Issues w/ Latest update

Channels Apple TV Troubleshooting
#1

The latest update isn’t so great. Now all the guide thumbnails take forever to load, the guide itself is glitchy and doesn’t scroll as smoothly as before and today while viewing remotely I lost connection to the server several times. It’s not an internet issue as my wife is working from home and stated that the internet has been solid.

Which brings me to this point: Why are there no release notes with these updates? There are way too many updates an no new features being added. Sometimes these updates can be skipped altogether if nothing new is being provided and the possibility of causing issues exists. I really wish Channels would provide a changelog when updating. Give users the option to update or skip a certain version is they wish to do so. This update is simply horrible and a step back from Channel’s usually smooth app. This is exactly why I left Plex. Can I revert back to an older version of the Server software?

#2

Which update are you referring to? We have several different apps and stable and beta releases, so "latest update" doesn't give us much information.

#3

I’m on MacOS. Server version 2020.03.14.1915. Channels is usually rock solid, and honestly, if my system is behaving and is optimized, I’d prefer not to update my software unless it’s absolutely necessary because of security patches, or because there are new features being offered. There’s never release notes for updates, so I’ve been updating a few times a week for a few months now and I see no changes. That’s not a bad thing I guess since this is the first update that didn’t sit well with my setup, but I believe there should be release notes or a change log provided so that users like me who depend on this software heavily can decide whether the update is worth the risk or not.

As soon as I updated I noticed that none of the thumbnails for the guide were available, they became available slowly as I scrolled and caused pauses during scrolling. I’ve restarted the server, router, Apple TV, and these thumbnails are still slow to load. And, I experienced many random disconnects from my server today. The server disconnects was a first for me, I might have had buffering occasionally, but today was the first time I have ever been disconnected. But, it happened several times.

#4

Okay so you've been click-and-holding the update button to update to the pre-release builds? And on 3.14 you've started having some issues.

There have been only some very minor changes in the last few weeks none of which would be causing the types of issues you're experiencing.

Did you check the Log tab of the DVR to see if any errors are shown? Perhaps your hard-drive (where all the generated thumbnails are stored) is failing?

Try loading http://127.0.0.1:8089/admin/troubleshooting as well to see if any problems are highlighted.

#5

I can’t immediately rule out drive failure at this moment as I haven’t gone that route, but it’s a pretty new 4TB Samsung SSD. It’s only a few weeks old and it’s strictly being used for Channels/DVR. I’ll run Disk Warrior on the SSD to see if it reports any issues, and I’ll report back. I’ll also check that link. I can imagine that I have to follow that link from the Mac running Channel’s server? And yes, sometimes I update to the nightly builds, sometimes I don’t. But, a change log would be great. Because if my system is stable, I wouldn’t update unless there are security issues being addressed, or for new features. I hope you guys consider this.

#6

You can use http://192.168.1.3:8089/admin/troubleshooting and http://192.168.1.3:8089/admin/log from another computer/tablet/phone on the same network.

We publish official release notes for stable builds on https://getchannels.com/releases/#dvr. Updating to pre-release builds is only recommended when advised by one of the developers to address a specific issue you're experiencing.

You could uninstall and reinstall the DVR to switch back to the stable version (and you'd have to open http://127.0.0.1:8089/restore to restore your old data), but I'm fairly positive that won't fix the issue you're experiencing which seems either disk or network related.

Checking the DVR's logs would be the next step I recommend.

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#7

The drive is ok. And the DVR log doesn’t have highlighting so I would have to inspect that closer later. If it isn’t a bug with this release, then it’s possibly a network error. But, the fact that these issues became present immediately after the update last night doesn’t support that. And when I loaded channels on Apple TV when I got home from work today, I got the same behavior from the guide and it’s thumbnails right away. If it continues to happen I’ll just delete and reinstall a stable release of Channels. I’ll be mindful of my clicks as well to make sure I don’t update to nightly builds. Thanks for the speedy response! :+1:t4: I’ll check back if things don’t get better.

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#8

Issue, if it can be called that, is still present. I owned a Magento based e-commerce website and I remember the developers implementing some kind of module that delayed the downloading of images on webpages till they came into view. This was supposed to reduce page loading times but after many complaints it was removed. It seems that a similar implementation has been used here. Is this what’s happening with the Guide? Cause it seems that channel thumbnails and upper preview don’t appear for a second or two after you scroll to it and it’s annoying. I consistently have to pause to let the guide info load. Again, I checked my drive, no issues with the drive, and there are no issues with my internet. I have Gigabit asymmetric internet speeds and the Server and NAS are on 10Gbe switches. The guide and Channel tuning was instantaneous before.

#9

Focus and rendering is handled by tvOS, including when to download images. If it's slower than it was before, that means the image data is taking longer to make it to the TV.

Are you seeing any difference between the stable and beta builds of the Channels app? (download beta from getchannels.com/beta)

Can you run a speedtest between the ATV and your DVR Mac using the instructions in the FAQ thread on the forum?

#10

Hmmmmm. :thinking: Ok, the ONLY thing recently changed was of course the update to the latest Beta build, AND I also upgraded all cabling, minus that of the TV to Cat 8 cabling last week. The TV maxes out at 150mb, so I figured it wasn’t worth the trouble to update that cable. But, everything else on the network is on fiber or Cat 8. Would it be possible for the TV to slow things up with its Cat 6 cable? If that is even a possibility, then I’ll change that cable to Cat 8 as well. When I used to open the channels app before, the guide data downloaded instantly and as I scrolled, all the previews and thumbnails were just there. I don’t think that I previously ever saw a blank that loaded a second or two later. This is why I noticed this right away. Channel tuning literally took a split second, most of the time it was so fast I wouldn’t even see the progress bar. The channels still tune insanely fast, but the guide is definitely not as it used to be. I’ll try the speed test.

#11

Apple TV 4 has a 100mbps ethernet port.
Apple TV 4K has a 1gbps ethernet port.

It's possible the ATV4's 100mbps port is not playing well with your 10Gbe equipment and cabling. I'm not really sure. Speed test results will be helpful in narrowing down what's going on.

#12

I should have mentioned that I have the 4K version of the Apple TV. The only device not Gigabit is my Samsung Smart TV. But, all this used to load instantaneously before. And when I moved the server and NAS to the 10Gbe switch, I saw no differences in network performance of the guide. I’ll try that test you mentioned and move the server back to the same switch as the Apple TV to see if that helps.

#13

cat8 is a fully shielded cable with metal rj-45 connectors? If this is the case, you need to make sure that everyone of your runs is grounded at both ends... ie: connected to grounded equipment with metal rj-45 receptacles. Without this, the metal shield on the cable will act like an antenna and introduce interference.

#14

I’m only having an issue with the Guide on Channels. All the other devices’ performance increased slightly (20-30mb faster) with the cabling upgrade and they are not showing any signs of network problems. The Cat 8 cable I have is double shielded and grounded at each twisted pair. I highly doubt it’s an interference issue. I’m gonna try upgrading the TV’s Ethernet cable as well. Just to rule that out.

Edit: And the server itself is on a separate switch with SFP+ connections. The Channels are loading insanely fast and there are no other issues other than the guide. All my outlets/equipment/circuits are grounded. I’m a electrician with over 20yrs experience, this isn’t a grounding issue. :grimacing:

#15

right... it needs to be grounded at the equipment it is connected to also.
I would try changing the cables back to what they were when it worked... at least the cable to the apple tv and anything in-between that isn't grounded.

or just try using the standard cat6 line to your Samsung TV and put that in the apple TV instead.

#16

See my reply above. If this was an interference or cabling issue, then Netflix, Amazon, and all other internet based apps on my TV/Apple TV would behave similarly. Again, this is an issue specific to Channel’s guide after a beta update. So my first inclination is that something changed there, as my cabling was upgraded a week prior to the server update, and nothing else on my network is misbehaving. Even other Apps on the same Apple TV/TV.

#17

OK. I am going to try it and see if I can confirm an issue.

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#18

on latest server beta now, 2020.03.18.2352. Guide loads instantly for me on all Apple TVs.

#19

Lucky you! But I’m not on that build. Not updating to betas* anymore. Only stable releases, this prevents issues like the one I’m having now. I’m on 3.14 something. I’m going to delete and reinstall a stable release this weekend to see if that alleviates it. Also upgrading the TV’s cabling. It’s the only device not using Cat 8.

#20

On your DVR you can enable HTTP logging in the experimental settings area, then watch the Log tab for the requests coming from the IP of your Apple TV. It should show the guide request coming in as well as how long its taking.