My Review

Channels DVR Server
#1

Ok, I love Channels. Kind of testing it out. I'm a Tivo user and have loved it until they dropped Alexa integration. I'm optimistic I can get that in Channels even if I have to write it myself.... But channels has a few annoying nits I would love to get fixed.

  1. Marking commercials is not very good. I also hate that I don't get to see the timeline at will. Sometimes I press the skip button and I can't tell if I skipped 1 or 2 segments because the timeline doesn't display. I don't like that it skips to the end if you press during the show. I think it should always go to the beginning of the next segment. More Tivo like. They have this down pretty good.

  2. When its in a commercial the skip commercial text in the lower right of the screen is cut off. It's usually "Skip Comm" not "Skip Commercial" like it is sometimes..

  3. When watching live T.V. from my Cable HDHomerun or OTA HDHomerun and you're caught up (realtime) sometimes it acts as if there is nothing left in the buffer like it played it all and it waiting for more data. This causes a very noticeable pause on the T.V. that is annoying. I know it complicated but this should never happen.

  4. Generally the presentation of the guide and recordings is good. Sometimes when I go to delete a recording it would be better if I knew for sure which one I was about to delete. The little white circle isn't always there. Just a better highlight or something.

  5. ALEXA! Sorry, I could resist. I want to change channel by number or name. I guess there is something for home automation but it's another monthly fee. I don't want to touch a remote to turn on the T.V. and go to a channel with Channels.

  6. It really is a nice product and I hope it keeps improving. It's getting close to replacing my Tivo's and mini's but still just a little short. Keep up the great work on this!!!

Marshall

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#2

What device/platform are you using the Channels app on?

#3

Channels is running on a Raspberry PI 4 with the channels image on a micro sd card. TV used for viewing are Sonys

#4

I would be somewhat unhappy if they changed the current behavior.

#5

Genuine question, why would you want the skip commercial button to skip to end of the entire show?

#6

The majority of the issues you mentioned are not issues on Apple TV client.

I didn't even know Channels app runs on Sony TVs. That can't be officially supported.

#7

It runs on Android Sony TV's. Just like any other Android device.

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#8

If they had commercials marked better I wouldn't mind as much but as it is sometimes the I'm in to commercials and it doesn't think I am and pressing the skip button goes to the end of the segment I'm already in. So I have to press it again to try and get to the beginning of the next segment and since the timeline is not displayed I'm confused where I am. Did I skip one or two segments?

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#9

I stopped using the skip button because of that I rather use the right double tap. I do use the skip button on a tablet.

#10

I didn't say that did I? It was meant to mean skip to the end of the current segment.

#11

Channels server is on a Raspberry PI. Sony T.Vs are android T.V. and are just a client.

#12

I did not say that.

The current behavior is that if you are in a program segment, skip-forward will take you to the end of the program segment (the beginning of the commercial segment). If you are in a commercial segment then skip-forward will take you to the end of the commercial segment (the beginning of the next program segment). I like this behavior because, surprisingly often, I want to skip to the end of the current program segment then back it up a couple of clicks to see the tail end of the segment.

I think @watts wants skip-forward to skip to the beginning of the next program segment even if you are inside a program segment when you click skip-forward.

I'm in the habit of doing one 30-second skip before I hit the skip-forward button to be sure that commercials have been properly detected in the current time frame. Sometimes I forget to do this and end up skipping a bunch of the program. But I don't see any fix for that issue other than improving commercial detection.

#13

If you read my reply about you can get lost because the skip doesn't necessarily know you're in a commercial but Channels doesn't know it yet and if you press the skip but you can go the end of the block and not the start of the new block. It would help if the timeline was displayed but it doesn't so I get confused where I'm at.

Earlier Reply
If they had commercials marked better I wouldn't mind as much but as it is sometimes the I'm in to commercials and it doesn't think I am and pressing the skip button goes to the end of the segment I'm already in. So I have to press it again to try and get to the beginning of the next segment and since the timeline is not displayed I'm confused where I am. Did I skip one or two segments?

#14

Which skip button are you talking about? It sounds like you're using some button on your remote? Or are you talking about the button which appears on the screen?

#15

I'm referring to the double left/right arrow buttons found on my remotes. I never thought about pressing enter on the skip commercial button on the screen.

#16

If you're not using the on screen button, then you can go into the settings and turn it off. That way the timeline will also appear whenever you use the buttons on your remote.

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#17

Great to know, THANKS!!!! I'll try it tonight.

1 Like
#18

This appears to work much better for what I'm trying to do. This allows me to see the time line so I know where I at. Thank you so much for the suggestion!!!

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