Locast Suspends Service/Need Help with Home RUn

#67

First question would be, are you in an area that is broadcasting ATSC 3.0?
I f you are, you need to be aware that only the first two tuners on each device can receive an ATSC 3.0 signal.
These would be identified in your guide with channel #'s in the 100's. i.e. 104.1
So for example your local Fox is 4.1 on ATSC 1.0 and the ATSC 3.0 version is 104.1

Second thing to consider is if both HDHR devices see the same channels you have to figure out how to prioritize the tuners and channels to get what you want by using Tuner priority and favorite channels in the DVR web UI settings.

What happens if you pick 8 shows from the guide all on different channels to start recording at the same time?

#69

Thanks for the reply.

There is no ATSC 3.0 in my area yet so that is not a problem. I will check on DVR web UI settings and the favorite channels.

Thanks

#70

Also try this and let us know what happens.

Does it work? (it should)
Any errors in the Channels DVR log?

Something else I'm not sure you're aware of, on a Channels Client device (Fire stick?) you can enable tuner sharing so when the client device (Fire stick?) is watching Live TV it will share the tuner channel so other clients (If you have them) watching the same channel or a recording taking place on the DVR will only use one tuner for that channel.

#71

Hello! @bgreenberg

If you have a tve provider, you could also try enabling the "locals over tve" option in the dvr ui and if any (usually nbc, abc, pbs) show up you'll have those available to record from as well.

#72

Did you pick a guide provider for both HDHR Flex 4k devices in the Channels DVR web UI?
Where you enter your zipcode and choose 'Local Over the Air Broadcast`

#73

Hi All,

Thanks for all your suggestions.

The problem I was having appeared to be unrelated to adding the 2 new HDHR Flex 4K.

Going over my 5TB hard drive, I noticed that I only had 35 gigabytes left. Computer processing was really slow on ChannelsDVR. Figured I needed to trash old shows.

Not sure why, but when I trashed a large number of shows, in the morning, they all came back later in the day. So it went from 4.65 TB used to 218 GB available. Yet in the evening all the trashed show came back to the drive and went back up to 4.70 TB used.

Bottom line, I reinstalled Windows 10 Pro, installed ChannelsDVR, and added the 2 new HDHR 4K.

Last night I recorded 6 shows at the same time. Actually I created 6 "Prime Time" Pass that records all shows 8PM, 9pm and 10pm from each local network channel daily.

Worked perfectly.

Oh, by the way, I have Spectrum TV Essentials mostly because my wife wants to record Hallmark. It says it gives 60 channels, but ChannelsDVR shows 88. For the 19.99 a month, it makes for a happy wife.

I have a bunch of other questions, but will save that for another post.

#74

Not sure if you're familiar with Channels "Trash".
When you Trash something, all it does is mark it to be deleted from your hard drive later.
The recording will stay on your hard drive taking up space until the selectable retention time has passed, or you go to the Trash and empty it.

#75

There are a number of free Channels that channels includes with any TVE source. That explains the higher channel number.

#76

I did click Trash for the TV series. Then I went into the Trash on the Admin page, saw the shows that were Trashed, and clicked empty trash. Either way, I think it has something to do with the data drive being too full, or I was impatient waiting for all the files to be removed. Even when I went into File Explorer to try to manually delete other files not in ChannelsDVR it was taking a long time.

Reinstalling Windows solved my problems.

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#77

Your are correct.

I did notice that the Spectrum TV Essential "extra channels were news channels from all around the country. They were not on the list of channels that I signed up for. Nice to have though.

Thanks.

#78

Follow up. While I really liked Channels, the loss of Locast led to my trying about 20 locations for an antenna and finally finding one that works with my Fire Recast. And so it’s a reluctant goodbye to Channels. I canceled today but they apparently will not prorate a refund as they should. Warning to others - don’t get a yearly subscription.

#79

Email support and they can help with billing issues.

#80

You paid for a year up front for the reduced price. Why would you expect a prorated return? That's the point of the discount. You gamble if you will use it for the whole year or not.

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#81

It’s not supposed to be a gamble. I would expect to be charged the regular monthly rate up to the end of the month I canceled. But, go ahead and be even more unpleasant if that makes you happy.

#82

Sorry I do not agree with you ... If you or I sign up for a year to get the cheaper rate ... if you or I cancel I do not expect you or myself to get any money back ... your subscription will continue whether you come back or not until it ends.

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#83

I know what their policy is and was just warning others of their inflexibility. I really don’t care if you disagree but I have the right to express my opinion as do you.

#85

@JordanHanks I'm not sure who you talked to or who you emailed. But, when I had an issue with equipment last year and wanted to cancel my year subscription to Channels I just emailed support they helped me out with no hassle at all. Once I got my equipment issues resolved I signed up for the year again and things have been fairly smooth.

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#86

Yeah no one has said Channels won't be nice and prorate. I was just saying it's wrong to assume they should and personally I never would expect it. I'm the one that decided to pick the year sub for the reduced price. It's for that reason I'm currently on monthly. I just started using Channels DVR, and I wasn't sure it would work well, so I'm on month to month for awhile until I decide if to cancel or go to yearly. So far I'm enjoying it and leaning yearly :slight_smile:

In another situation, I got screwed out of $160 because a yearly sub I didn't want renewed. I told them 2 days after it cleared. They wouldn't give any of it back. That's more shitty, but I still blamed myself for not staying on top of my subscriptions more than them not giving it back.

#87

So right. Technically, you are cancelling the 1 year re-sub date. So you continue to have your sub until the date of the one year renewal hah.

#88

Personally, I think anyone starting a new subscription service should join month to month to find out if it fits their needs before going all in. I've tried many streaming services I thought would be a great fit, only to find out that wasn't the case. I also think it's wise to make a point of asking in communities such as this or emailing the streamer directly and asking them their cancelation and refund policy before going all in. There are a lot who will cancel your account but tell you that you have the service until the term runs out.

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