’d cancel one of my streaming services before cancelling Channels.
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Walmart sells a relatively cheap OTA DVR for about $40-45 (plus storage if you don't an extra one lying around) with no monthly fee. It has the OTA (limited) program guide that you can use for setting recordings, or you can program recordings manually by time and channel.
Not nearly as good as Channels DVR, but it works, it's cheap, and once you buy it there are no extra costs.
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Unless you need tv everywhere recording, there is plenty of alternative dvr software that will record ota and unencrypted cable for free.
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First off, you are self hosting it anyways, so that doesn't matter.
This is a platform that is well worth the price of admission, and this development team is amazing, attentive, and constantly enhancing the product. Its a subscription that you can see where the money is going very easily after using it for a while.
Now as to whether its worth it to you, then you need to assess that value. For me, there are a couple of things that come to mind.
- Ability to use the same UI and DVR database and switch providers as I see fit. The family never has to learn a new interface and you don't lose recordings when you switch. You can subscribe, record some content, then unsubscribe for a while.
- Best DVR there is, and that is from someone that was a diehard Tivo user for years.
- Merging together many different content sources into an easier to use interface.
- Integration of the remote into the software for a seamless experience.
- Commercial skipping.
If you don't do much Live TV then maybe its not worth it, but it is well worth what they are charging if you do use it.
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Has ChannelsDVR ever thought of doing regional pricing based on country/currency?
If your in a 1st world nation. $8usd is less than my last Starbucks coffee. However if your in a 2nd or 3rd world nation. $8usd might not be in your budget.
Granted doing that is devaluing the devs. But could open Channels DVR to new groups of people. It may/not be worth a topic of exploration.
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I just subscribed to the annual plan for $80. It would be nice if Channels offered a lifetime plan like Plex does. I was using Plex DVR for a little bit because I already had it for free with my lifetime Plex Pass. I decided to come over to Channels anyway because it seems to be superior. Just would be nice to eliminate that payment with a lifetime option.
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This has been discussed and beaten to death and has been answered there are no plans to offer a lifetime sub.
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Well still would be nice whether or not they plan to do it.
Channels is superior because we charge for it and that funds on-going development.
Plex is suffering in comparison, because lifetime pricing is a Ponzi scheme and when the money ran out they had to go out and raise VC cash and switch business models. Now most of their users and money comes from advertising, so they don't care much about DVR users like you.
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Thanks for the reply. I’m very happy with Channels DVR so far. Keep up the good work!
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The only value for Channels is the TVE channels. JellyFin can already record HDHR channels. Just for that and to evade DVR fees from your cable/satellite provider (or OTT provider), its worth it
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I find Jellyfin to be a basic DVR nothing special no advanced passes and no Close Captions on Clients.
Advanced passes is a great feature ... I do not have to search for New shows to record in prime time ... I let the DVR do that.
Example My Prime-Time advanced pass...
Conditions
Tags == New
Title != SIGN OFF
Channel CONTAINS 2.1
Channel CONTAINS 6.1
Channel CONTAINS 8.1
Channel CONTAINS 12.1
Channel CONTAINS 32.1
Time CONTAINS 7pm
Time CONTAINS 8pm
Time CONTAINS 9pm
Time CONTAINS 10pm
Genres EXCLUDES News
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CC works with JF. I don't know any issues you got with using it. Jellycon can play them. Alternatively, you could just use comskip or ccextractor to output the file to srt to play em elsewhere. I don't watch many primetime shows so the basic DVR features is all I need...
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I do not care to extract the SRT ... on the FireTV client there is no way to turn on CC that I saw. If the DVR does not have any smart/advanced passes I do not care for it. If I want to record Horror Movies on a certain Channel like IFC 781 uncensored/uncut full movies I want the DVR to find them.
There are "free" ways but the guide data and user experience/interface/integration is always the sticking point and what you are really paying for. Channels DVR is by far the best all-around experience. The $8 per month is about the cost of a single coffee/latte these days and IMHO one hell of a lot more useful and valuable to me.
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This is blasphemy.
NOTHING is more important than coffee.
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