That's a good point chDVRuser, I don't actually have a powered SATA adapter or enclosure. I can wait till the USB stick gets here on Monday, but I was looking forward to playing with this setup over the weekend lol.
How far do you get over HDMI if the USB is attached?
So here's where things are at:
- I still don't see anything over HDMI after the very first few seconds
- I found a 128Gb Sandisk USB stick and flashed that instead to try and take the SATA factor out of the equation
- I'm connected via ethernet
So the DVR is up and running and I can access the web interface now and I was able to migrate my old setup to the new box. I don't see a way to switch this over to wifi, which is a bit unfortunate. I do really like how easy the SAMBA setup and integration is though, very handy. Also, I'm assuming there's some default root password and what not for this box, but I've not seen it anywhere in the documentation or the other thread.
Something seems wrong if you don't get HDMI out. Maybe an issue with the display or cable/adapter?
You can I se nmcli to setup a Wi-Fi connection. There is no root password on the console. SSH access requires a key which can be transferred using a usb drive named CONFIG as described in the docs.
RE: https://community.getchannels.com/t/issue-with-raspberry-pi-image/25577/12
I didn't mean this as an endosment. It was put there for those who don't know about tty console over serial interface.
Serial Console
The Debian/Raspbian distribution images include support out-of-the-box for accessing the shell console via the hardware serial port. This can be extremely convenient if you need to access your Raspberry Pi when it is not connected to a monitor and network remote access is not available.
I don't have a Rpi (yet), but I use putty and other programs to connect to various systems via serial ports and telnet, ssh, etc.
So I installed the new Sandisk drive and spent a little time porting the temp drive content over to the new system. I can confirm a couple of things.
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if the RPi isn't connected to a wired network cable, the output to the HDMI does not seem to happen. It's possible that the initial boot is halted somehow if it can't connect to the network. I think that was probably my problem before. I generally get the device to boot up, make sure it's secure, and then connect it to my network. With the network cable plugged in, I do see HDMI out and can see the login prompt after boot.
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There's something quirky with the setup outlined here:
https://getchannels.com/docs/articles/how-to/migrate-dvr-to-new-computer/#set-up-your-new-channels-dvr-server
If I burn the new bootable USB for the Channels DVR, but I don't do any setup, I go straight to the "restore" option, it tells me that I can't restore from the additional attached storage drive (just a regular fat32 usb stick with the DVR directory on it) without shutting down the DVR. However, to shutdown the DVR, you have to actually setup the DVR. So I have to go through the setup process, have it download all the TVE programming, and then I can shut the DVR down and restore from the attached backup. I don't have an HDR device, so maybe it's not quirky if you have one?
The good news is that I've got the new system up and running on the RPi, so YAY to that!
One final question, what's the advantage of using the Channels DVR image over using a standard RPi image and just doing the "linux install" process and storing everything on an externally connected USB 3.0 drive?
Thanks again for everyone's help!
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Single purpose DVR with automatic updates, and easy built-in Samba/Windows file sharing of saved recordings.
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This is a little off topic, but every day I'm seeing more and more RPi activity. Before the threads become too cumbersome to move, wouldn't now be a good time to create a sub-forum for the Pi image? Because from where I sit adoption of the image seems to be rolling along nicely.
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Dumb question: I just installed the Raspberry pi server on my new p4 8gb pi. Seem to load up great. I enter my login at the first prompt but it tell me I have the wrong log in. Is there an initial login and then I set up my normal user login?
There is no login. You set up using a browser on another device on your home network, via http://dvr-server.local
That's what I was wondering. I see a login in on the HDMI connection but it want accept my user name or password.
Two more question. I used a 64gb micro SD to create my image and have attached a larg hard drive for storage. Is there any downside to doing it this way?
Also, I'm using the 8gb Raspberry Pi 4, so do you think it will help with streaming more than one stream?
Thanks for the quick response by the way.
The HDMI login is for debugging only. You can use "root" to login there. But that won't help you setup the DVR. The DVR setup happens via a web browser.
We don't recommend using SD card with the Pi for stability reasons. It's better to image the drive with our image.
There is no difference between any Pi model when it comes to transcoding capability.
I am trying to load the Channels server software for Raspberry Pi to an SD for transfer to the RPi.
When I open the ChannelsDVRServer_PI4.img on my iMac I get the response “ChannelsDVRServer_P no mountable file systems”.
However when I run the imager_1.6.1.dmg downloaded directly from RPi I get the expected dialog asking about system choice and storage choice.
The 64GB mini SD card (Mac 0S Extended Journaled) is visible and accessible on the iMac.
Is there a problem with ChannelsDVRServer_PI4.img or is there a problem with me.
Brand new Raspberry Pi 4 up and running.
iMac i9 with macOS 11.3
My guess, its looking for the file system on a usb drive, NOT SD card.
The Channels Image is to be flashed to a fast USB drive/stick, and booted from there, NOT a sd card....says so in the directions.
Thank you for your reply. I see that my explanation was in error. Actually the SD card was part of the previous step: installing a Pi system that allows booting from a USB drive. That’s done.
I’ll try to do a better job this time:
Now, I am trying to load the Channels server software for Raspberry Pi to a USB3 drive which will be the ChannelsDVR server dedicated system drive for the Pi.
When I open the ChannelsDVRServer_PI4.img on my iMac I get the response “ChannelsDVRServer_P no mountable file systems”.
However when I run the imager_1.6.1.dmg downloaded directly from RPi I get the expected dialog asking what do I want to install and where do I want to install it.
The 5OOGB USB3 SSD APFS Volume is visible and accessible on the iMac, but the ChannelsDVRServer_PI4.img software doesn’t see it nor any other disks connected.
You don't need to open it. You have to load it inside the Pi Imager and then select your USB there.
Thanks. It has been a long time since I have used a disk image. I missed the step about opening ChannelsDVRServer_PI4.img within the Pi imager I and didn’t scroll down to see the “Use custom—>Select a custom .img from your computer”.
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I have never used a Raspberry PI and come from a windows background and am familiar with some mac stuff, so this was completely new to me. I totally missed the part on doing the eeprom update as I saw SD card and I used the one that came with the unit and installed the Noobs system from that using the usb caddy that came with it. It installed but would not boot. once I realized that there was an SD slot in the pi, I put the installed OS there and it booted fine. I followed the remaining directions to install the image and it worked great. But even without going back and updating the EEprom to boot from the USB port, It booted fine using the provided Channels image. Have rebooted it several times and it boots normally. I have other issues but none relating to booting. Should I update the EEProm to boot from USB? I don't see the point, but there may be some technical reason to do it. I am working on connecting an external SSD. I think I will open a separate thread for this, but it is formatted for an apple FileSystem Do I need to reformat that or can I leave it as is? I will test before reformatting, but just wondering if anybody has done it that way, I see threads recommending exfat File System.. If it is proper to move this part to a new topic, Please let me know.
You don't need to update the eeprom if it's working already.
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My Raspberry Pi motherboard came with a mini SD card. I used it to update the Motherboard so it would boot. I then installed the Channels Raspberry Pi Image. The red light stayed steady and the green light blinks. No need for an HDMI. Work great.